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Kant on Chemistry and the Application of Mathematics in Natural Science

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 September 2014

Michael Bennett McNulty
Michael Bennett McNulty*
Affiliation:
University of California, Irvine Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

In his Metaphysische Anfangsgründe der Naturwissenschaft, Kant claims that chemistry is a science, but not a proper science (like physics), because it does not adequately allow for the application of mathematics to its objects. This paper argues that the application of mathematics to a proper science is best thought of as depending upon a coordination between mathematically constructible concepts and those of the science. In physics, the proper science that exhausts the a priori knowledge of objects of the outer sense, only motions and concepts reducible to motions can be legitimately coordinated with mathematical constructions. Since chemistry can neither achieve its own a priori principles of coordination nor be reduced to the coordinated doctrine of motion, it is a merely improper science.

Keywords

Kantchemistryproper sciencemathematicsconstructionmechanical philosophy
Type
Articles
Information
Kantian Review , Volume 19 , Issue 3 , November 2014 , pp. 393 - 418
Copyright
© Kantian Review 2014 

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