Every thing that lives upon earth, except-
ing man, seems to be ignorant of itself.
ing man, seems to be ignorant of itself.
Madame de Stael - Germany
hathitrust.
org/access_use#pd-google
? FRENCH PHILOSOPHY. 47
Bayle, whose learned Dictionary is hardly
read by people of the world, is nevertheless
the arsenal from which all the pleasantries
of scepticism have been drawn ; Voltaire has
given them a pungency by his wit and ele-
gance; but the foundation of all this jesting
is, that every thing, not as evident as a phy-
sical experiment, ought to be reckoned in
the number of dreams and idle thoughts. It
is good management to dignify an inca-
pacity for attention by calling it a supreme
sort of reason, which rejects all doubt and
obscurity;--in consequence, they turn the
noblest thoughts into ridicule, if reflection
is necessary to comprehend them, or a
sincere examination of the heart to make
them felt. We still speak with respect of
Pascal, of Bossuet, of J. J. Rousseau, &c. ;
because authority has consecrated them, and
authority, of every sort, is a thing easily
discerned.
But a great number of readers being con-
vinced that ignorance and idleness are the
attributes of a man of wit, think it be-
neath them to take any trouble, and wish
to read, like a paragraph in a newspaper,
writings that have man and nature for their
subject.
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? 48 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
In a word, if by chance such writings were
composed by a German, whose name was
not a French one, and it was as difficult to
pronounce this name as that of the Baron in
Candide, what collections of pleasantries
would not be formed upon this circumstance!
and the meaning of them all would be the
following: "I have grace and lightness of
"spirit; while you, who have the misfor-
"tune to think upon some subjects, and to
"hold by some sentiments, you do not jest
"upon all with nearly the same elegance
M and facility. "
The philosophy of sensation is one of the
principal causes of this frivolity. Since the
time that the soul has been considered pas-
sive, a great number of philosophical labours
have been despised.
The day on which it was said, there are
no mysteries in the world, or at all events
it is unnecessary to think about them; all
our ideas come by the eyes and by the ears,
and the palpable only is the true;--on that
day the individuals who enjoyed all their
senses in perfect health believed themselves
the genuine philosophers. We hear it in-
cessantly said, by those who have ideas
enough to get money when they are poor,
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? FRENCH PHILOSOPHY. 49
and to spend it when they are rich, that
they only possess a reasonable philosophy,
and that none but enthusiasts would dream
of any other. In effect, our sensations teach
this philosophy alone; and if we can gain
no knowledge except by their means, every
thing that is not subject to the evidence of
matter must bear the name of folly.
If it was admitted, on the contrary, that
the soul acts by itself, and that we must
draw up information out of ourselves to find
the truth, and that this truth cannot be
seized upon, except by the aid of profound
meditation, because it is not within the
range of terrestrial experience; the whole
course of men's minds would be changed;
they would not disdainfully reject the most
sublime thoughts, because they demand a
close attention; but that which they found
insupportable would be the superficial and
the common; for emptiness grows at length
singularly burthensome.
Voltaire so well perceived the influence
that metaphysics exercise over the general
bias of the mind, that he wrote Candide, to
combat Leibnitz. He took up a curious
whim against final causes, optimism, free-
will; in short, against all the philosophical
vol. in. s
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? 50 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
opinions that exalt the dignity of man; and
he composed Candide, that effort of a
diaholical gaiety; for it appears to be writ-
ten by a being of a different nature from
ourselves, insensible to our condition, well
pleased with our sufferings, and laughing,
like a deemon or an ape, at the miseries of
that human species, with which he has
nothing in common.
The greatest poet of the age, the author
of Alzire, Tancrede, Merope, Zaire, and
Brutus, showed himself in this work ignorant
of all the great moral truths, which he had
so worthily celebrated.
When Voltaire, as a tragic author, felt
and thought in the character of another, he
was admirable; but, when he remains
wholly himself, he is a jester and a cynic.
The same versatility, which enabled him to
adopt the part of the personages whom he
wished to represent, only too well inspired
the language which, in certain moments,
was suited to Voltaire.
Candide brings into action that scoffing
philosophy, so indulgent in appearance, in
reality so ferocious; it presents human na-
ture under the most lamentable point of
view, and offers us, in the room of every
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? FRENCH PHILOSOPHY. 51
consolation, the sardonic grin, which frees
us from all compassion for others, by making
us renounce it for ourselves.
It is in consequence of this system that
Voltaire, in his Universal History, has aimed
at attributing virtuous actions, as well as
great crimes, to those accidental events
which deprive the former of all their merit,
and the latter of all their guilt.
In effect, if there is nothing in the soul
but what our sensations have imprinted upon
it, we ought no longer to recognise more
than two real and lasting motives on earth-^-
strength applied to the agent, and the desire
of well-being; in other words, the law of
tactics, and the law of appetite: but if
the mind is still to be considered such as it
has been formed by modern philosophy,
it would very soon be reduced to wish
that something of an exalted nature
would re-appear, in order at least to fur-
nish it with an object for exercise and for
attack.
The Stoics have often repeated that we
ought to brave all the assaults of fortune, and
only to trouble ourselves with what depends
upon the soul, upon our sentiments and
our thoughts. The philosophy of sensation
would have a totally opposite result; it
e2
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? 52 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
would disembarrass us from our feelings
and thoughts, with the design of turning
our efforts towards our physical well-being:
she would say to us--" Attach yourselves to
"the present moment; consider as a chimera
"every thing which wanders out of the
"circle of the pleasures and affairs of this
"world, and pass your short career of life,
"as well as you may, taking care of your
"health, which is the foundation of happi-
"ness. " These maxims have been known
in all times; but they were thought to be the
exclusive property of valets in comedies;
and in our days they have been made the
doctrine of reason, founded upon necessity;
a doctrine very different from that of reli-
gious resignation, for the one is as vulgar as
the other is noble and exalted.
The singularity of the attempt consists in
deducing the theory of elegance from so
plebeian a philosophy ;--our poor nature is.
often low and selfish, as we must grieve to
confess; but it was novel enough to boast
of it. Indifference and contempt for exalted
subjects are become the type of the graceful;
and witticisms have been levelled against
those who take a lively interest in any thing,
which is without a positive result in the
present world.
