Kant's life

Kant's early life

Immanuel Kant was born April 22, 1724 in Königsberg, near the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea. He died on February 12, 1804, in the pleace where he was born Königsberg. Today Königsberg has been renamed Kaliningrad and is part of Russia. But during Kant's lifetime Königsberg was the capital of East Prussia, and its dominant language was German. Königsberg was also a major commercial center, an important military port, and a relatively cosmopolitan university town. 

Kant's father-Johann Georg was a master harness maker. His mother - Anna Regina was a daughter of the harness maker master. Kant was fourth of nine children. His grandfather was from Scotland where the surname was common. Immanuel decided to change his surname from Cant to Kant in order to meet the German spelling. 

Kant's house in Königsberg(Kalingrad) 

Kant's friends and him 

Kant's statue in Königsberg(Kalingrad)  

Kant's education

Kant's parents were Pietist and he went to a Pietist school- the Collegium Fridericianum, from ages eight through fifteen. At the age of 8, he enrolled into a Latin Pietist to study theology in future. However, he soon was more interest in Latin and the classics. 

At the age of 16, Kant attended college at the University of Königsberg- "Albertina", where his early interest in classics was quickly replaced by philosophy. He studied mathematics and physics as well as logic, ethics, and natural law. In 1746, he was forced to leave the university because of his both parent's death. 

After college, Kant spent six years as a private tutor to young children of three influential families, outside of  Königsberg. He finally returned to Königsberg in 1754 and began teaching at the "Albertina" university the following year. For the next 40 years, Kant taught philosophy there, until his retirement from teaching in 1796 at the age of seventy-two.