No More Learning

But still further removed than the idea from objective reality is the Ideal, by which term I understand the idea, not in concreto, but in indhriduo -- as an individual thing, deter minable or determined by the idea alone. The idea of humanity in its complete perfection supposes not only the
? because
? ? ? OF THE IDEAL IN GENERAL. 351
advancement of nll the powers and faculties, which constitute our conception of liuman nature, to a complete attainment of their final aims, but also every thing which is requisite for the complete determination of the idea ; for of all contradictory predicates, only one can conform with the idea of the perfect man. What I have termed an ideal, was in Plato's philosophy an idea of the divine mind -- an individual object present to its pure intuition, the most perfect of every kind of possible beings, and the archetype of all phenomenal existences.
Without rising to these speculative heights, we are bound to confess that human reason contains not only ideas, but ideals, which possess, not, like those of Plato, creative, but certainly practical power --as regulative principles, and form the basis of the perfectibility of certain actiont. Moral con ceptions are not perfectly pure conceptions of reason, because an empirical element --of pleasure or pain -- lies at the foun dation of them. In relation, however, to the principle, whereby reason sets bounds to a freedom which is in itself without law, and consequently when we attend merely to
their form, they may be considered as pure conceptions of reason. Virtue and wisdom in their perfect purity, are ideas. But the wise man of the Stoics is an ideal, that is to say, a human being existing only in thought, and in com plete conformity with the idea of wisdom. As the idea pro vides a rule, bo the ideal serves as an archetype for the perfect and complete determination of the copy. Thus the conduct of this wise and divine man serves us as a standard of action, with which we may compare and judge ourselves, which may help us to reform ourselves, although the perfection it de mands can never be attained by us. Although we cannot concede objective reality to these ideals, they are not to be considered as chimeras ; on the contrary, they provide reason with a standard, which enables it to estimate, by comparison,
'. lie degree of incompleteness in the objects presented to it. But to aim at realising the ideal in an example in the world of experience --to describe, for instance, the character of the perfectly wise man in a romance is impracticable. Nay more, there is something absurd in the attempt ; and the result must be little edifying, as the natural limitations which are continually breaking in upon the perfection and completeness of the idea, destroy the illusion in the story, and throw an air
? ? ? ? TRAKSCEFDBNTAI,
DIALECTIC.
of suspicion even on what is good in thu idea, which hence appears fictitious and unreal.
Such is the constitution of the ideal of reason, which 11 always based upon determinate conceptions, and serves as n rule and a model for imitation or for criticism. Very different is the nature of the ideals of the imagination. Of these it is impossible to present an intelligible conception ; they are a kind of monogram, drawn according to no determinate rule, and forming rather a vague picture--the production of many diverse experiences --than a determinate image. Such are the ideals which painters and physiognomists {profess to have in their minds, and which can serve neither as a model for production nor as a standard for appreciation. They may be termed, though improperly, sensuous ideals, as they are de clared to be models of certain possible empirical intuitions. They cannot, however, furnish rules or standards for expla nation or examination.
In its ideals, reason aims at complete and perfect determi nation according to a priori rules ; and hence it cogitates an object, which must be completely determinable in conformity with principles, although all empirical conditions are absent, and the conception of the object is on this account trans cendent.
CHAPTER THIRD. Section Second.
Of the Transcendental Ideal.
(Prolotypon Transcendentale. )
? in relation to that which
in undetermined and subject to the principle of determin-
ability. This principle that of every two contradictorily op posed predicates, only one can belong to conception.
purely logical principle, itself based upon the principle of contradiction inasmuch as makes complete abstraction
the coutent, and attends merely to the logical form of the cognition.
But again, everything, as regards its possibility, also sub ject to the principle* of complete determination, according to which one of all the possible contradictory predicates things must belong to it. This principle not'based merely
Princiitium determmaiionh onmtmodet. -- r.
Erery conception
not contained
? ? ?
is
a
is
is
It of ofis
;
a
it,
is, it
is,
? OF THE THA1T8CENBENTAI. IDEAL. 353
upon that cf contradiction ; for, in addition to the relation between two contradictory predicates, it regards everything as
standing in a relation to the sum of possibilities, as the sura- total of all predicates of things, and, while presupposing this sum as an a priori condition, presents to the mind every thing as receiving the possibility of its individual existence from the relation it bears to, and the share it possesses in the aforesaid sum of possibilities. * The principle of com plete determination relates therefore to the content and not to the logical form. It is the principle of the synthesis of all the predicates which are required to constitute the complete conception of a thing, and not a mere principle of analytical representation, which anounces that one of two contradictory predicates must belong to a conception. It contains, more over, a transcendental presupposition -- that, namely, of the material for all possibility, which must contain a priori the data for this or that particular possibility.