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? FRENCH PHILOSOPHY. 53
The argumentative principle of this frivo-
lity of heart and mind, is the metaphysical
doctrine which refers all our ideas to our
sensations; for nothing but the superficial
comes to us from without, and the serious-
ness of life dwells at the bottom of the soul. ;
If the fatality of materialism, admitted as a
theory of the human mind, led to a distaste
for every thing external, as well as to a dis-
belief of all within us; there would still
be something in this system of an inactive
nobleness, of an oriental indolence, which
might lay claim to a sort of grandeur ;--and
some of the Greek philosophers have found
means to infuse almost a dignity into apathy;
but the empire of sensation, while it has
weakened sentiment by degrees, has left the
activity of personal interest in full force;
and this spring of action has become so
much . the more powerful, as all the others
have been broken into pieces. To incredu-
lity of mind, to selfishness of heart, must
still be added the doctrine concerning
conscience, which Helvetius developed,
when he asserted, that actions virtuous in
themselves had for their object the attain-
ment of those physical enjoyments which
we can taste here below: it has followed
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? 54 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
from hence, that sacrifices made to the ideal
worship of any opinion, or any sentiment
whatever, have been considered as if those
who offer them were dupes; and as men
dread nothing more than passing for dupes,
they have been eager to ca9t ridicule upon
every sort of unsuccessful enthusiasm; for
that which has been recompensed with good
fortune, has escaped raillery: success is
always in the right with the advocates of
materialism.
The dogmatic incredulity, that, namely,
which calls in question the truth of every
thing that is not proved by the senses, is
the source of the chief irony of man against
himself: all moral degradation comes from
that quarter. That philosophy, doubtless,
ought to be considered an effect, as well as a
cause, of the present state of public feeling;
nevertheless, there is an evil of which it is
the principal author; it has given to the
carelessness of levity the appearance of re-
flective reasoning; it has furnished selfish-
ness with specious arguments; and has made
the most noble sentiments be considered as
an accidental malady, caused by external
circumstances alone.
It is of consequence then to examine whe-
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? FRENCH PHILOSOPHY. 55
ther the nation, which has constantly guard-
ed itself against the metaphysical system,
from which such inferences have been drawn,
was not right in its principle, and still more
so in the application which it has made of
that principle, to the developement of the
faculties of man, and to his moral conduct.
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? 56 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
CHAPTER V.
General Observations upon German
Philosophy.
Speculative philosophy has always found
numerous partisans among the German na-
tions, and experimental philosophy among
those of Latin extraction. The Romans,
expert as they were in the affairs of life,
were no metaphysicians; they knew nothing
of this subject, except by their connexion
with Greece; and the nations civilized by
them, have, for the most part, inherited
their knowledge in politics, and their in-
difference for those studies which cannot be
applied to the business of the world. This
disposition shows itself in France in its
greatest strength; the Italians and the
Spaniards. have partaken of it; but the
imagination of the South has sometimes
deviated from practical reason, to employ
itself in theories purely abstract.
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? GERMAN PHILOSOPHY. 57
The greatness of soul that appeared among
the Romans, gave a sublime character to
their patriotism and their morals ; but this
consequence must be attributed to their
republican institutions. When liberty no
longer existed in Rome, a selfish and sensual
luxury was seen to reign there, with almost
an undivided empire; excepting that of an
adroit sort of political knowledge, which
directed every mind towards observation and
experience. The Romans retained nothing
of their past study of Grecian literature and
philosophy but a taste for the arts; and this
taste itself very soon degenerated into gross
enjoyments.
The influence of Rome did not exert itself
over the northern nations. They were al-
most entirely civilized by Christianity ;--and
their ancient religion, which contained
within it the principles of chivalry, bore no
resemblance to the Paganism of the South.
There was to be found a spirit of heroica!
and generous self-devotion; an enthusiasm
for women, which made a noble worship of
love; in a word, as the rigours of the climate
prevented man from plunging himself into
the delights of nature, he had so much the
keener relish for the pleasures of the soul
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? 58 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
It may be objected to me, that the Greeks
had the same religion and the same climate
as the Romans ; and that yet they have
given themselves up more than any other
people to speculative philosophy; but may
we not attribute to the Indians some of the
intellectual systems developed among the
Greeks? The ideal philosophy of Pytha-
goras and Plato ill agrees with Paganism,
such as it appears to us; historical traditions
also lead us to believe that . Egypt was
the medium through which the nations of
southern Europe received 'the influence of
the East. The philosophy of Epicurus is the
only philosophy of truly Grecian origin.
Whatever may become of these conjec-
tures, it is certain that the spirituality of the
soul, and all the thoughts derived from it,
have been easily naturalized among the peo-
ple of the North; and of all these nations,
the Germans have ever showed themselves
the most inclined to contemplative philo-
sophy. Leibnitz is their Bacon and their
Descartes. We find in this excellent genius
all the qualities which the German philoso-
phers in general glory to aim at: immense
erudition, perfect good faith, enthusiasm
hidden under strict form and method. He
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? GERMAN PHILOSOPHY. 5. 9
had profoundly studied theology, jurispru-
dence, history, languages, mathematics, na-
tural philosophy, chemistry; for he was con-
vinced that an universality of knowledge
was necessary to constitute a superior being
in any department: in short, every thing in
Leibnitz displayed those virtues which are
allied to sublimity of thought, and which
deserve at once our admiration and our
respect.
His works may be divided into three
branches--the exact sciences, theological
philosophy, and the philosophy of the mind.
Every one knows that Leibnitz was the rival
of Newton, in the theory of calculation.
The knowledge of mathematics is very
useful in metaphysical studies; abstract rea-
soning does not exist in perfection out of
algebra and geometry; I shall endeavour to *
show in another place the unsuitableness of
this sort of reasoning, when we attempt to
exercise it upon a subject that is allied in
any manner to sensibility; but it confers
upon the human mind a power of attention,
that renders it much more capable of ana-
lysing itself: we must also know the laws and
the forces of the universe, to study man
under all his relations. There is such an
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? 60 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
analogy, and such a difference, between the
physical and the moral world, their re-
semblances and their diversity lend each
other such light, that it is impossible to be
a learned man of the first rank without the
assistance of speculative philosophy, nor a
speculative philosopher without having stu-
died the positive sciences.
Locke and Condiliac had not sufficiently
attended to these sciences ; but Leibnitz had
in this respect an incontestable superiority.
Descartes also was a very great mathema-
tician; and it is to be remarked, that the
greater part of the advocates for the ideal
philosophy have made an unbounded use of
their intellectual faculties. The exercise of
the mind, as well as that of the heart, im-
parts a feeling of internal activity, of which
all those beings who abandon themselves to
the impressions that come from without are
rarely capable.
The first class of the writings of Leibnitz
contains those which we call theological,
because they are directed to truths which
form part of the support of religion; and the
theory of the human mind is included in the
second class. In the first class he treats of
the origin of good and evil--of the divine
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? GERMAN PHILOSOPHY. 6l
prescience;--in a word, of those primitive
questions which lie beyond the bounds of
human intelligence. I do not pretend to cen-
sure, by this expression, those great men who,
from the times of Pythagoras and Plato down
to our own, have been attracted towards these
lofty philosophical speculations. Genius does
not set bounds to itself, until it has struggled
for a long time against that hard necessity.
