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Licensed Unlicensed Requires Authentication Published by De Gruyter December 1, 2014

What is, for Kant, a Law of Nature?

  • Eric Watkins EMAIL logo
From the journal Kant-Studien

Abstract:

In this paper I explore Kant’s understanding of a law of nature. I begin by reviewing Kant’s explicit statements about what a law is in general before describing an important challenge to the very idea of a law of nature that emerges from the conjunction of the natural law tradition and laws of nature in the early modern period. I then articulate how Kant can respond to that challenge by noting how he can draw on a univocal concept of law involving necessity and legislation in articulating his accounts of laws of nature and the moral law. In this way, we not only come to a better appreciation of Kant’s views on the laws of nature, but also see more clearly some significant structural similarities between his theoretical and practical philosophies as a whole.

Published Online: 2014-12-1
Published in Print: 2014-12-1

© De Gruyter

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