The Asymmetry of Space: Kant’s Theory of Absolute Space in 1768

What is it about?

This is a detailed analysis of Kant's argument about absolute space made in 1768, two years before he developed his idealist theory of space. I maintain that Kant holds essentially the same view of space from 1747 to 1768, and that view is a type of ether theory. Space is not a void or an empty receptacle. Nor is it merely the relations between things. Space is a sort of proto-matter made entirely of an attractive force which existed before ordinary matter emerged via a repulsive force. Importantly, Kant holds that space has a qualitative, directional structure (left-right rotation). This solves a long standing problem regarding incongruent counterparts and how it might be that a universe containing a single hand would be either left or right. Kant's appeal to absolute space to solve that problem has seemed a complete non-starter. But if space itself has left-right directionality, then a simple solution to whether the universe of a solitary hand is left or right is available.

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Why is it important?

This solution to the problem of how absolute space can in fact solve the problem of incongruence has been hinted at by a few scholars and then dismissed. No one has worked out the possibility that there is an asymmetry in space itself nor elaborated his theory of space throughout the pre-Critical period. Having done that, I am able to offer an entirely novel approach to this topic which has generated a surprising amount of literature.