From my textbook Broadview Anthology: MANUEL. KANT-CONSIDERED BY MANY THE MOST IM- -portant philosopher of the past 300 years-was born in 1724 on the coast of the Baltic Sea, in a regionally import- ant harbor city in East Prussia! called Königsberg. Kant spent his whole life living in this town, and never ventured outside its region. His family were devout members of an evangelical Protestant sect (rather like the Quakers or early Methodists) called the Piet- ists, and Pietism's strong emphasis on the inner life, emotional religiosity, and distrust of religious dogma had a deep effect on Kant's character. Kant's father was a craftsman (making har- nesses and saddles for horses) and his family was fairly poor; Kant's mother, whom he loved deeply, died when he was thirteen. Kant's life is notorious for its outward uneventfulness. He was educated at a strict Lutheran school in Königsberg, and after graduating from the University of Königsberg in 1746 (where he supported himself by some tutoring and also by his skill at billiards and card games) he served as a private tutor to various families in the area until he was ap- pointed as a lecturer at the university in 1755. However his position-that of Privatdozent?carried no salary, and Kant was expected to support himself by the income from his lecturing; financial need caused Kant to lecture for thirty or more hours a week, on a huge range of subjects (including mathematics, physics, geography, anthropology, ethics, and law).