A PHYSIOGONY OF THE HEAVENS: KANT’S EARLY VIEW OF UNIVERSAL NATURAL HISTORY

From 1754 to 1756 Kant wrote on such central, related topics as the axial rotation of the Earth, the theory of heat and the composition of matter, focusing on space, force and motion. It has been noted that each pertains to his 1755 Universal Natural History and Theories of the Heavens, whilst he drew upon extant cosmogonies and the analogical form of Newtonianism developed by such naturalists as Buffon, Haller and Thomas Wright. How does Kant build upon these various sources? This paper aims both to provide a nuanced account of specific features of the relation between natural history and natural philosophy in Kant’s early developmental theory of the universe, and to illuminate his strategy which guides his innovative, selective appropriation of contemporaneous insights.