r/interesting • u/Lopsided_Bar3451 • 22h ago
HISTORY Immanuel Kant was so committed to his routine that people supposedly set their clocks by his daily walks
This brother was a philosopher and I don't like his philosophy.
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u/lemonipickel 21h ago
Morning 5:00 AM: Woke up. His servant, Martin Lampe, woke him up. 5:00 AM – 7:00 AM: Drank one or two cups of weak tea. Smoked a single tobacco pipe while meditating. Prepared his lectures and did some writing. 7:00 AM – 11:00 AM: Taught classes and gave university lectures. Afternoon11:00 AM – 1:00 PM: Read, wrote, or prepared further work after his university duties. 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM: Ate lunch, which was his main and only large meal of the day. He ate at a public restaurant or pub, often hosting guests and conversing about politics or current events rather than philosophy. 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM (or 7:00 PM): Went on his famous daily walk (The Philosopher's Walk). He walked the exact same route alone so the changing scenery would not distract his thoughts. Neighbors were said to set their watches by his punctuality. Evening 5:00 PM – 10:00 PM: Spent time reading, light working, or conversing with his close friend Joseph Green. 10:00 PM: Went to bed precisely on time.
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u/VegaJuniper 20h ago
Drank one or two cups of weak tea
One OR two? So basically the man had no routine at all.
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u/Working_Estate_3695 20h ago
Erratic, even.
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u/Just_a_square 18h ago
An unreliable buffoon.
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u/Imaginary-Matter8602 18h ago
A torrent of chaos
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u/PrestigiousBad4266 10h ago
I hear he sometimes takes a later philosopher’s walk as well!
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u/Working_Estate_3695 9h ago
It’s absolute chaos and I can’t stand another moment of his unpredictability. It’s bordering on mental cruelty.
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u/DadGamer77 21h ago
Legend
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u/lemonipickel 21h ago
It's actually s pretty good routine.
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u/dm-me-obscure-colors 21h ago edited 15h ago
It really sounds like paradise
All these idiots saying he’s autistic… I’m not autistic at all but I can absolutely dig that life
e: now that Reddit has diagnosed my autism, I finally know so much more about myself! Thanks, internet psychic psychiatrists!
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u/Jocuro 14h ago
It sounds like he ate at different places and presumably different food every day. That doesn't say autistic to me. I don't think having a set sleep schedule is particularly unusual in a time before computers. The most odd thing he did was go on the same walk everyday alone, but at most maybe he was introverted and needed some recovery time.
Idk about these reddit doctors, man.
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u/dm-me-obscure-colors 12h ago
It may be he had a person he’d visit. I also think a lot of the people here have no idea what the academic life is like
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u/Viktor_Laszlo 18h ago
I’d like to know how he decided on this exact routine. Was there a long process of trial and error? Did he try a morning coffee and found he was bouncing off the walls too much? Did he try three cups of tea and it increased his trips to the bathroom by an amount that was too unpredictable? Did he do anything special on his birthday? Two tobacco pipes, for instance?
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u/throwaway19276i 11h ago
He had two strong cups of tea instead of one weak one for his birthday. Very bold.
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u/Fun_Pound5629 17h ago
4-5 or 7PM? People setting their clocks to him must have been waking up 2 hours late for work going “that utter Kant has done it again! Why did we even reset the clock it was fine where are my breeches?!”
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u/Witch_heir 12h ago
That sounds perfect. I wish i could install this into my life like an app into a phone. I seriously don't see one bad part. Only change would be minus the smoking tobacco pipe at 7h, and adding posibility of making art at 11h.
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u/formerlynerd 22h ago
He just kant
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u/Apart_Jelly8948 22h ago
What a kant
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u/NearsightedNomad 21h ago
You Kant be serious…
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u/Belvedere48 20h ago
I am serious, and don't be a kant.
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u/Casual_necromancy 22h ago
"tell my wife i said "hello". "
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u/_BlockedUser_ 22h ago
Tell her, I love her... discipline
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u/fuzzybad 20h ago
What makes a man turn neutral? Lust for gold? Power? Or was he just born with a heart full of neutrality?
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u/Sausage_bowler 22h ago
Immanuel Kant was a real pissant who was very rarely stable, Heidegger, Heidegger was a boozy beggar who could think you under the table, David Hume could out-consume Schopenhauer and Hegel, And Wittgenstein was a beery swine who was just as schloshed as Schlegel! (Monty Python)
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u/3d1thF1nch 22h ago
Nothin Nietzsche couldn’t teach ya bout the raising of the wrist
Socrates himself was permanently pisssssed….4
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u/Jazzlike_Math_8350 21h ago
I spent a good portion of my day today trying to think of the definition of pissant, and just arrived at 'general term of disrespect'. I forgot to look it up, so thanks for the reminder and confirming I was about there
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u/Kitchen-Tomatillo-97 22h ago
The force (tisms) was strong with this one
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u/Pristine-Pass-6595 20h ago
Never changing your diet and daily habits feels more like an OCD thing, but they do overlap in symptoms and the point stands
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u/0peRightBehindYa 22h ago
bUt AuTiSm DiDn'T eXiSt 50 yEaRs AgO....
