In 1856 (the same year Kant wrote his monographs on seismology), Kant also wrote in the Critique of Judgment the beautiful remark 'There will never be a Newton of the blade of grass,' which is a poetic statement that it is impossible to create a deterministic, universal theory of biological systems comparable to Newton's physics, reflecting his belief that higher-order systems require explanatory principles beyond physics.

factualpending

Speaker

David Krakow

Evidence Quote

there will never be a Newton of the blade of grass which is a kind of a beautiful poetic remark which is a natural philosophical extrapolation from his beliefs that he presented in his early work which is a position incidentally which I strongly share

Source

Part One: Complex WorldSanta Fe Institute
Created: 8/10/2026, 10:52:22 PM

My Notes

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