The Elegant Magister 125relationship whatsoever. Kant had made an enemy, who would from then
on indict his work with great vigor but little understanding.
Kant found teaching exciting — at least at first. By October 1759 it had
become burdensome. Thus he wrote to his friend Lindner:
I, for my part sit daily in front of the anvil of my lectern and strike it in the same rhythm
with the heavy hammer of lectures that resemble each other. At times an inclination
of a more noble kind leads me to extend myself beyond this narrow sphere, yet need,
present immediately, with an impetuous voice calls me back to the hard labor without
delay and with a truthful voice...
Yet given the place where I am and the small expectation of abundance, I am satis¬
fied with the applause with which I am honored and with the advantages I draw from it,
and I dream my life away.'^14
Kant seems tired and unhappy. Still, the letter may have been written in a
moment of despair, and such moments are not necessarily characteristic of
how someone sees life.
Hippel, who was his student during the summer of 1758 and the win¬
ter of 1758—59 — after having first "attended the entire philosophical course
of Buck," the lectures of Teske in physics, Langhansen and Buck in math¬
ematics, Kypke in logic, Greek with J. G. Bock, Flottwell in German styl-
istics as well as Hebrew and some courses in theology - had little to say
about Kant as a lecturer.^115 Though he attended lectures in "philosophy
and physical geography," as well as in metaphysics, he did not find them
especially remarkable. He was much more impressed with old Schulz's
lectures in dogmatic theology.^116 Being more influenced by Pietism than
Kant was, he probably found Kant not only too difficult, but also unwhole¬
some. This does not mean that Kant took less care in preparing and de¬
livering his lectures; he simply could not afford to neglect them, because
his livelihood depended on them. It does show, however, that his style did
not appeal equally to all students.^117 Johann Schulz (1739—1805), who be¬
came Kant's friend late in life, was also a student then. Like Kant, Schulz
had been prepared for university studies at the Collegium Fridericianum.
Whether he attended Kant's lectures is not entirely clear. He did not iden¬
tify himself as Kant's student when asked to do so later, but Borowski,
who should have known, said he was indeed one of the best of Kant's stu¬
dents.^118 In any case, Kant's thought appears to have begun to influence
Schulz only in 1770. Kant, in his earliest years of teaching, was perhaps a
good lecturer, but he was one of many, and his ideas were not radically new.
A student who was close to Kant during this time was one Johann