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1 results

  • 3 - The question, whether the Earth is ageing, considered from a physical point of view (1754)

  • Immanuel Kant
  • Edited by Eric Watkins, University of California, San Diego
  • Book:
    Kant: Natural Science
    Published online:
    05 November 2012
    Print publication:
    04 October 2012, pp 165-181

  • Summary

    In this essay, Kant defines what it would mean for the earth to be ageing, warning in particular against anthropocentric conceptions. He also provides detailed evaluations of four different accounts of how the earth might be ageing and by what causal mechanisms. The first is by the rivers stripping fertile salts from the land and delivering them into the ocean, thereby robbing the land of its ability to grow and sustain life. The second is by the rivers depositing sediment into the sea, which raises the sea until it inundates the land. The third is by the decrease of water (from the oceans) and the resultant increase of land. The fourth is by the decrease and gradual exhaustion of a hypothetical general 'world spirit' that sustains all living beings on earth. He concludes by criticizing those who would appeal to comets to explain "all manner of extraordinary" events.