No one could have imagined that little Immanuel, called “Manelchen” (Little Manel), would one day become a world-famous philosopher. Kant came from a devout artisan family. Work and religion shaped his environment. His intellectual talent was discovered and made it possible for him to attend Königsberg’s best school. The strict, religious school routine marked his childhood. Kant was a good student, but he did not enjoy the monotonous instruction.
He remembered his mother fondly, who died when he was thirteen: “She planted and nurtured the first seed of the good within me… her teachings have had an everlasting salutary influence on my life.”