anything farther.

I deny a Providence, you say, and Supreme Governor of the world, who
guides the course of events and punishes the vicious with infamy and
disappointment, and rewards the virtuous with honour and success in all
their undertakings. But surely I deny not the course of events itself,
which lies open to everyone's inquiry and examination. I acknowledge
that, in the present order of things, virtue is attended with more peace
of mind than vice, and meets with a more favourable reception from the
world. I am sensible that, according to the past experience of mankind,
friendship is the chief joy of human life, and moderation the only
source of tranquillity and happiness. I never balance between the
virtuous and the vicious life, but am sensible that, to a well-disposed
mind, every advantage is on the side of the former. And what can you say
more, allowing all your suppositions and reasonings?

IMMANUEL KANT

The Critique of Pure Reason

Immanuel Kant, the most celebrated of German metaphysicians, was
born at Koenigsberg on April 22, 1724, and died on February 12,
1804. Taking his degree at Koenigsberg, he speedily entered on a
professional career, which he quietly and strenuously pursued for
over thirty years. Though his lectures were limited to the topics
with which he was concerned as professor of logic and philosophy,
his versatility is evidenced by the fact that he was offered the
chair of poetry, which he declined. His lasting reputation began
with the publication, in 1781, of his wonderful "Critique of Pure
Reason" ("Kritik der reinen Vernunft"). Within twelve years of its
appearance it was expounded in all the leading universities, and
even penetrated into the schools of the Church of Rome. Kant was
the first European thinker who definitely grasped the conception of
a critical philosophy, though he was doubtless aided by the
tendency of Locke's psychology. He did much to counteract the
sceptical influence of Hume. The main object of his "Critique of
Pure Reason" is to separate the necessary and universal in the
realm of knowledge from the merely experimental or empirical. This
little version of Kant's celebrated work has been prepared from the
German text.

_I.--Knowledge Transcendental: AEsthetic_

Experience is something of which we are conscious. It is the first
result of our comprehens