Who can possess the faculty of thinking,
and not endeavour to learn the origin and
the end of the things of this world?
Every thing that lives upon earth, except-
ing man, seems to be ignorant of itself. He
alone knows that he will die, and this awful
truth awakens his interest for all the grand
thoughts which are attached to it. From the
time that we are capable of reflection we
resolve, or rather we think we resolve, after
our own manner, the philosophical questions
which may explain the destiny of man; but
it has been granted to no one to compre-
hend that destiny altogether. Every man
views it from a different point; every man
has his own philosophy, his poetry, his love.
This philosophy is in accord with the peculiar
bms of his character and his mind. When
we raise ourselves towards infinity, a thou-
i
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? 62 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
sand explanations may be equally true,
although different; for questions without
bounds have thousands of aspects, one of
which may be sufficient to occupy the whole
duration of existence.
If the mystery of the universe is above the
understanding of man, still the study of this
mystery gives more expansion to the mind.
It is in metaphysics as it is in alchemy: in
searching for the philosopher's stone, in en-
deavouring to discover an impossibility, we
, meet upon the road with truths which would
have remained unknown to us: besides, we
cannot hinder a meditative being from be-
stowing some time at least upon the tran-
scendent philosophy; this ebullition of spi-
ritual nature cannot be kept back, without
bringing that nature into disgrace.
The pre-established harmony of Leibnitz,
which he believed to be a great discovery,
has been refuted with success; he flattered
himself that he could explain the relations
between mind and matter, by considering
them both as instruments tuned beforehand,
which re-echo, and answer, and imitate each
other mutually. His monads, of which he
constitutes the simple elements of the uni-
verse, are but an hypothesis as gratuitous
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? GERMAN PHILOSOPHY. 63
as all those which have been used to explain
the origin of things. But in what a singular
state of perplexity is the human mind! In-
cessantly attracted towards the secret of its
being, it finds that secret equally impossible
to be discovered, or to be banished from its
thoughts.
The Persians say, that Zoroaster interro-
gated the Deity, and asked how the world
had begun, when it would end, what was
the origin of good and evil? The Deity an-
swered to all these questions--" Do what is
"good, and gain immortality. " The point
which particularly constitutes the excellence
of this reply, is this--that it does not dis-
courage man from the most sublime medi-
tations; it only teaches him, that by con-
science and sentiment he may exalt himself
to the most lofty conceptions of philosophy.
Leibnitz was an idealist, who founded his
system solely upon reasoning; and from
thence it arises, that he has pushed his ab-
stractions too far, and that he has not suffi-
ciently supported his theory upon inward
persuasion--the only true foundation of that
which is above the understanding: in short,
reason upon the liberty of man, and you
will not believe it; lay your hand upon your
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? 64 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
conscience, and you will not be able to
doubt it. Consequence and contradiction,
in the sense that we attach to either of these
terms, do not exist within the sphere of the
great questions concerning the liberty of
man, the origin of good and evil, the divine
prescience, &c. In these questions senti-
ment is almost always in opposition to rea-
son; in order to teach mankind, that what
he calls incredible in the order of earthly
things, is perhaps the supreme truth under
universal relations.
Dante has expressed a grand philosophical
thought by this verse :--
A guisa del ver primo che l'uom crede*.
We must believe certain truths as we believe
our own existence; it is the soul which re-
veals them to us; and reasonings of every
kind are never more than feeble streams de-
rived from this fountain.
The Theodicea of Leibnitz treats of the
divine prescience, and of the cause of good
and evil: it is one of the most profound and
argumentative works upon the theory of the
infinite; the author, however, too often ap-
plies to that which is without bounds, a sort
* " It is thus that man believes in primitive truth. "
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? GERMAN PHILOSOPHY. 65
of logic to which circumscribed objects alone
are amenable. Leibnitz was a perfectly re-
ligious character; but, from this very cir-
cumstance, he believed it a duty to ground
the truths of religion upon mathematical rea-
soning, in order to support them on such
foundations as are admitted within the em-
pire of experience: this error proceeds from
a respect, oftener felt than acknowledged,
for men of cold and arid minds ; we attempt
to convince them in their own manner; we
acknowledge that arguments in a logical form
have more certainty than a proof from senti-
ment; and it is not true.
In the region of intellectual and religious
truths, of which Leibnitz has treated, we
must use consciousness in the room of de-
monstration. Leibnitz, wishing to adhere to
abstract reasoning, demands a sort of stretch
of attention which few minds can support.
Metaphysical works, that are founded neither
upon experience nor upon sentiment, singu-
larly fatigue the thinking power; and we
may imbibe from them a physical and moral
pain, so great, that by our obstinate en-
deavours to conquer it, we may shatter the
organs of reason in our heads. A poet,
Baggesen, has made Vertigo a divinity--we
VOL. III. p
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? 66 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
should recommend ourselves to the favour of
that goddess, when we are about to study
these works, which place us in such a man-
ner at the summit of ideas, that we have no
longer any ladder-steps to re-descend into
life.
The metaphysical and religious writers,
who are eloquent and feeling at the same
time (such as we have seen in some exam-
ples), are much better adapted to our nature.
Far from requiring the suppression of our
faculties of feeling, in order to make our fa-
culty of abstraction more precise, they bid
us think, feel, and wish, that all the strength
of our souls may aid us to penetrate into the
depths of heaven; but to cling close to ab-
straction is such an effort, that it is natural
enough for the generality of men to have
renounced the attempt, and to have thought
it more easy to admit nothing beyond what
is visible.
The experimental philosophy is complete
in itself; it is a whole, sufficiently vulgar,
tout compact, circumscribed, argumentative;
and while we adhere to the sort of reasoning
which is received in the commerce of the
world, we ought to be contented with it;
the immortal and the infinite are only felt
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? GE11MAN PHILOSOPHY. r 67
through the medium of the soul; the soul
alone can diffuse an interest over the higher
sort of metaphysics. We are very wrong to
persuade ourselves that the more abstract a
theory is, the more likely it is to guard us
against all illusion; for it is exactly by these
means that it may lead us into error. We
take the connexion of ideas for their proof;
we arrange our rank and file of chimeras with
precision; and we fancy that they are an
army. There is nothing but the genius of
sentiment that arises above experimental,
as well as above speculative philosophy;
there is no other genius but that, which can
carry conviction beyond the limits of human
reason.
It appears then to me, that, notwithstand-
ing my entire admiration for the strength of
mind and depth of genius in Leibnitz, we
should wish, in his writings upon questions
of metaphysical theology, more imagination
and sensibility; that we might repose from
thought by the indulgence of our feelings.