The proposition, everything which exists is completely deter mined, means not only that one of every pair of given contradic tory attributes, but that one of all possible attributes, is always predicable of the thing ; in it the predicates are not merely compared logically with each other, but the thing itself is tran- scendentally compared with the sum-tolal of all possible pre dicates. The proposition is equivalent to saying : --to attain to a complete knowledge of a thing, it is necessary to possess a knowledge of everything that is possible, and to determine it thereby, in a positive or negative manner. The conception of complete determination is consequently a conception which cannot be presented in its totality in eoncreto, and is therefore based upon an idea, which has its seat in the reason -- the faculty which prescribes to the understanding the haws of its harmonious and perfect exercise.
Now, although this idea of the sum-total of all possibility, in so far as it forms the condition of the complete determina-
* Thus thii principle declares ever> thing to possess a relation to a common correlate -- the sum-total of possibility, which, if discovered to exist in the idea of one individual thing, would establish the affinity of all possible things, from the identity of the ground of their complete determination. The determinabitity of every conception is subordinate to the unkertatity (AUgemeinheit unit* latitat) of the principle of excluded middle ; the determination of a thing to the totali'y (Allheit. umKerriiat' of all possible predicates.
? A
? ? ? ? ? ,:a
TRANSCENDENTAL DIALECTIC
tion of every thing, is itself undetermined in relation to the predicates which may constitute this sum-total, and we cogi tate in it merely the sum-total of all possible predicates --we nevertheless find, upon closer examination, that this idea, as a primitive conception of the mind, excludes a large number of predicates --those deduced and those irreconcilable with others, and that it is evolved as a conception completely de termined & priori. Thus it becomes the conception of an individual object, which is completely determined by and through the mere idea, and must consequently be termed an ideal of pure reason.
When we consider all possible predicates, not merely logi cally, but transcendentally, that is to say, with reference to the content which may be cogitated as existing in them <J priori, we shall find that some indicate a bring, others merely a non-being. The logical negation expressed in the word not, does not properly belong to a conception, but only to the re lation of one conception to another in a judgment, and is consequently quite insufficient to present to the mind the con tent of a conception. The expression not mor. al, does not in dicate that a non-being is cogitated in the object ; it does not concern the content at all. A transcendental negation, on the contrary, indicates non-being in itself, and is opposed to transcendental affirmation, the conception of which of itself expresses a being. Hence this affirmation indicates a reality, because in and through it objects are considered to be some thing -- to be things ; while the opposite negntion, on the other hand, indicates a mere want, or privation, or absence, and, where such negations alone are attached to a representa tion, the non-existence of anything corresptnding to the repre sentation.
Now a negation cannot be cogitated as determined, without cogitating at the same time the opposite affirmation. The man born blind has not the least notion of darkness, because he has none of light ; the vagabond knows nothing of po verty, because he has never known what it is to be in com fort ;* the ignorant man ha9 no conception of his ignorance,
* The investigations and calculations of astronomers have taught ui much that is wonderful ; hut the most important lesson we have received from them is the discovery of the ahyss of our ignorance in relation to the universe -- an ignorance the magnitude of which reason, without th*
? ? ? ? OF THE TRANSCSXDeNTAL IDEAL.
. . . ). . )
because he has no conception of knowledge. All conception! of negatives are accordingly derived or deduced conceptions ; anil realities contain the data, and, so to speak, the material or transcendental content of the possibility and complete de termination of all things.
If, therefore, a transcendental substratum lies at the foun dation of the complete determination of things --a sub stratum which is to form the fund from which all possible predicates of things are to be supplied, tbia substratum can not be anything else than the idea of a sum-total of reality (omnitudo realitatit). In this view, negations are nothing but limitations --a term which could not, with propriety, be applied to them, if the unlimited (the all) did not form the true basis of our conception.
This conception of a sum-total of reality is the conception of a thing in itself, regarded as completely determined ; and the conception of an ens realissimum is the conception of an individual being, inasmuch as it is determined by that predi cate of all possible contradictory predicates, which indicates and belongs to being. It is therefore a transcendental Meat which forms the basis of the complete determination of every thing that exists, and is the highest material condition of its possibility--a condition on which must rest the cogitation of all objects witli respect to their content. Nay, more, this ideal is the only proper ideal of which the human mind is capable ; because in this case alone a general conception of a thing is completely determined, by and through itself, and cognized as the representation of an individuum.
The logical determination of a conception is based upon a disjunctive syllogism, the major of which contains the logical
division of the extent of a general conception, the minor limits this extent to a certain part, while the conclusion de
termines the conception by this part. The general conception of a reality cannot be divided d priori, because, without the aid of experience, we cannot know any determinate kinds of reality, standing under the former as the genus. The tran scendental principle of the eomplete detennination of all things is therefore merely the representation of the sum-total
information thus derived, could never have conceived. This discovery of our deficiencies must produce a great change in the determination of the aims of human reason.
