Universal Natural History and Theory of Heaven
or
An Exploration of the Constitution and the Mechanical Origin of the Entire
Structure of the Universe
Based on Newtonian Principles
by
Immanuel Kant
The text of this work is available
here in two versions, a German text from the complete works edited by Georg
Reimer (1905) and an English text, which is a fairly recent translation (1998)
by Ian Johnston of Vancouver Island University, Nanaimo, British Columbia.
The
German text is unchanged except for the correction of a few typographical
errors in the printing and for the change from the old Gothic script to a
standard modern alphabet convertible to HTML.
In
both versions the Table of Contents also been altered slightly (to include the
dedication and the preface) and moved to the front, before the dedication and
the preface, so that the reader can more easily select particular portions of
the text. And all footnotes have been moved to the end.
The
English text contains links to Kant's footnotes, together with links to some additional
footnotes provided by the translator (the latter are not provided in the German
text). There are also occasional references to two earlier translators of
Kant's text: Stanley L. Jaki and William Hastie. The translator of the present
text would like to acknowledge the great help he has received from these two
earlier translations.
In
the English translation I have used the original lines from Alexander Pope and
Addison in those places where Kant quotes from the German translations of these
English poets. The translations of von Haller quotations are my own.
The
major purpose of this translation is to provide undergraduates a readily
accessible version of Kant's work in a modern idiom. Hastie's translation,
although very fluent, is seriously incomplete and in places suffers from a
curious choice of words. And there are some odd errors of terminology. Jaki's
translation is scrupulously faithful to Kant's text, but is doggedly literal
and thus, in many places, very difficult to read, especially since it contains
many denoted editorial insertions. These two translations clearly reflect the
very different attitudes of the translators to Kant's work: Hastie is an
enthusiastic apologist for Kant's scientific genius; Jaki, by contrast,
believes the scientific value of Kant's work here has been seriously
exaggerated (to say the least). I take no stand on this issue (which I am ill
equipped to judge), and I refer anyone interested in the debate to consult
Jaki's excellent introduction and detailed commentary on Kant's text. His
remarks on Kant's theory in context are (for me) extremely persuasive.
This
translation has certain copyright restrictions. For information please
use the following link: Copyright.
For comments or question please contact Ian
Johnston.
I
would appreciate hearing any and all suggestions for improvements in the
accuracy and the style of the English translation, since editing the
translation is an ongoing project.
Ian C. Johnston
Liberal Studies Department
Vancouver Island University
Nanaimo, BC
Canada
V9R 6K3
Please click on the
appropriate phrase: German Text (355 KB) or English Text (321 KB)
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