Leibnitz almost made a scruple of recurring
to it, fearing that he should have the ap-
pearance of using seductive arts in favour of
the truth: he was wrong; for sentiment is
truth itself in questions of this nature.
f2
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? 68 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
The objections which I have allowed my-
self to make to those works of Leibnitz,
which aim at the solution of truths insoluble
by reasoning, do not at air apply to his
writings on the formation of ideas in the
human mind; those writings are of a most
luminous clearness; they refer to a mystery
which man, to a certain degree, can pene-
trate; for he knows more of himself than of
the universe. The opinions of Leibnitz in
this respect tend, above all, to our moral
perfection, if it be true, as the German phi-
losophers have attempted to prove, that free-
will rests upon the doctrine which delivers
the soul from external objects, and that
virtue cannot exist without the perfect in-
dependence of the will.
Leibnitz has opposed, with admirable force
of logical reasoning, the system of Locke,
who attributes all our ideas to our sensations.
The advocates of this system had vaunted of
that well-known axiom, that there is nothing
in the intellect which has not first been in
the senses; and Leibnitz added to it this
sublime restriction--" Except the intellect
"itself*. " From this principle all the new
philosophy is derived, which so much influ-
* Nihil est in intdketu quod non fuerit in sensu, nisi iii-
teUectui ipse.
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? GERMAN PHILOSOPHY. 69
ences the men of genius in Germany . This
philosophy also is experimental; for it en-
deavours to learn what is passing within
ourselves. It only substitutes the observation
of internal feeling for that of our external
sensations.
The doctrine of Locke gained many par-
tisans in Germany among those who endea-
voured, like Bonnet at Geneva, and many
other philosophers in England, to reconcile
this doctrine with the religious sentiments
which Locke himself always professed. The
genius of Leibnitz foresaw all the conse-
quences of this sort of metaphysics; and
that which has built his glory on an ever-
lasting foundation, is his having maintained
in Germany the philosophy of moral liberty
against that of sensual fatalism. While the
rest of Europe adopted those principles which
make the soul be considered as passive,
Leibnitz, with unshaken constancy, was the
defender of the ideal philosophy, such as his
genius had conceived it. It had no con-
nexion with the system of Berkeley; nor
with the reveries of the Greek sceptics upon
the non-existence of matter; but it main-
tained the moral being in his independence
and in his rights.
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? 70 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
CHAPTER VI.
*? I
Kant.
Ka NT lived even to a very advanced age,
and never quitted Konigsberg;--there, in the
midst. of northern ice, he passed his whole
life in meditation upon the laws of human
intelligence. An indefatigable ardour for
study enabled him to acquire stores of
knowledge without number. Sciences, lan-
guages, literature, all were familiar to him;
and without seeking for glory, which he did
not enjoy till a very late period (not having
heard the noise of his renown before his old
age), he contented himself with the silent
pleasure of reflection. In solitude he con-
templated his mind with close attention;
the examination of his thoughts lent him
new strength to support his virtue; and
although he never intermeddled with the ar-
dent passions of men, he knew how to forge
arms for those who should be summoned to
combat those passions.
Except among the Greeks, we have hardly
any example of a life so strictly philosophi-
l^lIMISttlltbSMiai'Eia'nnii^^.
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? KANT. IX
cal; and that life itself answers for the sin-
cerity of the writer. To such an unstained
sincerity, we must further add an acute and
exact understanding, which served for a
corrector to his genius, when he suffered it
to carry him too far. This is enough, it
seems to me, to make us judge at least im-
partially of the persevering labours of such
a man. .
Kant first published several works on the
natural sciences; and he showed, in this
branch of study, so great a sagacity, that it
was he who first foresaw the existence of
the planet Uranus. Herschel himself, after
having discovered it, acknowledged that it
was Kant who announced the future event.
His treatise upon the nature of the human
understanding, entitled the " Examination of
"pure Reason," appeared near thirty years
ago, and this work was for some time un-
known; but when at length the treasures of
thought, which it contains, were discovered,
it produced such a sensation in Germany,
that almost all which has been accomplished
since, in literature as well as in philosophy,
has flowed from the impulse given by this
performance.
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? 72 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
To this treatise upon the human under-
standing succeeded the " Examination of
"practical Reason," which related to morals;
and the " Examination of'Judgment," which
had the nature of the beautiful for its object.
The same theory serves for a foundation to
these three treatises, which embrace the
laws of intellect, the principles of virtue,
and the contemplation of the beauties of
nature and of the arts.
I shall endeavour to give a sketch of the
principal ideas which this doctrine contains;
--whatever care I may take to explain it
clearly, I do not dissemble the necessity
there is of incessant attention to comprehend
it. A prince, who was learning mathema-
tics, grew impatient of the labour which
that study demanded. "It is indipensable,"
said his instructor, " for your highness to
M take the pains of studying, in order to
"learn the science; for there is no royal
"road in mathematics. " The French pub-
lic, which has so many reasons to fancy it-
self a prince, will allow me to suggest that
there is no royal road in metaphysics; and
that, to attain a conception of any theory
whatever, we must pass through the inter-
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? KANT. 73
mediate ways which conducted the author
himself to the results he exhibits.
The philosophy of materialism gave up
the human understanding to the empire of
external objects, and morals to personal in-
terest; and reduced the beautiful to the
agreeable. Kant wished to re-establish pri-
mitive truths and spontaneous activity in
the soul, conscience in morals, and the ideal
in the arts. Let us now examine in what
manner he has fulfilled these different under-
takings.
At the time the "Examination of pure
"Reason" made its appearance, there ex-
isted only two systems concerning the hu-
man understanding among thinking men:
the one, that of Locke, attributed all our
ideas to our sensations; the other, that of
Descartes and Leibnitz, endeavoured to de-
monstrate the spirituality and the activity of
the soul, free-will, in short, the whole doc-
trine of Idealism; but these two philoso-
phers rested their opinions upon proofs
purely speculative. I have exposed, in the
preceding. chapter, the inconveniences which
result from these efforts of abstraction, that
arrest, if we may use the expression, the
very blood in our veins, until our intellectual
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? 74 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
faculties alone reign within us. The alge-
braic method, applied to objects that we
cannot embrace by mere reasoning, leaves no
durable trace in the mind. While we are in
the act of perusing these writings upon high
philosophical conceptions, we believe that
we comprehend them; we think that we
believe them; but the arguments which have
appeared most convincing, very soon escape
from the memory.
If man, wearied with these efforts, con-
fines himself to the knowledge which he
gains by his senses, all will be melancholy
indeed for his soul. Will he have any idea
of immortality, when the forerunners of
destruction are engraven so deeply on the
countenance of mortals, and living nature
falls incessantly into dust? When all the
senses talk of death, what feeble hope can
we entertain of a resurrection? If man only
consulted his sensations, what idea would he
form of the supreme goodness? So many
afflictions dispute the mastery over our life;
so many hideous objects disfigure nature,
that the unfortunate created being curses his
existence a thousand times before the last
convulsion snatches it away.