2'a 2
? ? ? ? TRANSCENDENTAL DIALECTIC.
of all reality ; it is not a conception which is Jie genua of all predicates under itself, but one which comprehends them all within itself. The complete determination of a thing is con sequently based upon the limitation of this total of reality, so much being predicated of the thing, while all that remains over is excluded --a procedure which is in exact agreement
with that of the disjunctive syllogism and the determination of the object in the conclusion by one of the members of the division. It follows that reason, in laying the transcendental ideal at the foundation of its determination of all possible things, takes a course in exact analogy with that which it pur- sues in disjunctive syllogisms--a proposition which formed the basis of the systematic division of all transcendental ideas, according to which they are produced in complete parallelism with the three modes of syllogistic reasoning employed by the human mind. *
It is self-evident that renson, in cogitating the necessary
determination of things, does not presuppose the existence of a being corresponding to its ideal, but merely the idea of the ideal --for the purpose of deduciug from the un conditioned totality of complete determination, the condi tioned, that the totality of limited things. The ideal therefore the prototype of all things, which, as defective copies (eetypa), receive from the material of their possibility, and approximate to more or less, though impossible that they can ever attain to its perfection.
The possibility of things must therefore be regarded as de rived -- except that of the thing which contains in itself all reality, which must be considered to be primitive and original. For all negations --and they are the only predicates means of which all other things can be distinguished from the ens realissimum -- are mere limitations of greater and higher -- nay, the highest reality and they consequently presuppose
this reality, and are, as regards their content, derived from it. The manifold nature of tilings only an infinitely various mode of limiting the conception of the highest reality, which
their common substratum just as all figures are possible only as different modes of limiting infinite space. The ob ject of the ideal of reason --an object existing only in reason ittelf--is nlso termed the primal being (ens originarmm)
? Set pasrs '225 am'. 2'lG.
? complete
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? Or THE THAKBCEXDENTAL IDEAL
357
having no existence superior to him, the supreme being (ens lummum) ; and as being the condition of all other beings, which rank under the being of all beings (ens entium). Bnt none of these terms indicate the objective relation of an actually existing object to other things, but merely that of an idea to conceptions and all our investigations into this subject still leave us in perfect uncertainty with regard to the ex istence of this being.
primal being cannot be said to consist of many other beings with an existence which derivative, for the latter presuppose the former, and therefore cannot be constitutive parts of it. follows that the ideal of the primal being must be cogitated as simple.
The deduction of the possibility of all other things from this primal being cannot, strictly speaking, be considered as limitation, or as kind of division of its reality for this
would be regarding the primal being as mere aggregate -- which has been shown to be impossible, although wrs so
represented in our first rough sketch. The highest reality must be regarded rather as the ground than as the sum-total of the possibility of all things, and the manifold nature of things be based, not upon the limitation of the primal being itself, but upon the complete series of effects which flow from it. And thus all our powers of sense, as well as all phseno- menal reality, may lie with propriety regarded as belonging to this series of effects, while they could not have formed parts of the idea, considered as an aggregate. Pursuing this track,
and hypostatising this idea, we shall find ourselves authorised
to determine our notion of the Supreme Being by means of
the mere conception of highest reality, as one, simple, all- sufficient, eternal, and so on -- in one word, to determine in
its unconditioned completeness the aid of every possible
? The conception of such being the conception of God in its transcendental sense, and thus the ideal of pure reason the object-matter of transcendental Theology.
But, such an employment of the transcendental idea, we should be overstepping the limits of its validity and pur pose. For reason placed as the conception of all reality, at the basis of the complete determination of things, without
requiring that this conception be regarded as the conception an objective existence. Such an existence would be purely
predicate.
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is by
; It
by a
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A
? 358 TRANSCENDENTAL DIAXKCTIC.
fictitious, and the hypostatising of the content of the idea into an ideal, as an individual being, is a step perfectly un- authorised. Nay, more, we are not even called upon to as sume the possibility of such an hypothesis, as none of the de ductions drawn from such an ideal would affect the complete determination of things in general --for the sake of which alone is the idea necessary.
It is not sufficient to circumscribe the procedure and the dialectic of reason ; we must also endeavour to discover the sources of this dialectic, that we may have it in our power to give a rational explanation of this illusion, as a phenomenon of the human mind. For the ideal, of which we are at pre sent speaking, is based, not upon an arbit. rary, but upon a natural, idea. The question hence arises : how happens it that reason regards the possibility of all things as deduced from a single possibility, that, to wit, of the highest reality, and presupposes this as existing in an individual and primal being ?
The answer is ready ; it is at once presented by the pro cedure of transcendental analytic. The possibility of sen suous objects is a relation of these objects to thought, in which something (the empirical form) may be cogitated & priori; while that which constitutes the matter -- the renlity of the phenomenon (that element which corresponds to sen sation) --must be given from without, as otherwise it could not even be cogitated by, nor could its possibility be presentable to the mind. Now, a sensuous object is completely deter mined, when it has been compared with all phsenomenal pre dicates, and represented by means of these either positively or negatively. But, as that which constitutes the thing itself --the real in a phenomenon, must be given, and that, in which tlto real of all phenomena is given, is experience, one, sole, and all-embracing, -- the material of the possibility of nll sensuous objects must be presupposed as given in a whole, and it is upon the limitation of tins whole that the possibility of all empirical objects, their distinction from ench other and their complete determination, are based. Now, no other ob jects are presented to us besides sensuous objects, and these can be given only in connection with a possible experience ; it follows that a thing is not an object to us, unless it pre supposes the whob> o<* sura-total of empirical renlity as tha
? ? ? ? OF THE EXISTENCE OF A BtJPItEME BKIWO. 359
condition of its possibility. Now, a natural illusion leads i>> to consider this principle, which is valid only of sensuous ob jects, as valid with regard to things in general. And thu. i we are induced to hold the empirical principle of our con ceptions of the possibility of things, as phenomena, by leav ing out this limitative condition, to be a transcendental prin ciple of the possibility of things in general.
