i8 Kant: A Biographyis sometimes claimed. His Kant is to a large extent the reflection of his
own views on culture and politics. Though he was careful, he overlooked
certain aspects of the research that preceded his work. Furthermore, new
material has been discovered. The recent work of Reinhard Brandt, Werner
Euler, Heiner Klemme, Riccardo Pozzo, Werner Stark, Hans-Joachim
Waschkies, and others has contributed to a better understanding of the
externals of Kant's life. While we are still not in a position to understand
completely Kant's role in the administration of the University of Königs¬
berg, we do know more than Vorländer knew or was willing to reveal. Finally,
a better understanding of the historical background of eighteenth-century
Prussia makes it necessary to revise some of the claims that Vorländer and
his predecessors have taken as being obviously true. Kant scholarship of¬
ten relies — at least implicitly — on a certain picture of Kant, the man. A
biography that takes into account the new evidence and the different con¬
cerns of readers almost a century later is long overdue.
This is especially true in the English-speaking world. Apart from J. W. H.
Stuckenberg's dated The Life of Immanuel Kant of 1882, there exist only
two recent translations of foreign titles, namely Ernst Cassirer's Kant's Life
and Thought (from the German) and Gulyga's Immanuel Kant and His Life
and Thought (from the Russian).^62 Stuckenberg wrote his biography long
before many of the most important independent sources for a complete
life of Kant were available. When he wrote, there existed no full edition of
Kant's letters, of his reflections, or of his lectures. Nor was there much of
the correspondence of Hamann and Herder available to him. Numerous
other sources have been opened up since he wrote. While Stuckenberg's
book still reads well, it does not satisfy the standards that must be applied
today. Cassirer's biography, on the other hand, "does not dwell on the
minutiae of Kant's life."^63 In other words, it does not say very much about
Kant's life, concentrating almost entirely on his thought and his published
writings. It is more a popular account of Kant's philosophical develop¬
ment than a thoroughgoing biography. Gulyga's biography might be the
best available in English, but it is not widely available. This well-written
life of Kant was intended for the Russian reader. It provides a welcome an¬
tidote to the other two biographies available in English, but because it is
written from a perspective that is somewhat foreign to the English reader,
it does not always further our understanding of Kant's life and work. Fur¬
thermore, it is not always reliable, and it overemphasizes the connections
between Kant and Russian thought.