Kant’s Life: Friends and Acquaintances

“If Kant ever betrayed a deep knowledge of human nature,
it was especially in his friendships.”

— Jachmann [1804, 91-92]

[This page is entirely a work-in-progress]

As with most people, Kant’s circle of friends changed over the years. The following friends are grouped by occupation or social world, some appearing on more than one list. Those with an asterisk (*) studied under Kant at the university; those with a (TF) were a regular Tischfreund or dinner guest of Kant’s,⁠ Several lists are provided in the early accounts, the best known being Jachmann [1804, 146-47]. Kant did not install a cook and kitchen until Easter 1787 (our first report of Kant dining at his house) and so any of his friends who died before then would necessarily be excluded from this group of “dinner friends.” and those with an asterisk (TF*) are those who attended the first “Freunde Kant Gesellschaft” on 22 April 1805.

From childhood

David Ruhnken (1723-1798) [bio]

Johannes Cunde (1724 or 1725-1759)

[Sources] [Hide Sources]
Borowski: “Ganz unstrittig den berühmt gewordenen Rhunkenius und nebst diesem den unberühmt gebliebenen Rastenburgschen Rector Cunde…” [Reicke 1860, 31].
Wald: mentions Ruhnken, Trummer, and Kypke; but not Cunde. [Reicke 1860, 6]
Wald: “He interacted […] with his school friend Cunde (who was able to say at his entrance into the rectorate in Rastenburg: Haec schola me non capit)” [Reicke 1860, 11].

Cunde was born in in Freitz, by Schlawe, and attended the school there (with David Ruhnken) for a few years. They both ended up at the Collegium Fridericianum in Königsberg, Cunde arrived on Michaelis 1735 (as an “Under Second”) – nine semesters after Kant and Ruhnken – and matriculated at the university at Easter 1741 [Gotthold 1853].

Georg David Kypke (1724-1779)[uni]

[Sources] [Hide Sources]
Wald:

Theodor Michael Freytag (1725-1790)[uni]

[Sources][Hide Sources]
University Matriculation: [23 Mar 1744] “Freytag Theodor. Mich., Allenburg. Boruss.” [Erler 1911, 2: 404]
Hamann (letter to Lindner, 4 Aug 1756): “Wolfson seems to live very happily; I was once with him in Schulz‘s garden where I found Magister Kant, Herr Schultz, Freytag, and Prof. Kypke. The latter now lodges in their house and keeps his own business now, in which he has increased a lot.” [Briefwechsel, 1: 226]
Kant (28 Oct 1759, Letter to Lindner): “Herr Freytag Prof: Kypke D. Funck alles was sie kennt und eben darum lebt grüßen sie aufs verbindlichste.” [Herr Freytag, Prof. Kypke, Dr. Funck – everyone who knows and therefore loves you – send their sincerest greetings.]
Borowski: “Pf. Freytag in Neuhausen, den er, da er noch Schul-College an der Domschule war, öfters besuchte” [Reicke 1860, 31]. [Neuhausen (now: Guryevsk) was a village about 10 km northeast of Königsberg.]
Arnoldt: “17. Theodor Michael Freytag, sollte dem vorigen adjungiret werden [i.e., assistant to Georg Daniel Fischer, in the church at Neuhausen], da derselbe aber indessen starb, ward er als würklicher Pfarrer 1767 den 15. Jan ordinirt, und an dem 4. Sonntage nach Epiphan. von dem adjungirten Oberhofprediger D. Langhansen introduciret. Er ist zu Allenburg geb. 1725 den 13. Sept. und war vorhin seit 1748 College der Thumschule in Königsberg gewesen.” [Arnoldt 1777, 38]
Wald: “He interacted […] with his school colleague Freitag (who died as a pastor in Neuhausen)” [Reicke 1860, 11].

Theodor Michael Freytag taught at the Kneiphof school, then pastor in Neuhausen (1767).

