Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- General editors’ preface
- Editor's preface
- General introduction
- 1 Thoughts on the true estimation of living forces and assessment of the demonstrations that Leibniz and other scholars of mechanics have made use of in this controversial subject, together with some prefatory considerations pertaining to the force of bodies in general (1746–1749)
- 2 Examination of the question whether the rotation of the Earth on its axis by which it brings about the alternation of day and night has undergone any change since its origin and how one can be certain of this, which [question] was set by the Royal Academy of Sciences in Berlin as the prize question for the current year (1754)
- 3 The question, whether the Earth is ageing, considered from a physical point of view (1754)
- 4 Universal natural history and theory of the heavens or essay on the constitution and the mechanical origin of the whole universe according to Newtonian principles (1755)
- 5 Succinct exposition of some meditations on fire (1755)
- 6 On the causes of earthquakes on the occasion of the calamity that befell the western countries of Europe towards the end of last year (1756)
- 7 History and natural description of the most noteworthy occurrences of the earthquake that struck a large part of the Earth at the end of the year 1755 (1756)
- 8 Continued observations on the earthquakes that have been experienced for some time (1756)
- 9 New notes to explain the theory of the winds, in which, at the same time, he invites attendance at his lectures (1756)
- 10 Plan and announcement of a series of lectures on physical geography with an appendix containing a brief consideration of the question: Whether the West winds in our regions are moist because they travel over a great sea (1757)
- 11 New doctrine of motion and rest and the conclusions associated with it in the fundamental principles of natural science while at the same time his lectures for this half-year are announced (1758)
- 12 Review of Silberschlag's work: Theory of the fireball that appeared on 23 July 1762 (1764)
- 13 Notice of Lambert's correspondence (1782)
- 14 On the volcanoes on the Moon (1785)
- 15 Something concerning the influence of the Moon on the weather (1794)
- 16 Physical geography (1802)
- Appendix I Kant's units of measurement
- Appendix II Astronomical data for the solar system given by Kant (with conversions to English miles) and modern values for comparison
- Notes
- Glossary
- Index of names
- Index of places
- Index of subjects
2 - Examination of the question whether the rotation of the Earth on its axis by which it brings about the alternation of day and night has undergone any change since its origin and how one can be certain of this, which [question] was set by the Royal Academy of Sciences in Berlin as the prize question for the current year (1754)
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 November 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- General editors’ preface
- Editor's preface
- General introduction
- 1 Thoughts on the true estimation of living forces and assessment of the demonstrations that Leibniz and other scholars of mechanics have made use of in this controversial subject, together with some prefatory considerations pertaining to the force of bodies in general (1746–1749)
- 2 Examination of the question whether the rotation of the Earth on its axis by which it brings about the alternation of day and night has undergone any change since its origin and how one can be certain of this, which [question] was set by the Royal Academy of Sciences in Berlin as the prize question for the current year (1754)
- 3 The question, whether the Earth is ageing, considered from a physical point of view (1754)
- 4 Universal natural history and theory of the heavens or essay on the constitution and the mechanical origin of the whole universe according to Newtonian principles (1755)
- 5 Succinct exposition of some meditations on fire (1755)
- 6 On the causes of earthquakes on the occasion of the calamity that befell the western countries of Europe towards the end of last year (1756)
- 7 History and natural description of the most noteworthy occurrences of the earthquake that struck a large part of the Earth at the end of the year 1755 (1756)
- 8 Continued observations on the earthquakes that have been experienced for some time (1756)
- 9 New notes to explain the theory of the winds, in which, at the same time, he invites attendance at his lectures (1756)
- 10 Plan and announcement of a series of lectures on physical geography with an appendix containing a brief consideration of the question: Whether the West winds in our regions are moist because they travel over a great sea (1757)
- 11 New doctrine of motion and rest and the conclusions associated with it in the fundamental principles of natural science while at the same time his lectures for this half-year are announced (1758)
- 12 Review of Silberschlag's work: Theory of the fireball that appeared on 23 July 1762 (1764)
- 13 Notice of Lambert's correspondence (1782)
- 14 On the volcanoes on the Moon (1785)
- 15 Something concerning the influence of the Moon on the weather (1794)
- 16 Physical geography (1802)
- Appendix I Kant's units of measurement
- Appendix II Astronomical data for the solar system given by Kant (with conversions to English miles) and modern values for comparison
- Notes
- Glossary
- Index of names
- Index of places
- Index of subjects
Summary
EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION
In 1752, the Prussian Royal Academy of Sciences in Berlin announced its prize essay question on whether the rate of rotation of the Earth on its axis would decrease over time and if so, how one could know this to be the case. The deadline for submissions was initially set for 1754, though it was later extended, unbeknown to Kant, to 1756. During the summer of 1754, after leaving his employment as house tutor for Count Keyserlingk's three sons and returning to Königsberg (possibly supervising a member of the Keyserlingk family studying at the university then), Kant wrote an essay in response to the prize essay question. However, instead of submitting this essay to the Academy, he published it, in two parts, in the June 8 and June 15, 1754 issues of the Wöchentliche Königsbergische Frag- und Anzeigungs-Nachrichten, a weekly newspaper with articles on sundry topics of interest to the citizens of Königsberg. The essay that eventually won the prize for this question was written by Paolo Frisi (1728–84), an Italian mathematician and astronomer, who argued that the Earth's rate of rotation would not decrease over time.
Rather than pursuing historical comparisons of potentially unreliable data on the length of years and days in the past, Kant, following Newtonian principles, considers what external causes could effect any changes in the rotation of the earth. If the earth were a completely solid and homogeneous spherical mass, the Sun and the Moon (which are the two bodies that have the greatest gravitational effect on the earth) would act equally on all parts of the Earth and there would be no (cause for a) diminution of its rotation. However, given that the Earth contains a considerable amount of liquid (primarily water in the form of oceans, seas, and lakes), it is not a perfectly solid mass, and for that reason, the gravitational effect of the Sun and the Moon causes tides. But the tides that are caused by the Sun and Moon move contrary to the direction of rotation of the Earth and thus cause a decrease in the rotation around its axis.
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- Kant: Natural Science , pp. 156 - 164Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2012
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