On Kant's First Insight into the Problem of Space Dimensionality and its Physical Foundations

Abstract

In this article it is shown that a careful analysis of Kant's Gedanken von der wahren Schätzung der lebendigen Kräfte und Beurtheilung der Beweise leads to a conclusion that does not match the usually accepted interpretation of Kant's reasoning in 1747, according to which the young Kant supposedly establishes a relationship between the tridimensionality of space and Newton's law of universal gravitation. Indeed, it is argued that this text does not yield a satisfactory explanation of space dimensionality, and actually restricts itself to justifying the tridimensionality of extension.