74 Kant: A BiographyGregorovius was not ignorant of modern philosophy. He just did not think
it was superior to the Aristotelian philosophy and was prepared to argue
this, even if to relatively empty classes. While we do not know whether
Kant attended his lectures, his "thirst of knowledge" would not have stood
in the way of doing so. It is more than likely that he, who after all wanted
to study the classics, did not miss the opportunity to listen to Gregorovius
in 1740.^54
Gregorovius's approach differed markedly from the one Kant had ex¬
perienced at the Collegium Fridericianum. Kant observed in his Metaphysics
of Morals that with some justification "it is thought improper not to de¬
fend the ancients, who can be regarded as our teachers, from all attacks,
accusations, and disdain, insofar as this is possible." Then he pointed out
that it is "a foolish mistake to attribute preeminence in talents and good
will to the ancients in preference to the moderns just because of their an¬
tiquity."^55 It is likely that when he wrote this he also had some of his own
former teachers in mind. He could have known orthodox Protestant Aris-
totelianism firsthand. Whether Kant took courses with Quandt, the most
famous member of the orthodox party, is not known, but it is unlikely be¬
cause Quandt hardly ever felt it necessary to teach. Gregorovius was soon
succeeded by Carl Andreas Christiani (1707-1780), who had come from
Halle to Königsberg to teach practical philosophy. He was a Pietist and a
protege of Schulz.^56 Kant may have gone to his lectures as well.
The second full professor was Johann David Kypke (1692—1758), who
belonged to both the theological and the philosophical faculty. He taught
from 1725 to 1758. Being one of the older Pietists, he was less inclined to
appreciate Wolff. Rather, he was an eclectic, wavering between Aristotelian-
ism and Pietism. In an advertisement of his lectures from 1731 he stated
that, depending on what the students wished to hear, he could lecture
either in accordance with the "proven peripatetic (Aristotelian) method or
in accordance with that of Budde or Walch." Budde and Walch were two
of the foremost followers of Thomasius, the other founder of the German
Enlightenment besides Wolff. Thomasius himself came under the influence
of Pietism while he was in Halle, but he later developed a more indepen¬
dent position again.^57 Budde and Walch were radical Pietists and oppo¬
nents of Wolff.^58 Accordingly, they would have been more or less "safe"
choices in Königsberg before the arrival of Schulz, but there were times
when Kypke lectured on logic in accordance with Rabe's Aristotelian text¬
book Philosophical Course or First Compendium of the Philosophical Sciences
Dialectics, Analytics, Politics, Comprehending also Ethics, Physics and Met a-