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diction. When we have reached this point, we have attained 
the region where it is impossible for human reason to advance, 
and where a theology or a philosophy resting on a reliable 
foundation is impossible. In pushing his conclusions beyond 
this limit, Mansel has given Mill very considerable advan- 
tages, which the latter, as a logician, has not been slow to 
use. If this conclusion is right, that which is denominated 
the Transcendental philosophy, whether Greek, Scholastic, or 
German, or whether it exhibits itself in the form of mysticism, 
as is usually the case when it assumes a religious aspect, is 
a study where certainty is unattainable. 
The ground which I take is, the vagueness and uncertainty 
of the conceptions on which large portions of the transcen- 
dental philosophy rest. This renders us unable to predicate 
agreement or disagreement between them with any certainty 
that we are dealing with the substantial realities of thought. 
As far as a conception in any proposition is indefinite, we are 
unable to predicate respecting it either truth or falsehood. 
Such a proposition is a simple nullity. Consequently it is 
incapable of becoming a fit subject of reasoning; for as all 
reasonings consist of comparisons of ideas, it is impossible to 
affirm the agreement or disagreement of those of which we 
are incapable of forming a clear and distinct conception. 
The human mind being finite, it follows that all its concep- 
tions must be finite also. The infinite in its infinity is there- 
fore incapable of becoming a subject for the cognisance of 
reason. Whenever we attempt to deal with it, I contend that 
we tacitly assume its finity, and agree with Mansel, that what- 
ever we conceive of, is, by the very act of conception, regarded 
as finite. The fact that Professor Kirk and Dean Mansel 
are diametrically opposed on this point proves that we are 
on the confines of those regions where accurate thought is 
impossible. 
To determine the amount of truth which belongs to either 
side, we must inquire what is the accurate meaning which we 
attach to the term infinite. Its use is ambiguous. Sometimes 
we attach to it a negative, and at others a positive signifi- 
cation. In its negative sense we mean by it simply the non- 
finite. The actual conception in our minds is a positive finite 
idea plus the mere negation of its finity. So far we have done 
nothing to assume the existence of this negation even as a 
matter of thought. The only conception in the mind is a posi- 
tive finite one plus a simple negation, which has not yet at- 
tained the dignity of an algebraic x. 
But when we postulate the existence of infinity, we change 
this negative term into a positive one. The non-finite, which 
