Kant's Cosmogony as in his Essay on the Retardation of the Rotation of the Earth, and his Natural History and Theory of the Heavens

Abstract

IN this work Prof. Hastie has not only given us a very readable book, but has written an important chapter in the history of astronomy. His main object is to make us recognise in Kant a profound genius, and to give us reasons for this appreciation. The author was well advised, for Kant, in the domain of natural science, enjoys a somewhat nebulous reputation. Few would care to say with exactness what particular view Kant supported concerning the origin of the cosmos, to what extent he was assisted by earlier writers, or how much of his work has been approved by later physicists. It was inevitable that the work of Laplace, appearing at a later date and supported by a renown won by his successful solution of problems connected with celestial mechanics, should occupy a position of wider acknowledgement and receive the assent of those who, unable to add any support or offer effective criticism to his theory, were content to rely upon his deservedly high reputation. Thus it has come about that more than one writer has owed his knowledge of Kant to very second-hand sources, and while only very imperfectly apprehending the points of difference in the systems suggested by the two philosophers, has allowed the later to eclipse and supplant the work of the earlier writer. Perhaps it is not too much to say that until Prof. Newcomb's “Popular Astronomy” appeared, no intelligent comparison between the theories of Kant and Laplace could be found in any popular work written in English. Prof Hastie has, however, removed any difficulty that any one might experience in endeavouring to master Kant's views at first hand, and there is no longer any excuse for incomplete knowledge. In excellent English, and we have no doubt with faithful adhesion to the original, he has given us more than all of that portion of Kant's work which the author himself considered to be supported by fair demonstrable inferences. This translation, indeed, oversteps the point at which Kant authorised the publication of his work by J. F. Gensichen in 1791. The remaining portion seems to have, been too imaginative and fanciful to receive the support of Kant's maturer judgment, but Prof. Hastie has translated the whole, and the part yet unpublished may see the light if a favourable opportunity offers. Kant's Cosmogony as in his Essay on the Retardation of the Rotation of the Earth, and his Natural History and Theory of the Heavens. With introduction, appendices, and a portrait of Thomas Wright of Durham. Edited and translated by W. Hastie, Professor of Divinity, University of Glasgow. Pp. cix + 205. (Glasgow: James Maclehose and Sons, 1900.)