Portraits of Kant

Portraits of Kant is a rare collection of first-hand accounts of the 18th-century German philosopher Immanuel Kant, arguably one of the most important thinkers of the modern age.

Beginning with his childhood and early days as a student, this three volume work is constructed from the observations of his family, friends, colleagues, and other contemporaries. Across more than 160 selected texts, Steve Naragon traces Kant’s progress from his childhood and student days to his old age, death, and posthumous memorials to his life and thought.

Volume I introduces Königsberg – the city where Kant spent his entire life – and collects together observations and records of Kant’s family life and childhood, his studies at the Gymnasium and university, and his years spent as a Hofmeister in the Prussian countryside.

Volume II presents Kant’s life in the university as a popular professor with observations by his students and others visiting his classroom. There are accounts of Kant’s home life and his famous dinner parties, his daily walks and travels within Prussia, and his many social engagements, along with his thoughts on women and marriage, the arts, religion and Judaism, and the French revolution.

Volume III focuses on Kant’s work as a scholar and author, along with his growing celebrity and the many visitors drawn to Königsberg to meet him, concluding with his final years of increasing debility and death.

Nearly all of the source material is appearing for the first time in English, with extracts from letters, diaries, and journals of the day, as well as longer biographical sketches and memoirs. This one-of-kind biographical resource, told through the words of those who knew and argued with him, is accompanied by an introduction, commentaries and packed with maps and illustrations.

For anyone interested in Kant or the history of modern European philosophy, it brings 18th-century Germany to life and offers new perspectives into the life and character of one of the world’s most influential individuals.