Philosophical Construction Of Scientific Geographical Picture of the World: Pondering on Immanuel Kant’s “Physical Geography”

The article analyzes the “Physical Geography” by I. Kant, a compendium of lectures the
philosopher had been reading at the University of Königsberg for over 40 years. Kant developed the theory and methodology for teaching geography as a branch of academic
knowledge. This work was created within the framework of universal geography as a combination of introductory courses of lectures in the main areas of physical geography with
the fundamentals of astronomy, biology, geology, physics, and chemistry. Much attention
is given to navigation of the time. It is argued that Kant created a general philosophical
picture of geographical knowledge, accumulated by the Europeans by the 18th century,
and emphasized that studying geography is of greatest worldview significance for the
education of youth.