Universal Natural History and Theory of Heaven

Universal Natural History and Theory of Heaven (German: Allgemeine Naturgeschichte und Theorie des Himmels) is a work written by Immanuel Kant in 1755. According to Kant, our solar system is merely a smaller version of the fixed star systems, such as the Milky Way and other galaxies. The cosmogony Kant proposes in this book is closer to today's accepted ideas than that of some of his contemporary thinkers, such as Pierre-Simon Laplace. In his int... more

Universal Natural History and Theory of Heaven (German: Allgemeine Naturgeschichte und Theorie des Himmels) is a work written by Immanuel Kant in 1755. According to Kant, our solar system is merely a smaller version of the fixed star systems, such as the Milky Way and other galaxies. The cosmogony Kant proposes in this book is closer to today's accepted ideas than that of some of his contemporary thinkers, such as Pierre-Simon Laplace. In his introduction to the English translation of Kant's book, Stanley Jaki criticizes Kant for being a poor mathematician and downplays the relevance of his contribution to science. However, these criticisms are on the whole unfair, as they are blaming Kant for not knowing about twentieth-century developments. Kant's book ends with an almost mystical expression of appreciation for nature: "In the universal silence of nature and in the calm of the senses the immortal spirit’s hidden faculty of knowledge speaks an ineffa­ble language and gives [us]... less