Immanuel Kant

Kant: Natural Science (eBook, PDF)

• Format: PDF

Produktbeschreibung

Though Kant is best known for his strictly philosophical works in the 1780s, many of his early publications in particular were devoted to what we would call 'natural science'. Kant's Universal Natural History and Theory of the Heavens (1755) made a significant advance in cosmology, and he was also instrumental in establishing the newly emerging discipline of physical geography, lecturing on it for almost his entire career. In this volume Eric Watkins brings together new English translations of Kant's first publication, Thoughts on the True Estimation of Living Forces (1746-9), the entirety of Physical Geography (1802), a series of shorter essays, along with many of Kant's most important publications in natural science. The volume is rich in material for the student and the scholar, with extensive linguistic and explanatory notes, editorial introductions and a glossary of key terms.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Cambridge University Press
• Erscheinungstermin: 4. Oktober 2012
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9781107351981
• Artikelnr.: 52974928

Autorenporträt

Immanuel Kant ( 22 April 1724 - 12 February 1804) was an influential German philosopher[23] in the Age of Enlightenment. In his doctrine of transcendental idealism, he argued that space, time, and causation are mere sensibilities; "things-in-themselves" exist, but their nature is unknowable.[24][25] In his view, the mind shapes and structures experience, with all human experience sharing certain structural features. In one of his major works, the Critique of Pure Reason (1781; second edition 1787),[26] he drew a parallel to the Copernican revolution in his proposition that worldly objects can be intuited a priori ('beforehand'), and that intuition is therefore independent from objective reality.[b] Kant believed that reason is also the source of morality, and that aesthetics arise from a faculty of disinterested judgment. Kant's views continue to have a major influence on contemporary philosophy, especially the fields of epistemology, ethics, political theory, and post-modern aesthetics. He attempted to explain the relationship between reason and human experience and to move beyond the failures of traditional philosophy and metaphysics. He wanted to put an end to what he saw as an era of futile and speculative theories of human experience, while resisting the skepticism of thinkers such as David Hume. He regarded himself as showing the way past the impasse between rationalists and empiricists,[28] and is widely held to have synthesized both traditions in his thought.[29] Kant was an exponent of the idea that perpetual peace could be secured through universal democracy and international cooperation. He believed that this would be the eventual outcome of universal history, although it is not rationally planned.[30] The nature of Kant's religious ideas continues to be the subject of philosophical dispute, with viewpoints ranging from the impression that he was an initial advocate of atheism who at some point developed an ontological argument for God, to more critical treatments epitomized by Schopenhauer, who criticized the imperative form of Kantian ethics as "theological morals" and the "Mosaic Decalogue in disguise",[31] and Nietzsche, who claimed that Kant had "theologian blood"[32] and was merely a sophisticated apologist for traditional Christian faith

Inhaltsangabe

1. Thoughts on the true estimation of living forces and assessment of the
demonstrations that Leibniz and other scholars of mechanics have made use
of in this controversial subject, together with some prefatory
considerations pertaining to the force of bodies in general (1746-9)
Translated by Jeffrey B. Edwards and Martin Schönfeld; 2. Examination of
the question whether the rotation of the Earth on its axis by which it
brings about the alternation of day and night has undergone any change
since its origin and how one can be certain of this, which [question] was
set by the Royal Academy of Sciences in Berlin as the prize question for
the current year (1754) Translated by Olaf Reinhardt; 3. The question,
whether the Earth is ageing, considered from a physical point of view
(1754) Translated by Olaf Reinhardt; 4. Universal natural history and
theory of the heavens or essay on the constitution and the mechanical
origin of the whole universe according to Newtonian principles (1755)
Translated by Olaf Reinhardt; 5. Succinct exposition of some meditations on
fire (1755) Translated by Lewis White Beck; 6. On the causes of earthquakes
on the occasion of the calamity that befell the western countries of Europe
towards the end of last year (1756) Translated by Olaf Reinhardt; 7.
History and natural description of the most noteworthy occurrences of the
earthquake that struck a large part of the Earth at the end of the year
1755 (1756) Translated by Olaf Reinhardt; 8. Continued observations on the
earthquakes that have been experienced for some time (1756) Translated by
Olaf Reinhardt; 9. New notes to explain the theory of the winds, in which,
at the same time, he invites attendance at his lectures (1756) Translated
by Olaf Reinhardt; 10. Plan and announcement of a series of lectures on
physical geography with an appendix containing a brief consideration of the
question: whether the West winds in our regions are moist because they
travel over a great sea (1757) Translated by Olaf Reinhardt; 11. New
doctrine of motion and rest and the conclusions associated with it in the
fundamental principles of natural science while at the same time his
lectures for this half-year are announced (1758) Translated by Olaf
Reinhardt; 12. Review of Silberschlag's work: theory of the fireball that
appeared on 23 July 1762 (1764) Translated by Eric Watkins; 13. Notice of
Lambert's correspondence (1782) Translated by Eric Watkins; 14. On the
volcanoes on the Moon (1785) Translated by Olaf Reinhardt; 15. Something
concerning the influence of the Moon on the weather (1794) Translated by
Olaf Reinhardt; 16. Physical geography (1802).