Christoph Friedrich Heilsberg (1726-1807)[govt] [bio]

[Sources][Hide Sources]
Wald: Among his academic comrades he identified Privy-Finance-Councilor Wlömer and the War-Councilors Heilsberg and Kallenberg [Reicke 1860, 7].
Wald: “He had a special fondness for the Lithuanians because his first school friends, Wlömer and Heilsberg, were natives of Lithuania and he came to believe that every Lithuanian seldom laughed and favored satire.” [Reicke 1860, 11]

Johann Gerhard Trummer (1729-1793)[physician] [bio]

[Sources] [Hide Sources]
University Matriculation Records (two individuals, each with two entries):
[11 Nov 1736] “Trummer Pa. Hnr., Regiomonte-Boruss., beneficiis renunciat, vide p. 630” [Erler 1911, 2: 369]
[11 Nov 1736] “Trummer Joh. Gerhard., Regiomonte-Boruss., beneficiis renunciat, vide p. 653” [Erler 1911, 2: 369]
[19 Sep 1740] “Trummer Pa. Hnr., Regiomonte-Pruss.” [Erler 1911, 2: 385]
[26 Sep 1742] “Trummer Joh. Gerhard, Regiomonte-Boruss., ius Academicum repetiit”.[Erler 1911, 2: 397]
Anon, Lehrer und Abiturienten des Königlichen Friedrichs-Kollegiums: “Michalmas 1740: Phil. Ephr. Beggerow, Friedr. Wllh. Fischer, Jac. Ohr1st. Gerich, Gottfr. Herrmann, Friedr. Ludw. Bickmann, Emanuel Kandt, Joh. Christ. Mahraun, Joh. Levin Porsch, Christ. Simon, David Wüsthub, Joh. Gottl. Trummer.” [Ellendt 1898, 5]
Borowski: “But our Kant was diligent in the strictest sense of the word (I know this through several of his classmates, Dr. Trummer, Prof. Kypke, Rector Cunde, etc.).” [Borowski 1804, 26].
–– : “Among his comrades with whom he interacted more closely and allowed himself hours of relaxation were Wlömer, the subsequent [30] Finance-Councilor; then Heilsberg, Councilor of War and of the Treasury [Kriegs- und Domänenrath], and Dr. Trummer.” [Borowski 1804, 29-30]
–– : “(except for a few pills for constipation, prescribed by his school friend Doctor Trummer).” [Borowski 1804, 111]
–– : “He was very sorry to see his friends torn from him by death and carefully inquired about their condition while they were ill, but he did not gladly visit a sick person. He made an exception with Dr. Trummer, whom he visited twice.” [Borowski 1804, 129]
Gotthold: “Johann Gottlieb Trummer was a student of the Fridericianum from Michaelmas 1736 – where he became a lower-second and Kant's classmate – until Michaelmas 1740, when he entered the university along with Kant. After completing his studies, he settled as a physician in Königsberg, soon acquired a very extensive practice, and his benevolent character earned him the most honorable reputation. He died in 1793. Kant retained the informal ‘Du’ only with Trummer, who was also his physician.” [Gotthold 1853, 248]
Hasse: “Then he went to the parlor to take his digestive pills (called Trummer’s pills by a friend and physician, Dr. Trummer, who advised him to take them).” [Hasse 1804, 39].
Heilsberg: “The current Minister of War, Kallenberg in Ragnit, gave Kant free lodging and considerable support when Wlömer left for Berlin. From the late Dr. Trummer, whom he also instructed, he received much help, but more still from his relative, the manufacturer Richter, who paid the costs for the magister degree.” [Reicke 1860, 48]
Jachmann: “Even his one academic friend and Du-brother known to me, the now long deceased Doctor Trummer in Königsberg, could not [11] give me any information about this.” [Jachmann 1804, 10-11]
–– : “On the advice of his friend Trummer, for years he took a pill each day to help with his constipation.” [Jachmann 1804, 69]
–– : “None of his childhood friends are known to me other than Doctor Trummer, with whom he nevertheless did not seem to have formed a [76] special friendship.” [Jachmann 1804, 75-76]
Kraus: “I was out walking once with Kant when Trummer greeted him, and he told me afterwards about their informal address and that he did not like it at all, but that unfortunately he could no longer change it.” [Reicke 1860, 6]
William Motherby(?): “His sedentary way of life, especially in a very stooped position of the body, had constantly caused him [204] more or less constipation, against which he had needed laxative pills, especially with aloe added, from his old friend and brother, the late Dr. Trummer.” [Jachmann 1804, 203-4]
Rink: “Once back home he would take some digestive pills that were tasty and he liked to eat; these were recommended by one of his older acquaintances, a certain Doctor Trummer” [Rink 1805, 84].
Johann Schultz: [as to Kant’s school friends] “As far as I know, Prof. Ruhnke and Dr. Trummer, with whom he used ‘Du’ until the end.” [qtd. in Reicke 1860, 37]
Wald: “the beloved local physician Dr. Trummer, with whom he used the informal address until the end.” [Reicke 1860, 6]
Wasianski: “Kant was proud of the fact that he did not need any medicine, but he always overlooked the fact that he used some daily, namely three and later four pills, […] which the late Dr. Trummer, his school friend and the only one with whom he said Du, [189] had recommended to him.” [Wasianski 1804, 188-89]
Wlömer (in a 30 Jan 1790 letter to Kant): “Give my best to Dr. Trummer and all our friends who kindly remember me.” [AA 11: 130]