We proceed afterwards to hypostatise this idea of the sum- total of all reality, by chnnging the distributive unity of the empirical exercise of the understanding into the collective unity of an empirical whole --a dialecticcl illusion, and by cogitating this whole or sum of experience as an individual thing, con taining in itself all empirical reality. This individual thing or being is then, by means of the above-mentioned transcendental subreption, substituted for our notion of a thing which stands at the head of the possibility of all things, the real conditions of whose complete determination it presents. *
CHAPTER THIRD.
Section Thikd.
Of the Arguments employed by Speculative Reason in proof oj the Existence of a Supreme Being.
Notwithstanding the pressing necessity which reason feels, to form some presupposition that shall serve the understanding as a proper basis for the complete determination of its con ceptions, the idealistic and factitious nature of such a presup position is too evident to allow reason for a moment to per suade itself into a belief of the objective existence of a mere creation of its own thought. But there are other considera tions which compel reason to seek out some resting-place in the regress from the conditioned to the unconditioned, which
? This ideal of the ens reahtsimum --although merely a mental repre- ? entation --is first objeclhised, that is, has an objective existence attributed to then hypnttatited, and finally, by the natural progress of reason to the completion of unity, perionified, as we shall show presently. For the regulative unity of experience not based upon phenomena themselves, but upon the connection of the variety of phenomena by the under- tttnding in eomeioutnett, and thus the unity of the supreme reality and
? the complete determinabiuty of all things, seem to Teside in understands, and consequently, in conscious intelligence.
supreme
? ? it, a
is a
a
? sen TBAWSCEUDEHTAL DIALECTIC.
is aot given as an actual existence from the mere conception of although alone can give completeness to the series of conditions. And this the natural course of every human reason, even of the most uneducated, although the path at first entered does not always continue to follow. It does not
begin from conceptions, but from common experience, and
basis actual existence. But this basis inse cure, unless rests upon the immovable rock of the absolutely
requires
And this foundation itself unworthy of trust, leave under and above empty space, do not fill all, and leave no room for why or wherefore, be not, in
one word, infinite in its reality.
If we admit the existence of some one thing, whatever
may be, we must also admit that there something which exists necessarily. For what contingent exists only under the condition of some other thing, which its cause and from this we must go On to conclude the existence of cause,
which not contingent, and which consequently exists neces sarily and unconditionally. Such the argument by whicii reason justifies its advances towards primal being.
necessary.
? Now reason looks round for the conception of
that may be admitted, without inconsistency, to be worthy of the attribute of absolute necessity, not for the purpose of in ferring priori, from the conception of such being, its ob
existence, (for reason allowed itself to take this
course, would not require basis in given and actual exist
ence, but merely the support of pure conceptions), but for
the purpose of discovering, among all our conceptions of pos
sible things, that conception which possesses no element
consistent with the idea of absolute necessity. For that there
must be some absolutely necessary existence, regards as truth already established. Now, can remove every exist ence incapable of supporting the attribute of absolute neces sity, excepting one, -- this must be the absolutely necessary being, whether its necessity comprehensible us, that deducible from the conception of alone, or not.
Now that, the conception of which contains therefore to every wherefore, which not defective in any respect what ever, which all-sufficient as condition, seems to be the being of which we can justly predicate absolute necessity --for this reason, that, possessing the conditions of all that pos
jective
beini
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? or THE EXISTENCE OF A SUPREME BEING. 361
lible, it does not and cannot itself require any condition. And thus it satisfies, in one respect at least, the requirements of the conception of absolute necessity. In this view, it is su perior to all other concept'ons, which, as deficient and incom plete, do not possess the characteristic of independence of all higher conditions. It is true that we cannot infer from this that what does not contain in itself the supreme and complete condition--the condition of all other things, must possess only a conditioned existence ; but as little can we assert the con trary, for this supposed being does not possess the only cha racteristic which can enable reason to cognize by means of an (t priori conception the unconditioned and necessary nature of its existence.
The conception of an ens realissimum is that which best agrees with the conception of an unconditioned and necessary
being. The former conception does not satisfy all the require ments of the latter ; but we have no choice, we are obliged
? for we find that we cannot do without the necessary being and even although we admit out of our power to discover in the whole sphere of possibility any being that can advance well-grounded claims
to adhere to existence of
we find
to such distinction. The following
reason. begins
therefore, the natural course of human persuading itself of the existence of In this being recognises the charac
some necessary being.
teristics of unconditioned existence. then seeks the con
ception of that which independent of all conditions, and finds in that which itself the sufficient condition of all other things-- other words, in that which contains all reality. But the unlimited all an absolute unity, and conceived
the mind as being one and supreme and thus reason con cludes that the supreme being, as the primal basis of all things, possesses an existence which absolutely necessary.
