Cosmological and Epistemological Foundations of Kant’s Understanding of Nature

Authors

Keywords:

Nature, matter, empirical laws of nature, pure laws of nature, space-time, unity-manifold, possible experience

Abstract

This  study  aims  to  focus  on  Immanuel Kant’s understanding of nature in certain  aspects.  In  the  first  part  of the  study  I  discuss  how  Kant represented  matter  and  nature  in  general in  the  Universal  Natural History  and Theory of the Heavens. What is meant to  be  shown  in  this part is  that  matter’s process of formation and motion are  not  brought  about by an  external force.  In  contrast,  it  is  revealed  by  a matter  which  is  the cause  of  its  own motion due to its immenent laws. Nature is described as a cosmos, in other words, a system with its own laws. Nature is already a foundation. Therefore,  objects  form  a  relational  unity through  laws.  It can be  assumed  that nature  has  an  active  structure  since  it has brought itself into a harmonic unity thanks to its own laws. In the second part of this study, Kant’s understanding of nature is discussed focusing on the Critique of Pure Reason. It can be asserted that there are many differences of philosophical ideas between the two works mentioned above. So, there is no continuous relationship between them. However,  although  it  is  thought that there are some dissimilarities between these two masterpieces, it can be seen that  the epistemological  conditions  of the understanding of nature and matter in the Universal  Natural  History  and Theory of the Heavens are founded in Critique  of  Pure  Reason [...]

References

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Published

2022-10-17

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Research Articles

How to Cite

Köz, F. Y. (2022). Cosmological and Epistemological Foundations of Kant’s Understanding of Nature. Sofist: An International Journal of Philosophy, 5, 133-158. https://www.journal.sofist.org/index.php/sofist/article/view/68