In Search of a Better World: Lectures and Essays from Thirty Years by Popper Karl

Author:Popper, Karl [Popper, Karl]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Published: 2012-12-06T00:00:00+00:00

A lecture written for a celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Austrian State Treaty. As I was prevented from attending in person, the lecture was read by Dr Elisabeth Herz in the presence of the President of the Federal Republic of Austria. Published in 25Jahrc Staatsvertrag, Osterreichischer Bundesverlag, Vienna, 1981.

9

Immanuel Kant: The Philosopher of the Enlightenment

A Lecture to Commemorate the 150th Anniversary of Kant’s Death

One hundred and fifty years ago Immanuel Kant died, having spent the eighty years of his life in the Prussian provincial town of Konigsberg. For years his retirement had been complete,1 and his friends intended a quiet burial. But this son of an artisan was buried like a king. When the rumour of his death spread through the town the people flocked to his house demanding to see him. On the day of the funeral the life of the town was at a standstill. The coffin was followed by thousands, while the bells of all the churches were tolling. Nothing like this had ever before happened in Königsberg, say the chroniclers.2

It is difficult to account for this astonishing upsurge of popular feeling. Was it due solely to Kant’s reputation as a great philosopher and a good man? It seems to me that there was more in it than this; and I suggest that in the year 1804, under the absolute monarchy of Frederick William, those bells tolling for Kant carried an echo of the American and French revolutions – of the ideas of 1776 and 1789.1 suggest that to his countrymen Kant had become an embodiment of these ideas.3 They came to show their gratitude to a teacher of the Rights of Man, of equality before the law, of world citizenship, of peace on earth, and, perhaps most important, of emancipation through knowledge.4

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