464 Notices respecting JSTeiv Boohs. 



philosophy through ancient and modern times, ending with Hume. 

 He concludes with the following estimate of Kant ; and from this 

 estimate one may infer the point of view from which the great 

 thinkers of ancient and modern times have been surveyed : — " It 

 is therefore not too much to say that Kant is the greatest philo- 

 sophical genius that has ever dwelt upon earth, and the ' Critique 

 of Pure Eeason ' the highest achievement of human wisdom."' 



In this notice we have not the requisite space for discussing the 

 Critique itself ; but we may state briefly certain fundamental ob- 

 jections which may, it appears to us, be urged against it. The 

 following extract indicates in a summary manner Kant's funda- 

 mental position. " Even if we remove from experience every- 

 thing that belongs to the senses, there remain nevertheless certain 

 original concepts, and certain judgments derived from them, which 

 must have had their origin entirely a priori, and independent of 

 all experience, because it is owing to them that we are able, or 

 imagine we are able, to predicate more of the objects of our senses 

 than can be learnt from mere experience, aud that our propositions 

 contain real generality and strict necessity, such as mere empirical 

 knowledge can never supply " (p. 2). His object is to make a com- 

 plete inventory of this a priori knowledge. " Whatever the under- 

 standing possesses, as it has not to be looked for without, can 

 hardly escape our notice, nor is there any reason to suppose that 

 it will prove too extensive for a complete inventory " (p. 11 ). " It 

 is true that our Critique must produce a complete list of all the 

 fundamental concepts which constitute pure knowledge " (p. 12). 

 The inventory of the elements of transcendental aesthetic consists 

 of two — namely, space and time ; motion is rejected on the ground 

 that it presupposes something empirical — the perception of some- 

 thing moving. But if we turn to Modern Science, which for the 

 present purpose means Thomson and Tait's Treatise on Natural 

 Philosophy, we find that there is a branch of Pure Mathematics, 

 called Kinematics, which treats of the circumstances of mere 

 motion considered without reference to the bodies moved. Its 

 fundamental ideas are A 7 elocity and Acceleration, neither of which 

 involves the conception of Mass. If Space and Time only are 

 a priori, how is it that Space, Time, and Mass are treated of by 

 writers on Dynamics as the three fundamental ideas ? 



Kant was a mathematician ; otherwise the Critique would not 

 have been written. The influence of his study of the Mathematics 

 is apparent everywhere. He views that science as so much a priori 

 kuowledge. " How far we can advance independently of all ex- 

 perience in a priori knowledge is shown by the brilliant example of 

 Mathematics " (p. 4). " In the same mannner all geometrical 

 principles, e. g. that in every triangle two sides together are greater 

 than the third, are never to be derived from the general concepts of 

 side and triangle, but from an intuition, and that a priori, with 

 apodictic certainty *' (p. 22). That geometrical principles cannot 

 be evolved out of mere definitions would not require to be denied, 