Johann Heinrich Wlömer (1728-1797)[govt] [bio]

[Sources][Hide Sources]
University Matriculation: [30 Sep 1741] “Wlömer Joh. Hnr., Pilkallen. Boruss., theol. cultor. ex schola Cniphofiana sive cathedrali dimissus, stip. manu.” [Erler 1911, 2: 392]
Wald: Among his academic comrades he identified Privy-Finance-Councilor Wlömer and the War-Councilors Heilsberg and Kallenberg [Reicke 1860, 7].
Wald: “He had a special fondness for the Lithuanians because his first school friends, Wlömer and Heilsberg, were natives of Lithuania and he came to believe that every Lithuanian seldom laughed and favored satire.” [Reicke 1860, 11]
Jachmann: “He also often mentioned the late Privy-Finance-Councilor Wlömer as his best friend from his youth, and even in old age nurtured the most tender friendship for and maintained a friendly correspondence.” [Jachmann 1804, 76]

Despite enrolling in the theology faculty, Wlömer eventually switched to law, served as a Privy Finance Councilor in Berlin, and belonged to the Enlightenment-promoting “Wednesday Society.”

Christoph Bernhard Kallenberg

[Sources][Hide Sources]
University Matriculation: [2 May 1746] “Kallenberg. Christoph. Bernhard. Kusso-Litthvan. Boruss.” [Erler 1911, 2: 416]
Wald: Among his academic comrades he identified Privy-Finance-Councilor Wlömer and the War-Councilors Heilsberg and Kallenberg [Reicke 1860, 7].

Gave Kant free lodging after Wlömer left for Berlin.

From the merchant class

Jean Claude Toussaint (1709-1774)

French merchant and father-in-law to Robert Motherby; business partner with Jean Claude Lavel. Mellin [1804, 1: 149, 151] claimed that Toussaint was Kant’s closest friend – his only friend in the sense of a “moral friendship.” This is a remarkable claim with no further support and about which Rink comments:

Herr Toussant, probably Herr Business-Councilor Touissaint, is mentioned (p. 151) as Kant's only friend in the fullest sense of the word, and indeed the deceased appreciated this worthy man, as everyone must appreciate him who knows him, even if only from afar; but he himself would have been surprised to read this passage, and will gladly concede the closer right of Kant’s friendship to Herr Green and his late brother-in-law, Herr Motherby. [Rink 1805, 145-46]

Johann Conrad Jacobi (1717-1774) [bio]

Geheimen Commerzienrat. Married (1752) and divorced (1768) Charlotta Schwinck (below). Uncle to his heir Friedrich Conrad Jacobi (below).

Joseph Green (1727-1786) [bio]

Business partner with Robert Motherby.

Friedrich Franz Saturgus (1728-1810)

Kommerzienrat und Negotianten.

Peter Heinrich Hüge (died 1788)

Kant was said to visit Hüge’s estate at Prilacken, 18 km north-west of Königsberg, near Wiekau (now: Kolossowka, Russia). His park was reminiscent of the Wilhelmshöhe near Kassel [Dohna 1993, 89]. [Reusch 1848b, 365; Vorländer 1924, 1: 123].

