Immanuel Kant's influential Critical philosophy is inextricably tied to developments in various of the sciences in the 17th and 18th century. Some commentators have gone as far to claim that the metaphysical theory developed in his Critique of Pure Reason was crafted with an eye toward grounding a quasi-Newtonian physical theory. Though Kant's views on physics have received a good deal of attention in philosophical scholarship, Kant's own interests were by no means so limited. In lesser known works, Kant espoused developed theories of various other sciences, including chemistry, psychology, anthropology, geography, history, and biology. Indeed, Kant was especially famous for his foundational work in anthropology, which helped to secure the science as its own, independent discipline.
In this course, we broadly examine Kant's views on the sciences, with an especial attention toward developing a comprehensive, hierarchical account that unifies and systematizes the various sorts of science. While the individual sciences have each received some isolated treatment by commentators (much of which will receive consideration in the course), contemporary scholarship wants for such an overarching treatment of Kant's philosophy of science, putting our considerations on the cutting edge of Kant studies.