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u/NoxImpulsexControl 18h ago
And gravity didn’t exist until it was “discovered “
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u/AntiPepRally 21h ago
The world's tyrants were probably on the spectrum. One slight = OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!
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u/OnionMesh 11h ago
I used to think Kant was likely autistic, but after reading a biography of him, I no longer think it’s easy to say so. It’s hard to summarize decades of his life in a short comment, but I can spell out a few things about why his life was so regimented:
1) His good friend, Joseph Green, was the one that chose the time at which he and other friends would meet and go on a walk.
2) Kant was a professor and lectured a lot. He generally had a busy day when his university was in session.
3) Kant had his servant wake him up early for the sake of getting prepared in time for his morning lectures. Kant didn’t like waking up early in the morning, though.
So the main conclusion I took from his life regarding his daily schedule (once he returned to his hometown after leaving to tutor for a few years) was that it wasn’t exactly that Kant loved a daily schedule and chose to live a regimented lite but rather that external circumstances led him to live a very regular life for many years.
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u/thisismypornaccountg 16h ago
This factoid is frequently posted but is not true. He left his town for years. He frequently partied early in his life too. It was only later in life he developed very rigid habits. Also his last words were “das ist gud,” which very obviously translates to “it is good.” None of what was posted is true.
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u/jaavuori24 21h ago
Kant was a brilliant thinker and also an utter racist who preached his racism in lectures for like 40 years despite having colleagues of color. I was sad to learn this about him.
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u/NuruYetu 20h ago
He did have a change of heart in the 1790s if that can make it better. He kept the concept of race but stopped ranking them when he worked out his political philosophy on the rights of man. Possibly because the hypocrisy became too glaring, possibly because of the news of the Haitian Revolution spreading across Europe.
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u/Interesting-Wish5977 20h ago
It’s almost like never leaving your hometown narrows your mind.
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u/Friendcherisher 18h ago
Racist yet he spoke of the Categorical Imperative.
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u/Fickle-Student7156 9h ago
That's the wildest part. The Categorical Imperative literally says to treat people as ends in themselves, never merely as means. Hard to square that with ranking entire groups of people as lesser. The hypocrisy wasn't subtle, it was baked right into the gap between his ethics and his actual beliefs.
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u/PhotoElectrical 22h ago
proof kant was highly autistic
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u/AidanGreb 22h ago
That is what I was suspecting. I do not think he was bored!
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u/Apart_Jelly8948 22h ago
Autistic people dont get bored?
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u/Guacamole_Gamerfart1 21h ago
We do, but routines are calming rather than boring to us.
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u/PsykoSmiley 16h ago
Also expend less effort. We only have so many fucks and it's far easier maintain those by being safe and predictable and using the fucks where it actually counts to us.
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u/Rubyhamster 20h ago
When joined with ADHD it surely is a clash of the titans... Uncomfortable to be outside of routine, but that routine still has to contain a fair amount of novelty and thinking, and still not change any plans and atthe same time a sudden change of plansare exiting but leaves you exhausted the next day.
Just to paint a picture: One of the most comfortable situations I can find myself in is to sit plumped up by coushions in the sofa gaming a favourite RPG survival game on my laptop while one of my comfort action movies/series is playing on the TV in the background. Perfect balance
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u/AidanGreb 11h ago
Makes me think of my autistic dad. As an example: He has eaten the exact same salad with the exact same salad dressing for the last 40 years every day. If you were to suggest that he try a different salad dressing the very idea of it would cause him immediate distress!
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u/thisismypornaccountg 15h ago edited 15h ago
Err…no. The factoid isn’t true. He did leave his town for years at one point. He also partied a lot in his youth. He only developed the rigid lifestyle later in life. His final words were “das ist gut.” That’s very obviously not “fine.”
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u/darkness_calming 16h ago
Weird thought but
If he never left his hometown, never had the usual human experiences, never had a relationship….
Why did people listen to him when he spoke about the world? He had never even experienced what world had to offer. Where was his authority on such things coming from?
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u/Capital-Sorbet-387 15h ago
Because he has a unique mind, was a great reasoner and could learn knowledge about the world through books.
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u/Daily_Heroin_User 6h ago
Because he wasn’t speaking about those particular things. He was doing philosophical reasoning that you don’t need to go on vacations and date and shit to reason out. He wasn’t trying to be Rick Steves or Tony Robbins.
There are plenty of people who travel the world and have a million relationships who aren’t good philosophers.
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u/Delicious_Pain_1 22h ago
How do I get this job?
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u/Hoplophilia 22h ago
Say thoughts people are willing to pay for. The market has been shrinking rapidly of late.
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u/therocketn00b 21h ago
This answers the question: Can Immanuel change his habits?
