LATER GERMAN PHILOSOPHY 1 59 



doubt, and with a persistency in the recurrence 

 of its wanderings that is even too fatal, but delirium 

 still. In the wan light of "critical" thinking — 



We are such stuff 

 As dreams are made of, and our little life 

 Is rounded with a sleep. 



It is no proper refutation of a theory, however, 

 to show its evil practical results ; the very question 

 in our day is, Whether our being is not compact 

 of evil "> It is a just retort upon all such ethical 

 reproaches to say, "Yes, our fate is heavy and our 

 prospects are desperate ; but what does that do 

 toward disproving the fact .'' " It is true enough 

 that Lange's ethical structure breaks down, and 

 that the gap between it and his theory is a dis- 

 credit to his logic, but his "critical" view is not 

 to be displaced except by strictly theoretical means. 

 His procedure must be forced to expose contradic- 

 tions, or else both the procedure and its results 

 must be accepted. But should it now prove to be 

 self-contradictory, it will annul itself and its assumed 

 principle. That such a contradiction is really in- 

 volved in it, we may convince ourselves by the 

 considerations which follow. 



IV 



Lange's principle is, that the a priori nature of 

 our cognition prohibits us from assuming that we can 



