The family of Kant was of Scotch extraction, the grandfather of the philosopher having been an emigrant from Scotland who had settled, first at Memel, and afterwards at Tilsit. The name Cant, as it was originally spelled, is not uncommon in the north of Scotland, whence the family is said to have come, and it is not perhaps mere fancy to trace in some of the ethical doctrines of the critical philosophy and in the personal character of its author some of the prominent features of Scottish nationality. The father of the philosopher carried on the business of a saddler in Königsberg, and in that town, on the 22d April 1724, was born Immanuel, the fourth of a large family, most of whom died at an early age. Königsberg was then somewhat noted as a stronghold of what is known as Pietism, a phase of religious thought and life which had in Germany, as elsewhere, too much that was unpleasing, but which nevertheless was capable of exercising a powerful influence for good on the development of a really strong and ample character. “Say what you will of Pietism,” writes Kant to his friend Rink, “no one can deny the real worth of the characters which it formed; they possessed the highest that man can possess —a peace, a cheerfulness, an inner harmony with self, which was disturbed by no passion.” To influences of this kind Kant was subjected in his early years, partly from his mother, for whose memory he ever cherished the warmest affection and regard, partly from his excellent friend and patron, Schulz, the director of the Collegium Fredericianum in Königsberg, and afterwards professor of theology in the university. At the Collegium Fredericianum Kant was entered in his tenth year, with the definite view of proceeding to the theological courses of the university. His inclination at this time, determined probably by the high character of his teachers, was towards classics, and he was recognized, with his schoolfellow, the afterwards celebrated David Ruhnken, as among the most competent and promising classical scholars of the college. His taste for the greater Latin authors, particularly Lucretius, was never lost, and he acquired through his school training an unusual facility in Latin composition. With Greek authors he does not appear to have been equally familiar.

During his university course, which began in 1740, Kant was principally attracted towards mathematics and physics, doubtless through the influence of Knutzen, who then, as extraordinary professor, lectured on most branches of mathematics and also on philosophy. The lectures on classics do not seem to have satisfied Kant, and, though he attended Schulz’s courses on theology, and even preached on one or two occasions, he appears finally to have given up the intention of entering the church. The last years of his university studies were much disturbed by the straitened means of his family, and he was compelled to have recourse to private teaching of the humblest kind. The death of his father, in 1746, destroyed his hopes of remaining at the university until he should have obtained some subordinate academic post. Much against his inclination he undertook the office of private tutor, and for nine years acted in this capacity in various families in the immediate neighbourhood of Königsberg. Although the life was not one which Kant would have chosen, and one for which he was not specially qualified—as he used to say regarding the excellent precepts of his Pedagogics, he was never able to apply them—yet it gave him an extended knowledge of the world, and added to his other accomplishments the grace and polish of refined society, which he displayed ever afterwards to a degree somewhat unusual in a philosopher by profession.

In 1755 Kant returned to Königsberg as tutor in the family of Count Kayserling. By the kindness of a friend named Richter, he was enabled again to take up his university career, and in autumn of that year he graduated as doctor and qualified as “Privatdocent.” Two of the theses publicly defended on the occasion are printed in his works; an address, on the easier and harder styles of philosophical exposition, has not been publishe'd. For fifteen years he continued to labour in this subordinate position, his fame as writer and lecturer steadily increasing. On two occasions he was disappointed in the hope of obtaining a professorship in his own university, but during this time, as in later years, he refused all offers that would have withdrawn him from Königsberg. The only academic preferment received by him during the lengthy probation was the post of underlibrarian, to which he was appointed in 1766. His lectures, at first mainly upon physics, gradually expanded until nearly all descriptions of philosophy were included under them. A most interesting programme of his courses on metaphysics, logic, ethics, and physical geography for the session 1765-66 has been printed in his works (i. 289- 299). The history of his literary activity during this period will be given in connexion with the notice of his writings.