This conception must be regarded as some degree satis factory, we admit the existence of necessary being, and consider that there exists necessity for definite and final answer to these questions. Iu such case, we cannot make
better choice, or rather we have no choice at all, but feel ourselves obliged to declare in favour of the absolute unity of complete reality, as the highest source of the possibility of things. But there exists no motive for coming to defiitiU
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a
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;
? 362 TRANSCENDKMTAL DIALECTIC.
conclusion, and we may leave the question unanswered till we have fiilly weighed both sides -- in other words, when we are merely called upon to decide how much we happen to know about the question, and how much we merely flatter ourselves that we know -- the above conclusion does not appear to so great advantage, but, on the contrary, seems defective in the grounds upon which it is supported.
For, admitting the truth of all that has been said, that namely, the inference from a given existence (my own, for ex ample,) to the existence of an unconditioned and necessary being is valid and unassailable ; that, in the second place, we must consider a being which contains all reality, and consequently all the conditions of other things, to be absolutely uncon ditioned -, and admitting too, that we have thus discovered the conception of a thing to which may be attributed, without in consistency, absolute necessity -- it does not follow from all this that the conception of a limited being, in which the su preme reality does not reside, is therefore incompatible with the idea of absolute necessity. For, although I do not dis cover the element of the unconditioned in the conception of such a being --an element which is manifestly existent in the sum-total of all conditions, I am not entitled to conclude that its existence is therefore conditioned ; just as I am Dot entitled to affirm, in a hypothetical syllogism, that where a certain condition does not exist, (in the present, completeness, as far as pure conceptions are concerned), the conditioned does not exist either. On the contrary, we are free to consider all limited beings as likewise unconditionally necessary, although we are unable to infer this from the general conception which
we have of them. Thus conducted, this argument is incapable of giving us the least notion of the properties of a necessary being, and must be in every respect without result.
This argument continues, however, to possess a weight and
an authority, which, in spite of ite objective insufficiency, it has never been divested of. For, granting that certain re
sponsibilities lie upon us, which, as based on the ideas of reason, deserve to be respected and submitted to, although they are incapable of a real or practical application to 0111 nature, or, iu other words, would be responsibilities with
out motives, except upon the supposition of a Supreme Being to give effect and influence to the practical laws: ia
? ? ? ? OF THE EXISTENCE OF A 8UPBESSE BEING. 363
euch a case we should be bound to obey our conceptions, which, although objectively insufficient, do, according to the standard of reason, preponderate over and are superior to any claims that may be advanced from any other quarter. Tin equilibrium of doubt would in this case be destroyed by a practical addition ; indeed, Reason would be compelled to con demn herself, if she refused to comply with the demands of the judgment, no superior to which we know -- however de fective her understanding of the grounds of these demands might be.
This argument, although in fact transcendental, inasmuch
as it rests upon the intrinsic insufficiency of the contingent, is so simple and natural, that the commonest understanding can appreciate its value. We see things around us change, arise, and pass away ; they, or their condition, must therefore have a cause. The same demand must again be made of the cause itself -- as a datum of experience. Now it is natural that we should place the highest causality just where we place supreme causality, in that being, which contains the conditions of all possible effects, and the conception of which is so simple as that of an all-embracing reality. This highest cause, then, wc regard as absolutely necessary, because we find it absolutely necessary to rise to and do not discover any reason for
proceeding beyond it. Thus, among all nations, through the darkest polytheism glimmer some faint sparks of monotheism, to which t'vese idolaters have been led, not from reflection and profound thought, but by the study and natural progress of the common understanding.
There are only three modes of proving the existence of Deity, on the grounds of speculative reason.
All the paths conducting to this end, begin either from determinate experience and the peculiar constitution of the world of sense, and rise, according to the laws of causality, from to the highest cause existing apart from the world,-- or from purely indeterminate experience, that some empirical existence, --or abstraction made of all experience, and the existence of a supreme cause concluded from a priori con ceptions alone. The first the physico- theological argument, the second the cosmological, the third the ontological. More
there are not, and more there cannot be. -- shall show as unsuccessful on the one path the
? ? ? I
it is
it,
is
is
is
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? 364 TRANSCENDENTAL DIALECTIC.
empirical, as on the other -- the transcendental, and that it stretches its wings in vain, to soar beyond the world of sense
by the mere might of speculative thought. As regards the order in which we must discuss those arguments, it will be exactly the reverse of that in which reason, 'n the progress of its development, attains to them --the order in which they are placed above. For it will be made manifest *. o the reader, that, although experience presents the occasion and the start ing-point, it is the trantcendental idea of reason which guides it in its pilgrimage, and is the goal of all its struggles. I shall therefore begin with an examination of the transcendental argument, and afterwards inquire, what additional strength has accrued to this mode of proof from the addition of the empirical element.
CHAPTER III.
Section Foubth.
Of the Impossibility of an Ontological Proof of the Existence
of God.
