Abstract

This is not the style an academic should adopt who wants to get a tenured position today. It even took the University of Königsberg fifteen years after Kant had earned his doctoral degree before they appointed him to a chair in philosophy. For those among us who feel already somewhat beyond the time bracket which allows for competition and efficiency, it may be consoling to know that Kant published his Critique of Pure Reason, the Copernican work in philosophy which molded the thought of all centuries to come, at the age of 57. The famous little work which shall provide us with the focal text for this lecture, Kant’s essay On Eternal Peace, appeared in 1795 when he was 71.