Universal Natural History and Theory of the Heavens
or
An Essay on the Constitution and the Mechanical Origin of the Entire Structure of the Universe
Based on Newtonian Principles
(1755)
(EXTRACT)
Preface
I have selected a subject which, both in view of its inherent difficulty and also with respect to religion, can right at the very start elicit an unfavourable judgment from a large section of readers. To discover the systematic arrangement linking large parts of creation in its entire infinite extent and to bring out by means of mechanical principles the development of the cosmic bodies themselves and the cause of their movements from the first state of nature, such insights seem to overstep by a long way the powers of human reason. From another perspective, religion threatens with a solemn accusation about the presumption that one is allowed to be so bold as to attribute to nature left to itself such consequences in which we rightly become aware of the immediate hand of the Highest Being and worries about encountering in the inquiry into such views a defence of the atheist. I do perceive all these difficulties, and yet I do not become fainthearted. I feel all the power of the obstacles ranged against me, and nevertheless I am not despondent. On the basis of a slight assumption I have undertaken a dangerous journey, and I already see the promontories of new lands. Those people who have the resolution to set forth on the undertaking will set foot on these lands and have the pleasure of designating them with their very own names.
I made no commitment to this endeavour until I considered myself secure from the point of view of religious duties. My enthusiasm has doubled as I witnessed at every step the dispersal of the clouds which behind their obscurity seemed to hide monsters and which, after they scattered, revealed the majesty of the Highest Being with the most vital radiance. Since I know that these efforts are free of all reproach, I will faithfully introduce what well-meaning or even weak-minded people could find shocking in my proposal and am candidly ready to submit it to the strict inspection of a council of true believers, which is the mark of an honest disposition. The champion of the faith, therefore, may be allowed to let his reasons be heard first.
If the planetary structure, with all its order and beauty, is only an effect of the universal laws of motion in matter left to itself, if the blind mechanism of natural forces knows how to develop itself out of chaos in such a marvellous way and to reach such perfection on its own, then the proof of the primordial Divine Author which we derive from a glance at the beauty of the cosmic structure is wholly discredited, natureis self-sufficient, the divine rule is unnecessary, Epicurus lives once again in the midst of Christendom, and an unholy philosophy treads underfoot the faith which proffers a bright light to illuminate it.
If I found this criticism had a firm basis, then the conviction which I have of the infallibility of divine truths is for me so empowering, that I would consider everything which contradicts it sufficiently refuted by that fact and would reject it. But the very agreement which I encounter between my system and religion raises my confidence in the face of all difficulties to an unshakable composure.
I recognize all the value of those proofs which people derive from the beauty and perfect organization of the cosmic structure to confirm the most eminently wise Author. If we do not obstinately deny all conviction, then we must agree with such incontrovertible reasons. But I maintain that the people who defend religion in this way, by using these reasons badly, perpetuate the conflict with the naturalists, because they present an unnecessarily weak case. (...)
Now, I confidently apply this concept to my present enterprise. I summon up the material stuff of all worlds in a universal confusion and create out of this a perfect chaos. According to the established laws of attraction, I see matter developing and modifying its motion through repulsion. Without the assistance of arbitrary fictions, I enjoy the pleasure of seeing a well-ordered totality emerge under the influence of the established laws of motion, something which looks so similar to the same planetary system which we see in front of us, that I cannot prevent myself from believing that it is the same. This unanticipated unfolding of the order of nature on a grand scale I find at first suspicious, because it establishes such a well-coordinated and correct system on such a meagre and simple foundation. Finally, on the basis of the previously outlined observation, I advise myself that such a natural development is not something unheard of in nature but that its fundamental striving necessarily brings such things with it and that this is the most marvellous evidence of its dependence on that Primordial Essence which has within Itself the source of being and the first laws by which nature operates. This insight doubles my trust in the proposal I have made. The confidence increases with each step I take as I continue on, and my timidity disappears completely. (...)
