A Palingenesis and Its Consequences 1631769, Kant received the official offer. He had to make his final decision,
which was negative. As he explained:Renewed and many powerful assurances, the appearance of a perhaps close vacancy
here, the attachment to my home town (Vaterstadt) and a very wide circle of acquain¬
tances and friends, but first and foremost my weak bodily constitution, suddenly rise
up in my mind so powerfully against the undertaking so that I can find peace of mind
only where I have so far always found it, even if under burdensome circumstances.^77
This reads like not just a decision not to go to Erlangen, but a maxim to
stay in Königsberg. He feigned "defects of character," which he hoped
would excuse him in Erlangen (and, of course, in Berlin), but it is clear
that he himself had come to terms with his lack of the spirit of adventure,
and that he was more than content to stay and to be who he was, a citizen
of the University of Königsberg.
A Literary Circle: "A Comedy of Five Acts"Perhaps as a result of living in the house of the bookseller Kanter, Kant
became part of "a literary circle which formed itself and to which the world
must perhaps be thankful for a number of reflections."^78 It was also called
"a learned society" or a "learned circle." Hippel said that its regular mem¬
bers were General {Oberstleutnant) von Lossow, who was the chairman, the
baroness of Thile, the president, Magister Kant, Herr and Frau Jacobi, and
the master of the mint, Goeschen. "Among the extra-ordinary members
there were — very many."^79 Hippel also claimed that he was at only one of
the meetings of the society. Some of the members of the society also met
less formally outside of the regular meetings, and with other friends. He
would have met most if not all of them on a number of occasions. Hippel's
ironic distance from this public society can be explained, at least to some
extent, by his own involvement with the more clandestine, but more po¬
litically motivated, club of the Freemasons. While Kant never joined their
ranks, many of his friends were members.
"Literary societies" were all the rage in Germany during the last third
of the eighteenth century. Most of them were similar to the larger and more
formal reading societies, which also existed throughout Germany. In the
absence of public libraries, reading societies were formed because books
and magazines were relatively expensive. Members of the reading societies
could read many more books, magazines, and newspapers than they other¬
wise could have afforded. Joint subscriptions were their main benefit, but