196 Philosophy of the Human Mind. [Chap. XII. 



But from whatever source his ideas are derived, he 

 has formed them into a fabric, which is extolled 

 by his adlierents as one of the most sublime efforts 

 of human genius, and as ranking among the most 

 important improvements ever made in science. If 

 we may beheve the extravagant panegyrics of these 

 enthusiastic disciples, he has more successfully ex- 

 plored the darkest recesses of the human mind 

 than any individual amongst all his illustrious pre- 

 decessors, and liis writings con4:ain a developement 

 of precisely those truths after which mankind have 

 been seeking for centuries in vain. 



*' Still, however, when inquiry is made among 

 the followers of this singular man, respecting the 

 general drift of his system, they answer chiefly in 

 negations. It is not atheism ; for he affirms that 

 practical reason is entitled to infer the existence of 

 a Supreme Intelligence. It is 7iot theism ; for he 

 denies that theoretical reason can demonstrate the 

 existence of an infinite intelligent Being. It is 7wt 

 materialism ; for he maintains that time and space 

 are only forms of our perception, and not the at^ 

 tributes of extrinsic existences. It is not idealism ; 

 for he maintains that noumena are independent of 

 phenomena; that things perceptible are prior to 

 perception. It is not libertinism ; for he allows 

 the will to be determined by regular laws. It is 

 7iot fatalism ; for he defines this to be a system in 

 which the connection of purposes in the world is 

 confiidered as accidental. It is not dogmatism ; 

 for he favours every possible doubt. It is not 

 scepticism ; for he affects to demonstrate what he 

 teaclves. Such are the indefinite evasions of this 