The material which is the primordial stuff for all things is thus bound to certain laws. Freely left subject to these laws, it must necessarily bring forth beautiful combinations. It has no freedom to deviate from this plan of perfection. Since it also finds itself subject to the loftiest wise purpose, it must of necessity be set in such harmonious relationships through a First Cause which rules over it. There is a God for just this reason, that nature, even in a chaotic state, can develop only in an orderly and rule-governed manner. (...)
In the second part, which contains the proposal most germane to this treatise, I endeavour to develop the arrangement of the cosmic structure from the simplest condition of nature merely by mechanical laws. (...)
In fact, I have rejected with the greatest care all arbitrary fictions. After I place the world in the simplest chaos, I have applied to it no forces other than the powers of attraction and repulsion, so as to develop the great order of nature. These two forces are both equally certain, equally simple, and at the same time equally primal and universal. Both are taken from Newtonian philosophy. The first is now an incontestably established law of nature. The second, which Newtonian science perhaps cannot establish with as much clarity as the first, I here assume only in the sense which no one disputes, that is, in connection with the smallest distributed particles of matter, as, for example, in vapours. From such simple grounds as these, I have produced the system which follows in a natural manner, without imagining any consequences other than those which the reader’s attentiveness must observe entirely on its own. (...)
Part One
Short Outline of the Necessary Fundamental Principles of Newtonian Philosophy Required for an Understanding of the following Theory
Six planets, including three with accompanying satellites, Mercury, Venus, Earth with its moon, Mars, Jupiter with four satellites, and Saturn with five, describe orbits around the sun as the mid-point and, together with the comets, which do the same thing from all sides in very long orbits, make up a system which we call the Solar System or the planetary world structure. The fact that the movement of all these bodies takes the form of a circle and returns back on itself presupposes two forces which are equally necessary for any sort of theory, namely, a projectile force, by which at every point of their curved linear movement the bodies would continue on a straight line and disappear into the infinite distance, unless another force, whatever it may be, constantly required them to leave this path and move on a curved track around the mid-point of the sun. This second force, as geometry itself has established with certainty, always aims at the sun and is therefore called the sinking force, the centripetal force, or gravity.
If the orbits of the celestial bodies were exact circles, then the very simplest breakdown of the compounded curved movements would reveal that a continuous impulse towards the central point would be required for the arrangement. However, although the movements of all planets and comets are ellipses in which the sun is located at a common focal point, higher geometry with the help of Kepler’s model (according to which the radius vector or the line drawn from the planet to the sun always cuts out on its elliptical path areas proportional to the times) similarly establishes with unequivocal certainty that a force must constantly draw the planet throughout its entire orbital path towards the mid point of the sun. This sinking force, which governs throughout the whole space of the planetary system and directs itself to the sun, is thus an accepted natural phenomenon. Equally clearly demonstrated is the law according to which this force extends from the mid-point of the sun into the far distances. It always decreases inversely as the square roots of the distances from the centre increase. This rule is derived in an equally infallible way from the time which the planets need at different distances to complete their orbits. These times are always in a ratio to the square root of the cubes of their average distance from the sun. From this we deduce that the force which pulls these cosmic bodies to the mid-point of their orbits must decrease inversely as the square of the distance.
This very same law which governs among the planets in their movements around the sun occurs also in connection with small systems, namely, with those which are made up of moons moving about their main planet. Their orbital times are in exactly the same way proportional to the distances and establish a relationship of the force which causes sinking towards the planet, which is exactly the same as the one by which the planet is pulled towards the sun. All this, derived from the most infallible geometry and uncontested observations, has been placed forever beyond contradiction. From this arises now the idea that this sinking force may be exactly the same impetus which is called heaviness on the surface of the planet and which gradually diminishes with the distances from the surface according to the above-mentioned law. We see this from the comparison of the quantity of heaviness on the surface of the earth with the force which pulls the moon to the mid-point of its orbit. These stand in relation to each other just as the force of attraction in the entire planetary system, namely, in inverse proportion to the square of the distances. Hence people also call this frequently reported central force gravity.