Johann Christoph Berens (1729-1792)

Born in Riga to a patrician family, studied law at the university in Königsberg (1748-51), matriculating 10 Aug 1748, which is when we think Kant left Königsberg to work as a Hofmeister, so the two might have become acquainted until after 1754, and in 1759 Johann Georg Hamann has dedicated his Socratische Denkwürdigkeiten (1759) to “den Zween” (i.e., Kant and Berens), whom Hamann compared to Socrates and Alcibiades. Apart from Berens’ work as a merchant, he had strong literary interests, editing the weekly periodical Daphne (1750), with contributions from Hamann.

Robert Motherby (1736-1801) [bio]

Business partner with Joseph Green.

Johann Julius Göschen (1736-1798)

Munz-Meister, later Munz-Direktor.

Wilhelm Ludwig Ruffmann(TF) (1737-1794)

Jean Claude Laval (1737-1793)

French merchant and business partner with Jean Claude Toussaint. [Reusch 1848b, 365; Nekrolog in Preußisches Archiv (February 1993), pp. 194-96.]

Charlotta Jacobi née Schwinck (1739-1795) [bio]

Married (1752) and divorced (1768) Johann Conrad Jacobi. Married (c.1769) Johann Julius Göschen.

George Hay (b. 1738)

Scottish merchant and grandson of the merchant Francis Hay; directed the firm Barckley und Hay with his partner, the Englishman David Barckley (†1809).⁠ This same Barckley was mentioned in Ludwig von Heß’s 15 May 1802 letter to Kant, in which Heß offers Barckley’s assistance, should Kant need someone to dictate a letter in response to Heß [AA 12: 341]. He also appears in a personal note from the Opus postumum materials:
The wine and the smoked meat that Herr von Heß (among which two large bottles) – Herr Barkley sent me the crate. I must thank Herr von Heß and report the misfortune with the fruit and the smoked meat. [AA 21: 113]
Later Heß and Barkley are again mentioned together, along with “my bust in Königsberg” [AA 21: 148]. Barckley had married Elisabeth Henriette Dittrich (1774-1840), and Henriette along with Hay’s daughter, also named ‘Henriette’, maintained one of the leading salons of Königsberg, alongside those of Johanna Motherby and Elisabeth Stägemann [Gause 1996, 2: 303-4].

Friedrich Conrad Jacobi(TF) (1752-1816) [bio]

Nephew to Johann Conrad Jacobi (above) and heir of the business.

Johann Christian Gädeke(TF*) (1765-1853)

Arrived in Königsberg in 1782. Married (1804) Johanna Catharina Elisabeth Jacobi, daughter of Friedrich Conrad Jacobi (above).

Joseph Motherby(TF) (1775-1820) [bio]

Second oldest son of Robert Motherby (1736-1801), with whom he worked in the firm of Green, Motherby, and Co.. He appears as a table guest in Kant’s notebooks and as Kant’s contact in business matters with the firm, but he is not on Reusch's lists of those included in the Friends of Kant (unlike his younger brothers William and John).

From the government (lawyers and civil servants)

Matthias Balthasar Nicolovius (1717-1778)

Hofrat; father of Kant’s later publisher, Friedrich Nicolovius. In discussing the son, Jachmann notes that his “father was a friend of Kant’s,” that Friedrich was “the son of an old friend” [1804, 71-72]

Christoph Friedrich Heilsberg (1726-1807)[childhood] [bio]

Johann Heinrich Wlömer (1728-1797)[childhood]

Johann Georg Hamann (1730-1788) [bio]

Reichardt [1812] briefly compares Kant and Hamann in his parallel sketches, and an early unsigned study of this relationship appeared serially in the Preußische Provinzial-Blätter (1853), pp. 164-73, 293-99, 385-96, 410-17.

Johann Julius Göschen (1736-1798)

Johann Georg Scheffner(TF) (1736-1820) [bio]

Theodor Gottlieb Hippel*(TF) (1741-1796) [bio]

Christian Friedrich Jensch*(TF) (1743-1802) [bio]

Stadt-, Kriminalrat.

[Sources] [Hide Sources]
Matriculation Record: “Jenisch Christ. Frdr., Norkitten ad Insterburg. Boruss. [82-85] ex schola Palaeopolitana dimissi” [Erler 1911, 2: 489]. [Erler reads ‘Jenisch’. The only ‘Jensch’ listed in the index was a “Johann Jacob” matriculating in 1790.]

