Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Theology, Practical Reason, Copernican Revolution

Kant is surely mindful that Geocentricism is as much an integral feature of Medieval Theology as are the proofs of the existence of God that he refutes.  Thus, he surely appreciates that both Copernicus' and his own innovations have general systematic implicates, i. e. that they constitute more than specifically Astronomical and Epistemological revolutions.  Now, the focal point of his theological inversion is the transition from Theoretical Reason to Practical Reason.  Likewise, the decisive moment of his interpretation of the Copernican inversion--that "the spectator is made to revolve", as he characterizes it--is that the "spectator" becomes a performer.  On that basis, the spinning Earth, but not the immobile Sun, is a plausible specifically astronomical analogue.

No comments:

Post a Comment