Moreover, because there is the highest degree of probability that if an effect occurs only in the presence of and in proportion to the distance to a certain body and if the direction of this effect is related as precisely as possible to this body, then it is credible that this body is the cause of the effect, however it occurs. Therefore, we have sufficient reason to think that this universal downward movement of the planets towards the sun can be attributed to the power of attraction of the sun and to ascribe the capacity for the power of attraction in general to all the celestial bodies.
Hence, if a body is left free to the influence of this impulse which drives it to sink toward the sun or some other planet, then it will fall towards it with a constantly accelerating motion and soon will be united with that same mass. However, if it gets a push directing it to the side, then, if that push is not powerful enough to achieve an exact equilibrium with the sinking force, the body will sink down to the central mass with a curved movement. And if, before the sinking body touches the outer surface of the central mass, the impulse impressed on it has grown at least strong enough to shift it from the vertical line about half the thickness of the body at the mid-point, then it will not touch this surface but, after it has swung closely around it, will, thanks to the velocity achieved in its fall, be raised up high again just as far as it fell, so as to continue its path in a constant circular movement.
Thus, the difference between the orbital paths of the comets and the planets consists in the sideways deviation in opposition to the force which drives them to fall. The more these two forces approach an equilibrium, the more the orbit will become circular in shape; the more unequal they are, the weaker the projectile force in relation to the force pulling to the centre, then the longer the orbit, or, as we say, the more eccentric the orbit is, because the celestial body in one part of its path comes far closer to the sun than in another.
Because nothing in all nature is exactly balanced, no planet has an entirely circular motion. However, the comets deviate the most from a circular orbit, because at their first distance from the sun the impetus which was impressed on them towards the side was the least proportional to the force pulling them to the centre.
In this treatise I will very often use the expression a systematic arrangement of the cosmic structure. So that people will have no difficulty clearly imagining what this term is to mean, I will explain it briefly. Strictly speaking, all the planets and comets which belong to our cosmic structure already form a system by the fact that they rotate around a common central body. However, I take this term in an even narrower sense, because I consider the more precise relationships which have united them with each other in a regular and uniform way. The orbits of the planets are, in relation to each other, as nearly as possible on a common plane, namely, on the extended equatorial plane of the sun. The deviations from this rule occur only in connection with the outermost borders of the system, where all movements gradually cease. When therefore a certain number of cosmic bodies, ordered around a common mid-point and moving around it are at the same time restricted to a certain plane, so that they have minimal freedom to deviate on both sides of this plane, and when the deviation occurs gradually only with those which are furthest distant from the mid-point and participate less in the interconnections than the others, then I say that these bodies are bound together in a systematic arrangement.
Part Two
Concerning the first condition of Nature, the development of the celestial bodies, the causes of their movement and their systematic interrelationship both with the structure of planets in particular and also with the entire creation.
Concerning the Origin of the Planetary World Structure in General and the Causes of Its Movements
So far as concerns the reciprocal relationships which the parts of the cosmic structure have among themselves and through which they reveal the cause which brought them about, observation of this arrangement displays two aspects, both of which are equally probable and worthy of consideration. On the one hand, if we think of the fact that six planets with ten companions describe orbits around the sun at their mid-point, that all move in one direction, in fact, the same direction as the axial rotational of the sun itself, which governs all their orbits though the power of attraction, that their orbits do not deviate far from a common plane, namely, the extrapolated equatorial plane of the sun, that among the furthest celestial bodies belonging to the solar system, in the region where the common cause of movement was, according to the hypothesis, not so strong as in the region close to the mid-point, deviations from the precision of these conditions occur, which are sufficiently related to the lack of impressed motion, if, I say, we consider all this interconnection, then we will come to believe that one cause, whatever it may be, had a pervasive influence throughout the entire extent of the system and that the conformity in the direction and position of the planetary orbits is a consequence of the coordinated agreement which they must have had with that material cause through which they were set in motion.
