44 Kant: A Biographyin tune with the values of the members of the guild. Though the Pietists
were also known as "Mucker" or "crawlers," their practices reinforced their
sense of independence and autonomy. Indeed, one of the things that or¬
thodox clergy could not accept about Pietism was that everyone was judged
to be equally qualified in interpreting the Bible, and thus the sharp dis¬
tinction between pastor and lay person was blurred. It was a large step from
the guild members' insistence on independence from civil authority (and
their more democratic understanding of societal organization) to Kant's
notion of an ideal community of morally autonomous individuals, but this
step was not as large as the step from faithful obedience to the word of God
and fellowship of Christ to the complete autonomy prescribed by the cat¬
egorical imperative. For better or worse, there is a continuity in the first,
while there is a radical discontinuity in the second.^68 The independent
tradesmen found the message of Pietism acceptable at least in part because
it promised independence from some of the established hierarchies of eigh¬
teenth-century Prussia. What EmanuePs mother and father made of it was
certainly not independent of the ethos they had grown up with. First and
foremost, they belonged to the class of honorable tradesmen {ehrbare
Handwerker), and this largely determined their moral code.
Put another way, what Kant acquired from his parents were the values
of the petit bourgeoisie. He learned the importance of hard work, honesty,
cleanliness, and independence. He also acquired an appreciation for the
value of money. Indeed, in the only description of his parents that we have
in his own words, he specifically points out that his parents left him nei¬
ther money nor debts, yet prepared him well for this world. The values he
acquired would not have been significantly different from the ones he might
have picked up had he been born into a family of small independent
tradespeople in Padua, Edinburgh, Amsterdam, or Boston at the begin¬
ning of the eighteenth century. Just as in the house of the Kants in Königs¬
berg, religion played some role. Religious worship was not the only, nor
perhaps even the most important, pursuit in that household. Hard work in
serving customers, obtaining the essentials of life without having to com¬
promise oneself, living decently, keeping up appearances appropriate to
one's standing, looking out for one's family, and not being unduly indebted
to, or dependent on, anyone else would have been the important concerns.
Kant was indebted to his parents at least as much for these human qualities
as for any specific religious doctrine or way of life. That his parents not
only were interested in keeping up appearances, but also genuinely believed
in the necessity of living a good life in the eyes of God, does not change