Kant

Herder

Notes from Kant’s
Physics Lectures

[ Introduction ] [ Metaphysics ] [ Moral Phil. ] [ Physical Geogr. ] [ Logic ] [ Physics ] [ Math. ] [ Varia ]

How to Use these Pages     ➝ to the transcripts 

Manuscripts: The manuscripts are arranged into groups: two sets each of notes on physics and math, and then additional notes from three of Herder’s notebooks. These groups are accessed by clicking on the red-links in the light yellow window at the top of the page (e.g., [XX.188]).

Explanatory Notes / Textual Notes: There are two windows with notes: explanatory and textual. The text in those windows on this page explains what you will find in them.

Introduction to the: [ Physics Notes ] [ List of Manuscripts ]

Introduction to the Physics Notes

Herder’s notes on Physics consist of 15 8° pages of text from three different groups of loose sheets and from his “Blauen Studienbuch”. During Herder’s student years Kant offered physics in summer 1763 and winter 1764-65 (from 8-9 every MTThF during the latter semester).[1]

Kant lectured on theoretical physics twenty-one times, beginning with his very first semester (winter 1755-56) and every semester the first three years, then about once every two years, the last in winter 1787-88. This course occasionally failed for lack of students – for instance, Kant taught his Anthropology course for the first time in winter 1772-73 to replace a failed physics offering.

While Kant made use of several different physics textbooks over his teaching career, in the 50’s and 60’s he lectured from Johann Peter Eberhard’s Erste Gründe der Naturlehre (Erfurt and Leipzig, 1753; 2nd edition: 1759), as suggested by his lecture announcements in the 1750’s, such as for summer 1756 (included with his essay on the “Theory of Winds”):[2]

Der Raum den ich dieser kurzen Betrachtung bestimmet habe, setzet ihrer weiteren Ausführung Schranken. Ich beschliesse dieselbe damit, daß ich denen Herren, welche mir die Ehre erzeigen, in meinen gringen Vortrag einigesVertrauen zu setzen, eröfnen, daß ich die Naturwissenschaft über des Herrn D. Eberhards erste Gründe der Naturlehre zu erklären gesonnen sey. Meine Absicht ist nichts vorbey zu lassen was eine gründliche Einsicht in die wichtige Entdeckungen alter und neuer Zeiten beför/dern kann, und vornemlich den unendlichen Vorzug den die letztere durch die glückliche Anwendung der Geometrie vor jenen erhalten haben, in deutlichen und vollständigen Beyspielen zu beweisen.” (AA 1: 502-3; AA³ 1: 552)

Three sets of notes from Kant’s physics lectures are extant: the nearly complete Mrongovius (dated 1785; AA 29: 97-169), the large Friedländer fragment (dated 1776; AA 28: 75-91), and the much smaller Herder fragments published in Irmscher (1964, 56-64) and AA 28: 158-66 (published with Herder’s notes on metaphysics – here, Physics B1-B6), as well as AA 29: 69-71 (published as notes on physics – here, Physics A1-A2), as well as a few untranscribed notes from XXV.46a (Physics A3, C1-C4, D1). D1 is a single sheet with a neatly drawn diagram and calculations; while related to physics (or astronomy) it is unlikely to have originated in a lecture hall.

These would come from either summer 1763 or the first half of winter 1764-65, if they indeed come from Kant’s lectures at all, but there is no direct evidence of this and it remains a possibility that these notes may well stem from someone else’s lectures (although they definitely read like Herder’s other lecture notes, so presumably they stem from some course of lectures – as opposed to being simply Herder’s reading notes).

Lacking direct evidence, what circumstantial evidence do we have for pinning these notes to Kant’s lectures? There are three testimonials to consider, as well as the textbook Kant was using and the degree to which the notes’ content fits with that textbook.

First the testimonials:

(1) Herder (Kalligone, FHA 8: 651-52): Herder “heard all of the lectures, some more than once.” [alle seine Vorlesungen hindurch, mehrere wiederholt, hörte]

(2) Herder (Letters on the Advancement of Humanity, FHA 7: 424-25): “The wellspring of [Kant’s] lectures was the history of men, of nations, and of nature, as well as natural science, mathematics, and his own experience.” [Menschen- Völker- Naturgeschichte, Naturlehre, Mathematik und Erfahrung, waren die Quellen, aus denen er seinen Vortrag und Umgange belebte]

(3) Caroline Herder (1830, 68): “He most preferred hearing Kant talk about astronomy, physical geography, and in general about the great laws of nature.” [Er habe Kant am liebsten reden gehört über Astronomie, physische Geographie, überhaupt über die großen Gesetze der Natur]

(4) Kant (AA 17: 257, lines 35-36): “Show Mr. Herder the interleaved Introduction to Natural Science from my course.” [Dem Herrn Herder die durchschossene Anfansgr der Naturwissenschaft aus meinen Colleg’s zeigen.] – from Loses Blatt L18 (as reported by Adickes).

As to Caroline Herder’s comments it should be noted that astronomy is discussed in both the physics (Eberhard) and the mathematics (Wolff) textbook. The first comment, if taken literally, is definitive, but the other three are merely suggestive. Kant’s physical geography lectures involved a fair bit of discussion that would count as “natural science”, although “the great laws of nature” receive less attention there. To complicate matters, however, we also have testimony of Herder attending the physics lectures of Teske (Herder 1846, 127) as well as Buck, the latter “with great diligence” (Böttiger 1998, 125), so the notes can’t be ascribed to Kant’s lectures simply by default.