On the other hand, if we consider the space in which the planets of our system orbit, then we find it is completely empty and deprived of all material stuff which could have subjected these celestial bodies to a common set of influences and brought with it coordination among their movements. This fact has been established with more perfect certainty and its probability is, where possible, greater than the probability of the previous claim. Swayed by this reason, Newton could not point to any material cause which should maintain by its extension into the space of the planetary system the commonality of movements. He maintained that the immediate hand of God had set up this order without the use of naturalforces.
Considering the matter impartially, we see that the reasons here on both sides are equally strong. And they have an equal value as completely certain. However, it is also just as clear that there must be a concept which could and should unite these two apparently conflicting reasons and that in this concept we are to seek the true system. We wish briefly to announce that concept. In the present arrangement of space, in which the spheres of all the planetary worlds move around, there is no material cause present which could impress itself on or direct their movements. This space is completely empty, or at least as good as empty. Thus, it must have in earlier times been differently constituted and full of matter sufficiently capable of conferring movement on all the celestial bodies located there and of bringing them into harmony with its motion and, as a consequence, into harmony with each other. When the power of attraction unified the above-mentioned space and collected all the scattered matter in particular clusters, the planets must have from then on freely and unchangingly continued the orbital movement, once impressed upon them, in an unresisting space. The reasons for the first-mentioned probability absolutely require this notion. And since there is no third possibility between the two, we look upon this idea with approval as an excellent one, an approval which raises it above the plausibility of a hypothesis. If we wished to be long winded, we could, with a series of successive inferences in the manner of a mathematical demonstration, with all the display which this involves and with an even greater plausibility than its introduction in physical subjects customarily elicits, finally arrive at the proposal itself, which I will set down, concerning the origin of the cosmic structure. But I would rather present my opinions in the form of a hypothesis and leave it to the reader’s insight to put its value to the test, than render its validity suspect because of the appearance of a devious demonstration, something which might thus captivate the ignorant but lose the approval of those who understand.
I assume that all the matter making up the spheres belonging to our solar system, all the planets and comets, at the origin of all things was broken down into its elementary basic material and filled the entire space of the cosmic structure in which these developed bodies now move around. If we consider this state of nature in and of itself, without reference to a system, it seems to be merely the simplest which can follow upon nothingness. At that time nothing had yet developed. The incorporation of heavenly bodies located separate from one another, their distance from each other controlled according to the powers of attraction, and their shape, arising from the equilibrium of the collected materials, are a later condition. Nature, on the immediate edge of creation, was as raw and undeveloped as possible. Only in the fundamental properties of the elements which make up the chaos can we perceive the sign of that perfection which nature has from its origin, since its being is a consequence arising from the eternal idea of the Divine Understanding. The simplest, most universal characteristics, apparently designed without purpose, the material, which seems merely passive and in need of forms and structures, has in its simplest condition a tendency to build itself up by a natural development to a more perfect arrangement. The difference in the types of elements by itself was the most important factor contributing to the movement of nature and to the development of chaos, so that the tranquillity which would have ruled in a state of universal equality among the scattered elements would be lifted, and the chaos begin to develop itself at points where the particles have a stronger power of attraction. The types of this basic material are undoubtedly infinitely different, to match the immensity which nature displays in every respect. Given the equal distribution in planetary space, the materials with the greatest specific density and power of attraction, which in and of themselves take up less room and are also rarer, therefore become more scattered than the lighter varieties of material. Elements with a specific heaviness one thousand times greater are a thousand, perhaps a million, times more scattered than those which are lighter in this proportion. And since these differences must be imagined as infinite as possible, then, just as there can be one sort of physical component which exceeds another in its measured density, as a sphere drawn with the radius of the planetary system exceeds another sphere with the diameter of the thousandth part of a line, so the heavier type of scattered elements are separated from each other by a much greater distance than the lighter kinds.