? FRENCH PHILOSOPHY. 47
Bayle, whose learned Dictionary is hardly
read by people of the world, is nevertheless
the arsenal from which all the pleasantries
of scepticism have been drawn ; Voltaire has
given them a pungency by his wit and ele-
gance; but the foundation of all this jesting
is, that every thing, not as evident as a phy-
sical experiment, ought to be reckoned in
the number of dreams and idle thoughts. It
is good management to dignify an inca-
pacity for attention by calling it a supreme
sort of reason, which rejects all doubt and
obscurity;--in consequence, they turn the
noblest thoughts into ridicule, if reflection
is necessary to comprehend them, or a
sincere examination of the heart to make
them felt. We still speak with respect of
Pascal, of Bossuet, of J. J. Rousseau, &c. ;
because authority has consecrated them, and
authority, of every sort, is a thing easily
discerned.
But a great number of readers being con-
vinced that ignorance and idleness are the
attributes of a man of wit, think it be-
neath them to take any trouble, and wish
to read, like a paragraph in a newspaper,
writings that have man and nature for their
subject.
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? 48 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
In a word, if by chance such writings were
composed by a German, whose name was
not a French one, and it was as difficult to
pronounce this name as that of the Baron in
Candide, what collections of pleasantries
would not be formed upon this circumstance!
and the meaning of them all would be the
following: "I have grace and lightness of
"spirit; while you, who have the misfor-
"tune to think upon some subjects, and to
"hold by some sentiments, you do not jest
"upon all with nearly the same elegance
M and facility. "
The philosophy of sensation is one of the
principal causes of this frivolity. Since the
time that the soul has been considered pas-
sive, a great number of philosophical labours
have been despised.
The day on which it was said, there are
no mysteries in the world, or at all events
it is unnecessary to think about them; all
our ideas come by the eyes and by the ears,
and the palpable only is the true;--on that
day the individuals who enjoyed all their
senses in perfect health believed themselves
the genuine philosophers. We hear it in-
cessantly said, by those who have ideas
enough to get money when they are poor,
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? FRENCH PHILOSOPHY. 49
and to spend it when they are rich, that
they only possess a reasonable philosophy,
and that none but enthusiasts would dream
of any other. In effect, our sensations teach
this philosophy alone; and if we can gain
no knowledge except by their means, every
thing that is not subject to the evidence of
matter must bear the name of folly.
If it was admitted, on the contrary, that
the soul acts by itself, and that we must
draw up information out of ourselves to find
the truth, and that this truth cannot be
seized upon, except by the aid of profound
meditation, because it is not within the
range of terrestrial experience; the whole
course of men's minds would be changed;
they would not disdainfully reject the most
sublime thoughts, because they demand a
close attention; but that which they found
insupportable would be the superficial and
the common; for emptiness grows at length
singularly burthensome.
Voltaire so well perceived the influence
that metaphysics exercise over the general
bias of the mind, that he wrote Candide, to
combat Leibnitz. He took up a curious
whim against final causes, optimism, free-
will; in short, against all the philosophical
vol. in. s
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? 50 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
opinions that exalt the dignity of man; and
he composed Candide, that effort of a
diaholical gaiety; for it appears to be writ-
ten by a being of a different nature from
ourselves, insensible to our condition, well
pleased with our sufferings, and laughing,
like a deemon or an ape, at the miseries of
that human species, with which he has
nothing in common.
The greatest poet of the age, the author
of Alzire, Tancrede, Merope, Zaire, and
Brutus, showed himself in this work ignorant
of all the great moral truths, which he had
so worthily celebrated.
When Voltaire, as a tragic author, felt
and thought in the character of another, he
was admirable; but, when he remains
wholly himself, he is a jester and a cynic.
The same versatility, which enabled him to
adopt the part of the personages whom he
wished to represent, only too well inspired
the language which, in certain moments,
was suited to Voltaire.
Candide brings into action that scoffing
philosophy, so indulgent in appearance, in
reality so ferocious; it presents human na-
ture under the most lamentable point of
view, and offers us, in the room of every
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? FRENCH PHILOSOPHY. 51
consolation, the sardonic grin, which frees
us from all compassion for others, by making
us renounce it for ourselves.
It is in consequence of this system that
Voltaire, in his Universal History, has aimed
at attributing virtuous actions, as well as
great crimes, to those accidental events
which deprive the former of all their merit,
and the latter of all their guilt.
In effect, if there is nothing in the soul
but what our sensations have imprinted upon
it, we ought no longer to recognise more
than two real and lasting motives on earth-^-
strength applied to the agent, and the desire
of well-being; in other words, the law of
tactics, and the law of appetite: but if
the mind is still to be considered such as it
has been formed by modern philosophy,
it would very soon be reduced to wish
that something of an exalted nature
would re-appear, in order at least to fur-
nish it with an object for exercise and for
attack.
The Stoics have often repeated that we
ought to brave all the assaults of fortune, and
only to trouble ourselves with what depends
upon the soul, upon our sentiments and
our thoughts. The philosophy of sensation
would have a totally opposite result; it
e2
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? 52 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
would disembarrass us from our feelings
and thoughts, with the design of turning
our efforts towards our physical well-being:
she would say to us--" Attach yourselves to
"the present moment; consider as a chimera
"every thing which wanders out of the
"circle of the pleasures and affairs of this
"world, and pass your short career of life,
"as well as you may, taking care of your
"health, which is the foundation of happi-
"ness. " These maxims have been known
in all times; but they were thought to be the
exclusive property of valets in comedies;
and in our days they have been made the
doctrine of reason, founded upon necessity;
a doctrine very different from that of reli-
gious resignation, for the one is as vulgar as
the other is noble and exalted.
The singularity of the attempt consists in
deducing the theory of elegance from so
plebeian a philosophy ;--our poor nature is.
often low and selfish, as we must grieve to
confess; but it was novel enough to boast
of it. Indifference and contempt for exalted
subjects are become the type of the graceful;
and witticisms have been levelled against
those who take a lively interest in any thing,
which is without a positive result in the
present world.