It is evident from what has been said, that the conception of
an absolutely necessary being is a mere idea, the objective re ality of which is far from being established by the mere fact that it is a need of reason. On the contrary, this idea serves merely to indicate a certain unattainable perfection, and rather limits the operations than, by the presentation of new objects, ex tends the sphere of the understanding. But a strange anomaly meets us at the very threshold ; for the inference from a given existence in general to an absolutely necessary existence, seems to be correct and unavoidable, while the conditions of the understanding refuse to aid us in forming any conception of such a being.
Philosophers have always talked of an absolutely necessary being, and have nevertheless declined to take the trouble of conceiving, whether --and how--a being of this nature is even cogitable, not to mention that its existence is actually demon strable. A verbal definition of the conception is certainly easy enough : it is something, the non-existence of which is im possible. But does this definition throw any light upon the con ditions which render it impossible to comitate the non-existence
? ? ? ? OF THE ONTOLOGICAIi AEGUMKKT. 366
of a thing --conditions which we wish to ascertain, that we may discover whether we think anything in the conception of such a being or not ? For the mere fact that I throw away, by means of the word Unconditioned, all the conditions which the understanding habitually requires in order to regard anything as necessary, is very far from making clear whether by means of the conception of the unconditionally necessary I think of something, or really of nothing at all.
Nay, more, this chance-conception, now become so current, many have endeavoured to explain by examples, which seemed to render any inquiries regarding its intelligibility quite need less. Every geometrical proposition--a triangle has three angles -- it was said, is absolutely necessary ; and thus people talked of an object which lay out of the sphere of our under standing as if it were perfectly plain what the conception of such a being meant.
All the examples adduced have been drawn, without ex ception, from judgments, and not from things. But the unconditioned necessity of a judgment does not form the absolute necessity of a thing. On the contrary, the absolute necessity of a judgment is only a conditioned necessity of a thing, or of the predicate in a judgment. The proposition above-mentioned, does not enounce that three angles necessarily wist, but, upon condition that a triangle exists, three angles must necessarily exist -- in it. And thus this logical necessity has been the source of the greatest delusions. Having formed an & priori conception of a thing, the content of which was made to embrace existence, we believed ourselves safe in con cluding that, because existence belongs necessarily to the object of the conception, (that under the condition of my positing this thing as given,) the existence of the thing also posited necessarily, and that therefore absolutely necessary --merely because its existence has been cogitated in the con ception.
If, in an identical judgment, annihilate the predicate ra thought, and retain the subject, contradiction the result and hence say, the former belongs necessarily to the latter.
But suppress both subject and predicate in thought, no contradiction arises for there nothing at all, and therefore 30 means of forming a contradiction. To suppose the e*- stcncc of triangle and nut that of its three angles, self
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rotitradictory ; but to suppose the non-existence of both triangle and angles is perfectly admissible. And so is it with the conception of an absolutely necessary being. Annihilate its existence in thought, and you annihilate the thing itself with all its predicates ; how then can there be any room for contradiction ? Externally,* there is nothing to give rise to a contradiction, for a thing cannot be necessary externally ; nor internally, for, by the annihilation or suppression of the thing itself, its internal properties are also annihilated. God is omnipotent-- that is a necessary judgment. His omnipo tence cannot be denied, if the existence of a Deity is posited -- the existence, that is, of an infinite being, the two conceptions being identical. But when you say, God does not exist, neither omnipotence nor any other predicate is affirmed ; they must all disappear with the subject, and in this judgment there cannot exist the least self-contradiction.
You have thus seen, that when the predicate of a judgment is annihilated in thought along with the subject, no internal contradiction can arise, be the predicate what it may. There is no possibility of evading the conclusion --you find yourselves compelled to declare : There are certain subjects which cannot be annihilated in thought. But this is nothing more than say ing : There exist subjects which are absolutely necessary -- the very hypothesis which you are called upon to establish. For I find myself unable to form the slightest conception of a thing which; when annihilated in thought with all its predicates, leaves behind a contradiction ; and contradiction is the onlv criterion of impossibility, in the sphere of pure h priori con ceptions.
Against these general considerations, the justice of which no one can dispute, one argument is adduced, which is regarded as furnishing a satisfactory demonstration from the fact. It is affirmed, that there is one Bnd only one conception, in which the non-being or annihilation of the object is selt'-contradictory, and this is the conception of an ens realissimutn. It possesses, you say, all reality, and you feM yourselves justified in ad mitting the possibility of such a being. (This 1 am willing Ui grant for the present, although the existence of a conception which u not self-contradictory, is far from being sufficient to
* In relation to other thing! . -- 7V.
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367
prove the possibility of an object. *) Now the notion of all reality embraces in it that of existence ; the notion of existence lies, therefore, in the conception of this possible thing. If this thing is annihilated in thought, the internal possibility of the thing is also annihilated, which is self-contradictory.
