The Elegant Magister 109the most Leibnizian among all the Wolffians, and Meier was Baumgarten's
student and follower. This meant that Kant's core lectures were essentially
based on the most radical brand of Leibnizian—Wolffian philosophy. Dur¬
ing the first semester he followed Baumeister, "even though he would have
preferred to follow Baumgarten." When he circulated a piece of paper to
ask his students which text they would prefer, and someone made a very
strong appeal for Baumgarten, he offered that person private instruction.^36
Kant's copies of these books were interleaved with empty pages on which
Kant wrote his own notes. Over time, these pages filled up completely, and
he had to use the margins. Some of these books have survived, and they
are extremely useful for understanding Kant's philosophical development.
Borowski reports that "at times he also carried a separate notebook... into
which he transcribed marginalia."^37 In the ethics lectures he always used
Baumgarten's Ethica as a textbook. It appears that he usually lectured on
mathematics over two semesters, covering arithmetic, geometry, trigonom¬
etry in the summer, and mechanics, hydrostatics, aerometry, and hydraulics
in the winter. He used sometimes Wolff's Anfangsgründe aller mathematis¬
chen Wissenschaften (171 o), and sometimes the shorter Auszug aus den An¬
fangsgründen aller mathematischen Wissenschaften (1713).^38 His lectures on
physics and natural science were, at least during the fifties and early sixties,
based on Johann Peter Eberhard's Erste Gründe der Naturlehre (Leipzig,
I753)-^39
This was a difficult schedule, but it shows that Kant attracted students.
Nevertheless, "during the first years as lecturer, his income through his
lectures was very small." While he had an "iron reserve" of twenty gold
coins (Friedrichsd'or), he never touched it. Instead, he sold some of his
books. He had to wear the same coat until it was worn out, and his friends
offered to buy him a new one, but he refused.^40 The first two or three years
were difficult. After that, it got better. He had earned a reputation as a good
teacher. Borowski spoke of "a truly rich remuneration for his private lec¬
tures (which, as I know for certain, he received already in the years 1757
and 1758)."^41 As a successful lecturer, Kant earned an income that allowed
him to live the life appropriate to his status. As he later told one of his pub¬
lishers, he "always had a more than sufficient income," could afford two
rooms, a "very good table," that is, good meals, and could even employ a
servant.^42 He also assured him that those were "the most pleasant years of
his life." On the other hand, he warned Sigismund Beck later in life that
"the subsistence which is based merely on giving lectures is always very