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? FRENCH PHILOSOPHY. 53
The argumentative principle of this frivo-
lity of heart and mind, is the metaphysical
doctrine which refers all our ideas to our
sensations; for nothing but the superficial
comes to us from without, and the serious-
ness of life dwells at the bottom of the soul. ;
If the fatality of materialism, admitted as a
theory of the human mind, led to a distaste
for every thing external, as well as to a dis-
belief of all within us; there would still
be something in this system of an inactive
nobleness, of an oriental indolence, which
might lay claim to a sort of grandeur ;--and
some of the Greek philosophers have found
means to infuse almost a dignity into apathy;
but the empire of sensation, while it has
weakened sentiment by degrees, has left the
activity of personal interest in full force;
and this spring of action has become so
much . the more powerful, as all the others
have been broken into pieces. To incredu-
lity of mind, to selfishness of heart, must
still be added the doctrine concerning
conscience, which Helvetius developed,
when he asserted, that actions virtuous in
themselves had for their object the attain-
ment of those physical enjoyments which
we can taste here below: it has followed
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? 54 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
from hence, that sacrifices made to the ideal
worship of any opinion, or any sentiment
whatever, have been considered as if those
who offer them were dupes; and as men
dread nothing more than passing for dupes,
they have been eager to ca9t ridicule upon
every sort of unsuccessful enthusiasm; for
that which has been recompensed with good
fortune, has escaped raillery: success is
always in the right with the advocates of
materialism.
The dogmatic incredulity, that, namely,
which calls in question the truth of every
thing that is not proved by the senses, is
the source of the chief irony of man against
himself: all moral degradation comes from
that quarter. That philosophy, doubtless,
ought to be considered an effect, as well as a
cause, of the present state of public feeling;
nevertheless, there is an evil of which it is
the principal author; it has given to the
carelessness of levity the appearance of re-
flective reasoning; it has furnished selfish-
ness with specious arguments; and has made
the most noble sentiments be considered as
an accidental malady, caused by external
circumstances alone.
It is of consequence then to examine whe-
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? FRENCH PHILOSOPHY. 55
ther the nation, which has constantly guard-
ed itself against the metaphysical system,
from which such inferences have been drawn,
was not right in its principle, and still more
so in the application which it has made of
that principle, to the developement of the
faculties of man, and to his moral conduct.
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? 56 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
CHAPTER V.
General Observations upon German
Philosophy.
Speculative philosophy has always found
numerous partisans among the German na-
tions, and experimental philosophy among
those of Latin extraction. The Romans,
expert as they were in the affairs of life,
were no metaphysicians; they knew nothing
of this subject, except by their connexion
with Greece; and the nations civilized by
them, have, for the most part, inherited
their knowledge in politics, and their in-
difference for those studies which cannot be
applied to the business of the world. This
disposition shows itself in France in its
greatest strength; the Italians and the
Spaniards. have partaken of it; but the
imagination of the South has sometimes
deviated from practical reason, to employ
itself in theories purely abstract.
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? GERMAN PHILOSOPHY. 57
The greatness of soul that appeared among
the Romans, gave a sublime character to
their patriotism and their morals ; but this
consequence must be attributed to their
republican institutions. When liberty no
longer existed in Rome, a selfish and sensual
luxury was seen to reign there, with almost
an undivided empire; excepting that of an
adroit sort of political knowledge, which
directed every mind towards observation and
experience. The Romans retained nothing
of their past study of Grecian literature and
philosophy but a taste for the arts; and this
taste itself very soon degenerated into gross
enjoyments.
The influence of Rome did not exert itself
over the northern nations. They were al-
most entirely civilized by Christianity ;--and
their ancient religion, which contained
within it the principles of chivalry, bore no
resemblance to the Paganism of the South.
There was to be found a spirit of heroica!
and generous self-devotion; an enthusiasm
for women, which made a noble worship of
love; in a word, as the rigours of the climate
prevented man from plunging himself into
the delights of nature, he had so much the
keener relish for the pleasures of the soul
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? 58 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
It may be objected to me, that the Greeks
had the same religion and the same climate
as the Romans ; and that yet they have
given themselves up more than any other
people to speculative philosophy; but may
we not attribute to the Indians some of the
intellectual systems developed among the
Greeks? The ideal philosophy of Pytha-
goras and Plato ill agrees with Paganism,
such as it appears to us; historical traditions
also lead us to believe that . Egypt was
the medium through which the nations of
southern Europe received 'the influence of
the East. The philosophy of Epicurus is the
only philosophy of truly Grecian origin.
Whatever may become of these conjec-
tures, it is certain that the spirituality of the
soul, and all the thoughts derived from it,
have been easily naturalized among the peo-
ple of the North; and of all these nations,
the Germans have ever showed themselves
the most inclined to contemplative philo-
sophy. Leibnitz is their Bacon and their
Descartes. We find in this excellent genius
all the qualities which the German philoso-
phers in general glory to aim at: immense
erudition, perfect good faith, enthusiasm
hidden under strict form and method. He
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? GERMAN PHILOSOPHY. 5. 9
had profoundly studied theology, jurispru-
dence, history, languages, mathematics, na-
tural philosophy, chemistry; for he was con-
vinced that an universality of knowledge
was necessary to constitute a superior being
in any department: in short, every thing in
Leibnitz displayed those virtues which are
allied to sublimity of thought, and which
deserve at once our admiration and our
respect.
His works may be divided into three
branches--the exact sciences, theological
philosophy, and the philosophy of the mind.
Every one knows that Leibnitz was the rival
of Newton, in the theory of calculation.
The knowledge of mathematics is very
useful in metaphysical studies; abstract rea-
soning does not exist in perfection out of
algebra and geometry; I shall endeavour to *
show in another place the unsuitableness of
this sort of reasoning, when we attempt to
exercise it upon a subject that is allied in
any manner to sensibility; but it confers
upon the human mind a power of attention,
that renders it much more capable of ana-
lysing itself: we must also know the laws and
the forces of the universe, to study man
under all his relations. There is such an
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? 60 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
analogy, and such a difference, between the
physical and the moral world, their re-
semblances and their diversity lend each
other such light, that it is impossible to be
a learned man of the first rank without the
assistance of speculative philosophy, nor a
speculative philosopher without having stu-
died the positive sciences.
Locke and Condiliac had not sufficiently
attended to these sciences ; but Leibnitz had
in this respect an incontestable superiority.
Descartes also was a very great mathema-
tician; and it is to be remarked, that the
greater part of the advocates for the ideal
philosophy have made an unbounded use of
their intellectual faculties. The exercise of
the mind, as well as that of the heart, im-
parts a feeling of internal activity, of which
all those beings who abandon themselves to
the impressions that come from without are
rarely capable.
The first class of the writings of Leibnitz
contains those which we call theological,
because they are directed to truths which
form part of the support of religion; and the
theory of the human mind is included in the
second class. In the first class he treats of
the origin of good and evil--of the divine
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? GERMAN PHILOSOPHY. 6l
prescience;--in a word, of those primitive
questions which lie beyond the bounds of
human intelligence. I do not pretend to cen-
sure, by this expression, those great men who,
from the times of Pythagoras and Plato down
to our own, have been attracted towards these
lofty philosophical speculations. Genius does
not set bounds to itself, until it has struggled
for a long time against that hard necessity.
Who can possess the faculty of thinking,
and not endeavour to learn the origin and
the end of the things of this world?
