Article ID: CBB971654215

Kant's universal conception of natural history (2020)

unapi

Scholars often draw attention to the remarkably individual and progressive character of Kant's Universal Natural History and Theory of the Heavens (1755). What is less often noted, however, is that Kant's project builds on several transformations that occurred in natural science during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Without contextualising Kant's argument within these transformations, the full sense of Kant's achievement remains unseen. This paper situates Kant's essay within the analogical form of Newtonianism developed by a diverse range of naturalists including Georges Buffon, Albrecht von Haller and Thomas Wright. It argues that Kant's universal conception of natural history can be viewed within the free-thinking and anti-clerical movement associated with Buffon. This does not mean, however, that it breaks from the methodological rules of Newtonianism. The claim of this paper is that Kant's essay contributes to the transformation of natural history from a logical system of classification to an explanation for the physical diversity of natural products according to laws.

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Authors & Contributors
Casini, Paolo
Bognon-Küss, Cécilia
Ben Saad, Meyssa
Pieter Present
Schliesser, Erick
Wolfe, Charles T.
Concepts
Newtonianism
Natural laws
Natural history
Physics
Philosophy of science
Natural philosophy
Time Periods
18th century
19th century
17th century
Medieval
Enlightenment
20th century, early
Places
France
Europe
Netherlands
South Africa
Latin America
Germany
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