THE ROLE OF IMMANUEL KANT IN THE CREATION OF PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AS A SCIENCE AND IN ITS TRANSFORMATION INTO A UNIVERSITY DISCIPLINE

In the year of the 300th anniversary of the German philosopher Immanuel Kant, scientists from all over the world are dedicating their research to his unprecedented work. The scientific worldview, which had been developing since ancient times, received its decisive form in the Age of Enlightenment, to which Kant belonged. It is well known that Kant’s doctrine of being and gnoseology were based on his encyclopedic scientific knowledge. In this regard, it seems compelling to emphasize his great merit in the birth and formation of geography, which has not yet been deeply developed in our literature. Such phenomena of terrestrial and “heavenly” nature as earthquakes, atmospheric currents, pelagic alluvium that created the soil, even the temperature of the Sun, received from Kant not only a description, but also an indication of their natural causes, which was an undoubted scientific feat. The creation of an entire corpus of works on geography was combined with Kant’s teaching it at the University of Königsberg for forty years.