Why Must We Presuppose the Systematicity of Nature?

Introduction to Kant's philosophy of science: Bridging the gap between the natural and the human sciences

“…4 With his seminal contribution to the study of Kant's philosophy of science, Gerd Buchdahl (1969) highlighted the central role of systematicity for acquiring scientific knowledge. Two major lines of interpretation have evolved regarding principles of systematicity: first, what one could call methodological interpretations stressing the heuristic, hypothetical, and subjective character of these principles (Grier 2001, Kitcher 1986) and, second, transcendental interpretations emphasising their (indeterminately) objective, necessary, or even truth-relevant character (O'Shea 1997, Geiger 2009, Ginsborg 2017). Moreover, inspired by Kant's philosophy of science, Michael Friedman has developed a theory of the relative a priori on the basis of principles of reason, which accounts for theory change and scientific development (Friedman 2001).…”