Melinda Hall
Instructor C. Whitfield
Business Ethics-MGMT-368D
Dropbox #3 Kant
June 19, 2013

On Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant was born on April 22, 1724 near the Baltic Sea in Konigsberg which is now Kaliningrad and a part of Russia. Kant’s father was a harness maker at a time when harness making was in decline and as such his family dealt with financial struggles, but were never destitute. His parents were Pietist, evangelical Lutherans, who “emphasized conversion, reliance on divine grace, the experience of religious emotions and personal devotion involving regular Bible study, prayer and introspection” (Rohlf). Being forced to attend the Collegium Fridericianum, a Pietist school, from eight through fifteen, Kant’s youth was spent in forced devotion to Bible study and soul-searching. He did, however, find Latin classic writing interesting. As Kant matured, his “emphasis on reason and autonomy” overcame his youthful rebellion against Pietism (Rohlf). No matter how he felt about his parents’ religion, he admired both his parents and their strong belief and value in working hard and being honest. College at the University of Koinigsberg opened Kant’s eyes to philosophy, which included “mathematics and physics as well as logic, metaphysics, ethics and natural law” (Rohlf). Financially unable to pursue an academic career, Kant became a teacher at Albertina, from where he retired at seventy-two. His first writings were scientific works in 1754 and 1755. It wasn’t until later, from 1762-1764, that Kant published five works of philosophy that were “generally concerned with using insights from British empiricist authors to reform or broaden the German rationalist tradition without radically undermining its foundations” (Rohlf). Kant’s first work of metaphysics, Dreams of a Spirit-Seer Elucidated by Dreams of Metaphysics, was written in 1766 and