Borowski mentioned only Teske and Knutzen, not Ammon (Borowski, Leben, p. 40).
Erdmann, Knutzen, p. I4n.
Reicke, Kantiana, p. 7.
Riedesel, Pietismus und Orthodoxie, pp. 43f.
Borowski, Leben, pp. 391".; Vorländer, Immanuel Kant, I, p. 50.
Borowski, Leben, pp. 87f. Actually it was the memory of both Teske and Knutzen
that was said to be "holy" to him. It is not clear, however, whether Kant thought
so as a student. Teske lived until 1772, and Kraus might have had in mind what
Kant thought later about him.
Pisanski, Entwurf einer preussischen Literärgeschichte, p. 548.
Pisanski, Entwurf einer preussischen Literärgeschichte, p. 546.
Johann Friedrich Lauson, Erster Versuch in Gedichten, nebst einer Vorrede von der
sogenannten extemporal Poesie, und einem Anhange von Gedichten aus dem Stegreif
(Königsberg: Driest, 1753) and Zweyter Versuch in Gedichten, nebst einer Vorrede
von den Schicksalen der heutigen Poesie, und einem Anhange von Gedichten aus dem
Stegreif (Königsberg: Driest, 1754). Herder, who studied in the early sixties in
Königsberg, also took courses with Teske. His notes show that Teske's lectures
in physics were crucial to him. See W. Dobbek,_7. Herders Jugendzeit in Mohrungen
und Königsberg, 1J44-1764 (Würzburg: Holzener Verlag, 1961), p. 94.
Hamann, Brevier, p. 19; see also Hamann, Gedanken über meinen Lebenslauf, p. 168;
Hans-Joachim Waschkies, Physik und Physikotheologie des jungen Kant. Die Vorges¬
chichte seiner allgemeinen Weltgeschichte und Theorie des Himmels (Amsterdam:
Grüner, 1987), pp. 13, 57; Konschel, Der junge Hamann, p. 25;Vorländer, Immanuel
Kant, I, pp. 54, 90. This society nevertheless seems to have lasted from July 1748
until the summer of 1749, perhaps even until 1751. (Werner Stark has suggested
to me that "zu Stande kam" means that the society was not accredited or privileged
by the government, as "the German society" was.) Hamann and J. G. Lindner were
members of it. Waschkies tries to show that the sources of Kant's later work on
cosmogony can be found here. There is no proof that Kant actually belonged to
this society, nor is such an assumption necessary for accepting Waschkies's claim.
Several other students talked about Knutzen in similar terms. See also Borowski,
Leben, p. 38, and Erdmann, Knutzen, p. 6. It should be pointed out that Hamann
was sarcastic. He goes on to lament that he did not take advantage of the opportu¬
nity, and then finds: "My memory of another academic teacher, who was not as
famous, is more pleasant. God permitted it that he lived under depressed, miser¬
able, and obscure circumstances. He was worthy of a better fate. He possessed
qualities, which the world does not esteem and therefore does not reward. His end
was as his life: unnoticed. I do not doubt that he is saved. His name was Rappolt;
a man who possessed a peculiarly keen judgment concerning natural things and
at the same time the consideration, devotion, and humility of a Christian philoso¬
pher. He had an exceptional ability to emulate the spirit and the language of the
ancients."
Borowski, Leben, p. 40.
Reicke, Kantiana, p. 7.
It is said that as a student he did not go to the Aristotelians but "to men who had
sufficient strength to teach him in more recent philosophy, mathematics ..." He