The notes (specifically: A1-A3, B1-B4, and D1-D6) make clear reference to Johann Peter Eberhard’s Erste Gründe der Naturlehre – this favors ascribing the notes to Kant’s lectures to the extent that we can determine that Kant used the Eberhard text and no one else did – and our best evidence suggests that this was precisely the case, although all evidence is circumstantial.

Kant was most likely using Eberhard’s text for his 1763 lectures since he used it in the late 1750’s (as shown by his three published course announcements for the summer semesters of 1756, 1757, and 1758) and other records show him using it for the winter semesters of 1764-65, 1766-67, summer 1768, and winter 1769-70, after which he changed to the Erxleben text for winter 1772-73.

Was anyone else using the Eberhard text during Herder’s student years? The relevant professors would be Johann Gottfried Teske (1704-1772), the Professor of Physics from 1729 to 1772, and Friedrich Johann Buck (1722-1786), the Professor of Metaphysics and Logic from 1759 to 1769, and who regularly offered private lectures on physics.[3] Unfortunately, the official Lecture Catalog (Oberhausen/Pozzo 1999) often failed to list the textbook, and we find none listed for Buck’s courses on theoretical or experimental physics until summer 1766, when he is using texts by Wolff and Knutzen.[4] Teske routinely offered courses on physics, both public and private, but the first mention of his textbooks is with summer 1766, and here we see him teaching Theoretical Physics from Wolff and Experimental Physics using Wolff and Nollet, with similar records until summer 1768 when we find him using Eberhard’s text, which he then continues to use for the remainder of his teaching career.

So the available evidence suggests that neither Buck nor Teske used Eberhard in their lectures during Herder’s student years. That leaves Kant. And given the many references in Herder’s notes to Eberhard’s text, this is a good indication that the notes do indeed stem from Kant’s lectures.

There is, however, one last peculiarity to consider: four pages of these notes (B1-B4) are included in an 8° signature that otherwise consists of notes from Kant’s lectures on physical geography (specifically: a 20 page signature with pp. 1-14 consisting of the first part of physical geography and pp. 15-18 consisting of physics notes, with pp. 19-20 blank). As far as we know, Kant did not lecture on physical geography and physics during the same semester during this period, whereas both Teske and Buck did offer physics lectures during the two semesters when Kant was lecturing on physical geography (Buck was lecturing only on Experimental Physics, but Eberhard is also occasionally listed as a text used in Experimental Physics courses). These four pages of notes could still stem from Kant’s latter physics offering (in the first few months of winter 1764-65, before Herder left for Riga) – but speaking against that hypothesis is that these notes come from chapters 7 and 8 of Eberhard (on electricity and magnetism), which would more likely fall near the end of the semester, not the beginning.

Outline of the Textbook

Johann Peter Eberhard, Erste Gründe der Naturlehre. Dritte stark vermehrte und verbesserte Auflage. Halle im Magdeburchischen in der Rengerschen Buchhandlung, 1767. (1st edition: 1753; 2nd edition: 1759.) Digitized copy available at the Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Sachsen (with marginalia) [online]

Vorrede (unpag., 12 p.)

Erinnerung wegen der dritten Auflage (unpag., 10 p.)

Inhalt der Naturlehre (unpag., 10 p.)

Einleitung (pp. 1-14)

Theil 1: die algemeine Eigenschaften der Körper

Cap. 1: die Ausdehnung (§§1-23)

Cap. 2: die Undurchdringlichkeit (§§24-38)

Cap. 3: die Bewegung (§§39-89)

Cap. 4: die anziehende Kraft (§§90-127)

Theil 2: die besondere Eigenschaften der Körper (§128)

Cap. 1: die flüssige Körper überhaupt (§§129-63)

Cap. 2: die Schwere derer flüßigen Körper (§§164-222)

Cap. 3: die Luft (§§223-318)

Cap. 4: Feuer und Licht (§§319-81)

Cap. 5: die Eigenschaften der Lichtstrahlen (§§382-434)

Cap. 6: die Kälte (§§435-53)

Cap. 7: die elektrische Materie (§§454-503)

Cap. 8: die magnetische Materie (§§504-37)

Cap. 9: das Wasser (§§538-50)

Cap. 10: die festen, elastischen und spröden Körpern (§§551-66)

Cap. 11: die Auflösung und Niederschlagung (§§567-84)

Cap. 12: die Begebenheiten in der Luft (§§585-617)

Cap. 13: die Erde (§§618-43)

Cap. 14: das Weltgebäude (§§644-55)

Nacherinnerungen (pp. 747-48)

Verzeichnis derer bekandtesten physikalischen Schriften (unpag., 10 p.)

Register derer vornehmsten Sachen und Autoren (unpag., 10 p.)

Engravings on fold-out leaves (14 leaves)

List of Manuscripts [top]

At the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Nachlass Johann Gottfried Herder:

XXV.46a (8°, 10 x 15.5 cm): 3 pp. Text in ink. [46a(A)]

XX.188 (8°, 10 x 17 cm): 6 pp. Text in ink. [188(B)]

XXV.46a (8°, 10 x 15.5 cm): 4 pp. Text in ink. [46a(C)]