INTEODUCTORY DISCUSSIONS 

 1. PHILOSOPHY OF NATURE IN GENERAL 



PHILOSOPHY of nature is the demonstration of the general 

 scheme of nature based upon the character or essence 

 of reason. It received its modern foundation from the 

 analytical work of Kant and his followers, though Kant 

 himself, in his conception of the categories and the a priori, 

 went only as far as to show by what means such a 

 philosophy might be built up. In answering one of his 

 fundamental questions : " Wie ist reine Naturwissenscliaft 

 moglicli ? " (" How is pure natural science possible ? "), he 

 proved that it really is possible on account of some faculties 

 of reason referring to concepts and principles of relation in 

 Givenness. These concepts and principles are a priori or 

 self-evident, in other words, they cannot be denied when 

 once understood in their meaning, albeit they do not rest 

 solely on the logical principle of contradiction. 



It was the school of Schelling and Hegel, and to some 

 extent Schopenhauer also, that tried to develop the ideas of 

 Kant ; but, unfortunately, the two first-named philosophers 

 at least were not very critical in their deduction, the whole 

 subject of a philosophy of nature becoming more or less 

 fantastic under their hands. That has done the utmost 



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