| The dissertation is a study of Immanuel Kant's early philosophy of nature. Kant's main project was the reconciliation of Newton's scientific perspective with the vantage point of metaphysics. Kant hoped to justify the metaphysical principles of God, value, and freedom within a Newtonian model of physical nature. In the pursuit of this task, Kant formulated a methodology that was supposed to give metaphysical investigations scientific rigor, and he developed an ontology that was supposed to unify the causal structures of physical events, teleological processes, and free actions. The philosophical difficulties Kant encountered with this project eventually triggered his critical turn, which generated his greatest work, the Critique of Pure Reason.;The standard assessment of Kant's early period is that it involved a largely erratic development of thought which merely amounted to an eclectic combination of Leibniz and Newton. I argue that this is inaccurate. The development of Kant's early thought does not exhibit sudden reversals, but a linear growth leading to his mature philosophy, revealing Kant's critical revolution as an evolution instead. Moreover, Kant's precritical project is far more original than usually thought, involving powerful and creative theories that anticipate contemporary positions to an astonishing degree. |