The universal tranquillity in space replete in this way lasts only for an instant. The elements have essential forces which set each other in motion and are, indeed, themselves an origin of life. The material is under an immediate impulse to develop. The denser type of scattered materials, thanks to the power of attraction, collect from a spherical area around them all the material with a lesser specific weight. But they themselves, together with the material which they have united with them, converge in the points where the small pieces of an even denser type are located, and these again to even denser points, and so on. When we think about this idea of a self-developing nature throughout the entire extent of chaos, we will easily see that all the consequences of this process will finally consist of the assembling of different clusters, which, after the completion of their development, would be calm and eternally motionless because of the equality in the force of attraction.
But nature has still other forces in store, which manifest themselves especially when the material is dispersed in fine particles, so that these particles repel each other and by their conflict with the power of attraction induce that movement, which is, as it were, an enduring life of nature. Because of this force of repulsion, which reveals itself in the elastic nature of fumes, in the diffusion from strong-smelling bodies, and the spreading of all gaseous materials and which is an uncontested phenomenon of nature, the elements sinking towards their points of attraction will shift each other sideways from their vertical movement, and the straight linear descent will end up in orbital movements which surround the mid-point towards which they were sinking at the centre. In order clearly to grasp the development of the cosmic structure, we want to limit our observation of the infinite essence of nature to a particular system, like the one to which our sun belongs. Once we have explored the development of this system, then we will be able to proceed in a similar way to the origin of the higher world structures and bring together into one theory the infinite nature of the entire creation.
Thus, if a point is found in a very large space where the power of attraction of the elements located there exerts a stronger influence than at any other points around it, then the basic material stuff of elementary particles spread out in all the surrounding area will sink toward this point. The first effect of this general sinking is the development of a body at this mid-point of the attraction which, so to speak, proceeds to grow from an infinitely small seed in rapid stages. But as this mass increases, it will, in exactly the same proportion, with its more powerful force move the surrounding particles to unite with it. When the mass of this central body has grown so extensive that the velocity with which it draws the small particles to itself from great distances is diverted sideways by the weak level of the force of repulsion with which these particles interfere with one another, it produces lateral movements, which, thanks to the centrifugal force , are such that they can move in a circle around the central body. Thus, large vortexes of small particles develop, each of which, because of the combination of the force of attraction and the force leading to a sideways rotation describes its own curving path. These sorts of circles all intersect each other, something which their large scattering in this space leaves room for. Meanwhile, these movements, in various ways in conflict with each other, strive naturally to bring one another into equilibrium, that is, into a single state where the movement of one hinders the movement of another as little as possible. This occurs, first, because the particlesrestrict the movement of other particles for as long as it takes until they all are moving forward in one direction; and second, because the particles restrict their vertical movement, thanks to which they approach the centre of the attraction, until the time when they are all moving horizontally, that is, in circles running parallel around the sun at their mid-point, no longer intersecting with one another, and, thanks to the equilibrium between the centrifugal force and the force drawing them downwards, maintaining constant free circular orbits at the heights where they are suspended, so that finally only those particles remain suspended in the volume of space which have attained through their fall a velocity and through the resistance of other particles a direction by means of which they can continue a free circular movement. In this condition, where all the particles run around the central body in one direction and in circles arranged in parallel, namely, in free circular movements by means of the required centrifugal force, the conflict and the collision of the elements disappear, and everything is in the condition of the smallest reciprocal interaction. This result always occurs naturally with materials subject to conflicting movements. It is thus clear that from the scattered mass of particles a large number must, on account of the resistance through which they seek to bring each other to this state, succeed in attaining such an exact arrangement, although a much greater number do not reach this condition and serve only to increase the cluster of the central body, into which they sink, since they cannot hold their position freely at the height where they are suspended, but intersect the circles of the lower particles and eventually, because of the resistance, lose all their movement. This body at the middle point of the force of attraction, which, on account of the large amount of its assembled material, has accordingly become the main piece of the planetary structure, is the sun, although at this time it does not yet immediately have that flaming glow, which breaks out on its surface when its development is fully complete.
