Chap. XII.] Philosophy of the Human Mind, 197 



school*." The disciples of this celebrated pro- 

 fessor assure us that their system is so profound and 

 extensive, that the acutest understaudinj^ cannot 

 tolerably comprehend it by less than a twelve- 

 month's study ; and that to become a thorough, 

 master of its subtle and recondite principles, re- 

 quires the unwearied labour of many years. After 

 such a declaration, it would be presumptuous for 

 one but slightly acquainted with the subject to 

 attempt an exhibition even of the outlines of this 

 plan. But not to omit all notice of so celebrated 

 a system, it may be proper to state the following 

 doctrines, as among the elementary principles 

 which it contains. 



Professor Kant teaches '^ that all men have a cer- 

 tain innate faculty, consisting in the capacity of 

 the soul to receive immediate representations of 

 objects ; that the representations which this sensi- 

 tiv^e faculty affords us are perceptions ; that all our 

 perceptions have a twofold form, space and time ; 

 that this faculty ought to be called theoretical rea- 

 son, or speculative understanding ; and that it is of 

 so limited a nature that it cannot perceive any thing 

 beyond the two forms already mentioned, one of 

 which belongs to the perception of our internal, 

 and the other to that of our external, senses. He 

 maintains, that the objects wliic h we perceive in 

 space exist not externally, but only internally; 

 they are mere phenomena, but cannot be said ro 

 be only ideal, nor to have no objective reality ; 

 because they depend on established laws, and real 

 •principles. When, therefore, they are said to e.xi.^t^ 



* Monthly Reiicw of London, vol. xxviii, N.S. p. 02, irno. 