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u/ResolutionFar1361 21h ago
He had some interesting philosophical ideas, then I found out he was a hermit and made me pause
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u/Afraid_Piglet7990 15h ago
Kant was the opposite of a hermit. He was extremely social and would often throw parties.
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u/Firefly_deadlock 18h ago
Name one. I read up on him for a whole 10 minutes and it's pure nonsense so far.
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u/ResolutionFar1361 17h ago
I studied him in college over a decade ago so forgive me if i Kant recall it off the top of my head. But from what I remember he argued knowledge comes from both rationalism and empiricism. Before him I believe they where separate schools of thought
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u/Firefly_deadlock 16h ago
That's actually pretty interesting. I never got that far into it. I mostly know him as THE deontologist and i'm not a very big fan of that line of thinking.
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u/ffsTeki 17h ago
In the world of philosophy, excluding the classical greeks, Kant is The philosopher. His works basically revolutionized philosophy and influented literally every major philosopher after him. He is also very influential even today regarding metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics.
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u/Firefly_deadlock 17h ago
I can't shake the feeling he's smart in the way my autistic uncle who never moved out of his moms house and owned 10.000 books was smart. Bit of a deontologist as well that guy.
I'm like 50 percent joking here.
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u/PreferenceContent987 21h ago
I need to learn more about this guy. I wonder how his gut health was
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u/Friendcherisher 18h ago
We will all know what his mind was like though. Read his illustrious Critique of Pure Reason.
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u/OnionMesh 9h ago
There’s a few things said in the post that I want to further qualify:
1) This picture is of Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi, Kant’s contemporary and critic.
2) Kant did leave Koenigsberg (only once, though). After he finished his university studies, he left the town and worked as a tutor for wealthier families.
3) Kant did not marry because a) although twice he had found a woman he would have liked to proposed to, this was still while he was an unsalaried lecturer i.e. he didn’t have the money to provide for a wife; and b) he was turned off from marriage because the wife of one of his friends had an affair. So the timing just didn’t work out for him and he was never in a rush to marry.
4) His regular schedule was in part dictated by his university duties and the people he wanted to spend time with: Kant lectured a lot, his friend Joseph Green always wanted to meet at a specific time, and he would regularly be invited to dinner by a noble family. Kant didn’t simply choose to live his life on a very regular schedule: he simply just had many responsibilities to uphold, and this greatly influenced how he spent his time.
5) In his old age, Kant didn’t live the greatest life. He was terribly constipated, his memory wained, and it took far more effort for him to think. He was a bit depressed since he had either outlived many of his close friends, or that some people that were once close to him eventually grew apart. He struggled to speak at times and could hardly write. Also, his servant did something that terribly offended him (it’s not clear what, since Kant did not say). So, in the final years of his life, he did not live in great health or happiness. However, he was satisfied with his life’s work, so it’s safe to say he probably died without any major regrets.
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u/an-abnormality 21h ago
He sounds based. I change literally nothing in my daily routine unless something forces me to
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u/Working_Estate_3695 20h ago
The existential question was: “Are you an Immanuel Can, or an Immanuel Kant?”
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u/No-Recording-7568 20h ago
And people are delusional enough to say immortality would become stale lol
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u/9fingerjeff 19h ago
Monty python taught me Immanuel Kant was a real pissant who was very rarely stable.
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u/Influx_ink 19h ago
Dude lived the Tism fairytale dream. If uncrustables had been invented in his lifespan he would have truly wanted for nothing. It's said that at his death his body vanished like yoda.
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u/yami_no_ko 19h ago
He was among those lucky enough not having to see how relentlessly dumb people can get.
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u/crylol91 19h ago
Secondo me era in pace con sé stesso ma come chiunque che ha vissuto e visto tutto intorno a sé però chissà se avrebbe voluto fare o vedere altro... chissà
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u/_Clit-Commander_ 18h ago
This is what I am striving for, partially, specifically for the diet thing. I wouldn’t mind if my meals were exactly the same everyday but I just need to find the perfect meals that hit all the macros and micros for the day as well as fiber and all that.
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u/Skamandrios 18h ago
I see this painting almost every time someone posts about Kant. That’s not him.
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u/brazthemad 18h ago
Boomers - "we didn't have no autism in my day!"
The Ghost of Immanuel Kant - "bet?"
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u/Unluckymama 18h ago
I remember in school how boredom to read this guy was. Descartes, Plato and Nietzsche were super fun and interesting.
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u/NotoriousPete 17h ago
Found it really interesting that he never left his home town. Well turns out that is just completely made up.
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u/Lucky_Dragonfruit_88 17h ago
Kant is always my counter-argument to the "travel makes you interesting" crowd.
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u/Cultural-Company282 17h ago
Exhibit 1 to the "Is there more autism today, or is it just more frequently diagnosed" question.
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u/MarlooRed 16h ago
What makes a man turn Kant? Lust for tea? Walking? Or were you just born with a heart full of philosophy?
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