110 PHILOSOPHY. 
many tboufand years, without the poffibility of fuch a 
flate of fcience being even conceived ! During this im- 
menfe lapfe of time, though bounteous Nature has pro¬ 
duced innumerable great men in the various departments 
of the arts and the fciences, ftill the man was wanting 
who was capable of effefting the Herculean rafkof uniting 
all philofophy into One System, and of furnishing a com¬ 
plete Catalogue of the Elements of the Mind. Behold at 
length the fage whofe wonderful ftretch of thought has 
accomplifhed this vail objeCl, whofe patient penetration 
has fathomed the abyfs, and whofe indefatigable and per- 
fevering induftry has fought out and collected into one 
ulwle all thofe fcattered principles which either conftitute 
or proceed from the original elements of the mind. 
What mufr have been his endowments ? How can pofte- 
rity ever duly confecrate the memory of him who has 
thus fucceeded in removing for ever the Itumbling-blocks 
that flood in the way of Religion and Philofophy, who 
has aftually opened the door to the immediate prefence 
of the Godhead, cleared Virtue from all mixture of fpu- 
rious motives, eftabl'ifhed“Morality upon the adamantine 
balls of ever-during Truth, completely vanquilhed Scep- 
ticifm and Atheifm, and definitively marked out that ter¬ 
ritory where alone we can hope to meet with found and 
fubflantial knowledge ! 
And who is the Man that Providence has fent to har¬ 
monize, and to bring into,one uniform fentiment, the 
immenfe mafs of jarring and difcordant opinions, politi¬ 
cal, religious,and Speculative; to place Reason upon her 
judgment-feat; to decide upon the actions and motives of 
mankind in a manner never to be reverfed ? No other 
than Immanuel Kant, the author of the “ Critic of 
Pure Reason.” He alone has enabled us to give to the 
world accurate, complete, and fyftematic, definitions of 
Philofophy and its dependent fciences; to exhibit all the 
fundamental principles upon which it refts; to fhow the 
various fubdivifions of which it is fufceptible, as well as 
the proper method of cultivating its (ludy to the greatefl 
advantage. He alone has fully llioivn the fallacy of the 
Dogmatical Philofophy which pretended to a knowledge 
of the phenomena, or of the things in themfelves accor- 
dingto their interna! eflences; thus overfteppingthe limits 
of our knowing faculty, and of all experience. He alone has 
completely laid open the hidden principles of the Sceptical 
Philofophy, which have fo long exercifed a baneful influ¬ 
ence over the human mind, aliening that, with refpeft to 
the exiftence or non-exiftence of fuperfenfible objefls, 
nothing at all can be decided. Here, indeed, Reafon 
proceeds with violence againft itfelf, merely becaufe it 
defpairs of ever being fatisfied with regard to the more 
important objeCls of our nature. Lallly, Kant alone has 
ereCled a complete and permanent Syftem of Philofophy, 
by extracting the truth from thefe two chief fyllems, and 
indeed from all preceding ones, difcovering what yet re¬ 
mained hidden of the elements of the mind and of know¬ 
ledge, and finally connefting all this pure knowledge into 
one fyllem, called Transcendental Philosophy. This 
philofophy formally proves what every individual fecretly 
acknowledges, namely, the fa£l that we have knowledge d 
priori ivhich is both univerfal and neceffary, and is therefore 
not derived from experience. After having fully invefti- 
gated the Knowing Faculty, or Reason, Understand¬ 
ing, and Sense, it clearly proves, that objefts are only 
given to us by the united operations of Senfe and Under- 
Handing. This philofophy fliows that Reafon itfelf has 
the power to generate pure knowledge a priori. The pofi- 
tions that, All bodies muft occupy fpace, and that, Every 
event muft have a caufe, are of this nature ; and what argu¬ 
ment can ever overthrow the necefllty and univerfality of 
thefe pofitions ? The objeCl of the “ Critic of pure Rea¬ 
fon” is to efcabiifh the fail that we really have Synthetical 
Judgments h priori. 
