METAPHYSICAL CONCLUSIONS 361 



a. THE THREE WINDOWS INTO THE ABSOLUTE 



Morality : the Thou 



Morality is one of the windows to absoluteness we have 

 spoken about. For morality towards phenomena or amongst 

 phenomena which are merely " phenomena " to my Ego 

 exclusively would be absurd. Morality therefore implies 

 absoluteness, independence of the Ego though this in- 

 dependence is absolutely unintelligible to me in any detail. 

 Absoluteness in this sense is not identical with " reality ' 

 in the sense of " the Given." " Eeality ' in that sense 

 remains a constituent of phenomenality and only means 

 that a certain domain of it is objectified. Eeality in this 

 sense is nothing but the product of a certain category the 

 category subject-object. But morality forces us to regard 

 Givenness, or at least part of Givenness, as a field in which 

 something is to be accomplished by acting with regard 

 to the Absolute. In conceiving morality I conceive 

 absoluteness : I conceive the " Thou." 



It is here that history acquires its importance, as the 

 field of moral acting. It is here that its general emotional 

 importance may become clear. History is not made of 

 any special scientific importance by this consideration, but 

 quite in general it proves to be the groundwork of morality ; 

 morality in general being, of course, independent of the 

 specificity of historical constellations. 



The Nature of Memory : the Eyo 



The second " window into the absolute " is constituted 

 by the fact, already mentioned on a former occasion, that 