Every thing that lives upon earth, except-
ing man, seems to be ignorant of itself. He
alone knows that he will die, and this awful
truth awakens his interest for all the grand
thoughts which are attached to it. From the
time that we are capable of reflection we
resolve, or rather we think we resolve, after
our own manner, the philosophical questions
which may explain the destiny of man; but
it has been granted to no one to compre-
hend that destiny altogether. Every man
views it from a different point; every man
has his own philosophy, his poetry, his love.
This philosophy is in accord with the peculiar
bms of his character and his mind. When
we raise ourselves towards infinity, a thou-
i
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? 62 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
sand explanations may be equally true,
although different; for questions without
bounds have thousands of aspects, one of
which may be sufficient to occupy the whole
duration of existence.
If the mystery of the universe is above the
understanding of man, still the study of this
mystery gives more expansion to the mind.
It is in metaphysics as it is in alchemy: in
searching for the philosopher's stone, in en-
deavouring to discover an impossibility, we
, meet upon the road with truths which would
have remained unknown to us: besides, we
cannot hinder a meditative being from be-
stowing some time at least upon the tran-
scendent philosophy; this ebullition of spi-
ritual nature cannot be kept back, without
bringing that nature into disgrace.
The pre-established harmony of Leibnitz,
which he believed to be a great discovery,
has been refuted with success; he flattered
himself that he could explain the relations
between mind and matter, by considering
them both as instruments tuned beforehand,
which re-echo, and answer, and imitate each
other mutually. His monads, of which he
constitutes the simple elements of the uni-
verse, are but an hypothesis as gratuitous
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? GERMAN PHILOSOPHY. 63
as all those which have been used to explain
the origin of things. But in what a singular
state of perplexity is the human mind! In-
cessantly attracted towards the secret of its
being, it finds that secret equally impossible
to be discovered, or to be banished from its
thoughts.
The Persians say, that Zoroaster interro-
gated the Deity, and asked how the world
had begun, when it would end, what was
the origin of good and evil? The Deity an-
swered to all these questions--" Do what is
"good, and gain immortality. " The point
which particularly constitutes the excellence
of this reply, is this--that it does not dis-
courage man from the most sublime medi-
tations; it only teaches him, that by con-
science and sentiment he may exalt himself
to the most lofty conceptions of philosophy.
Leibnitz was an idealist, who founded his
system solely upon reasoning; and from
thence it arises, that he has pushed his ab-
stractions too far, and that he has not suffi-
ciently supported his theory upon inward
persuasion--the only true foundation of that
which is above the understanding: in short,
reason upon the liberty of man, and you
will not believe it; lay your hand upon your
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? 64 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
conscience, and you will not be able to
doubt it. Consequence and contradiction,
in the sense that we attach to either of these
terms, do not exist within the sphere of the
great questions concerning the liberty of
man, the origin of good and evil, the divine
prescience, &c. In these questions senti-
ment is almost always in opposition to rea-
son; in order to teach mankind, that what
he calls incredible in the order of earthly
things, is perhaps the supreme truth under
universal relations.
Dante has expressed a grand philosophical
thought by this verse :--
A guisa del ver primo che l'uom crede*.
We must believe certain truths as we believe
our own existence; it is the soul which re-
veals them to us; and reasonings of every
kind are never more than feeble streams de-
rived from this fountain.
The Theodicea of Leibnitz treats of the
divine prescience, and of the cause of good
and evil: it is one of the most profound and
argumentative works upon the theory of the
infinite; the author, however, too often ap-
plies to that which is without bounds, a sort
* " It is thus that man believes in primitive truth. "
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? GERMAN PHILOSOPHY. 65
of logic to which circumscribed objects alone
are amenable. Leibnitz was a perfectly re-
ligious character; but, from this very cir-
cumstance, he believed it a duty to ground
the truths of religion upon mathematical rea-
soning, in order to support them on such
foundations as are admitted within the em-
pire of experience: this error proceeds from
a respect, oftener felt than acknowledged,
for men of cold and arid minds ; we attempt
to convince them in their own manner; we
acknowledge that arguments in a logical form
have more certainty than a proof from senti-
ment; and it is not true.
In the region of intellectual and religious
truths, of which Leibnitz has treated, we
must use consciousness in the room of de-
monstration. Leibnitz, wishing to adhere to
abstract reasoning, demands a sort of stretch
of attention which few minds can support.
Metaphysical works, that are founded neither
upon experience nor upon sentiment, singu-
larly fatigue the thinking power; and we
may imbibe from them a physical and moral
pain, so great, that by our obstinate en-
deavours to conquer it, we may shatter the
organs of reason in our heads. A poet,
Baggesen, has made Vertigo a divinity--we
VOL. III. p
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? 66 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
should recommend ourselves to the favour of
that goddess, when we are about to study
these works, which place us in such a man-
ner at the summit of ideas, that we have no
longer any ladder-steps to re-descend into
life.
The metaphysical and religious writers,
who are eloquent and feeling at the same
time (such as we have seen in some exam-
ples), are much better adapted to our nature.
Far from requiring the suppression of our
faculties of feeling, in order to make our fa-
culty of abstraction more precise, they bid
us think, feel, and wish, that all the strength
of our souls may aid us to penetrate into the
depths of heaven; but to cling close to ab-
straction is such an effort, that it is natural
enough for the generality of men to have
renounced the attempt, and to have thought
it more easy to admit nothing beyond what
is visible.
The experimental philosophy is complete
in itself; it is a whole, sufficiently vulgar,
tout compact, circumscribed, argumentative;
and while we adhere to the sort of reasoning
which is received in the commerce of the
world, we ought to be contented with it;
the immortal and the infinite are only felt
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? GE11MAN PHILOSOPHY. r 67
through the medium of the soul; the soul
alone can diffuse an interest over the higher
sort of metaphysics. We are very wrong to
persuade ourselves that the more abstract a
theory is, the more likely it is to guard us
against all illusion; for it is exactly by these
means that it may lead us into error. We
take the connexion of ideas for their proof;
we arrange our rank and file of chimeras with
precision; and we fancy that they are an
army. There is nothing but the genius of
sentiment that arises above experimental,
as well as above speculative philosophy;
there is no other genius but that, which can
carry conviction beyond the limits of human
reason.
It appears then to me, that, notwithstand-
ing my entire admiration for the strength of
mind and depth of genius in Leibnitz, we
should wish, in his writings upon questions
of metaphysical theology, more imagination
and sensibility; that we might repose from
thought by the indulgence of our feelings.
