ABSTRACT
In this chapter, Kant first clarifies what connects the examination of objective purposiveness with that of aesthetic judgements which he has identified as subjectively purposive, thereby also referring to the introduction of the CJ. Judgements of objective purposiveness do not determine causal properties of things: they are merely reflective. While Kant will focus upon material objective purposiveness, he distinguishes (i) material from formal objective purposiveness (e.g. in geometry) and (ii) intrinsic from extrinsic material objective purposiveness, whereby the latter always refer to some further objective purpose. He argues that intrinsic material purposiveness is worthy of further investigation to reflect upon nature and natural products.
Reflection upon intrinsic material objective purposiveness helps make sense of products of nature that are contingent for our rationality with respect to physical laws. Unlike the intrinsic material purposiveness of objects of art, that of natural products can be thought of in terms of reciprocal part-whole causal relations, that is, of self-organisation. Kant spells out the principle for the purposive judgement of organised beings which leads to the principle of the purposiveness of nature. We address concerns raised by this principle: first, its compatibility with causal determinism, and second, its standing in the light of contemporary science.
