UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, IRVINE Kant’s Philosophy of Chemistry DISSERTATION submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in Philosophy by Michael Bennett McNulty Dissertation Committee: Associate Professor Jeremy Heis, Chair Associate Professor Sean Greenberg Distinguished Professor Penelope Maddy Professor P. Kyle Stanford 2014 Chapter 1 © 2014 Cambridge University Press All other materials © 2014 Michael Bennett McNulty DEDICATION For James, Eulalie, George, and Yvonne. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF FIGURES iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS v ABBREVIATED CITATIONS vii CURRICULUM VITAE ix ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION x INTRODUCTION 1 PROLOGUE: Chemistry in Kant’s Day 13 1. The Nature of Chemistry 15 2. Chemical Explanation and Elements 16 3. 18th Century Developments 27 CHAPTER 1: Kant on Chemistry and the 40 Application of Mathematics in Natural Science 1. How to Apply Mathematics in Natural Science 41 2. Why Physics is a Proper Science 50 3. Why Chemistry is Not a Proper Science 58 CHAPTER 2: Rehabilitating the Regulative Use of Reason 69 1. Rational Sciences Have Empirical, Causal Laws 70 2. Against Existing Conceptions of the Necessity of Causal Laws 75 3. The Necessitation of Empirical Laws by the Ideas of Reason 82 4. Objections and Replies 94 5. On Psychology and Experimentation 101 CHAPTER 3: Chemistry in Kant’s Opus Postumum 104 1. Overestimating the Balance 107 2. Mathematics Remains Essential to Proper Science 112 3. On the Aether and the Anticipation of the Elements 124 CONCLUSION 138 REFERENCES 146 iii LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 1 Species of Manifolds of the Understanding 6 Figure 2 Euclid’s I.32 45 Figure 3 The Composition of Motions 47 iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First, I would like to thank Cambridge University Press for their permission to include chapter 1 of the dissertation, “Kant on Chemistry and the Application of Mathematics in Natural Science,” which was originally published in Kantian Review. Material from the dissertation was presented at a graduate student work in progress talk in the Department of Logic and Philosophy of Science at the University of California, Irvine, the “Kant and the Exact Sciences Graduate Student Conference” at Notre Dame University in 2011, the “Bucharest Graduate Conference in Early Modern Philosophy” at Bucharest University in 2013, the University of Toronto in 2014, the 2014 Pacific APA, the 2014 meeting of the Eastern Study Group of the North American Kant Society, and the 2014 biennial meeting of the International Society of the History of Philosophy of Science. I thank the audiences at these presentations for their feedback. I appreciate the helpful suggestions from two anonymous referees at Kantian Review, who pressed me to clarify my notion of metaphysical validation for the application of mathematics in chapter 1. I thank Eric Watkins for his feedback on chapters 1 and 2: addressing the weak points in my argumentation that he discovered substantially improved these chapters. I also wish to thank Sam Fletcher, Justin Harvey, James Hebbeler, and Marius Stan for our discussions regarding Kant’s philosophy of science. The members of my dissertation committee have greatly contributed, not only to my dissertation’s content, but also to my philosophical development. Kyle Stanford first introduced me to the literature on the chemical revolution and recommended Arthur Donovan’s biography of Lavoisier, which ultimately gave rise to this project. Sean Greenberg’s extensive knowledge of Kant and early modern philosophy has helped me to make connections that I otherwise would v have overlooked. Penelope Maddy (and her Second Philosopher) has profoundly influenced how I approach philosophy; I am lucky for the opportunity to learn from her in a formative stage of my philosophical career. I owe a considerable debt to Jeremy Heis. During our regular meetings on my research, I cherished the opportunity to have Jeremy distill my argument to its core and to describe its weakest and strongest points. He often understood my arguments (much) better than I did, and his feedback assisted me greatly. I hope that my work can come close to the precision, clarity, and historical sensitivity of Jeremy’s. Jeremy is a superlative mentor, motivator, and supervisor: without his guidance and encouragement, this dissertation would not exist. My family deserves a great deal of credit for this dissertation. My parents, James and Carol, gave me the opportunity to pursue this goal and have ever supported me. Growing up, my siblings, John and Anna, were intellectual exemplars for me; I sought only to follow in their path. Finally, my heartfelt gratitude goes to my wife, Kristina. I could always count on her to mull over ideas with me