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Showing posts with label Biography. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Biography. Show all posts

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Kant's wild years

By Luke Harding
The Guardian
Originally published February 2004

He has been famously portrayed as a bore, a man whose habits were so regular that housewives could set their watches by his legendary afternoon walk.

But according to three new biographies, the celebrated German philosopher Immanuel Kant was not such a dry stick after all. Far from being a dour Prussian ascetic, the great metaphysician was a partygoer. He enjoyed drinking wine, playing billiards and wearing fine, colourful clothes.

He had a sense of humour, and there were women in his life, although he never married. On occasion, Kant drank so much red wine he was unable to find his way home, the books claim.

The biographies - which shed fresh light on the party-loving behaviour of the young Kant before his fame - have appeared in Germany ahead of the 200th anniversary of his death today.

They also coincide with a visit by Germany's foreign minister, Joschka Fischer, to Kaliningrad - the Russian Baltic port where Kant spent all his life when it was Königsberg, in what was then East Prussia.

Mr. Fischer set off from Berlin yesterday and took several German philosophers with him. He is expected to lead the Kant anniversary celebrations today by laying a wreath on the philosopher's memorial and will open a German consulate in the city.

The entire story and books on Kant can be found here.