I answer : It is absurd to introduce -- under whatever term disguised --into the conception of a thing, which is to be cogi tated solely in reference to its possibility, the conception of its existence. If this is admitted, yon will have apparently gained the day, but in reality have enounced nothing but a mere tau tology. I ask, ia the proposition, this or that thing (which I am admitting to be possible) exists, an analytical or a synthetical proposition ? If the former, there is no addition made to the subject of your thought by the affirmation of its existence ; but then the conception in your minds is identical with the thing itself, or you have supposed the exigence of a thing to be possible, and then inferred its existence from its internal possibility --which is but a miserable tautology. The word reality in the conception of the thing, and the word existence in the conception of the predicate, will not help you out of the difficulty. For, supposing you were to term all positing of a thing, reality, you have thereby posited the thing with all its predicates in the conception of the subject and assumed its actual existence, and this you merely repeat in the predicate. But if you confess, as every reasonable person must, that e< ery existential proposition is synthetical, how can it be maintained that the predicate of existence cannot be denied without con tradiction --a property which is the characteristic of analytical propositions, alone.
1 should have a reasonable hope of putting an end for eve r to this sophistical mode of argumentation, by a strict definition of the conception of existence, did not my own experience teach me that the illusion aris'ng from our confounding a
? A conception i>> always pots'hle, if it is not self-contradiclnry. This <<s the logical criterion of possibility, distinguishing the object of such . 1 conception from the nihil negaiivum. But it may be, notwithstanding, en empty conception, unless the objective reality of this synthesis, by which it is generated, ia demonstrated ; and a proof of this kind must be based upon principles of possible experience, and not upon the principle c/ ana lysis or contradiction. This remark may be serviceable as a warning against concluding, from the possibility of a conception -- which is logical, the possibility of a thing -- which is real.
? ? ? ? 368 TRANSCENDENTAL DIALECTIC.
logical with a real predicate (a predicate which aids in the de termination of a thing) resists almost all the endeavours of explanation and illustration. A logical predicate may be what you please, even the subject may be predicated of itself; for logic pays no regard to the content of a judgment. But the determinatiou of a conception is a predicate, which adds to and enlarges the conception. It mu9t not, therefore, be con tained in the conception.
Being is evidently not a real predicate, that conception of something which added to the conception of some other
? thing, or of certain de merely the copula of
omnipotent, contains two conceptions, which have certain object or content the word t>>, no additional predicate -- merely indicates the relation
thing. merely the positing of terminations in it. Logically,
judgment.
The proposition, God
of the predicate to the subject. Now, take the subject (God) with all its predicates (omnipotence being one), and say, God or, There a God, add no new predicate to the conception of God, merely posit or affirm the existence of
the subject with all its predicates -- posit the object in relation to my conception. The content of both the same and there no addition made to the conception, which expresses merely the possibility of the object, my cogitating the object -- in the expression, -- as absolutely given or exist
Thus the real contains no more than the possible. hundred real dollars contain no more than hundred possible dollars. For, as the latter indicate the conception, and the former the object, on the supposition that the content of the former was greater than that of the latter, my conception would not be an expression of the whole object, and would
ing.
be an inadequate conception of it. But in reckoning my wealth there may be said to be more in hundred real dollars, than in hundred possible dollars -- that
consequently
in the mere conception of them. For the real object -- the dollars-- not analytically contained in my conception, but forms synthetical addition to my conception (which merely
determination of my mental state), although this objective re? jity -- this existence -- apart from my conception, does not ir. the least degree increase the aforesaid hundred dollars.
By whatever and by whatever number of predicates --even to the complete determination of --I may cogitate thing
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I do not in the least augment the object of my conception by the addition of the statement, this thing exists. Otherwise, not exactly the same, but something more than what was cogi tated in my conception, would exist, and I could not affirm that the exact object of my conception had real existence. If I cogitate a thing as containing all modes of reality except one, the mode of reality which is absent is not added to the conception of the thing by the affirmation that the thing exists ; on the contrary, the thing exists --if it exist at all-- with the same defect as that cogitated in its conception ; other wise not that which was cogitated, but something different, exists. Now, if I cogitate a being as the highest reality, without defect or imperfection, the question still remains--" whether this being exists or not ? For although no element is wanting in the possible real content of my conception, there is a defect in its relation to my mental state, that am ignorant whether the cognition of the object indicated the conception possible posteriori. And here the cause of
? the present difficulty becomes apparent. If the question re garded an object of sense merely, would be impossible for me to confound the conception with the existence of thing. For the conception merely enables me to cogitate an object as according with the general conditions of experience while the existence of the object permits me to cogitate as con tained in the sphere of actual experience. At the same time, this connection with the world of experience does not in the least augment the conception, although
possible perception has been added to the experience of the mind. But we cogitate existence by the pure category alone, not to be
wondered at, that we should find ourselves unable to present any criterion sufficient to distinguish from mere possibility. Whatever be the content of our conception of an object,
necessary to go beyond we wish to predicate existence of the object. In the case of sensuous objects, this attained by their connection according to empirical laws with some one of my
but there no means of cognizing the existence of objects of pure thought, because must be cognized com pletely priori. But all our knowledge of existence (be imme diately perception, or inferences connecting some object with perception) belongs entirely to the sphere of experience
perceptions
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--which is in perfect unity with iUelf ; and although an exist ence out of this sphere cannot be absolutely declared to be impossible, it is a hypothesis the truth of which we have no means of ascertaining.
