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Force and Inertia: Euler and Kant’s Metaphysical Foundations of Natural Science

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Nature Mathematized

Part of the book series: The University of Western Ontario Series in Philosophy of Science ((WONS,volume 20))

Abstract

The conceptual problems of natural philosophy remained a subject of en- during interest for Kant. Despite shifts in outlook, engendered by a deeper understanding of natural philosophy and the transformation in philosophical perspective which led to the development of the critical philosophy, the conceptual status of ‘force’ and the relationship between ‘force’ and ‘matter’ remained at the core of Kant’s treatment of the problems of natural philosophy. These issues pervade the chapters on ‘Dynamics’ and ‘Mechanics’ in the Metaphysical foundations of natural science (1786), Kant’s mature and most systematic discussion of natural philosophy, where he elaborated the ways in which the transcendental categories of the Critique of pure reason (1781) were to be applied to the concept of matter. It has become a commonplace to describe Kant’s intentions as an attempt to demonstrate the validity of Newtonian physics, but as Buchdahl has emphasised Kant’s ‘metaphysics of nature’ purports to demonstrate links between physical theory and the transcendental principles rather than to claim that the actual inductive validity of Newtonian physics can be derived from a priori premises.1 Moreover, in the Metaphysical foundations Kant’s examination of the metaphysical foundations of Newtonian physical concepts led him to a reappraisal of the conceptual status of ‘force’, ‘matter’ and inertia’ in physical theory. The argument of the Metaphysical foundations thus has a complex relationship to the conceptual structure of Newtonian natural philosophy.

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Notes

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  1. University of Lancaster, UK

    P. M. Harman

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  1. Department of Philosophy, McGill University, Canada

    William R. Shea

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© 1983 D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, Holland

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Harman, P.M. (1983). Force and Inertia: Euler and Kant’s Metaphysical Foundations of Natural Science . In: Shea, W.R. (eds) Nature Mathematized. The University of Western Ontario Series in Philosophy of Science, vol 20. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-6957-5_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-6957-5_10

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