‎"KRAFT, JENS.‎
‎Om Sielens Udødelighed. - [KRAFT ON THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL]‎

‎(Copenhagen, 1754). 4to. In recently blue paper covered card board binding with white paper-label title-label to front board. Previous owner's name to pasted down front end-paper. Ex-libris pasted on to verso of front free end-paper. Without wrappers as issued in ""Videnskabernes Selskabs Skrifter"", internally a nice and clean copy. Pp. 189-216.‎

Reference : 61839

‎Uncommon first edition of Kraft’s work on the immortality of the Soul is part of his philosophical engagement with the materialist debates of the 18th century. Here Kraft argues against materialist conceptions of the soul, particularly those put forth by La Mettrie in his “L'Homme Machine”. Kraft disputes La Mettrie's claim that the connection between thought and the body implies a causal relationship. He acknowledges that rational beings have larger brains than irrational ones and that thought is influenced by bodily conditions, illnesses, and emotions. However, he maintains that these observations only demonstrate a connection, not causation. Kraft distinguishes between time and eternity, arguing that while the finite can never attain eternity, it can achieve an infinite time with a beginning but no end. He contrasts this with the permanence of the infinite. Jens Kraft (1720–1765) was a Dano-Norwegian mathematician and philosopher. He was born in Frederikshald in Norway. While still a student in Copenhagen, he was influenced by Christian Wolff, having attended one of Wolff’s lectures during a visit to Halle. Later he was appointed professor of philosophy at the Sorø Academy, where he responded to Baumgarten’s Metaphysica with his own work, Metaphysik. Both philosophers structured their works into four divisions: Cosmologie, Ontologie, Psykologie, and Naturlig Theologie.‎