Prologue 23Of course, there is no guarantee that we will learn important and worth¬
while lessons from the study of any particular life. It would be a mistake,
I think, to fashion one's own life after the life of any historical figure, even
if this has been done by many who ended up becoming historical figures
in their own right. One cannot choose a life in the way one chooses a coat.
Yet there are many ways of life, and biographies can give us some insight
into their possible dangers and rewards. Kant's life was different from that
lived by many Romantics, by self-styled Nietzscheans, or by other modern
adventurers. Whether or not it was attractive, I have to leave to the reader.
I am sure it was more interesting than the caricatures still current today.
This introduction is followed by nine chapters. Chapter 1, "Childhood
and Early Youth (1724—1740)"; Chapter 2, "Student and Private Teacher
(1740-1755)"; Chapter 3, "The Elegant Magister (1755—1764)"; Chapter 4,
"A Palingenesis and Its Consequences (1764-1769)"; Chapter 5, "Silent
Years (1770-1780)"; Chapter 6, "'All-Crushing' Critic of Metaphysics
(1780-1784)"; Chapter 7, "Founder of a Metaphysics of Morals
(1784-1788)"; Chapter 8, "Problems with Religion and Politics (1788-
1795)"; and Chapter 9, "The Old Man (1796-1804)." I have tried to inte¬
grate the narrative of Kant's life and the development of his philosophy as
much as possible. The sections that provide more extensive summaries of
Kant's major works are clearly marked in the outline, and the reader more
interested in Kant's life than in the details of Kant's philosophy should be
able to avoid them, even though I do not think that this is a good idea.