TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION

Each of the following short pieces appeared originally in the Königsbergische gelehrte und politische Zeitung, and each also strongly reflects Kant's intense admiration for the Philanthropinum institutes of education that were first established by Johann Bernhard Basedow (1724–90). At the end of the Friedländer lectures on anthropology, Kant summarizes his hopes for these institutes as follows:

Building on Rousseau's appeal for educational methods that would work with rather than against nature, the Philanthropinum institutes introduced a variety of pedagogical techniques and priorities that have since earned a place in the educational mainstream – e.g., conversation-based approaches to foreign language teaching (including Latin), gymnastics and physical education, and less stress on memorization. But above all, it was the non-sectarian and cosmopolitan emphases of Basedow's curriculum that appealed to Kant.