Johann Brahl(TF*) (1753-1812) [bio]

Lizentrat ⁠ Varying reports of Brahl’s birth-year: Gieseke [1793, 216] claims Brahl was born in Königsberg in 1754; the Kant “Personenindex” gives the life dates as 1752 or 1754; Gause gives 1753 [1996, 2: 233]; Malter gives 1753 [Malter 1990, 253].

Johann Friedrich Vigilantius*(TF*) (1757-1823) [bio]

Regierungsrat.

Johann Gottfried Frey(TF*) (1762-1831) [bio]

Regierungsdirektor, Kriminalrat.

Friedrich August von Stägemann(TF*) (1763-1840) [bio]

Kriminalrat. Moved to Königsberg in 1784.

Samuel Peter Friedrich Buck*(TF*) (1763-1827)⁠ Malter [1990, 559] gives his death year as 1818; I follow Gause [1996, 2: 315]. [bio]

Stadtrat (replacing Jensch in 1802). Matriculated at the university on 18 Sep 1779. Son of Kant’s old rival, Professor F. J. Buck (1722-1786).

Christian Friedrich Reusch*(TF) (1778-1848) [bio]

Son of Kant’s colleague, Prof. C. D Reusch (1735-1806); younger brother to Carl Wilhelm Georg Reusch. Geheimer Oberregierungsrat.

John Motherby(TF*) (1784-1813) [bio]

Regierungsrat; son of Robert Motherby (1736-1801) and Joseph and William’s youngest brother.

Carl Friedrich Schreiber(TF*) (†1821)

Regierungsrat.⁠ Rosenkranz [1842, 2: 282-83] describes an endowment funded by Schreiber to honor Kant.
“An endowment funds a student speech in the auditorium of the Albertinum to celebrate his memory each year on the anniversary of his death. Schreiber, the founder, offers a prize for the best speech: German one year and Latin [283] the next. The task is to offer an encomium to Kant by explaining some sentence from his writings. In the course of time these explanations have not infrequently become polemics – under Herbart Kant was an Herbartian and at present he is Hegelian. This is to be expected and entirely in Kant’s spirit. Nothing would be more abhorrent to him than to see his philosophy embalmed alive – to him who continued educating himself from one point of view to the next, and for whom every uncritical rumination was an abomination.”
Schubert [1842, 209] mentions that Schreiber donated 2000 Rthl. to fund this essay contest among the university students to mark the anniversary of Kant’s death.
Schreiber bought Kant’s old hat at the estate auction for 25 Gulden, 3 Groschen [Warda 1901, 424], which eventually found its way into the Prussian Museum in Königsberg.

From the aristocracy/military

Count Heinrich Christian Keyserling (1727-1787)

Countess Caroline Keyserling (1727-1791) [bio]

Karl Friedrich von Meyer* (1708-1775)

Daniel Friedrich von Lossow (1722-1783)

Friedrich Leopold von Schrötter (1743-1815)

Friedrich Karl Ludwig Holstein-Beck* (1757-1816) [bio]

From academia (the university and local gymnasia)

Johann Daniel Funk (1721-1764) [bio]

Full Prof. of Law

[Sources] [Hide Sources]
Kant (28 Oct 1759, Letter to Lindner): “Herr Freytag Prof: Kypke D. Funck alles was sie kennt und eben darum lebt grüßen sie aufs verbindlichste.” [Herr Freytag, Prof. Kypke, Dr. Funck – everyone who knows and therefore loves you – send their sincerest greetings.]
Wald: “In his early years [of teaching at the university] he interacted most with the law professor Funk and the younger professor Kypke […].” [Reicke 1860, 8].
Borowski: “Unter seinen academischen Mitlehrern war ihm der Dr. Juris Funck sehr lieb. Mit ihm hatte er wirklich freundschaftlichen Umgang.” [Reicke 1860, 31].

Georg David Kypke (1724-1779)

[Sources] [Hide Sources]
Wald: “In his early years [of teaching at the university] he interacted most with the law professor Funk and the younger professor Kypke, he also very much prized the upright character and the learnedness of the Church Councilor Lilienthal, however much he differed from some of his opinions.” [Reicke 1860, 8].