In 1770 he obtained the chair of logic and metaphysics at Königsberg, and delivered as his inaugural address the dissertation De Mundi Sensibilis et Iηtelligibilis Forma et Principiis. Eleven years later appeared the Kritik of Pure Reason, the work towards which he had been steadily advancing, and of which all his later writings are developments.

In 1783 he published the Prologomena, intended as an introduction to the Kritik, which had been found to stand in need of some explanatory comment. A second edition of the Kritik, with some modifications, appeared in 1787, after which it remained unaltered.

In spite of its frequent obscurity, its novel terminology, and its declared opposition to prevailing systems, the Kantian philosophy made rapid progress in Germany. In the course of ten or twelve years from the publication of the Kritik of Pure Reason, it was expounded in all the leading universities, and it even penetrated into the schools of the Church of Rome. Such men as Schulze in Königsberg, Kiesewetter in Berlin, Jakob in Halle, Born and Heydenreich in Leipsic, Reinhold and Schmid in Jena, Buhle in Göttingen, Tennemann in Marburg, and Snell in Giessen, with many others, made it the basis of their philosophical teaching, while theologians like Tieftrunk, Stäudlin, and Ammon -eagerly applied it to Christian doctrine and morality. Young men flocked to Königsberg as to a shrine of philosophy. The Prussian Government even undertook the expense of their support. Kant was hailed by some as a second Messiah. He was consulted as an oracle on all questions of casuistry,—as, for example j on the lawfulness of inoculation for the small-pox. This universal homage for a long time left Kant unaffected; it was only in his later years that he spoke of his system as the limit of philosophy, and resented all further progress. He still pursued his quiet round of lecturing and authorship, and contributed from time to time papers to the literary journals. Of these, among the most remarkable was his review of Herder’s Philosophy of History, which greatly exasperated that author, and led to a violent act of retaliation some years after in his Metakritik of Pure Reason. Schiller at this period in vain sought to engage Kant upon his Horen. He remained true to the Berlin Journal, in which most of his criticisms appeared.

In 1792 Kant, in the full height of his reputation, was involved in a painful collision with the Government on the question of his religious doctrines. Wöllner had replaced Von Zedlitz as minister of spiritual affairs, and, in an age peculiarly lax and heterodox, an unwise attempt was made to apply a rigid censorship to works of philosophical theology. It was not wonderful that the philosophy of Kant had excited the declared opposition of all adherents of historical Christianity, since its plain tendency was towards a moral rationalism, and it-could not by any process of interpretation be reconciled to the literal doctrines of the Lutheran Church. It would have been much better to permit his exposition of the philosophy of religion to enjoy the same literary rights as his earlier works, since Kant could not be interdicted without first silencing a multitude of theologians who were at least equally separated from positive Christianity. The Government, however, judged otherwise; and after the first part of his book, On Religion within the Limits of Reason alone, had appeared in the Berlin Journal, the publication of the remainder, which treats in a more rationalizing style of the peculiarities of Christianity, was forbidden. Kant, thus shut out from Berlin, availed himself of his local* privilege, and, with the. sanction of the theological faculty of his own university, published the full work in Königsberg. The Government, who were probably as much influenced by hatred and fear of the French Revolution, of which Kant was supposed to be a partisan, as by love of orthodoxy, resented the act; and a secret cabinet order was received by him intimating the displeasure of the king, Frederick William II., and exacting from him a pledge not to lecture or write at all on religious subjects in future. With this mandate Kant, after a struggle, complied, and kept his engagement till 1797, when the death of the king, according to his construction of his promise, set him free. This incident, however, produced a very unfavourable effect on his spirits. He withdrew in 1794 from society; next year he gave up all his classes but one public lecture on logic or metaphysics; and in 1797, before the removal of the interdict on his theological teaching, he ceased altogether his public labours, after an academic course of forty-two years. He previously, in the same year, finished his treatises on the Metaphysics of Ethics, which, with his Anthropology, completed in 1798, were the last considerable works that he revised with his own hand. His Lectures on Logic, on Physical Geography, on Paedagogics, were edited during his lifetime by his friends and pupils. By way of asserting his right to resume theological disquisition, he also issued in 1798 his Strife of the Faculties, in which all the strongest points of his work on religion were urged afresh, and the correspondence that had passed between himself and his censors was given to the world.

