7 - History and natural description of the most noteworthy occurrences of the earthquake that struck a large part of the Earth at the end of the year 1755 (1756)

Summary

EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION

This essay is the second and most detailed of Kant's writings on earthquakes in response to the Lisbon disaster. It was published as an independent piece by Johann Heinrich Hartung's press in Königsberg. The imprimatur was dated 21 February 1756, and it was advertised in the 11 March issue of the weekly Königsbergische Frag- und Anzeigungs-Nachrichten.

In this essay Kant intends to give a more detailed description and explanation of the Lisbon earthquake and the events surrounding it. He reports that the earthquake was preceded by a vapour rising into the air that turned red in the atmosphere and made the torrential rains that ensued blood-red as well. He explains these atmospheric phenomena on the basis of the iron compounds contained in the mixture of substances that, through fermenting and being heated, led to the subterranean conflagration that caused the main earthquake. He then describes the tsunami caused by the earthquake, its effects in distant places, its speed of transmission and extent as well as its influence on springs, and the mode of transmission of these effects (through the compression of the water), distinguishing, to the extent possible, what effects are due to the subterranean explosions and what to those of the tsunami. Kant also describes the series of aftershocks on 18 November, 9 December, and 26 December as well as patterns in the intervals between these tremors. He then theorizes about what geographical features are most conducive to earthquakes and the directions of motion of an earthquake. He also speculates, somewhat freely, about the connection between earthquakes and the seasons and the influence of earthquakes on atmospheric conditions as well as their potential uses. Kant concludes this essay with a sketch of a theodicy, according to which man often inappropriately views himself rather than nature as a whole as the object of God's actions, and, in addition, man is in no position to know God's intentions in any specific case. Instead, one must assume that God's wisdom will subordinate lower purposes to higher ones in accordance with the noblest of aims. In this way, there are, Kant suggests, no theologically unacceptable moral implications of the disaster that befell Lisbon in 1755.