T his greatefl of all philofophers never loft fight of the 
faCl, that all our knowledge begins with experience ; and 
that, without fomething is given to the mind, the mental 
faculties could never be put into play. Yet, notwith¬ 
standing this evident and indifputable fatt, he perceived 
with equal clearnefs that we have another and a perfeftly- 
diftinft kind of knowledge, totally independent of expe¬ 
rience, and which originates wholly in the mind; this 
therefore he called pure knowledge, or knowledge h priori. 
In all experimental knowledge the matter only is given 
from without, and the form is produced by the mind. 
But in knowledge d. priori the matter and form are both 
furniflied by the mind. 
Tranfcendental Philofophy is a fcience that applies its 
pofitions it priori to the obje&s inexperience; that is, 
immediately to the objects of empirical intuition ; and 
the efience of this fcience confifts in explaining how thefe 
pofitions can refer to objeCts. Pure Mathematics is alfo a 
fcience etpriori; it is however quite indifferent whether 
there are obje&s that correfpond with its pofitions. This 
fcience is wholly occupied with its own confiderations, 
and does not require the aid of material objects to en¬ 
force its truths. If Time and Space only be granted, 
nothing further is requifite for its progrefs. How very 
different from this is Tranfcendental Philofophy , though 
both thefe fciences are a priori, and their pofitions are 
apodidlically certain : for, if Tranfcendental Philofophy 
had not fome material objehl given to it, upon which to 
exercife itfelf and apply its Categories, there could be no 
fuch thing as Tranfcendental Philofophy. Therefore we 
muft always bear in mind, that, notwithftanding Time 
and Space, the twelve Categories, and the fix Ideas of 
Reason, are the real conftituer.ts of the Mind, yet we 
Should not be confcious of any of thefe faculties without 
empirical objefls being prefented to the' mind, which fet 
the whole of this machinery in play. This operation in- 
flan tly takes place when the mind is aft’eCled by Something 
from without. 
Of all the mental elements, it is of the utmoft import¬ 
ance that the two receptivities Time and Space fliould be 
thoroughly underftood. As we have feen above, none of 
the faculties could be put into play without fomething 
being given ; and how could any thing be given if the 
mind was not furniflied with a capacity to receive given 
matter ? Now, of all the matter that is given to the mind, 
it is impofflble to meet with any that is not contained in 
the two receptacles Time and Space. If therefore Time 
and Space contain the fum and fubllance of all our know¬ 
ledge, the queftion very naturally occurs, where can Time 
and Space themfelves exill ? If we determine that thefe 
two repofitories of knowledge exill independently of the 
mind, it then follows that all knowledge is depofited in 
recipients that are independent of ourfelves, which is ab- 
furd : for it would be better to deny the exiflence of 
knowledge altogether, than to fay it does not exiflin the 
Mind of Man. But how can it pofllbly exill feparately 
from that which contains it; and, as knowledge really 
does exift in the mind, that which contains it muft be in 
the mind alfo. Hence Time and Space are in the Mind. 
The admiflion of this Ample faft removes for ever 
all difficulty in the (ludy of Tranfcendental Philofophy. 
However much this theory may appear to contradict 
common fenfe, it is ftill the very efience and foundation 
of all true knowledge, and the illufion with regard to it 
is as trivial and unimportant as that which is now univer- 
fally admitted to exift with refpeft to the motion of the 
earth. How long^TranScendental Philofophy is to con¬ 
tinue to be haunted by the ghofls of Common Senfe, the 
difficulty of eradicating rooted prejudice muft deter¬ 
mine ! 
Let us for a moment fuppofe that Time and Space are 
quite independent of the mind, and confequently that 
our notions of them are derived from experience. This 
indeed is the ordinary mode of thinking with the mafs of 
mankind ; and it may even be doubted whether the Phi- 
lofopher and the Mathematician can diveft himfelf of this 
illufion. Now let us fee what confequences refult from 
this erroneous mode of confidering Time and Space. 
