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Universal Natural History and Theory of the Heavens

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Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) was an 18th-century German philosopher. In this book, which was written in 1755 (and was virtually unknown in its day, and was not appreciated for another century), he develops the "nebular hypothesis" (which had been proposed in 1735 by Emanuel Swedenborg) for the origin and development of the solar system.

Kant notes early on, "I recognize the great value of those proofs which are drawn from the beauty and perfect arrangement of the universe to establish the existence of a Supremely Wise Creator." He adds, "there is a God, just because nature even in chaos cannot proceed otherwise than regularly and according to order.... I have tried to remove the objections which seemed to threaten my positions from the side of religion."

He defines as the "Systematic Constitution of the Universe" the fact that "a number of heavenly bodies which are arranged round a common centre, have at the same time been so limited to a certain plane that they have freedom to diverge from it on both sides only as little as possible; when the divergence takes place gradually and only in those bodies which are furthest removed from the centre, and therefore have less participation in the relations indicated than the others."

He makes the noteworthy prediction, "we may cherish the hope that new planets will perhaps be discovered beyond Saturn, and that these will be found to be more eccentric in their orbit than Saturn, and therefore nearer the character of comets."

He also notes, "All existing beings depend on One Cause, which is the intelligence of God; they can therefore bring no other consequences with them than such as carry with them a representation of the perfection which is included in the Divine idea."