Monday, July 9, 2012

Mathematics and Copernican Revolution

As Kant shows, the Copernican re-orientation of perception from object to subject locates the principles of Geometry in the latter.  Similarly, the re-orientation of Motion from object to subject locates the principles of Arithmetic in the subject, i. e. Arithmetic is the science of Enumeration, and Enumerability is given with the Temporality of Experience.  Now, for Kant, Geometry is quantified, and, hence, is ultimately grounded in Arithmetical relations.  Furthermore, for Kant, Physics, in general, is based in Mathematics, and, hence, in Arithmetic.  Thus, the Copernican image that is significant to Kant is not the immobile Sun, but the spinning Earth, i. e. it is the latter, not the former, that is primarily instructive in Kant's 'Copernican revolution'.

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