Universal Natural History and Theory of the Heavens

Universal Natural History and Theory of Heaven
German edition
Author Immanuel Kant
Original title Allgemeine Naturgeschichte und Theorie des Himmels
Country Germany
Language German
Published 1755
Media type Print

Universal Natural History and Theory of the Heavens (German: Allgemeine Naturgeschichte und Theorie des Himmels), subtitled or an Attempt to Account for the Constitutional and Mechanical Origin of the Universe upon Newtonian Principles, is a work written and published anonymously by Immanuel Kant in 1755. The ideas presented are based on a 1750 work by English astronomer Thomas Wright.

According to Kant, the Solar System is merely a smaller version of the fixed star systems, such as the Milky Way and other galaxies. The cosmogony that Kant proposes is closer to today's accepted ideas than that of some of his contemporary thinkers such as Pierre-Simon Laplace. Moreover, Kant's thought in this volume is strongly influenced by atomist theory, in addition to the ideas of Lucretius.

Background

Kant won the Berlin Academy Prize in 1754 for his argument that the Moon's gravity would eventually cause its tidal locking to coincide with the Earth's rotation. The next year, he expanded this reasoning to the formation and evolution of the Solar System in the Universal Natural History.[1]

Contents

Kant's book ends with an almost mystical expression of appreciation for nature: "In the universal silence of nature and in the calm of the senses the immortal spirit’s hidden faculty of knowledge speaks an ineffable language and gives [us] undeveloped concepts, which are indeed felt, but do not let themselves be described."[2]

Translations

The first English translation of the work was done by the Scottish theologian William Hastie, in 1900.[3] Other English translations include those by Stanley Jaki and Ian Johnston.[4]

Criticism

In his introduction to the English translation of Kant's book, Stanley Jaki criticises Kant for being a poor mathematician and downplays the relevance of his contribution to science. However, such criticisms are on the whole unfair, as they are blaming Kant for not knowing about 20th-century developments.[5]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Brush, Stephen G. (28 May 2014). A History of Modern Planetary Physics: Nebulous Earth. p. 7. ISBN 0521441714.
  2. ↑ Immanuel Kant, Universal Natural History and Theory of the Heavens, p.367; translated by Stephen Palmquist in Kant's Critical Religion (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2000), p.320.
  3. ↑ Michael J. Crowe (1999). The Extraterrestrial Life Debate, 1750-1900. Courier Dover Publications. p. 48. ISBN 978-0-486-40675-6.
  4. ↑ Immanuel Kant (2012). Eric Watkins, ed. Kant: Natural Science. Cambridge University Press. p. 187. ISBN 978-0-521-36394-5.
  5. ↑ Stephen Palmquist, "Kant's Cosmogony Re-Evaluated", Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 18:3 (September 1987), pp.255–269.
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