A Palingenesis and Its Consequences 153and made it more difficult for his heart to work. He suffered from a mild
form of scoliosis or curvature of the spine. His muscles were always weak
and undeveloped, and his bone structure was unusually delicate. He easily
could overexert himself. Later in his life (1778) he said that he was never
sick, but that he was never really healthy either. He was "healthy in a weak
way." The only way he felt he could maintain this precarious state, he
claimed, was by "a certain uniformity in the way of living and in the
matters about which I employ my mind."^28
Connected with his delicate body was a great sensitivity. He spoke him¬
self of his "sensitive nerves." Thus he was affected greatly by even small
changes in his environment. Therefore, he was very attentive to his bodily
needs from very early on. Worries about his bodily well-being naturally led
to worries about other matters. Kant was a worrier, but anxiety or worry that
causes distress was - and is — no harmless affliction. Kant's attempt to
overcome it by concentrating on matters at hand seems to be as relevant
today as it was then. Reflecting on such anxieties and worries seems only
to amplify them and is therefore self-defeating. Kant's own regimen was
perhaps just a simple and simple-minded form of mental hygiene, but it
is not uninteresting to observe that Kant found it necessary to engage in it.
It was an approach born of need, not of idleness. To try to engage in ac¬
tivities that are incompatible with the worries seems to be much more
productive in the long run. In any case, it turned out to be more produc¬
tive in Kant's case. Nor does it seem to be entirely unattractive. George
Bernard Shaw once said that the "true joy of life" was "the being used for
a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one, the being thoroughly
worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of
Nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances
complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy."
Kant's new character was born of similar considerations.
It was this revolution that made possible Kant's later achievements. It
was also the core of his mature philosophy. This does not mean that Kant
"mechanically ordered" his life so that he could create the body of his work.
Later, that is, after 1775, when he was over fifty, he began to worry about
whether he would have enough time to finish what he then believed he had
to say, but he did not have these worries in 1764, when he was not yet sure
what he really had to say. Did Kant deceive himself when he claimed that
he created his character, and that he consciously formulated his new maxims?
Were his views only rationalizations of processes that had nothing to do
with choice? Were these developments the beginning of the end of Kant's