We must still note that while all the elements of self-developing nature, as demonstrated, thus move in one direction around the sun as the mid-point, in the case of such orbits which are set up in a single direction and which occur, so to speak, around a common axis, the rotation of fine material cannot remain in this way, because, according to the laws of central motion, all orbital movements must intersect the mid-point of the force of attraction with the plane of their rotation. Among all these orbits moving in one direction around a common axis, however, there is only one which intersects the mid-point of the sun. Therefore, all the material from both sides of this imagined axis moves quickly to that circle which goes directly through the axis of rotation right at the central point of the common downward movement. This circle is the plane which establishes a relationship for all the elements hovering around; as much as possible they accumulate around it and, by contrast, leave the regions far away from this plane empty. For those elements which cannot approach so closely to this plane towards which everything is drawn will not be able to maintain themselves indefinitely in those places where they are suspended, but, as they collide with the elements floating around, will bring about their own final fall toward the sun.
Thus, if we consider this fundamental material of the planets hovering around in a state where it develops itself through the power of attraction and the mechanical consequence of the general law of repulsion, then we see a region which is contained between two planes standing not far from each other. In the middle of these two is located the common interconnecting plane, extending from the mid-point of the sun out to an unknown distance. All the particles we can think of carry out mathematically precise circular movements in free orbits on this common plane, each proportional to the extent of its distance and to the force of attraction which governs there. Because in such an arrangement they interfere with each other as little as possible, they would remain in this form for ever, if the force of attraction of these particles of basic matter did not then start to exercise its effect and in this way to cause new developments, the seeds of planets which are to arise. For since the elements moving around the sun in parallel circles and positioned where the distance from the sun is not very different, because of the equality in the parallel movements, are almost calm relative to each other, then the force of attraction of elements located there with an excessive specific attraction initiates at once a significant effect, collecting the nearest particles to start the development of a body. In proportion to the growth of its cluster, the power of attraction of this body expands, and elements from a wide area move to combine with it.
In this system, the development of the planets has this advantage over any other theoretical possibility: the cause of the masses provides simultaneously the cause of the motions and the position of the orbits. Indeed, even the deviations from the greatest precision in this arrangement, as well as the harmonies themselves, are illuminated in an instant. The planets are developed out of particles, which, at the heights where they are suspended, have precise movements in circular orbits. Thus, the masses formed by their combination will continue exactly the same movements at precisely the same level and in exactly the same direction. This is sufficient to understand why the movement of the planets is approximately circular and why their orbits are on a single plane. Moreover, they would be exactly circular if the distance from which they gather the elements for their development were very small and thus if the difference in their movements were very insignificant. But because the development of a thick planetary cluster involves a wider surrounding area, throughout which the fine basic stuff is scattered so much in celestial space, the difference in the distances of these elements from the sun and thus also the difference in their velocities are no longer insignificant. As a result, given this difference in the movements, it would be necessary, in order to maintain on the planet an equilibrium between the central forces and the circular velocity, for the particles which collide with the planet from different distances and with different motions to offset each other’s aberrations exactly. Although this, in fact, occurs fairly accurately, nonetheless, this compensation falls somewhat short of perfection and brings the deviations from circular movement and eccentricity with it. It is just as easy to shed light on the fact that although the orbits of all planets should properly be in one plane, nevertheless in this part we also come across a small deviation, because, as already discussed, the elementary particles which find themselves as close as possible to the general plane of their movements nevertheless take up some space on either side of it. It would be only too fortunate a coincidence if all the planets were to begin to develop exactly in the middle between these two sides on the plane connecting them, something which would already cause some inclination of their orbits towards each other, although the impulse of the particles from both sides would restrict this deviation as much as possible, allowing it only within narrow limits. Thus, we must not be surprised about the fact that here, too, we rarely come across the most precise accuracy in the arrangements, as is the case with all things in nature, because generally the multiplicity of circumstances involved in every natural condition does not permit an exact regularity.
