There is a widespread cliché image of Kant: a pedantic, dutiful man, by whom one supposedly could set one’s watch. This was not the case in his younger years. In old age, however, Kant did indeed lead a strictly regulated life, with the same activities assigned to fixed times of day. This change was a conscious decision in order to devote his remaining lifetime optimally to the writing of his books. His model was presumably his best friend, the Englishman Joseph Green, whom he visited daily until Green’s death in 1786.
Kant now increasingly withdrew from public life. Yet, there was not a lack of sociability even in this daily routine. At the age of sixty-three, he established his daily dinner company.