34 Kant: A Biography
time Kant was a famous philosopher, some people tried to argue that the
Kant family was destitute, but that never appears to have been the case.
Wasianski found it necessary to address the topic, saying that Kant's "par¬
ents were not rich, but not at all so poor that they had to suffer any need;
much less [is it true] that they were destitute or had to worry about food.
They earned enough to take care of their household and the education of
their children." He also pointed out that, though they received help from
others, it was not very significant.^34 While there was no "social safety net"
in today's sense of the term, the extended family looked out for its mem¬
bers and provided what was necessary.
Kant did not have much in common with his brother and sisters. He
was not very close to any of them. When, during the very last days of his
life, his sister Katharina Barbara came to nurse him, he was embarrassed
by her "simplicity," even though he was also grateful. With his only sur¬
viving brother, Johann Heinrich, who was born while Kant was already
attending the Collegium Fridericianum, he did not have much of a rela¬
tionship either. He hardly found time to answer his letters. This does not
mean that he did not scrupulously fulfill what he took to be his duties to¬
ward them. Indeed, it is clear that he supported them when they were in
need.^35 Even if he remained aloof, he never neglected his obligations to
his family.
Kant's parents were religious. They were deeply influenced by Pietism,
especially his mother, who followed the Pietistic beliefs and practices then
current in the circles of tradesmen and the less educated townspeople in
Königsberg. Pietism was a religious movement within the Protestant
churches of Germany. It was to a large extent a reaction to the formalism
of Protestant orthodoxy. Orthodox theologians and pastors placed great
emphasis on the so-called symbolic books, and they required strict verbal
adherence to their teaching. Anyone disagreeing with the traditional the¬
ological doctrines was harassed and persecuted. At the same time, they
were not overly interested in the spiritual or economic well-being of their
flock. Most of them had made comfortable arrangements with the local
gentry, and they were often disdainful of the simpler and less educated
people of the city. The Pietists, by contrast, emphasized the importance
of independent Bible study, personal devotion, the priesthood of the laity,
and a practical faith issuing in acts of charity. Pietism was an evangelical
movement, and it usually involved an insistence on a personal experience
of radical conversion or rebirth, and an abrogation of worldly success.^36
Pietists believed that salvation could be found only after one had under-