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''Universal Natural History and Theory of Heaven'' ((ドイツ語:Allgemeine Naturgeschichte und Theorie des Himmels)) is a work written by Immanuel Kant in 1755. According to Kant, our solar system is merely a smaller version of the fixed star systems, such as the Milky Way and other galaxies. The cosmogony Kant proposes in this book is closer to today's accepted ideas than that of some of his contemporary thinkers, such as Pierre-Simon Laplace. Moreover, Kant's thought in this volume is strongly influenced by atomist theory, in addition to the ideas of Lucretius. In his introduction to the English translation of Kant's book, Stanley Jaki criticizes Kant for being a poor mathematician and downplays the relevance of his contribution to science. However, these criticisms are on the whole unfair, as they are blaming Kant for not knowing about twentieth-century developments.〔Stephen Palmquist, "Kant's Cosmogony Re-Evaluated", ''Studies in History and Philosophy of Science'' 18:3 (September 1987), pp.255–269.〕 Kant's book ends with an almost mystical expression of appreciation for nature: "In the universal silence of nature and in the calm of the senses the immortal spirit’s hidden faculty of knowledge speaks an ineffable language and gives () undeveloped concepts, which are indeed felt, but do not let themselves be described."〔Immanuel Kant, ''Universal Natural History and Theory of the Heavens'', p.367; translated by Stephen Palmquist in (Kant's Critical Religion ) (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2000), p.320.〕 The first English translation of the work was done by the Scottish theologian William Hastie in 1900. Other English translations include those by Stanley Jaki and Ian Johnston. ==See also== * Thomas Wright (astronomer), author of ''An original theory or new hypothesis of the Universe'' (1750) 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Universal Natural History and Theory of Heaven」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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