188 
PHILOSOPHY. 
Time. Time cannot be viewed externally, nor Space in¬ 
ternally. What then are Time and Space ? Are they 
real things? Are they determinations, or relations in¬ 
herent in the things themfelves, independent of our intui¬ 
tion of them ? or are they merely the form of intuition, and 
confequently inherent in the fubjedtive nature of our 
mind, by means of which alone they are applied to things? 
In order to fettle this point, we (hall firft give an expofi- 
tion of the conception of Space. An expofition is nie- 
taphylical when the matter of the conception is given il 
priori. 
1. Space is not abfira&cd from a conception of external 
experience . For, in order that certain sensations may 
be referred to fomething external, (that is, to fomething 
in a different part of (pace from that which I occupy,) 
and that they may be reprefented as without, and near 
one another, confequently not merely as different, but 
in different places, the reprefentation of Space muff form 
their foundation. Confequently the reprefentation of 
Space cannot be borrowed from the relations of the ex¬ 
ternal phenomena bv means of experience, but experi¬ 
ence itfelfis only poffible by means of this representative 
of Space. 
2. Space is a necejfary reprefentation, h priori, which 
forms the foundation of all external Intuitions. It 
is impoffible to conceive that there is no fpace, though 
we can eafily imagine empty fpace, or that no objedls are 
to be met with in it. Space is therefore confidered as the 
condition of the poflibility of the phenomena, and not a 
determination dependent on them; it is a reprefentation 
(t priori , which necdfarily forms the foundation of exter¬ 
nal phenomena. 
3. Space is not a difciirfve conception, that is, a univerfal 
conception of the relations of things, but a pure Intuition. 
For we can only reprefent to ourfelves one fpace; and, 
when we fpeak of feveral fpaces, we always mean parts of 
one and the fame fpace. Nor can thefe parts precede all 
comprehenfive fpace, to fender its compofition poffible ; 
but can only be thought in it. It is efi'entially one; the 
variety in it, confequently the conception of different 
fpaces, reds entirely upon limitation. Hence it follows, 
that an intuition a priori forms the foundation of all con¬ 
ceptions of fpace. This is the cafe alfo with all geome¬ 
trical pofitions; for inftance, “ that in a triangle two 
fides taken together are longer than the third,” is not de¬ 
rived from the univerfal conceptions of line and triangle, 
but from the intuition of them, which is indeed a priori, 
and carries with it apodidlical certainty. 
4. Space is reprefented as an infinite given quantity. 
We muft indeed confider every conception as a repre¬ 
fentation which is contained in an infinite number of 
different reprefentations, as their common mark, confe¬ 
quently as ranking them under it ; but no conception 
can be confidered as containing an infinite number of re¬ 
prefentations in itfelf. Neverthelefs fpace is fo confidered, 
for all the parts of fpace to infinity are co-exiftent. Con- 
fequently the original reprefentation of fpace is not a 
conception, but an intuition a priori. 
Travfccndental Expofition of the Conception of Space .— 
By a tranfcendental expofition, I mean the explanation of 
a conception, as a principle from which the poflibility of 
other fynthetical knowledge it priori is deducible. For 
this purpofe it is requifite, 1. That fuch knowledge do 
really flow from the given conception; 2. That this 
knowledge be poffible only under the prefuppofition con¬ 
tained in the given explanation. 
Geometry is a fcience which determines the properties 
of fpace fynthetically, and yet ct priori. What then is 
the reprefentation of fpace, that fuch a knowledge of it is 
poffible? It muff be originally an intuition; for from a 
mere conception no pofitions can be derived which are not 
already contained in the conception, which is however 
the cafe in geometry. But this intuition muft lie in us 
a priori; that is, before all apprehenfion of an objedf. It 
muft confequently be a pure and not an empirical intui¬ 
tion. For geometrical pofitions are all apodidtical; that 
is, connedfed with the confcioufnefs of neceflity ; for in¬ 
ftance, “ Space has only three dimenfions.” Such pofi¬ 
tions cannot be empirical, or judgments of experience not 
concluded from fuch. 
How can the mind poffefs an external intuition which 
precedes theobjedls themfelves, and in which the concep¬ 
tion of the latter can be determined <J priori l Certainly 
no otherwife than as it belongs purely to the mind, and 
conftitutes the formal condition of its being affedfed by 
objedts, and by means of which it receives the immediate 
reprefentation of an objedt, that is, an Intuition, con¬ 
fequently only as the form of External Sense. 
Our expofition alone therefore renders it conceivable 
how geometry can furnifh knowledge li priori. Every 
explanation which does not account for this fadl, what¬ 
ever refemblance it may bear to ours, is clearly to be dif- 
tinguifhed from it by this mark. 
Conclufions from the above Conceptions. — a. Space is no 
property of the things in themfelves, nor does it conflitute 
their relation to each other ; that is, it is no determination 
that belongs to them in themfelves, and which would re¬ 
main if abftradled from all the fubjedfive conditions of 
intuition. For neither the properties nor relations of the 
things in themfelves could be known it priori. 
b. Space is nothing but the form of the phenomena of 
External Sense; that is, the fubjedtive condition of 
Senfe by which alone external intuition is poffible. As our 
Receptivity, or capacity to be affedfed by objedts, ne- 
ceffarily precedes all intuition of them, it is eafy to con¬ 
ceive that the form of phenomena may be in the mind 
previous to all real apprehenfion, that is it priori; and that 
this form may contain, as a pure intuition in which all 
objedts muft be determined, the principles of the relations 
of objedts prior to our experience of them. 
We can therefore only fpeak of Space, or of extended 
things, as men. If we exclude the fubjedtive condition, 
under which alone we are able to receive external intui¬ 
tions, namely, the being affedted by objedts, then the re¬ 
prefentation of Space has no meaning. Space applies to 
the things only fo far as they appear tons; that is, as 
they are objedts of fenfe. The invariable form of that 
receptivity which we term external Sense, is a neceftary 
condition of all the relations in which we can have intui¬ 
tions of objedts external to us ; and, if we abftradt from 
thefe objedts, we have the pure intuition named Space. 
As we cannot confider the peculiar conditions of the 
lenfitive faculty as conditions of the poflibility of the 
things in themfelves, but merely of their phenomena, fo 
we may indeed fay that fpace comprehends all things of 
which we can have external intuitions, but not all 
the things in themfelves, whether we intuit them or not, 
or whatever being may intuit them. For, as to the in¬ 
tuitions of other thinking beings, we cannot fay that they 
are bound to the fame conditions which limit ours, and 
are univerfally valid for us. 
That “all things are co-exiflent in Space ” is true, if we 
confine the term things to the objedls of our feniible in¬ 
tuition. If we fay, “All things, as external phenomena, 
are co-exiftent in Space,” then this rule is univerfal. 
Our expofition, therefore, maintains the Reality of Space, 
(that is, its objedlive validity,) with regard to all that 
can prefent itfelf as an external objedt to us; but at the 
fame time the Ideality of Space with regard to the things 
when contemplated byourReafon as things in themfelves 
abltradted from the conditions of our lenfitive faculty. 
We therefore maintain the empirical Reality of Space, 
with refpedt to all poffible internal experience; but its 
tranfcendental Ideality, that is, that it is nothing the mo¬ 
ment we ceafe to confider it as the condition of the poffi- 
bility of experience, and aflume it as a fundamental 
ground of the things in themfelves. 
But, with the exception of Space, there is no fubjee- 
tive 