From the date of his retirement from the chair Kant declined in strength, and gave tokens of intellectual decay. His memory began to fail, and a large work at which he wrought night and day, on the connexion between physics and metaphysics, was found to be only a repetition of his already published doctrines. After 1802, finding himself attacked with a weakness in the limbs, attended with frequent fits of falling, he mitigated a little the Spartan severity of his life, and also consented to receive medical advice. A constant restlessness oppressed him; his sight gave way; his conversation became an extraordinary mixture of metaphors; and it was only at intervals that gleams of his former power broke out, especially when some old chord of association was struck in natural science or physical geography. A few days before his decease, with a great effort he thanked his medical attendant for his visits in the words, “I have not yet lost my feeling for humanity.” On the 12th of February 1804, he breathed his last, having almost completed the eightieth year of his age.

It is superfluous to characterize the genius of Kant; but a few words may be added as to his personal appearance and habits of life, study, and teaching. His stature was small, and his appearance feeble. He was little more than 5 feet high; his breast was almost concave, and, like Schleiermacher, he was deformed in the right shoulder. His hair was light, his complexion fresh, his forehead high and square, while his eye of light blue showed an expression of unusual depth and power. His senses were quick and delicate; and, though of weak constitution, he escaped, by strict regimen, all serious illness till the close of life.

His life was arranged with mechanical regularity; and, as he never married, he kept the habits of his studious youth to old age. His man-servant awoke him summer and winter at five o’clock; and, on being appealed to on one occasion, testified that Kant had not once failed in thirty years to respond to the call. After rising he studied for two hours, then lectured other two, and spent the rest of the forenoon, till one, at his desk. He then dined at a restaurant, which* he frequently changed, to avoid the influx of strangers, who crowded to see and hear him— till in later years his growing means enabled him to invite a friend or two daily to his own home. This was his only regular meal; and, as he loved the ducere caenam of the Romans, he often prolonged the conversation till late in the afternoon. He then walked out for at least an hour in all weathers, and spent the evening in lighter reading, except an hour or two devoted to the preparation of his next day’s lectures, after which he retired between nine and ten to rest. The furniture of his house was of the simplest character; and, though he left a considerable sum, the produce of his writings, to his relatives, he indulged in no luxury, and was a pattern of that superiority to fashion and appearance so often met within the literary life of Germany. In his earlier years he often spent his evenings in general society, where his overflowing knowledge and conversational talents made him the life of every party. He was especially intimate with the families of two English merchants of the name of Green and Motherby, where he found many opportunities of meeting ship-captains, and other travelled persons, and thus gratifying his passion for physical geography. This social circle included also the celebrated Hamann—the Magus or Wizard of the North—the friend of Herder and Jacobi, who was thus a mediator between Kant and these philosophical adversaries.

Kant’s reading was of the most extensive and miscellaneous kind. He cared comparatively little for the history of speculation, being in this department more a discoverer than a scholar. But his acquaintance with books of science, general history, travels, and belles lettres was boundless. He was well versed in English literature, chiefly of the age of Queen Anne, and had read English philosophy from Locke to Hume, and the Scottish school. He was at home in Voltaire and Rousseau, but had little or no acquaintance with the French sensational philosophy. He was familiar with all German literature up to the date of his Kritik, but ceased to follow it in its great development by Goethe and Schiller. It was his habit to obtain books in sheets from his publishers Kanter and Nicolovius; and he read over for many years all the new works in their catalogue, in order to keep abreast of universal knowledge. He was excessively fond of newspapers and works on politics; aiìd this was the only kind of reading that could interrupt his studies in philosophy.

