Kant's Newtonian Revolution in Philosophy (Journal of the History of Philosphy) - Softcover

Hahn Ph.D., Dr. Robert

Softcover

ISBN 10: 080931441X ISBN 13: 9780809314416

Publisher: Southern Illinois University Press, 1988

Synopsis

Hahn boldly corrects the misconceptions of Kant’s Copernican revolution in philosophy and explains the specific Newtonian model used by Kant to construct his own philosophy in the Critique of Pure Reason.

Relying on resources familiar to Kant Newton’s Opticks and Principia and especially Christian von Wolff’s commentary on scientific method Hahn argues that Kant viewed Copernicus as the proponent of a novel hypothesis while seeing Newton as the formulator of a rigorously deductive method. Intellectual revolutions, for Kant, are signaled by the formulation of rigorous deductions.

The revolution that Kant proposes to effect in the Critique of Pure Reason is based on Newton’s deductive method, not the hypothesis of Copernicus. Thus, the commonplace that Kant effects a Copernican revolution misrepresents Kant’s expressed views on the matter, it distorts Kant’s view of Copernicus, and it misleads us in our efforts to understand what the revolution in natural science meant to him, as the very model on which his metaphysics rests.

About this title

About the Author

Robert Hahn is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.

Edition details

• Publisher: Southern Illinois University Press
• Publication date: 1988
• ISBN 10: 080931441X
• ISBN 13: 9780809314416
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 160