146 SCIENCE AND METHOD. 



and in France, and he would be forced to abandon the 

 task. And so I appeal only to unprejudiced people of 

 common sense. 



I, 



In these latter years a large number of works have 

 been published on pure mathematics and the philosophy 

 of mathematics, with a view to disengaging and isolat- 

 ing the logical elements of mathematical reasoning. 

 These works have been analyzed and expounded 

 very lucidly by M. Couturat in a work entitled 

 " Les Principes des Mathematiques." 



In M. Couturat's opinion the new works, and more 

 particularly those of Mr. Russell and Signor Peano, 

 have definitely settled the controversy so long in 

 dispute between Leibnitz and Kant. They have 

 shown that there is no such thing as an a priori 

 synthetic judgment (the term employed by Kant to 

 designate the judgments that can neither be demon- 

 strated analytically, nor reduced to identity, nor 

 established experimentally); they have shown that 

 mathematics is entirely reducible to logic, and that 

 intuition plays no part in it whatever. 



This is what M. Couturat sets forth in the work I 

 have just quoted. He also stated the same opinions 

 even more explicitly in his speech at Kant's jubilee ; 

 so much so that I overheard my neighbour whisper : 

 " It's quite evident that this is the centenary of Kant's 

 death." 



Can we subscribe to this decisive condemnation ? 

 I do not think so, and I will try to show why. 



