Page:History of Modern Philosophy (Falckenberg).djvu/347

THE PRE-CRITTCAL WRITINGS. 3*5 author of matter and its laws ; the belief is necessary, just because nature, even in its chaotic condition, can act only in an orderly and regular way. The empirical phase of Kant's development is represented by the writings of the 6o's. The False Subtlety of the Four Syllogistic Figures, 1762, asserts that the first figure is the only natural one, and that the others are superfluous and need reduction to the first. In the Only Possible Foundation for a Demonstration of the Existence of God, 1763, which, in the seventh Reflection of the Second Division, recapitulates the cosmogony advanced in the Natural History of the Heavens, the discussions concerning being (" existence " is absolute position, not a predicate which increases the sum of the qualities but is posited in a merely relative way), and the conclusion, prophetical of his later point of view, " It is altogether necessary that we should be convinced of the existence of God, but not so necessary that his existence should be demonstrated," are more noteworthy than the argu- ment itself. This runs : All possibility presupposes some- thing actual wherein and whereby all that is conceivable is given as a determination or a consequence. That actuality the destruction of which would destroy all possibility is absolutely necessary. Therefore there exists an absolutely necessary Being as the ultimate real ground of all possi- bility; this Being is one, simple, unchangeable, eternal, the ens realissimum and a spirit. The Attempt to intro- duce the Notion of Negative Quantities into Philosophy, 1763, distinguishes — contrary to Crusius — between logical opposition, contradiction or mere negation {a and not-a, pleasure and the absence of pleasure, power and lack of power), and real opposition, which cannot be explained by logic {-- a and — a, pleasure and pain, capital and debts, attraction and repulsion ; in real opposition both determi- nations are positive, but in opposite directions). Parallel with this it distinguishes, also, between logical ground and real ground. The prize essay, Inquiry concerning the C7.f«r«^jj (Evidence) of the Principles of Natural Theology and Ethics, 1764, draws a sharp distinction between mathe- matical and metaphysical knowledge, and warns philosophy against the hurtful imitation of the geometrical method, in