Part Two
Section Eight
General Proof of the Correctness of a Mechanical Theory, of the General Arrangement of the Planetary Structure, in particular of the Correctness of the Present Theory
We cannot look at the planetary structure without recognizing the supremely excellent order in its arrangement and the sure marks of God’s hand in the perfection of its interrelationships. After reason has considered and wondered at so much beauty and excellence, it rightly grows indignant at the daring foolishness which permits itself to ascribe all this to chance and a happy contingency. There must have been a Highest Wisdom to make the design, and an Infinite Power must have produced it. Otherwise it would be impossible to encounter in the planetary structure so many purposes cooperating in a single intention. It comes down only to deciding whether the plan for the structure of the universe is already set in the fundamental composition of eternal natures by the Highest Understanding and implanted in the eternal laws of motion, so that they develop themselves freely from them in a manner appropriate to the most perfect order or whether the general characteristics of the component parts of the world are completely incapable of harmony and have not the slightest united relationship and it must have absolutely required an alien hand to produce that restriction and coordination which permit us to see the perfection and beauty in it. An almost universal judgment has made most philosophers oppose the capability of nature to produce something ordered through its universal laws, just as if it meant that we were challenging God’s rule over the world, when we seek the primordial developments in the forces of nature, as if these forces were a principle independent of the Godhead and were an eternally blind fate.
However, if we consider that nature and the eternal laws prescribed for substances in their reciprocal relationships are not a self-sufficient, necessary principle with no connection to God, and, for that very reason, we see that because nature demonstrates so much harmony and order in what it produces by universal laws, the essential natures of all things must have their common origin in one particular Original Essence, and that for this reason nature must reveal nothing but mutual interrelationships and harmony, because its properties originate in one single Highest Intelligence, whose wise idea has planned it with universal interconnections and has planted in it that capability, whereby, left alone in its own state to do its work, it brings forth nothing but beauty, nothing but order; when we, I say, consider this, then nature will seem more worthy to us than it commonly appears, and we will expect nothing from natural developments but harmony, nothing but order. If we, by contrast, permit an ungrounded judgment that the universal natural laws in and of themselves produce nothing but disorder, and that all the coordination for useful purposes shining forth in relation to natural arrangements reveals the immediate hand of God, then we will be forced to transform all nature into miracles. We will have to account for the beautifully coloured bow appearing amid the rain drops, when it separates the colours of the sun’s light, on the basis of its beauty, the rain on the basis of its benefits, the winds on the basis of the indispensable advantages which they bring in countless ways in answer to human needs, in short, we must not explain all the changes of the world which bring delight and order with them on the basis of implanted natural forces of matter. The natural scientist who begins by surrendering to such a philosophy will have to make a solemn apology before the judgment seat of religion. In fact, there will then be no more nature. There will be only a God in the machine who produces the world’s changes. But what then will this curious method of demonstrating the certain existence of a Highest Being out of the fundamental incapacity of nature prove by way of an effectively counter to Epicurus? If the natures of things bring forth by the eternal laws of their being nothing but disorder and absurdity, then they will show in that very manner the nature of their independence from God. What sort of an idea will we be able to create for ourselves of a divinity whom the universal natural laws obey only through some sort of compulsion and in and of themselves act against the wisest designs of the Divinity? Will the enemy of providence not win just as many victories from these false basic principles, when he can point to harmonies which the universally effective natural laws produce without any special limitations? And is it possible that he would really lack examples of such things? By contrast, let us with greater propriety and correctness conclude the following: nature left to its general properties is fertile in nothing but beautiful and perfect fruits, which not only display in themselves harmony and excellence, but also are in harmony to the total extent of their being with benefits for humanity and with the glorification of the properties of God. From this it follows that its fundamental characteristics can have no independent necessity but that they must have their origin in a Single Intelligence, the basis and the fountain of all being, in which they are designed according to common interrelationships. All things connected together in a reciprocal harmony must be united among themselves in a single being on which they collectively depend. Thus, there is present a Being of all beings, an Infinite Intelligence and Self-sufficient Wisdom, from which nature, even in its potentiality, draws its origin according to the whole embodiment of its purposes. From now on we must not deny the capacity of nature, claiming it is disadvantageous to the existence of a Highest Being. The more perfect nature is in its developments, the better its universal laws lead to order and harmony, then the more certain the proof of the Godhead from which nature derives these relationships. Its productions are no longer effects of contingency and results of accidents. Everything flows from it according to unchanging laws which thus must display nothing other than nature’s skill, because they are exclusively features of the wisest of all designs from which disorder is prohibited. The chance collisions of the atoms of Lucretius did not develop the world. Implanted forces and laws which have their source in the Wisest Intelligence were an unchanging origin of that order inevitably flowing out from nature, not by chance, but by necessity.
