Chemistry, Physics, Cause, Force

Kant's analysis of chemical penetration appears in the context of his study of 'Dynamics', in the Metaphysical Foundations of Natural Science, suggesting that he conceives it as a special case of Attraction, one of the two fundamental 'Forces' that he studies in the chapter.  In contrast, 'Causality' is not introduced until the subsequent chapter, on 'Mechanics', thereby suggesting both that Force is more fundamental than Causality, and that the lack, in the work, of a Causal classification for Chemical events, reflects that priority, rather than expresses a neglect of, or a befuddlement over, such classification.  Likewise, what is widely interpreted as a supplanting, by Newtonian Physics, of Aristotelian Teleological Causality by Efficient Causality, is, more accurately, a replacement of the concept of Cause with that of Force, a replacement generalizable to all Sciences, including Chemistry.