Michael Freytag (1725-1790)[childhood]

Taught at the Cathedral school (1747), then pastor at Kirchdorf Neuhaussen (1767) [Vorländer 1924, 1: 88].

Carl Daniel Reusch*(TF) (1735-1806) [bio]

Full Prof. of Physics

Johann Gotthelf Lindner (1729-1776) [bio]

Full Prof. of Poetry (1765). Likely knew Kant from their school days, as he attended the Coll. Fridericianum (1736-44) and the university (1744-48).

Johann Schultz (1739-1805) [bio]

Full Prof. of Mathematics

Karl Gottfried Hagen(TF*) (1749-1829) [bio]

Prof. of Medicine, later also of Physics

Christoph Friedrich Elsner*(TF) (1749-1820)[physician] [bio]

Full Prof. of Medicine

Karl Ludwig Pörschke*(TF*) (1752-1812) [bio]

Assoc. Prof. of Philosophy, later Full Prof. of Poetry, Pedagogy, History, Practical Philosophy.

Christian Jakob Kraus*(TF*) (1753-1807) [bio]

Full Prof. of Practical Philosophy

Johann Gottfried Hasse(TF*) (1759-1806)[clergy] [bio]

Full Prof. of Oriental Languages

Johann Friedrich Gensichen(TF*) (1759-1807) [bio]

Assoc. Prof. of Mathematics

Gottlob Benjamin Jäsche*(TF) (1762-1842) [bio]

Lecturer in Philosophy

Friedrich Ludwig Ehrenboth*(TF) (176?-3 January 1800)

[Sources] [Hide Sources]
Matriculation Records: (16 Oct 1780) “Ehrenboth Frdr. Ludov. Bartenstein. Boruss., theol. stud.” [Erler 1911, 563]
Borowski: “Ehrenboth was languishing as inspector of the local schools for the poor and Kant would have liked so much to help him find a position more appropriate to his abilities, but his early death put an end to his patron’s plans.” [1804, 131]
Wasianski: “The loss of Inspector Ehrenboth, [25] a young man of penetrating intellect and a truly broad erudition, whom he held in high esteem, had a particularly strong effect on him.” [1804, 24-25]

Ehrenboth was among the students who signed the dedicatory poem on the occasion of Kant’s (1786) rectorship [AA 12: 405-6]. Inspector of the Poor Schools. [Zippel 1898, 189-90]

Johann Michael Hamann*(TF*) (1769-1813)

Son of Johann Georg Hamann. Rector of the Altstadt Gymnasium.

Theodor Rink*(TF) (1770-1811)[clergy] [bio]

Assoc. Prof. of Oriental Languages, Full Prof. of Theology

Carl Wilhelm Georg Reusch(TF*) (1776-1813)[physician]

Son of Kant’s colleague, Prof. C. D Reusch (1735-1806); older brother to Christian Friedrich Reusch.

From the physicians

Johann Gerhard Trummer [childhood] [bio]

Marcus Naphtali Herz* (1747-1803) [bio]

Student 1766-70, then moved to Berlin.

Christoph Friedrich Elsner*(TF*) (1749-1820)[uni] [bio]

Johann Benjamin Jachmann*(TF*) (1765-1832) [bio]

William Motherby*(TF*) (1776-1847) [bio]

Carl Wilhelm Georg Reusch(TF*) (1776-1813)[uni]

Christoph Johann Heinrich Elsner⁠ Kant sends his greetings to Elsner in his letter to Erhard (20 Dec 1799) [AA 12: 297], whom he describes as “a young man of much talent.” (1777-1834) [bio]

Son of Kant’s colleague, C. F. Elsner.

Heinrich Ernst Carl Laubmeyer(TF*)

From the clergy

Ludwig Ernst Borowski (1740-1831) [bio]

Stephan Wannowski(TF) (1749-1812) [bio]

George Michael Sommer(TF*) (1754-1826) [bio] [Reusch 1848b, 365]

Ehregott Andreas Christoph Wasianski(TF*) (1755-1831) [bio]

Johann Gottfried Hasse(TF*) (1759-1806)[uni] [bio]

Reinhold Bernhard Jachmann*(TF) (1767-1843) [bio]

Director, Pedagogy Institute (Jenkau bei Danzig).

