第60章

SchellingandCousinhadtakenupKant’schallenge，notbyinferringthesimplebeingfromthecomplexofexperiences，butbyprofessingtoshowhowmultiplicitymightbeevolvedoutofabsolutesimplicity。Thisfeat，asHamiltonheld，andasMillofcourseheldwithhim，couldonlybeaccomplishedbyapalpablejuggle。Clearlyyoucannotcount，ifyouarerestrictedtotheuseofanabsolute’one。’Thegermfromwhichanorganicsystemisdevelopedcannotbeitselfabsolutelysimple。Knowledgecanonlybemadeoutofrules；andasimple’is’givesnorule。

Hamiltontriestoexpresstheprincipleimpliedinsuchinstancesintheproperpompofmetaphysicallanguage。Cousinstartsbyadmittingthatknowledgesupposes’plurality，’thatis，anobjectandasubject。Now，saysHamilton，(82*)the’absolute’mustbeidentifiedwiththesubjectorwiththeobject，orwiththe’indifferencyofboth’(whateverthatmaybe)。Onthefirstorsecondhypothesis，theabsoluteisnot，asitoughttobe，aunit，foritisoneofapair；ontheotherhypothesis，yousupposethatconsciousnessdoesnotimplyplurality。Aman，letussayinhumblerlanguage，ifhethinks，mustthinkaboutsomething。Ifso，westartfromamanandasomething。Butsupposehimtothinkabouthimself。Thentheremustbesomethingtosayabouthimself；andhewillhavenothingtosayifheisabsolutelysimple。Thatseemstobetrueenough。Everypropositionassertsarelationofsomekind，andapropositioncannotbegotatallifnorelationbegiven。This，therefore，isonemeaningofthe’relativity’ofthought。’Tothinkisthecondition’；thatis，youcannotaffirmordenyunlessyoudenyoraffirmsomething。Ifyoutrythentogettotheabsolutebystrippingoffallrelations，youreallygettozero。Wethinkonlybytheattributionofcertainqualities，andthenegationofthesequalitiesandofthisattributionissofaranegationofthinkingatall。Kant’sargumentsdulycarriedoutprove’theunconditioned，’saysHamilton，tobeamere’fasciculusofnegations。’(83*)Clearly，wereply，iftheunconditionedisreachedbyunsayingallthatwehavesaid。Aplainpersonis，indeed，chieflyastonishedthatsuchargumentsshouldberequired。Schelling’ssystem，saysHamiltonhimself，isonlyfitfor’LaputaontheEmpire，’(84*)butSchellingatleastinventedasupernaturalfacultytoperceivean’incogitable’hypothesis。

Cousin’shypothesis，whichtriedtoomitthisfaculty，isworse，foritisself-contradictory。(85*)ThespectacleofthreeofthemostdistinguishedmeninGermany，France，andEnglandjoininginthisgame，andevenofHamiltonwinninga’Europeanreputation’

bydeclaringthatwecannotbelievetwocontradictorypropositionsatonce，ormakesomethingoutofnothing，isnotedifyingtoabelieverinphilosophy。

V。ANTINOMIES

Milldoesnotwantallthisapparatustogetridofthetranscendentalworld。Itisforhimtooobviouslysuperfluoustorequiretobeexploded。HowthendoeshecomeintoconflictwithHamilton？WemustturnforexplanationtoanotherofKant’sarguments。Theuniversemustberegardedasinsomesenseone，thoughthatdoesnotprovetheexistenceofasimpleandabsoluteBeingasitsgroundorprinciple。Ontheotherhand，theuniverseisanindefinitelycomplexmultitudeofreciprocallydependentthings。Wecanbringthe’laws’intounityandharmony；butthethingsthroughwhichthelawsaremanifestedarethemselvesinfinitelynumerous。Wemaythenaskwhethertheuniverseisnotonlyonebutawhole；whetheritsunityentitlesustocallitasingleobject。Thisleadstothefamous’antinomies。’Theyhavebeenfamiliarenoughinmanyformssincespeculationbegan。Theuniverseisgiveninspaceandtime。Now，wecannotthinkofspaceandtimeeitherasfiniteorinfinite。Wecannotthinkofspaceasfinitebecause，howeverfarwego，thereisstillspacebeyond。Wecannotthinkofspaceasinfinite，becausetoimagineinfinitespacewouldrequireaninfinitemindandinfinitetime。

Spacemustbeeitherinfiniteorfinite，becauseoneoftwocontradictoriesmustbetrue，andyeteachis’inconceivable。’I

mustconfesswithduehumilitythatIcouldneverseeanyantinomyatall。InthisIagreewithMill，(86*)thoughIcannotagreewithhisattempttoexplainourbeliefsintheinfinityofspacebyan’inseparableassociation。’Theapparentantinomyisdue，Ifancy，toashiftinthemeaningof’infinite。’Themathematiciancallsspace’infinite’becausespaceislimitedbyspace，andtherecannotbea’whole’ofspace。Ifby’infinite’I

meanthecompletionofaprocesswhichexhypothesicannotbecompleted，Ibecomeself-contradictory。Thereisnomeaningin’awhole’ofspace，thougheveryparticularspaceisawhole。Acuterreasoners，however，canseethedifficulty，andwewillthereforeadmitthe’antinomy。’Thenwemustobservethat，accordingtoKant，theantinomiesapply