Leibnitz almost made a scruple of recurring
to it, fearing that he should have the ap-
pearance of using seductive arts in favour of
the truth: he was wrong; for sentiment is
truth itself in questions of this nature.
f2
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? 68 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
The objections which I have allowed my-
self to make to those works of Leibnitz,
which aim at the solution of truths insoluble
by reasoning, do not at air apply to his
writings on the formation of ideas in the
human mind; those writings are of a most
luminous clearness; they refer to a mystery
which man, to a certain degree, can pene-
trate; for he knows more of himself than of
the universe. The opinions of Leibnitz in
this respect tend, above all, to our moral
perfection, if it be true, as the German phi-
losophers have attempted to prove, that free-
will rests upon the doctrine which delivers
the soul from external objects, and that
virtue cannot exist without the perfect in-
dependence of the will.
Leibnitz has opposed, with admirable force
of logical reasoning, the system of Locke,
who attributes all our ideas to our sensations.
The advocates of this system had vaunted of
that well-known axiom, that there is nothing
in the intellect which has not first been in
the senses; and Leibnitz added to it this
sublime restriction--" Except the intellect
"itself*. " From this principle all the new
philosophy is derived, which so much influ-
* Nihil est in intdketu quod non fuerit in sensu, nisi iii-
teUectui ipse.
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? GERMAN PHILOSOPHY. 69
ences the men of genius in Germany . This
philosophy also is experimental; for it en-
deavours to learn what is passing within
ourselves. It only substitutes the observation
of internal feeling for that of our external
sensations.
The doctrine of Locke gained many par-
tisans in Germany among those who endea-
voured, like Bonnet at Geneva, and many
other philosophers in England, to reconcile
this doctrine with the religious sentiments
which Locke himself always professed. The
genius of Leibnitz foresaw all the conse-
quences of this sort of metaphysics; and
that which has built his glory on an ever-
lasting foundation, is his having maintained
in Germany the philosophy of moral liberty
against that of sensual fatalism. While the
rest of Europe adopted those principles which
make the soul be considered as passive,
Leibnitz, with unshaken constancy, was the
defender of the ideal philosophy, such as his
genius had conceived it. It had no con-
nexion with the system of Berkeley; nor
with the reveries of the Greek sceptics upon
the non-existence of matter; but it main-
tained the moral being in his independence
and in his rights.
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? 70 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
CHAPTER VI.
*? I
Kant.
Ka NT lived even to a very advanced age,
and never quitted Konigsberg;--there, in the
midst. of northern ice, he passed his whole
life in meditation upon the laws of human
intelligence. An indefatigable ardour for
study enabled him to acquire stores of
knowledge without number. Sciences, lan-
guages, literature, all were familiar to him;
and without seeking for glory, which he did
not enjoy till a very late period (not having
heard the noise of his renown before his old
age), he contented himself with the silent
pleasure of reflection. In solitude he con-
templated his mind with close attention;
the examination of his thoughts lent him
new strength to support his virtue; and
although he never intermeddled with the ar-
dent passions of men, he knew how to forge
arms for those who should be summoned to
combat those passions.
Except among the Greeks, we have hardly
any example of a life so strictly philosophi-
l^lIMISttlltbSMiai'Eia'nnii^^.
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? KANT. IX
cal; and that life itself answers for the sin-
cerity of the writer. To such an unstained
sincerity, we must further add an acute and
exact understanding, which served for a
corrector to his genius, when he suffered it
to carry him too far. This is enough, it
seems to me, to make us judge at least im-
partially of the persevering labours of such
a man. .
Kant first published several works on the
natural sciences; and he showed, in this
branch of study, so great a sagacity, that it
was he who first foresaw the existence of
the planet Uranus. Herschel himself, after
having discovered it, acknowledged that it
was Kant who announced the future event.
His treatise upon the nature of the human
understanding, entitled the " Examination of
"pure Reason," appeared near thirty years
ago, and this work was for some time un-
known; but when at length the treasures of
thought, which it contains, were discovered,
it produced such a sensation in Germany,
that almost all which has been accomplished
since, in literature as well as in philosophy,
has flowed from the impulse given by this
performance.
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? 72 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
To this treatise upon the human under-
standing succeeded the " Examination of
"practical Reason," which related to morals;
and the " Examination of'Judgment," which
had the nature of the beautiful for its object.
The same theory serves for a foundation to
these three treatises, which embrace the
laws of intellect, the principles of virtue,
and the contemplation of the beauties of
nature and of the arts.
I shall endeavour to give a sketch of the
principal ideas which this doctrine contains;
--whatever care I may take to explain it
clearly, I do not dissemble the necessity
there is of incessant attention to comprehend
it. A prince, who was learning mathema-
tics, grew impatient of the labour which
that study demanded. "It is indipensable,"
said his instructor, " for your highness to
M take the pains of studying, in order to
"learn the science; for there is no royal
"road in mathematics. " The French pub-
lic, which has so many reasons to fancy it-
self a prince, will allow me to suggest that
there is no royal road in metaphysics; and
that, to attain a conception of any theory
whatever, we must pass through the inter-
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? KANT. 73
mediate ways which conducted the author
himself to the results he exhibits.
The philosophy of materialism gave up
the human understanding to the empire of
external objects, and morals to personal in-
terest; and reduced the beautiful to the
agreeable. Kant wished to re-establish pri-
mitive truths and spontaneous activity in
the soul, conscience in morals, and the ideal
in the arts. Let us now examine in what
manner he has fulfilled these different under-
takings.
At the time the "Examination of pure
"Reason" made its appearance, there ex-
isted only two systems concerning the hu-
man understanding among thinking men:
the one, that of Locke, attributed all our
ideas to our sensations; the other, that of
Descartes and Leibnitz, endeavoured to de-
monstrate the spirituality and the activity of
the soul, free-will, in short, the whole doc-
trine of Idealism; but these two philoso-
phers rested their opinions upon proofs
purely speculative. I have exposed, in the
preceding. chapter, the inconveniences which
result from these efforts of abstraction, that
arrest, if we may use the expression, the
very blood in our veins, until our intellectual
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? 74 PHILOSOPHY AND MORALS.
faculties alone reign within us. The alge-
braic method, applied to objects that we
cannot embrace by mere reasoning, leaves no
durable trace in the mind. While we are in
the act of perusing these writings upon high
philosophical conceptions, we believe that
we comprehend them; we think that we
believe them; but the arguments which have
appeared most convincing, very soon escape
from the memory.
If man, wearied with these efforts, con-
fines himself to the knowledge which he
gains by his senses, all will be melancholy
indeed for his soul. Will he have any idea
of immortality, when the forerunners of
destruction are engraven so deeply on the
countenance of mortals, and living nature
falls incessantly into dust? When all the
senses talk of death, what feeble hope can
we entertain of a resurrection? If man only
consulted his sensations, what idea would he
form of the supreme goodness? So many
afflictions dispute the mastery over our life;
so many hideous objects disfigure nature,
that the unfortunate created being curses his
existence a thousand times before the last
convulsion snatches it away.
