Thoughts on the True Estimation of Living Forces

Thoughts on the True Estimation of Living Forces (German: Gedanken von der wahren Schätzung der lebendigen Kräfte) is Immanuel Kant's first published work.

Thoughts on the True Estimation of Living Forces
The German edition
AuthorImmanuel Kant
Original titleGedanken von der wahren Schätzung der lebendigen Kräfte
CountryGermany
LanguageGerman
Published1749
Media typePrint

Written in 1744–46[1] and published in 1749, it reflected Kant's position as a metaphysical dualist at the time. In it he argues against the vis motrix ("moving force") view supported by Wolff and other post-Leibnizian German rationalists that proposed that bodies have no essential force, and claimed that, instead, the existence of an essential force can be proven by metaphysical arguments. Kant criticized Leibniz's followers for looking "no further than the senses teach," and stayed close to Leibniz's original vis activa ("active force"; also known as vis viva, "living force") point of view.

Notes
  1. Eric Watkins (ed.), Immanuel Kant: Natural Science, Cambridge University Press, 2012: "Thoughts on the true estimation...".

References
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