KANT-COPERNICUS CONNECTION

Abstract

The present article focuses on the reference made by Immanuel Kant to Copernicus revolution in the Preface to the Second Edition of the Critique of Pure Reason, published in 1787. The reference in focus appears in two moments of the Preface, addressing to pages XVI-XVII and to a note on page XXII and concerns the revolution operated by Copernicus in the field of Astronomy. Intending to shed light on the thought revolution that was at play in his work, Kant used the comparison between the revolution of Copernicus in the field of Astronomy and his own revolution in the field of Metaphysics, using such a parallel to reveal a common element present in both revolutions. Considering the relevance of this comparison, the task was taken to approach it in the hope that what has to be said contributes to the elucidation of such a parallel, so carefully thought by Kant in order to clarify the revolution that was at stake in his Critique of Pure Reason, a work that inaugurated a new stage of his philosophical undertaking. The leading idea was to try to better understand the reference to Copernicus, recovering, in the work of the Polish astronomer, the key point of his revolution in the field of Astronomy, since it was that identity that comes into light through this analogy that Kant precisely intended to point out, by comparative procedure. Therefore, the first step was to understand the essential and innovative in the revolution operated by Nicolaus Copernicus. Then, to describe the common element present in the revolution operated by Copernicus as well as in the one carried out by Kant in the field of Philosophy.