The Geological Thought of Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) in Bearing on Actualism-Uniformitarianism

Abstract

Besides philosopher and epistemologist, Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) carried out an interesting contribution to 18th Century scientific knowledge through two of his works, Allgemeine Naturgeschichte und Theorie des Himmels (1755) and Physische Geographie (1775/1802). In the latter, he developed a Theory of the Earth characteristic of that time, wherein assumed the actualistics-uniformitarianists ideas, with gradual changes, the cycles of matter, an Earth in steady state, and a time with no beginning nor an end, that to a certain extent could have a considerable influence on the James Hutton’s theory and also on Charles Lyell. The Actualism, however, in its essential assumptions such as the inference to the past from the present by means of the causes now in operation, is actually inherent in the human rationality, and it is possible to find it in the works of a number of naturalists in earlier decades.

Keywords

• immanuel kant (1724-1804)
• teoría de la tierra
• actualismo-uniformitarismo
• siglo xviii.