Bonn 2010 – scientific programme

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AGPhil: Arbeitsgruppe Philosophie der Physik

AGPhil 6: History and Philosophy of Physics

AGPhil 6.1: Invited Talk

Thursday, March 18, 2010, 14:00–14:45, JUR G

Kant's dynamic theory of matter in 1755, and its debt to speculative Newtonian experimentalism — •Michaela Massimi — Dept. of Science and Technology Studies, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT

This paper explores the scientific sources behind Kant's early dynamic theory of matter in 1755, with a focus on two main Kant's writings: Universal Natural History and Theory of the Heavens and On Fire. The year 1755 has often been portrayed by Kantian scholars as a turning point in the intellectual career of the young Kant, with his much debated conversion to Newton. Via a careful analysis of some salient themes in the two aforementioned works, and a reconstruction of the scientific sources behind them, this paper shows Kant's debt to an often overlooked scientific tradition, i.e. speculative Newtonian experimentalism. The paper argues that more than the Principia, it was the speculative experimentalism that goes from Newton's Opticks to Herman Boerhaave's Elementa chemiae via Stephen Hales' Vegetable Staticks that played a central role in the elaboration of Kant's early dynamic theory of matter in 1755.