With his numerous books Kant revolutionized almost all disciplines of philosophy. His breakthrough came with the Critique of Pure Reason, which he published in 1781 at the then advanced age of fifty-six. He had worked on it for ten years. Soon further writings followed, in which he refined his philosophical system.
At the same time, Kant wrote many articles for journals in order to make his fundamental ideas comprehensible to a broader public: essays such as What is Enlightenment? belong today to his best-known texts. Already during his lifetime, his books went through numerous editions and were widely discussed.
PROFESSOR KANT
For forty years, Kant taught at the University of Königsberg. This was not a given, because many Enlightenment thinkers and philosophers of Kant’s time earned their livelihood rather as independent writers. Kant had to wait a long time before he achieved his career goal. In 1770, at the age of forty-four, he became Professor of Logic and Metaphysics and now received a fixed salary. He declined other, more lucrative offers in order to remain in Königsberg.
Kant was a diligent and conscientious teacher, though he often found the administrative work in the senate burdensome. Among his students Kant was very popular. His pedagogical aim was that his students practice thinking for themselves and thus learn to philosophize independently.