In the Transcendental Aesthetic, Kant explicitly rejects Newton's absolutist position that space is an actually existing thing; however, Kant also concedes that the absolutist successfully preserves the a priori necessity that characterizes our geometrical knowledge of space. My goal in this paper is to explore why the absolutist can explain the a priori necessity of geometry by turning to Newton's De Gravitatione, an unpublished text in which Newton addresses the essential features associated with our representation of space and the relationship between our geometrical investigation of space and our knowledge of the form of space that is a part of the natural order. Attention to Newton's account of space in De Gravitatione offers insight into the sense in which absolutist space is a priori and reveals why, in the Aesthetic, Kant could concede a priori geometrical knowledge to his absolutist opponent. What I highlight in particular is that, by Kant's standards, Newton employs the very constructive method of mathematics that secures the a priori necessity of geometry, even though, as an absolutist, and as emphasized in the arguments of the Aesthetic, Newton fails to provide a metaphysics of space that explains the success of his mathematical method.
...MoreArticle Massimi, Michela (2013) Philosophy of Natural Science from Newton to Kant. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science (p. 393).
Similar Citations
Article
Dunlop, Katherine;
(2013)
Mathematical Method and Newtonian Science in the Philosophy of Christian Wolff
(/isis/citation/CBB001320268/)
Article
Kerszberg, Pierre;
(2013)
Deduction Versus Discourse: Newton and the Cosmic Phenomena
(/isis/citation/CBB001320867/)
Article
Galuzzi, Massimo;
(2010)
Newton's Attempt to Construct a Unitary View of Mathematics
(/isis/citation/CBB001022150/)
Article
Ladislav Kvasz;
(2020)
Cognitive Unity of Thales’ Mathematics
(/isis/citation/CBB542780608/)
Book
Smith, Kurt;
(2010)
Matter Matters: Metaphysics and Methodology in the Early Modern Period
(/isis/citation/CBB001251421/)
Book
Paolo Casini;
(2006)
Hypotheses non fingo: tra Newton e Kant
(/isis/citation/CBB557395471/)
Chapter
Gerhard Heinzmann;
(2016)
Kant et l'intuition épistémique
(/isis/citation/CBB981942154/)
Book
Stedall, Jacqueline A.;
(2011)
From Cardano's Great Art to Lagrange's Reflections: Filing a Gap in the History of Algebra
(/isis/citation/CBB001321014/)
Book
Parsons, Charles;
(2012)
From Kant to Husserl: Selected Essays
(/isis/citation/CBB001253011/)
Article
Echelbarger, Charles;
(2013)
Hume on the Objects of Mathematics
(/isis/citation/CBB001201145/)
Article
Giovanelli, Marco;
(2010)
Urbild und Abbild: Leibniz, Kant und Hausdorff über das Raumproblem
(/isis/citation/CBB001230056/)
Article
Engelhard, Kristina;
Mittelstaedt, Peter;
(2008)
Kant's Theory of Arithmetic: A Constructive Approach?
(/isis/citation/CBB001230070/)
Thesis
Domski, Mary;
(2003)
Geometry and Experimental Method in Locke, Newton and Kant
(/isis/citation/CBB001561970/)
Book
Vinci, Thomas C.;
(2015)
Space, Geometry, and Kant's Transcendental Deduction of the Categories
(/isis/citation/CBB001500573/)
Chapter
Sutherland, Daniel;
(2010)
Philosophy, Geometry, and Logic in Leibniz, Wolff, and the Early Kant
(/isis/citation/CBB001033539/)
Article
Sutherland, Daniel;
(2005)
Kant on Fundamental Geometrical Relations
(/isis/citation/CBB000670505/)
Chapter
Pulte, Helmut;
(2001)
Order of Nature and Orders of Science: On the Material Philosophy of Nature and Its Changing Concepts of Science from Newton and Euler to Lagrange and Kant
(/isis/citation/CBB000101471/)
Book
Lefèvre, Wolfgang;
(2001)
Between Leibniz, Newton, and Kant: Philosophy and Science in the Eighteenth Century
(/isis/citation/CBB000100782/)
Chapter
Dunlop, Katherine;
(2012)
What Geometry Postulates: Newton and Barrow on the Relationship of Mathematics to Nature
(/isis/citation/CBB001500341/)
Chapter
Harper, William;
(2012)
Newton, Huygens and Euler: Empirical Support for Laws of Motion
(/isis/citation/CBB001500344/)
Be the first to comment!