Review of Books on the Book of Mormon<\/em> 6\/1 (1994): 434-523 (specifically pages 480-481):<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
[Brent] Metcalfe and Dan Vogel would have us believe that Joseph\u2019s cosmology is somehow related to ideas found in Benjamin Franklin\u2019s private unpublished papers of 1728, composed a century before Joseph wrote.91<\/span><\/p>\nGoing a step further, they seem to maintain that Joseph may have had a predilection for reading Kant in the original German. \u201cImmanuel Kant claimed that the moral perfection of each planet\u2019s inhabitants increased \u2018according to the proportion of [its] distance from the sun.\u2019 Certainly in such an intellectual climate, Joseph Smith\u2019s ideas about pluralism and astronomical hierarchy were not unusual.\u201d92 The passage they cite as illustrative of Joseph\u2019s \u201cintellectual climate\u201d is from Kant\u2019s 1755 work, Allgemeine Naturgeschichte und Theorie des Himmels, oder Versuch von der Verfassung und dem mechanischen Ursprunge des ganzen Weltgeb\u00e4udes nach Newtonischen Grunds\u00e4tzen abgehandelt<\/em>. But their choice of a work to illustrate Joseph\u2019s \u201cintellectual climate\u201d is particularly unfortunate. \u201cThe book\u2019s publisher . . . went bankrupt just at the time Kant\u2019s work was to have been published. His stock was impounded, and as a result copies of the book were for a long time simply unavailable.\u201d93 Even after being reprinted, \u201clike some other memorable cases of books that came \u2018stillborn from the press,\u2019 Kant\u2019s [work] \u2026 was virtually unknown in its own day; indeed, it had to wait for more than a century [i.e., until after 1855] for its true greatness to be appreciated.\u201d94 For example, \u201cIn England, Herschel [1738-1822, a native German living in England, and the greatest astronomer of his day], for all his ties with Hannover. did not learn about Kant\u2019s cosmology.\u201d95 The work was first translated into English in 1900, nearly six decades after Joseph Smith\u2019s death.96<\/span><\/p>\nVogel and Metcalfe\u2019s argument that Kant\u2019s work was somehow part of the \u201cintellectual climate\u201d of early nineteenth-century frontier New York is laughable, and is perhaps the most patently absurd of the many environmentalist claims which I have read. I can just imagine the sturdy country yeomen of the Palmyra region gathering in a local tavern for their weekly discussions of the \u201ccategorical imperative\u201d over a tankard of ale. Meanwhile, they spend their free moments between milking the cows, splitting rails, and plowing, in brushing up on their philosophical German so they can devour the latest of Kant\u2019s untranslated works late at night by candlelight.<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
91 Vogel and Metcalfe, \u201cJoseph Smith\u2019s Scriptural Cosmology,\u201d in The Word of God<\/em>, 217 n. 68. It must be emphasized, furthermore, that, in terms of his religious thought, Franklin was not a representative figure of his times.<\/span><\/p>\n92 Ibid., 207.<\/span><\/p>\n93 Milton K. Munitz, in the introduction to Immanuel Kant, Universal Natural History and Theory of the Heavens<\/em> (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1969), vii. I would like to thank Daniel C. Peterson for his assistance on this section.<\/span><\/p>\n94 Ibid., viii.<\/span><\/p>\n95 Stanley L. Jaki. trans. and ed., in his edition of Immanuel Kant, Universal Natural History and Theory of the Heavens<\/em> (Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press 1981), 49.<\/span><\/p>\n96 Ibid., 1-2.<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 A discussion elsewhere reminds me of a passage that I really enjoyed writing several decades ago. \u00a0Although I essentially wrote the words below, they appeared in\u00a0William J. Hamblin, \u201cAn Apologist for the Critics: Brent Lee Metcalfe\u2019s Assumptions and Methodologies,\u201d in Review of Books on the Book of Mormon 6\/1 (1994): 434-523 (specifically pages […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-85013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
Immanuel Kant and the Book of Abraham<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\" A discussion elsewhere reminds me of a passage that I really enjoyed writing several decades ago. \u00a0Although I essentially wrote the words\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/05\/immanuel-kant-and-the-book-of-abraham.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Immanuel Kant and the Book of Abraham\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\" A discussion elsewhere reminds me of a passage that I really enjoyed writing several decades ago. \u00a0Although I essentially wrote the words\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/05\/immanuel-kant-and-the-book-of-abraham.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sic et Non\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-05-10T21:47:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-05-11T04:12:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2020\/05\/Schloss_mit_Kants_Wohnhaus.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/05\/immanuel-kant-and-the-book-of-abraham.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/05\/immanuel-kant-and-the-book-of-abraham.html\",\"name\":\"Immanuel Kant and the Book of Abraham\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-05-10T21:47:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-05-11T04:12:27+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\"},\"description\":\" A discussion elsewhere reminds me of a passage that I really enjoyed writing several decades ago. \u00a0Although I essentially wrote the words\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/05\/immanuel-kant-and-the-book-of-abraham.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/05\/immanuel-kant-and-the-book-of-abraham.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/05\/immanuel-kant-and-the-book-of-abraham.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Immanuel Kant and the Book of Abraham\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/\",\"name\":\"Sic et Non\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\",\"name\":\"Dan Peterson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dan Peterson\"},\"description\":\"\\\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\\\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Immanuel Kant and the Book of Abraham","description":" A discussion elsewhere reminds me of a passage that I really enjoyed writing several decades ago. \u00a0Although I essentially wrote the words","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/05\/immanuel-kant-and-the-book-of-abraham.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Immanuel Kant and the Book of Abraham","og_description":" A discussion elsewhere reminds me of a passage that I really enjoyed writing several decades ago. \u00a0Although I essentially wrote the words","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/05\/immanuel-kant-and-the-book-of-abraham.html","og_site_name":"Sic et Non","article_published_time":"2020-05-10T21:47:46+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-05-11T04:12:27+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2020\/05\/Schloss_mit_Kants_Wohnhaus.jpg"}],"author":"Dan Peterson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dan Peterson","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/05\/immanuel-kant-and-the-book-of-abraham.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/05\/immanuel-kant-and-the-book-of-abraham.html","name":"Immanuel Kant and the Book of Abraham","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website"},"datePublished":"2020-05-10T21:47:46+00:00","dateModified":"2020-05-11T04:12:27+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045"},"description":" A discussion elsewhere reminds me of a passage that I really enjoyed writing several decades ago. \u00a0Although I essentially wrote the words","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/05\/immanuel-kant-and-the-book-of-abraham.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/05\/immanuel-kant-and-the-book-of-abraham.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/05\/immanuel-kant-and-the-book-of-abraham.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Immanuel Kant and the Book of Abraham"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/","name":"Sic et Non","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045","name":"Dan Peterson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dan Peterson"},"description":"\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1019"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85013\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Kanthaus\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2020\/05\/Schloss_mit_Kants_Wohnhaus.jpg\")
<\/a>