The notion of a supreme being is in many respects a highly useful idea ; but for the very reason that it is an idea, it is
incapable of enlarging our cognition with regard to the exist ence of things. It is not even sufficient to instruct us as to the possibility of a being which we do not know to exist. The analytical criterion of possibility, which consists in the absence of contradiction in propositions, cannot be denied it. But the connection of real properties in a thing is a synthesis of the possibility of which an & priori judgment cannot be formed, because these realities are not presented to us spe cifically ; and even if this were to happen, a judgment would still be impossible, because the criterion of the possibility of synthetical cognitions must be sought for in the world of ex perience, to which the object of an idea cannot belong. And thus the celebrated Leibnitz has utterly failed in his attempt to establish upon & priori grounds the possibility of this sublime ideal being.
The celebrated ontological or Cartesian argument for the existence of a Supreme Being is therefore insufficient ; and we may as well hope to increase our stock of knowledge by the aid of mere ideas, as the merchant to augment his wealth by the addition of noughts to his cash-account.
CHAPTER THIRD. Seotion Ftjth.
Of the Impotsibility of a Cosmological Proof of the Exist ence of God.
It was by no means a natural course of proceeding, but, on the contrary, an invention entirely due to the subtlety of the schools, to attempt to draw from a mere idea a proof of the existence of an object corresponding to it. Such a course would never have been pursued, were it not for that need of reason which requires it to suppose the existence of n neces
? ? ? ? Or TllK COSMOLOGICAL AROVMENT. 371
>>ary being as a basis for the empirical regress, ami that, ai this necessity must be unconditioned and 4 prion, reason is bound to discover a conception which shall satisfy, if possible, this requirement, and enable us to attain to the h priori cog nition of such a being. This conception was thought to be found in the idea of an ens rerilissimum, and thus this idea was employed for the attainment of a better defined know ledge of a necessary being, of the existence of which we were convinced, or persuaded, on other grounds. Thus reason was ? educed from her natural course ; and, instead of concluding with the conception of an ens realissimvm, an attempt was made to begin with for the purpose of inferring from that idea of necessary existence, which was in fact called
to complete. Thus arose that unfortunate ontological argument, which neither satisfies the healthy common sense of humanity, nor sustains the scientific examination of the philosopher.
The eosmolnr/ieal proof, which we are about to examine, retains the connection between absolute necessity, and the highest reality; but, instead of reasoning from this highest reality to necessary existence, like the preceding argument,
concludes from the given unconditioned necessity of some being its unlimited reality. The track pursues, whether rational or sophistical, at least natural, and not only goes far to persuade the common understanding, but shows itself deserving of respect from the speculative intellect; while contains, at the same time, the outlines of all the argu ments employed natural theology -- arguments which always have been, and still will be, in use and authority. These, however adorned, and hid under whatever embellish ments of rhetoric and sentiment, are at bottom identical with the arguments we are at present to discuss. This proof, termed by Leibnitz the argumentum contingent id mundi, shall now lay before the reader, and subject to strict exa mination. --
at least, exist. Consequently, there exists an absolutely necessary being. The minor contains an experience, the major reason? from general experience to the existence of
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exists, an absolutely necessary being must likewise exist. Now
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necessary aeing. * Thus this argument really begins at ex perience, and is not completely a priori, or ontological. The object of all possible experience being the world, it is called the cosmologieal proof. It contains no reference to any peculiar property of sensuous objects, by which this world o( sense might be distinguished from other possible worlds ; and in this respect it differs from the physico-theological proof, which is based upon the consideration of the peculiar consti- tution of our sensuous world. --
The proof proceeds thus : A necessary being can be de termined only in one way, that can be determined
only one of all possible opposed predicates consequently, must be completely determined in and its conception. But there only single conception of thing possible, which completely determines the thing priori that the con ception of the etis realissimum. follows that the conception of the ens realissimum the only conception, and in which we can cogitate necessary being. Consequently, supreme being necessarily exists.
In this cosmological argument are assembled so many so phistical propositions, that speculative reason seems to have exerted in all her dialectical skill to produce transcendental illusion of the most extreme character. We shall postpone
an investigation of this argument for the present, and confine ourselves to exposing the stratagem by which imposes upon us an old argument in new dress, and appeals to the agree ment of two witnesses, the one with the credentials of pure reason, and the other with those of empiricism while, in fact,
only the former who has changed his dress and voice, for the purpose of passing himself off for an additional witness. That may possess secure foundation, bases its conclu sions upon experience, and thus appears to be completely
distinct from the ontological argument, which places its con-
* This inference too well known to require more detailed discus- ? ion. It bated upon the spurious transcendental law of causality,^ that everything which contingent has cause, which, itself contin gent, must also have cause and so on, till the series of subordinated
tauses must end with aa absolutely necessary cause, without which would not possess completeness.
Set note on page 175. -- Tr
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fldence entirely in pure h priori conceptions.