(854). 
: 
{May 1, 
"MEMOIRS OF EMINENT PERSONS. 
MEMOIRS or IMMANUEL KANT. 
MMANUEL Kant, the-lubjec&t of the 
{ prefent memoir, known, and fo highly 
efteemed, on the continent for his metaphy- 
fical acutenels, was bofn the 22d of April, 
1724, at Konigfberg, in Proffia, near the 
Saddle-ftreet, in the fuburts. His parents 
held a refpectable though not high rank 
in life, bis father being a fadler, of the 
name of John George Kant. The latter, 
though born at Memel, originally defcend- 
ed from a Scotch tamily, who {pelt their 
names with a C, which our_philoiopher 
in early life converted intoa K, as more 
conformable to German orihdgraphy. 
His mother, whofe maiden name was Re- 
gina Dorothea Reuter, was born in Nurn- 
berg. Kant’s parents were married in 
the year 1715; from which marriage 
fprung fx children—four daughters and 
two ions. © The firft-born, a daughter, 
Gied in her childhood; the ficond, our 
Kant, was born in the ninth year of their 
marnage; his brother, who died fome 
years ago, a minitter, in Courland, and lett 
~'a large family behind, was the youngett; 
his, fitters who married perfons of their 
own condition, are fill living in Konigs- 
berg. His mother died in 1737, when 
Kant was thirteen years cid, and his fa- 
ther in 1746. -- 
Of the firit years in Kant’s life little is 
known to clucidate the formation of ‘his 
charaéier. To his father he was indébted 
for the firieit integrity and the greatett 
induftry ; but he had neither time nor abi- 
lities to be his inftiuGor. From his mo- 
ther, a woman of great fenfe and uncom- 
mon piety, he imbibed warm fentiments- 
of devotion, which left to the lateit periods 
of his life the ftrongeft and mcf veverential 
imprefhons of -her memory en his mind. 
This doubtlefs had no {mall fhare in 
awakening thofe powers of reficcticn which 
other concuriibg circumfiances aiterwards 
ripened to maturity, 
Kant received his firftt infiruction in 
reading and writing at the charity {chcol 
in his parifh, which was then mof fuit- 
able to the circumfiances of his parents. 
It is however moft probable that the early 
indications he gave of talcnt and inclina- 
tion to learn induced his maternal uncle, 
2 wealthy fhoemaker, named Richter, to 
defray the expence of his farther eduea- 
_ tion and ftudies. 
From fhis {chool he proceeded to the col. 
lege Fridericianum, where the well-known 
Purtan, Schifiert, was the head-.eacher ;. 
.ftructer. 
after which, in the year 3740, to the’ 
univerfity. Here bis fir teacher was 
Martin Knutzen, who was then in high 
repute for his talents -as.a writer and in- 
He was ttrongly attached to this 
teacher, wha devoted himielf with no lefs 
zeal to the initruction of his pupil, and 
contributed very greatly to the unfolding 
his talents. He alfo attended the legtures 
of Mr. Tefke, on Bailofophy and the Ma- 
thematics, and thofe of Dr. Schulz, ‘ano- 
ther famous Puritan,.om Theology. If he 
had any favourite ftudy at, the univerfity 
it was that of the mathematies, and the 
branches of natural philofophy immedi- 
ately conneéted with them, but he direét- 
ed his object towards acquiring univerfal 
“, 
information. a 
On the completion of his ftudies he ac- 
cepted a fituation as tutor, in a clergy- 
man’s family, fome diftance from Konigf- 
berg, and afterwards a fimilar ene in the 
houfe of a Mr. Von Hulfon, in ArmfWorf, 
which he in a fhort time exchanged for 
that of Count Kaiferlingk’s. He iulfilled 
his duty as a tutor, according to his own 
confeffion fince, by no means to his fatif- 
faction. He was too much cecupied with 
acquiring and digefing knowledge in his - 
own mind, to be able to communicate the 
rudiments of it to others. .‘* I always 
valued (he ufed to fay) the a&t of inftru&- 
ing young people, but I never could level 
mylelf to their infant capacities.” 
After beine nine years tutor he return. 
to Konigfbeng, and maintained himfelf by 
private initruction, that he might be read 
to embrace the firt opportunity that pA 
fered of being intrcduced into the univer- . 
fity. ; , 
In 1746, when only twenty-two yeats 
of age, he began his literary career with a 
{mall work, entitled ** Thoughts on the. 
Eftimation of the Animal Powers, with 
Strictuies on the ‘Proofs advanced by 
Leibnitz and other Mathematicians on 
this Point, to which are annexed Various 
Refle&tions ‘on the Powers of Botiés in 
General.”” He fets out with maintaining 
and joftifying his right of epinion as an 
independent thinking being, and follows 
up this principle with differing from Leib- 
nitz, Wolf, Hermann, Bulfinger, &c. on 
this particular. midi Tose a 
In 1754 appeared, ** An Examination 
of the Prize Queftion of the Berlin Se- 
ciety—whether the Earth in turning round 
its Axis, by which the fucceffion of Day 
and Night was produced, had undergone 
any 
