Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason — trans. F. Max Müller

adopted. But there arises from this deduction of our faculty of knowing a priori, as given in the first part of metaphysic, a somewhat startling result, apparently most detrimental to the objects of metaphysic that have to be treated in the second part, namely, the impossibihty of going with it beyond the frontier of possible experience, which is precisely the most essential purpose [p. xx] of metaphysical science.

But here we have exactly the experiment which, by disproving the opposite, estabhshes the truth of our first estimate of the knowledge of reason a priori, namely, that it can refer to phenomena only, but must leave the thing by itself as unknown to us, though as existing by itself.

For that which impels us by necessity to go beyond the limits of experience and of all phenomena, is the unconditioned, which reason postulates in all things by themselves, by necessity and by right, for everything conditioned, so that the series of conditions should thus become complete.

If then we find that, under the supposition of our experience conforming to the objects as things by themselves, it is impossible to conceive the unconditioned without contradiction, while, under the supposition of our representation of things, as they are given to us, not conforming to them as things by themselves, but, on the contrary, of the objects conforming to our mode of representation, that contradiction vanishes, and that therefore the unconditioned must not be looked for in things, so far as we know them (so far as they are given to us), but only so far as we do not know them (as things by themselves), we clearly perceive that, what we at first assumed tentatively only, is fully confirmed.^ But, after all [p. xxi] progress in the field of the supersensuous has thus been denied

1 This experiment of pure reason has a great similarity with that of the chemists, which they sometimes call the experiment of reduction, or the synthetical process in general. The analysis of the metaphysician divided pure knowledge a priori into two very heterogeneous elements, namely, the knowledge of things as phenomena and of things by themselves. Dialectic combines these two again, to bring them into harmony with the necessary idea of the unconditioned, demanded by reason, and then finds that this harmony can never be obtained, except through the above distinction, which therefore must be supposed to be true.

696 Supplement II to speculative reason, it is still open to us to see, whether in the practical knowledge of reason data may not be found which enable us to determine that transcendent concept of the unconditioned which is demanded by reason, in order thus, according to the wish of metaphysic, to get beyond the limits of all possible experience, by means of our knowledge a priori, which is possible to us for practical purposes only. In this case, speculative reason has at least gained for us room for such an extension of knowledge, though it had to leave it empty, so that we are not only at liberty, but are really called upon to fill it up, if we are able, hy practical data of reason.^ [p. xxii]

The very object of the critique of pure speculative reason consists in this attempt at changing the old procedure of metaphysic, and imparting to it the secure method of a science, after having completely revolutionised it, following the example of geometry and physical science.

That critique is a treatise on the method {Traite de la methode^, not a system of the science itself; but it marks out nevertheless the whole plan of that science, both with regard to its limits, and to its internal organisation.

For pure speculative reason has this peculiar [p. xxiii] advantage that it is able, nay, bound to measure its own powers, according to the different ways in which it chooses its own objects, and to completely enumerate the different ways of choosing problems ; thus tracing a complete outline of a system of metaphysic.