Thoughts on the True Estimation of Living Forces

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Thoughts on the True Estimation of Living Forces (Gedanken von der wahren Schätzung der lebendigen Kräfte) is Immanuel Kant's first published work. It was published in 1749 and reflected Kant's position as a metaphysical dualist at the time. In it he argues against the vix mortix view supported by Wolff and other post-Leibnizian German rationalists that proposed that bodies have no essential force, and claimed that, instead, the existence of an essential force can be proven by metaphysical arguments. Kant criticized Leibniz's followers for looking "no further than the senses teach," and stayed close to Leibniz's original vix activa point of view.