158 Kant: A Biographyunderstood that the maxim of putting aside regularly smaller amounts of
money has more significant rewards than trying to save large amounts late
in life. In any case, these developments must be seen against a stark economic
background. Prussia was affected in 1763 by a severe financial crisis, which
had started in Holland. Even before there had been inflation in Prussia,
caused by Prussia's debasement of its currency to pay for the Seven-Year
War. The economy basically was stagnant, and it did not get better until
the seventies. In 1763, food was so scarce in Berlin that people stood in
long lines at the entrances of the bakeries "and fought terribly about the
half-baked bread, which was of inferior quality.^53
Those who had to live on fixed incomes were especially severely affected
by these developments. Though Kant did not live on a fixed income, he
did have to live on the fees paid by students, and there were fewer students
in the sixties and seventies than there had been in the fifties. Nonetheless,
the financial situation in Königsberg was not as bad as it was in Berlin,
because Königsberg was much more closely tied to Poland and the other
eastern European countries. Still, the citizens of Königsberg were not
helped by the developments in Berlin. There can be little doubt that Kant
had to live much more frugally during most of the sixties than during the
time of the Russian occupation, or after he became a full professor in 1770.
Money, as we have seen, was never unimportant to Kant, but it was par¬
ticularly important between 1762 and 1764.
On November 11,1764, a large fire broke out in Königsberg, which lasted
a week and destroyed 369 houses, 49 warehouses, and the Löbenicht church.
It also took many lives. The fire may have been a case of arson. Its devas¬
tation reminded all of the citizens of Königsberg, including Kant, how
precarious life really is.^54
Kant's Method of Teaching:
"The Genuine Method in Philosophy is Zetetic"During 1764 there were several indications that Kant's name had begun
to be noticed. Not only had his works received good reviews, but they were
also discussed seriously at other universities. One sign of this was a dis¬
putation by a Magister Cleß at Tübingen, which was sent to Kant late in
- Ploucquet had presided at the defense. One half of the book was simply
the Kantian text. In the other half, Kant was "interpreted, supplemented,
and sometimes refuted with great respect."^5 "^1 More importantly, there was
official recognition from Berlin. In August of 1764 the university received