42 AGNOSTICISM. 



abstraction of " mere experience " and the whole 

 conception collapses. But It would be equally 

 erroneous to suppose that the a priori forms of 

 thought could exist without the matter given by 

 experience. Perception without conception, as Kant 

 himself says, Is blind; conception without perception 

 Is empty : the reality lies In their combination alone. 

 Similarly the assertion that the eternal self Is pre- 

 supposed In all knowledge, conceals merely the 

 commonplace fact that all knowledge must be some- 

 body s knowledge, must be referred to some '' I." 

 The self Is eternal or timeless, because It Is a loo^ical 

 abstraction (cf p. 8i) and because abstractions do 

 not exist either In Space or In Time. It Is eternal 

 In precisely the same way and for precisely the 

 same reasons as the Isosceles triangle. There Is In 

 fact no reason why epistemology should designate 

 one of the mutually-Implied elements In knowledge 

 as a priori, and the other as a posteriori rather than 

 vice versa, and the use of such a word as "■ prior " 

 merely has the misleading effect of producing an 

 irresistible reference to Time. It would be a orreat 



o 



boon If epistemologlsts gave up the use of both 

 words, even though their whole science would prob- 

 ably disappear with It. Nor would this be a 

 result one could affect to deplore ; a science which 

 is so sterile of truth in itself, and yet so fruitful in 

 engendering error in others, had better be destroyed. 

 It can utter only trivial truisms within the limits of 

 its *' immanent criticism " ; beyond them It gets 

 ultra vires, and can only suggest dangerous con- 

 fusions. It can prove nothing, still less prove fatal 

 to metaphysics. It Is a Criticism which can validly 

 criticize nothing but itself, and to itself its criticism 

 is deadly. 



