94 Kant: A Biography
anyone else in the Pietistic faction would have been open-minded enough
to overlook this departure from the party line, even if they could have for¬
given the quip about the slight confusion of a certain "acute author." To
use Wolffian principles was one thing, but to endorse the theory of pre-
established harmony was quite another.
The book may thus be viewed as an act of defiance. Kant rejected one
of the major tenets of his teacher. It is an expression of his "opposition to
Pietism," and it could not pass the scrutiny of the Pietists. This probably
explains in part why it could not become a doctoral thesis and why he felt
he had to leave Königsberg.
The process that led to this break had started as early as 1744. One of
the reasons it took so long for him to leave can be found in an important
event in Kant's personal life. The year 1744 was significant not just for the
Fischer controversy and for Knutzen's comet. Late that year Kant's father
fell seriously ill, suffering a stroke which led to his death "of complete ex¬
haustion" a year and a half later, on the 24th of March 1746.^147 This rad¬
ically changed Kant's life. His older sister was twenty-five, his two younger
sisters were seventeen and fourteen, and his little brother was only nine
years old. It is likely that two of the sisters were already out of the house,
working in someone else's household, and that only his youngest sister and
his brother were at home. Kant, as the oldest son, was all at once respon¬
sible for the entire family. The sister probably could have taken care of the
father and brother tolerably well, and the older sisters as well as their rel¬
atives helped. Nevertheless, some of the work fell to Kant, and his freedom
of study was severely hampered. Kant must have taken his duties seriously.
In the Metaphysics of Morals he gives the example of a man who gave up
his plan to pursue some pleasurable activity "immediately, though reluc¬
tantly, at the thought that by carrying it out he would omit one of his duties
as an official or neglect a sick father" and who in doing so proves his free¬
dom in the highest degree.^148 This example was not fictional.^149 He must
have spent a significant amount of time at home with his family during
1745, and it is likely that he wrote most of his Estimation during this very
period, when he was unable regularly to attend lectures and recitations. In
any case, he did not submit the book to the censor until the summer semes¬
ter of 1746, that is, not until after his father had died.^150
Kant left Königsberg shortly after August 1748.^151 A significant part of
the two years between his father's death and his departure must have been
spent taking care of the estate. As Kant himself says in a late letter: not much
was left after everything was settled. Still, it would have taken time to sell