Book contents
- Kant’s Philosophy of Mathematics
- Kant’s Philosophy of Mathematics
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Part I Roots
- 1 Kant and Mendelssohn on the Use of Signs in Mathematics
- 2 Of Griffins and Horses
- 3 Kant on Mathematics and the Metaphysics of Corporeal Nature
- Part II Method and Logic
- Part III Space and Geometry
- Part IV Arithmetic and Number
- References to Works by Kant
- Bibliography
- Index
3 - Kant on Mathematics and the Metaphysics of Corporeal Nature
The Role of the Infinitesimal
from Part I - Roots
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 April 2020
Book contents
- Kant’s Philosophy of Mathematics
- Kant’s Philosophy of Mathematics
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Part I Roots
- 1 Kant and Mendelssohn on the Use of Signs in Mathematics
- 2 Of Griffins and Horses
- 3 Kant on Mathematics and the Metaphysics of Corporeal Nature
- Part II Method and Logic
- Part III Space and Geometry
- Part IV Arithmetic and Number
- References to Works by Kant
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
This paper tracks the shift and the continuity in Kant’s views about the relation between mathematics and physics from the early precritical Physical Monadology (1756) up to the middle critical Metaphysical Foundations of Natural Science (1786) and compares the ways that Kant uses the mathematical ideas of infinite divisibility and the notion of infinitesimal to ground basic metaphysical notions such as contact and corporeal nature.
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- Kant's Philosophy of Mathematics , pp. 66 - 82Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020
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