If we can thus dispense with an old and ungrounded judgment and the shoddy philosophy which seeks to hide under a pious appearance an indolent lack of wisdom, then I hope to base a sure conviction on incontrovertible reasons that the world gives evidence of a mechanical development from the general natural laws as the origin of its arrangement and, secondly, that the manner of the mechanical development which we have presented is the true one. If we wish to render judgment whether nature is sufficiently capable of bringing into existence the ordering of the planetary structure through a mechanical sequence of its laws of motion, then we must first consider how simple the movements are which the celestial bodies observe: they have nothing inherently in them which requires a more precise determination than what the universal rules of natural forces bring with them. The orbital movements arise from the combination of the force moving downward, which is a certain consequence of the properties of matter, and the projectile movement, which can be seen as the effect of the first, as a velocity attained through the fall downward in which only a certain cause was necessary to deflect the vertical fall sideways. After once attaining the required determination of these movements, nothing else is necessary to maintain the orbital motions permanently. They arise in empty space through the combination of the projectile force, once impressed, with the power of attraction flowing from fundamental natural forces, and from that point on they suffer no change. The analogies in the harmony of this movement themselves demonstrate the reality of a mechanical origin so clearly that we can entertain no doubts about it (...)
I will finally stop establishing more proofs for a matter of such convincing clarity as the development of the planetary structure out of the forces of nature. If people are in a position to remain unmoved in the midst of so many convincing details, then they must either lie far too deep in the bonds of prejudice or be entirely incapable of rising above the jumble of received opinions to the observation of the purest truth of all. Meanwhile, we can believe that nobody except the very foolish, on whose approval we may not count, can deny the correctness of this theory, if the harmonies which the planetary structure has in all its links to the benefits of reasoning creatures did not appear to have something more than general natural laws as its basis. We believe correctly that skilful arrangements which point to a worthy purpose must have as their originator a Wise Intelligence, and we will become completely satisfied when we consider that, since the natures of things acknowledge no other original source than just this, their fundamental and universal arrangements must have a natural inclination to proper and really mutual harmonious consequences. We will thus not allow ourselves to feel strange if we become aware of the arrangements of the planetary structure rich in mutual advantages for creatures and attribute these to a natural consequence arising out of the general laws of nature. For what issues from these is not the effect of blind accident or of unreasoning necessity. It is, in the last analysis, based upon the Highest Wisdom from which the universal arrangements derive their harmony. One conclusion is entirely correct: If, in the arrangement of the world, order and beauty shine forth, then a God exists. But another is no less well established: If this order could have emerged from the general natural laws, then all of nature is necessarily the effect of the Highest Wisdom. (...)
ENLACE EXTERNO: http://records.viu.ca/~johnstoi/kant/kant2e.htm