Cosmos, Vol. 5

The world of thought and feeling belongs to the necessary conditions of such a composition—one which, I may well say, has never before been executed (Cosmos Referring to Humboldt's multi-volume work, "Kosmos - Entwurf einer physischen Weltbeschreibung" Vol. II. pp. 3–8, 50–52; Vol. III. pp. 6–8). The enumeration of my endeavors, by its very nature, inevitably prompts a reminder of the relationship between my attempts and the ventures of a metaphysical science of nature original: "metaphysischen Naturwissenschaft", and to what profound thinkers call Natural Philosophy A 19th-century term for the study of nature, often contrasting empirical science with speculative reasoning in opposition to the Philosophy of the Mind. I have already stated frankly, and in contradiction to several of my highly esteemed compatriots and friends, that despite my great inclination toward generalizations, the establishment of a rational science of nature seems to me an as-yet unattainable undertaking. (By this, I mean a Natural Philosophy so developed that it fulfills its promise of providing a purely rational understanding of the phenomena of the universe).

How much of what is recognized through sensory perception remains foreign to the development of mathematical thought! The arrangement of the size, density, axial tilt, and orbital eccentricity of planets and satellites—all seemingly exempt from any known laws; the shaping of continents in their coastal forms and elevations—these are likely the results of cosmic events that occurred at a very late stage. An example of such an event is the permanent splitting of Biela's Comet, which occurred in our own day in December 1845 (Cosmos Vol. III. pp. 24 and 568–570). Furthermore, we are far from knowing all the substances and all the forces (activities) of nature; the boundlessness of the sphere of observation, which is expanded daily by newly invented means (instruments) of observation, and indeed the incompleteness of knowledge at any given moment of speculation In this context, "speculation" refers to theoretical or philosophical reflection rather than financial risk...