Student and Private Teacher 77English culture, and English philosophy (Scholae Anglicana linguae hujus
culturam cum philosophia copulabit).^6 ^ He also taught philosophy and gave
lectures on Pope (mainly for money).^67 Lindner, one of Kant's friends, is
known to have learned English from him. Hamann liked him and was close
to him. Kant's love of Pope seems to date back to this period, and it ap¬
pears that it was Rappolt who first acquainted him with Pope. It is also
possible that Kant got to know other British authors through him.^68 While
we do not know definitely that Kant took Rappolt's courses, we must as¬
sume that he took at least those of Ammon, Teske, and Knutzen. Since
Kant in 1741 was already tutoring Heilsberg and others on the material of
the courses given by Ammon, Knutzen, and Teske, we may assume not only
that he had attended their lectures, but also that he attended them very early
in his studies.^69
Ammon was a lecturer {Privatdozent) in mathematics. He began as an
Aristotelian, but had moved closer to Wolff long before Kant entered the
university.^70 His Lineae primae eruditionis humanae in usum auditorii duc-
tae, which appeared in 1737, was a short summary of the subjects that
students had to master in the philosophical curriculum. Being more eclec¬
tic than narrowly Aristotelian or Wolffian, it was adopted as a textbook in
a number of lecture courses. Because Ammon died in 1742, Kant could
not have tutored many times for Ammon's courses. Nevertheless, through
Ammon he would have been exposed to the approach of the Aristotelians,
even if he never went to the lectures of any other Aristotelian. Kraus did
not have a high opinion of Ammon, saying that having seen a mathemati¬
cal tract of his, he could only call him a dilettante (Stümper).^71 Whether
that distinguished him from Kant's other teachers is difficult to say.
Teske, who had received his position at least partially as a result of efforts
by Lysius and Rogall, taught both theoretical and experimental physics.^72
While he did not have as rigorous a training in science as Rappolt did, he
was close to Pietism. Borowski spoke highly of him, describing him as a
good teacher and person. At Kant's promotion to Magister, Teske said that
he had learned a great deal from Kant's dissertation.^73 While Borowski
claimed that Kant considered the memory of this man "holy," Kraus, who
should have known better, maintained that Kant had "a low opinion of Teske
and rightfully so."^74
Teske worked mainly on problems concerning electricity. He was said
to have been one of the first scientists to claim that "electrical fire" was
identical to the "material of lightning." He was proud to say that some of