Critique of Practical Reason

Born on April 22, 1724, Immanuel Kant was the son of a harness-maker, Johann Georg Kant, and his wife, Anna Regina Reuter. The family lived in Königsberg, a major city and Baltic Sea port in what was then the kingdom of Prussia in northeastern Germany (today the city is part of Russia, hence its Russified present-day name of Kaliningrad). Kant’s parents were both Lutheran Christians and subscribed to Pietism, a Lutheran movement that emphasized personal transformation through strict adherence to spiritual practices and biblical rules of living. Although Kant would be a Christian throughout his life, his dislike of “religious enthusiasm” suggests that he rejected Pietism at some point.

Kant studied at the University of Königsberg, first specializing in classics and then switching to philosophy. He aspired to become a professor there, but after his parents’ deaths by 1746, he lost his means of financial support and had to find work away from the university as a private tutor. By 1754, he was able to return to the university after getting a job as a Privatdozent, a lecturer paid directly by the students. A year later, he was able to complete his doctorate in philosophy with the thesis New Elucidation of the First Principles of Metaphysical