J. H. LAMBERT: A STUDY IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CRITICAL PHILOSOPHY.[1]
ALTHOUGH once famous as a philosopher and mathemafc tician, Lambert is probably now best known as one of Kant's numerous correspondents. In fact, his contributions to systematic philosophy are now quite forgotten.[2] Nevertheless, the views expressed in his letters to Kant are so remarkable as to suggest the advisability of investigating more fully not only the possible influence of Lambert upon Kant, but also the true significance of this philosopher in the historical development of speculative thought. The solution of these problems is the object of this paper; but first let us give a brief exposition of the views of Lambert as contained in the works which will serve as the basis of our investigation.
Lambert's purely philosophical publications are few in number. The only two of much importance are the Cosmological Letters, published in 1761, and the New Organon, which appeared in 1764. Directing our attention to these, the Cosmological Letters consists of what were, for the time, most remarkable astronomical speculations. It resembles in many ways the treatise of Immanuel Kant on the same subject. In addition, however, to the purely scientific discussion, there is not a little that verges on the domain of metaphysics. Although a Newtonian, the author considers the law of gravitation as only a descriptive formula, not a metaphysical truth; for actio in distans he regards as inconceivable, since contrary to experience. The same mode of reasoning, it is interesting to note, appears to lie at the basis of the modern theory of ether as the only explanation of optic and electro-magnetic phenomena, and probably of
- ↑ Johann Heinrich Lambert was born at Muelhausen, Alsace, 1728. His death occurred in 1777. There is but one edition of his principal philosophical work, the Organon, that of 1764 (Leipzig).
- ↑ An enthusiastic, but extremely partial, discussion of Lambert's work is given by R. Zimmermann: Lambert der Vorgänger Kants, Sitzungsberichte der Kaiserlichen Academic der Wissenschaften zu Wien, 1879.