As a lecturer, Kant avoided altogether that rigid style in which his books were written, and which was only meant for thinkers by profession. He sat behind a low desk, with a few jottings on slips of paper, or text-books marked on the margin, before him, and delivered an extemporaneous address, opening up the subject by partial glimpses, and with many digressions and interspersed anecdotes or familiar illustrations, till a complete idea of it was presented. His voice was extremely weak, but sometimes rose into eloquence, and always commanded perfect silence. Like Adam Smith, he fixed his eye on one student, and marked by his countenance whether the lecture was understood. The least irregularity in the appearance or dress of this selected hearer disconcerted him; and the story is well known of the missing button, which defeated a lecture. Though kind to his students, he refused on principle to remit their fees, as this, he thought, would discourage independence. It was another principle that his chief exertions should be bestowed on the intermediate class of talent, as the geniuses would help themselves, and the dunces were beyond remedy. Hence he never delivered his deeper doctrines, such as are found in his Kritik, from the chair. His other avocations allowed him little personal intercourse with his numerous hearers, and he often complained of the want of lively sympathy and ascertained progress inseparable from such a system.

Simple, honourable, truthful, kind-hearted, and high-minded as Kant was in all moral respects, he was somewhat deficient in the region of sentiment. He had little enthusiasm for the beauties of nature, and indeed never sailed out into the Baltic, or travelled more than 40 miles from Königsberg. Music he disregarded, and all poetry that w as more than sententious prose. His ethics have been reproached with some justice as setting up too low an ideal for the female sex. Though faithful in a high degree to the duties of friendship, he could not bear to visit his friends in sickness, and after their death he repressed all allusion to their memory. His engrossing intellectual labours no doubt tended somewhat to harden his character; and in his zeal for rectitude of purpose he forgot the part which affection and sentiment must ever play in the human constitution. Those who count these defects most grave will yet find much to admire in the lofty tone of his character, and in the benevolence which could thus express itself: “Whoever will suggest to me a good action left undone, him will I thank, though he suggest it even in my last hour !”

This brief notice of his life may appropriately close with Herder’s beautiful sketch of Kant’s character, all the more interesting that it was written in 1795, after their quarrel: —“I have had the good fortune to know a philosopher who was my teacher. In the vigour of life he had the same youthful gaiety of heart that now follows him I believe into old age. His open forehead, built for thought, was the seat of imperturbable cheerfulness and joy; the most pregnant discourse flowed from his lips; wit, humour, and raillery came to him at will, and his instructions had all the charm of an entertainment. With the same easy mastery with which he tested the doctrines of Leibnitz, Wolf, Baumgarten, Crusius, and Hume, or pursued the discoveries of Newton, Kepler, and other lights of science, he also took up the current writings of Rousseau, such as the Émile or Héloise, or any new phenomenon of the natural world, and from the criticism of each came back to the impartial study of nature, and to the enforcement of the dignity of man. History in all its branches, natural science, physics, mathematics, and experience were the materials that gave interest to his lectures and his conversation; nothing worthy of study was to him indifferent; no faction or sect, no selfishness or vanity, had for him the least attraction, compared with the extension and elucidation of truth. He excited and pleasantly impelled us to mental independence; despotism was foreign to his nature. This man, whom I name with the deepest gratitude and respect, is Immanuel Kant; his image rises before me surrounded with pleasing recollections !”

The Writings of Kant.

From the preceding sketch of Kant’s academic activity it must be evident that he combined in a quite unusual degree knowledge of physical science with speculative acuteness and devotion to the special work of philosophy. No other thinker of modern times has been throughout his work so penetrated with the fundamental conceptions of physical science; no other has been able to hold with such firmness the balance between empirical and speculative ideas. Beyond all question much of the influence which the critical philosophy has exercised and continues to exercise must be ascribed to this characteristic feature in the training of its great author.

The early writings of Kant are almost without exception on questions of physical science. It was only by degrees that philosophical problems began to engage his attention, and that...