Theodor Rink*(TF) (1770-1811)[uni] [bio]

From the Literati and Others

Michael Friedrich Wobser (c.1724-1795)

Head forester at Moditten, where Kant would visit him.

Johann Georg Hamann (1730-1788)[govt] [bio]

Johann Georg Scheffner (1736-1820)[govt] [bio]

Johann Jakob Kanter (1738-1786) [bio]

Theodor Gottlieb Hippel* (1741-1796)[govt] [bio]

Friedrich Nicolovius*(TF*) (1768-1836) [bio]

Bookdealer and Kant’s publisher (after 1790).

Freunde Kants Gesellschaft (22 April 1805)

Reusch [1848b, 299] provides a list of those who attended the first “Friends of Kant Society” birthday celebration that took place in Kant’s home and was arranged by the physician William Motherby. These were all the people who had been invited to his last birthday party (22 April 1803)⁠ I have found no contemporary record of Kant celebrating his birthday with a gathering of friends, other than this one time in 1803, as organized by Wasianski. It is nevertheless mentioned as an annual practice by several later sources, for instance, by Vorländer [1911, 203; and similarly at 1924, 2: 134]: “On 22 April 1803, his (79th) birthday was celebrated for the last time in the company of all his dinner friends.” Where did this come from? Friedrich Schubert merely hinted at a traditional birthday gathering in his 1842 biography [1842, 171]:
“He was looking forward to the celebration of his last birthday (22 April 1803), to which he had invited a large number of dinner guests, as usual.”
He then elaborated on the tradition in his 1846 “Bean Speech,” directly after a brief account of Kant’s regular “three to five guest” dinner parties, with the claim [1846, 455]:
“But he used to celebrate his birthday every year in the company of a larger party and at a select table, although not exceeding nine guests. This was the reason that, in the first year after the great man’s death and at the suggestion of William Motherby, […].”
Twenty years later in another Bean Speech, August Hensche noted, also after a discussion of Kant’s dinner parties, that [1867, 244]:
“The conviviality reached its culmination on Kant’s birthday, when he would extend the circle of those invited as far as his simple domestic arrangements would allow and as far as he thought appropriate, without detracting from the true form of conviviality, i.e., a common conversation. The memory of these days was particularly vivid for the surviving friends and it gave rise to the banquets that recur every year in celebration of Kant's birthday and that unites us here today.”
I suspect this idea of annual birthday parties began in Schubert’s imagination. We have direct evidence only of the 1803 gathering that Wasianski arranged and recorded [1804, 142-43] and which offers no hint of any previous annual gatherings.