and to remain confident when I was anything but. For her support, I am grateful. vi ABBREVIATED CITATIONS I use the following abbreviations for works by Kant: Anth Anthropologie in pragmatischer Hinsicht Br Briefe (volumes 10–13 of Kants Gesammelte Schriften) DI Meditationum Quarundam De Igne Succincta Delineatio DP Danziger Physik FEV “Die Frage, ob die Erde veralte, physikalisch erwogen” GNVE “Geschichte und Naturbeschreibung der merkwürdigsten Vorfälle des Erdbebens, welches an dem Ende des 1755sten Jahres einen großen Theil der Erde erschüttert hat” Log Jäsche Logik KpV Kritik der praktischen Vernunft KrV Kritik der reinen Vernunft KU Kritik der Urteilskraft MAN Metaphysische Anfangsgründe der Naturwissenschaft MS Die Metaphysik der Sitten NTH Allgemeine Naturgeschichte und Theorie des Himmels Prol Prolegomena zu einer jeden künftigen Metaphysik OP Opus Postumum Refl Reflexionen V-Lo/Blomberg Blomberg Logik vii V-Lo/Wiener Wiener Logik V-Met/Dohna Metaphysik Dohna V-Met/Volckmann Metaphysik Volckmann Citations of KrV will refer to the standard A/B pagination. All other citations of Kant’s works will refer to the Akademie edition volume number and page number(s). For English translations I use Young’s V-Lo/Blomberg and Log (in Kant 1992), Förster and Rosen’s OP (Kant 1993), Gregor’s KpV (in Kant 1996), Guyer and Wood’s KrV (Kant 1998), and Friedman’s MAN (Kant 2004). All other translations from German are my own. I use the following abbreviations for other works: AKN Anleitung zur gemeinnützlichen Kenntniss der Natur (Karsten 1783) OL Œuvres de Lavoisier publiées par les soins du Ministère de l’Instruction publique (Lavoisier 1864–93) Citations of AKN refer to its reproduction in the 29th volume of the Akademie edition of Kant’s collected works. Citations of OL, Gehler (1787–95), and Partington (1961–70) refer to the respective volume numbers and page numbers. vii i CURRICULUM VITAE Michael Bennett McNulty ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS Post-Doctoral Fellow 2014–15 Universität Salzburg, Fachbereich Philosophie (KGW) Graduate Teaching Associate 2012–14 University of California, Irvine EDUCATION Doctorate of Philosophy in Philosophy 2014 University of California, Irvine Master of Arts in Philosophy 2012 University of California, Irvine Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and Mathematics 2008 Macalester College PUBLICATIONS “Kant on Chemistry and the Application of Mathematics in Natural Science.” Kantian Review 19, no. 3, (2014): 393-418. SELECTED AWARDS AND HONORS Markus Herz Prize for Best Graduate Student Paper 2014 North American Kant Society Recognition of Outstanding Teaching 2013 University of California, Irvine Pedagogical Fellowship 2011–12 University of California, Irvine Thomas E. Hill Award for Outstanding Work in Philosophy 2008 Macalester College ix ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Kant’s Philosophy of Chemistry by Michael Bennett McNulty Doctor of Philosophy in Philosophy University of California, Irvine Associate Professor Jeremy Heis, Chair In his Metaphysiche Anfangsgründe der Naturwissenschaft (1786), Immanuel Kant claims that chemistry is an improper, but rational, science. In this dissertation, I explain Kant’s conception of chemistry by situating his discussions of the science with respect to his theoretical philosophy and his scientific context. In the first chapter, I explain why Kant believes chemistry to be an improper science. In the Metaphysische Anfangsgründe der Naturwissenschaft, Kant maintains that the a priori application of mathematics in proper science distinguishes it from improper science. Because of his opposition to mechanical philosophy, which reduces natural phenomena to mathematically expressible qualities, Kant took the application of mathematics to be a nontrivial problem. He contends that there must be a priori, metaphysical principles that validate the application of mathematics to a proper science. Ultimately, Kant argues that the forces of chemistry, unlike those of physics, are incapable of such a priori validation, making chemistry a merely improper science. The second chapter concerns chemistry’s status as a rational science. I contend that rational sciences, unlike mere sciences, are capable of genuine, causal laws for Kant. I argue that x there are different kinds of causal laws in different sciences: whereas the laws of physics are conditions for the possibility of experience of external objects, the laws of chemistry are quite different. Kant believes that the cognitive faculty of reason postulates chemical elements as the absolute, fundamental bearers of chemical powers, and that chemical laws are possible only insofar as they follow from the nature of these postulated entities. In the last chapter, I argue that Kant continues to believe chemistry to be an improper, though rational, science in his unfinished