THE CONTENT-QUALITIES 85 



are present entirely a priori and precedent to all experience ; 

 and these appoint to each quality, as soon as it appears, a fixed 

 position in a system. 



The neglect of the a priori forms of the content-qualities 

 is partly referable to their having no names of their own, such 

 as space and time have. The only familiar term has been the 

 metaphorical " musical scale " for the form of sounds, and, 

 using that as a basis, we also speak of a " scale of colour," a 

 " scale of smell," etc. The use of the word " scale," or ladder, 

 for the form of the content-qualities was the first attempt to 

 make these forms accessible to intuition, and accordingly it 

 deserves to be retained as the general designation. 



In yet another point we are obliged to expand Kant's 

 doctrine. Not only are there fixed forms for each quality- 

 material, but the number of individual qualities within their 

 form is also absolute, and precedent to all experience. 



Even if the absolute number of qualities changes with each 

 subject, and the determination of the number in individual 

 cases is left to psychology — or shall we say, to biology ? — 

 (it is not at all necessary that the particular subject should 

 actually experience all the qualities present in its forms), 

 nevertheless the law that the number of qualities present is 

 absolute is a law of the pure theory of knowledge. 



The second law of " increase in one direction " relates to 

 the arrangement of the qualities within their particular form. 

 This is likewise a law of the theory of knowledge. 



The possibility of comparing with one another the different 

 qualities and their forms, depends on the fact that each quality 

 leaves behind it in our consciousness a sign — the " mark-sign." 



In every instance where the qualities are known to us — 

 i.e. strictly speaking, only in our own case — we may construct 

 the world-picture directly from the objectivated sensations 

 of the subject. Here the subject faces his appearance-world 

 directly. Where we are denied a glimpse into the qualities 