Wasianski also offered this account from Kant’s last year [1804, 191]:
“As weak as Kant was, he was still capable of cheerfulness from time to time. The memory of his birthday always cheered him up, and I would carefully calculate for him how long it was until his 80th year came to an end. This was true even a few weeks before his death. I tried to cheer him up by reminding him of it. Then, I said, your friends will all gather around you again and drink a glass of champagne to your health. “That must happen today on the spot,” he would reply, and would not let up until his will was satisfied: we drank to the health of his dinner friends and he was quite happy.” described by Wasianski [1804, 142-43]. See also Hensche [1867, 238-48]⁠ Hensche described the first meeting of the friends of Kant “in 1806, the year after Kant’s death, when Dr. W. Motherby summoned 22 former dinner guests” [1867, 244], to which Rudolf Reicke added a footnote with a list of these guests:
“Die Namen dieser 22, die sämmtlich die Aufforderung annahmen, sind: Prof. Kraus, Prof. Pörschke, Kriegsrath Scheffner, Reg.-Rath Vigilantius, Consist.-Rath Hasse, Reg.-Rath Schreiber, Med.-Rath Hagen, Prof. Gensichen, Stadtrath Buck, Diaconus Wasianski, Pfarrer Sommer, Dr. Jachmann, Ober-Stadt-Inspector Brahl, Nicolovius, Jacobi, Gaedecke, Dr. Laubmeyer, Dr. Reusch, Consist.-Rath Staegemann, J. Motherby, Rector Hamann, Reg.-Assessor Reusch. ‘Diese Gesellschaft wird’, wie W. Motherby in dem Circular ausdrücklich schreibt, ‘genau die nämliche sein, die Kant selbst den letzt von Ihm erlebten Geburtstag zu feiern, zu sich berief; sie wird also völlig gleich gestimmt und harmonisch sein.’” [1867, 244n] and Döhring [1905, 403-32].⁠ This list was given in the course of Döhring’s “Bean Speech” at the 1905 gathering of the “Friends of Kant Society” [1905, 417]:
“Von 23 Freunden begründet, zählte die Gemeinschaft im Jahre 1810 24 Mitglieder. Es waren größtenteils bekannte Männer unter denen neben den bereits erwähnten (Jachmann, Wasianski, Nicolovius) noch Scheffner und Kraus genannt sein mögen, sowie der Vater Karls und Aug. Hagen, Medizinalrat Gottfried Hagen, der es aus Verehrung für Kant nicht zuließ, daß seine Büste neben der des großen Weisen aufgestellt wurde, ferner Hamann, Jacobi, Gaedeke und Chr. Fr. Reusch, der uns alle die Veteranen der Kantverehrung in seiner und ihrer Schlichtheit beschrieben hat. Scheffner beantragte die Zahl der Teilnehmer auf 20 zu beschränken und nur an die Stelle eines ‘abgegangenen’ Mitgliedes eine Neuwahl durch Pluralität zu treffen. Dagegen bestimmte ein Beschluß vom Jahre 1828, daß die Normalzahl 30 sein solle, […].”
Döhring added in a note that Reusch’s list (printed below) included:
“two who are not mentioned in the society’s records until 1810: namely the government director Frey (the author of the town charter) and Dr Elsner. One of the founders of the society was Government Councillor Schreiber, who donated a Kant Prize for the students of the Albertina: hence the custom in the 1930s of inviting the prizewinner to the bean meal.”

Attending (25):

“Professoren [Christian Jakob] Kraus, [Karl Ludwig] Pörschke, [Johann Gottfried] Hasse, [Karl Gottfried] Hagen Med. R., [Johann Friedrich] Gensichen, Kriegsrath [Johann Georg] Scheffner, Reg. R. [Johannn Friedrich] Vigilantius, Reg. R. a. D. [Carl Friedrich] Schreiber, Bürgermeister [Samuel Peter Friedrich] Buck, Pfarrer [Ehregott Andreas Christoph] Wasianski, Pfarrer [Georg Michael] Sommer, Dr. med [Johannes Benjamin] Jachmann, Ober-Stadt-Inspector [Johann] Brahl, Buchhändler [Friedrich] Nicolovius, Kaufmann Joh. Reinhold Jacobi⁠ I've been unable to identify anyone with this name and so have to assume that it was written in error; the intended reference is surely Friedrich Conrad Jacobi (1752-1816), nephew and heir to Johann Conrad Jacobi (1717-1774) and the business partner and father-in-law to Johann Christian Gädeke (1765-1853), the next name in the list. und [Johann Christian] Gädecke, John Motherby, Criminal-Räthe [Friedrich August von] Stägemann und [Johann Gottfried] Frey, die Doctoren der Medizin William Motherby, Laubmeyer, [Carl Wilhelm Georg] Reusch, [Christoph Johann Heinrich] Elsner,⁠ This is the son of Kant’s university colleague and physician, Christoph Friedrich Elsner Director [Johann Michael] Hamann, Reg. Assessor [Christian Friedrich] Reusch.”

Not-Attending (3):

“Prediger [Stephen] Wannowski, Regierungsrath [???] Schulz, Reg. und Schulrath [Reinhold Bernhard] Jachmann.”

[Kant discussed friendship in his ethics lectures (the last section of Baumgarten’s Philosophical Ethics concerned “duties regarding friends and friendlessness”)[see Moral Herder, 27:50, 54; Moral Collins (27:358, 419-20, 422-30 + the next section on Enmity); Moral Vigilantius (27:675-86 + following section on enmity], and wrote on it in his Metaphysics of Morals.

Footnotes:

Copyright ©2006 Steve Naragon (Manchester University)
Last modified: 7 Dec 2024
Please send comments and questions to: ssnaragon@manchester.edu