Conceiving Nature after Aristotle, Kant, and Hegel: The Philosopher's Guide to the Universe

412 Pages·2017·3.7 MB·English

by  Richard Dien Winfield (auth.)

C O N C E I V I N G
N A T U R E
A F T E R
A R I S T O T L E
KANT AND
H E G E L
THE PHILOSOPHER'S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE
Richard Dien Winfield
Conceiving Nature after Aristotle, Kant,
and Hegel
Richard Dien Winfield
Conceiving Nature
after Aristotle, Kant,
and Hegel
The Philosopher’s Guide
to the Universe
Richard Dien Winfield
Department of Philosophy
University of Georgia
Athens, GA, USA
ISBN 978-3-319-66280-0 ISBN 978-3-319-66281-7 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-66281-7
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017950399
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether
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The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
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Cover illustration: © 2010 Luis Argerich
Printed on acid-free paper
This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature
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The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
In memory of my father-in-law, Suresh Gupta (1930–2016)
Contents
1 Introduction 1
2 The Presuppositions of Ancient and Modern
Conceptions of Nature 15
2.1 Theology, Philosophy, and the Presuppositions of
Natural Science 15
2.2 Ancient Theology and Ancient Science of Nature 19
2.3 Nature as Product of Making Versus Nature as
Product of Generation 26
2.4 Theological and Philosophical Presuppositions of
Modern Science 33
Bibliography 49
3 How and Where to Begin Conceiving Nature:
Three Fundamental Options 51
3.1 The Aristotelian Approach to Nature 51
3.2 With What Should the Philosophy of
Nature Begin? 55
3.3 Aristotle’s Privileging of Place as Primary 56
vii
viii Contents
3.4 The Kantian Approach to Space and Time 62
Bibliography 79
4 Space-Time and Matter 81
4.1 Hegel’s Account of the Emergence of Matter from
Space, Time, and Place 82
4.2 Problems Arising in Aristotle’s Conception
of Matter 94
4.3 Kant’s Dynamic Account of Matter 97
Bibliography 124
5 Matter and Motion 125
5.1 Aristotle’s Account of Locomotion and Its
Relation to the Other Changes of Nature 127
5.2 The Abiding Problem of Self-motion 139
5.3 Kant and the Problem of Determining Mass 146
5.4 Mechanics and Absolute Motion 155
Bibliography 164
6 From Relative to Absolute Mechanics 165
6.1 Implications of Aristotle’s Account of Motion 165
6.2 The Impoverishment of Natural Process by Kantian
Pure Mechanics 172
6.3 Hegel’s Rethinking of the Mechanics of Matter in
Motion 181
Bibliography 197
7 Physical Process and Light 199
7.1 Preliminary Outline of the Divisions of Physical
Process 203
7.2 Aristotle’s Physics of Light 209
7.3 Hegel’s Account of Light 218
7.4 Light and Qualitative Physics 219
Bibliography 232
Contents ix
8 The Physical States of Matter 233
8.1 The States of Matter 233
8.2 The Lessons of Aristotle’s Account of the
Elements 235
8.3 Kant and the Physical States of Matter 253
8.4 Hegel’s Account of Density, Cohesion, and the
States of Matter 261
Bibliography 271
9 The Physics of Particular Qualities 273
9.1 The Void, Density, Elasticity, and Pure
Mechanics 279
9.2 Kant and Chemical Process 282
9.3 Kant and the Problem of Physical Form in
Natural Science 286
9.4 Hegel’s Physics of Particular Individuality 289
9.5 Density 293
9.6 Cohesion 296
9.7 Elasticity, Sound, and Heat 301
Bibliography 309
10 From Thermodynamics to Electromagnetism 311
10.1 The Ambiguous Position of Hegel’s Account of
Thermodynamics 313
10.2 Shape and the Physics of Total Individuality 316
10.3 Polar Charge and Electricity 321
10.4 Magnetism 322
10.5 Magnetism and Crystal Formation 325
10.6 Magnetism, Crystallization and the Physical
Independence of Shape 327
10.7 Shape in Relation to Physical Processes 334
10.8 The Relation of Shape to Light 334
10.9 Shape in Relation to Transparency, Refraction,
and Color 339
10.10 Refraction and Physical Shape 342
10.11 Color and Physical Shape 344
x Contents
10.12 Odor, Taste, and Physical Shape 346
Bibliography 354
11 From Electricity to Chemistry 355
11.1 Electricity as the Final Form of Total
Individuality 355
11.2 Light and Electricity 361
11.3 How Electricity Provides the Enabling
Conditions of Chemical Process 363
11.4 What Chemical Process Makes Possible:
Anticipatory Sketch of Hegel’s Threefold
Division of Organic Nature 366
11.5 The Chemistry of Nature 367
11.6 Is Chemistry a Terrestrial Process? 369
11.7 Formal Non-chemical Process Versus Real
Chemical Process 370
11.8 The Basic Forms of Chemical Process 371
11.9 The Finitude of Chemical Process 372
11.10 The Catalyst in Chemical Process 376
11.11 Hegel’s Differentiation of Chemical Elements 382
11.12 From Chemical Process to Life 389
Bibliography 398
Works Cited 399
Index 403
1
Introduction
The following is an exploration of forbidden delights. We are going to
be examining what the current academy will not allow to be addressed,
something considered so inappropriate as not to qualify for any serious
study. Our tabooed subject is the philosophy of nature, which the reign-
ing orthodoxy has sought to put into oblivion by supplanting it with
the philosophy of science.
Once upon a time the science of nature was the philosophy of nature.
For many centuries there was no distinction between the two, but since
early modern times, a science of nature has set itself apart from phi-
losophy. More recently academia has become dominated by the view
that the philosophy of nature is a meaningless enterprise and that all
reason can do with respect to nature is engage in a philosophy of sci-
ence, reflecting on the methodology of empirical investigations of the
universe. This substitution of philosophy of science for philosophy of
nature is grounded in the assumption that when it comes to knowledge
of determinate objects, reason is utterly powerless and instead must
hand over all efforts to know specific subject matter to sciences guided
by observation. Incapable of knowing nature by reason, all philosophy
can do is reflect on the operations of empirical science.
© The Author(s) 2017 1
R.D. Winfield, Conceiving Nature after Aristotle, Kant, and Hegel,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-66281-7_1