Kant's Metaphysical Foundations of Natural Science
A Critical Guide

New essays on Kant's complex work, considering its place in his oeuvre and in the history of science.

Michael Bennett McNulty (Edited by)

9781108476898, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 11 August 2022

280 pages
23.5 x 15.7 x 2.2 cm, 0.57 kg

In his Metaphysical Foundations of Natural Science (1786), Kant accounts for the possibility of an acting-at-a-distance gravitational force, demonstrates the infinite divisibility of matter, and derives analogues to Newtonian laws of motion. The work is his major statement in philosophy of science, and was especially influential in German-speaking countries in the nineteenth century. However, this complex text has not received the scholarly attention it deserves. The chapters of this Critical Guide clarify the accounts of matter, motion, the mathematization of nature, space, and natural laws exhibited in the Metaphysical Foundations; elucidate the relationship between its metaphysics of nature and Kant's critical philosophy; and describe the historical context for Kant's account of natural science. The volume will be an invaluable resource for understanding one of Kant's most difficult works, and will set the agenda for future scholarship on Kant's philosophy of science.

Introduction Michael Bennett McNulty
1. Kant's conception of the metaphysical foundations of natural science: subject matter, method, and aim Thomas Sturm
2. Kant's normative conception of natural science Angela Breitenbach
3. The applicability of mathematics as a metaphysical problem: Kant's principles for the construction of concepts Katherine Dunlop
4. Phoronomy: space, construction, and mathematizing motion Marius Stan
5. Space, pure intuition, and laws in the metaphysical foundations James Messina
6. Finitism in the metaphysical foundations Lydia Patton
7. The construction of the concept of space-filling: Kant's approach and intentions in the dynamics chapter of the metaphysical foundations Daniel Warren
8. Beyond the metaphysical foundations of natural science: Kant's empirical physics and the general remark to the dynamics Michael Bennett McNulty
9. How do we transform appearance into experience?: Kant's metaphysical foundations of phenomenology Silvia De Bianchi
10. Absolute space as a necessary idea: Reading Kant's phenomenology through perspectival lenses Michela Massimi
11. Proper Natural Science and its role in the critical system Michael Friedman
Note on abbreviations and translations
References.

Subject Areas: Philosophy of science [PDA], Western philosophy: c 1600 to c 1900 [HPCD], History of Western philosophy [HPC], Philosophy [HP]