Kant

PHILOSOPHICAL CORRESPONDENCE

1759-99

Edited and translated by

ARNULF ZWEIG

THE UNIVERSITY
OF CHICAGO
PRESS
The letters in this collection are translations o£ correspondence contained in
the Prussian Academy edition of Kant's works, Kant's gesammelte Schriften
(Berlin and Leipzig: Walter de Gruyter äc Co.), Vols. X - X I I ( 1 9 2 2 ) and
XXIII ( 1 9 5 5 ) .

International Standard Boo^ Number: 0-226-4236

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 66—23705

THE UNIVERSITY 0.-' C H 1 C A C 0 PRESS. CHICAGO 60637

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICACO PRESS, LTD., LONDON

© i go7 by The University of Chicago

All rights reserved. Published /907
Second Impression 1970
Printed in the United States of America
Design by Vladimir Reichl
 Translator's Preface

This volume contains translations of virtually all of Kant's

philosophical correspondence, together with some of his personal
and historically interesting letters. Also included are a few of the
many letters written to Kant by his students, colleagues, disciples,
and critics. Some of these letters are needed in order to understand
Kant's own remarks, and others have considerable interest in their
own right. In some cases, the letters have been abridged, with only
the significant passages translated, and sometimes a portion of a
letter has been merely summarized. Such summaries, as well as
other explanatory remarks by the translator, are in brackets. The
Prussian Academy of Sciences edition of Kant's works, Volumes
X - X I I and XXIII, includes over seven hundred letters and frag-
ments of letters, comprising about fifteen hundred pages; Volume
XIII has seven hundred pages of explanatory notes and indexes.
Although it was tempdng to include many more than will be
found in this collection, the great majority of letters not included
would be of interest only to the specialist, and he presumably
would want to study them in the original language. 1
A complete citation for each letter to the second printing of the
Prussian Academy edition will be found under the headings in the
text. Most of the explanatory footnotes are derived from the
Academy edition Volume XIII or from K. Vorlander's definitive
biography of Kant, Immanuel Kant, der Mann und das Wer\
(Leipzig: Felix Meiner, 1924), though I have not attempted to
reproduce in even a limited way the enormous scholarly achieve-
ment of those volumes. In one or two letters Kant himself wrote a
footnote, and these are so designated. I have sometimes given a
German or Latin expression in brackets following the translation.
1
Only one of the letters, to my knowledge, has ever been published in its
entirety in English. It is Kant's letter of February 2 1 , 1772, to Marcus Herz,
which appeared in the Philosophical forum (Boston University), XIII ( 1 9 5 5 ) ,
and was reprinted in L. W. Beck, Studies in the Philosophy of Kant
(Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1965). My translation of this letter differs
only insignificantly from that of the previous translator, Arne Unjhem.

Translator's Preface • v
 T w o people above all deserve thanks for their help in this work.
The first is Professor Lewis White Beck, whose writing and
teaching first stimulated my interest in Kant and who gave me
many valuable suggestions and much friendly advice on translat-
ing the correspondence. The other is my wife, who not only
encouraged and aided me but who also made many critical sug-
gestions for improving the manuscript. I would also like to express
my thanks to the University of Oregon for granting me sabbatical
leave during 1962-63, to the Research Committee of the Graduate
School of the University of Oregon for two summer research
grants, and to the American Philosophical Association for a grant
in support of this volume. Because of these sources of assistance, I
was able to spend the academic year 1962-63 in Germany and
Austria. I would like particularly to express my pleasure at the
hospitality extended to me and to my family by my colleagues in
the Universities of Vienna and Bonn during that year.

ARNULF ZWEIG

Eugene, Oregoi

vi • Translator's Preface
 Contents

Introduction 3
The Letters
From J. G. HAMANN, July 27, 1759 35
TROW J. H. LAMBERT, November 13, 1765 43
To J. H. LAMBERT, December 31, 1765 47
From J. H. LAMBERT, February 3, 1766 50
To MOSES MENDELSSOHN, April 8, 1766 54
To J . H. LAMBERT, September 2, 1770 58
From J. H. LAMBERT, October 1770 60
From MOSES MENDELSSOHN, December 25, /770 67
To MARCUS HERZ, February 21, 1772 70
To MARCUS HERZ [toward the end of 1773] 76
To J. C. LAVATER, April 28, 1775 79
To J. C. LAVATER [after April 28, 1775] 82
To C. H. WOLKE, March 28, 1776 83
To MARCUS HERZ, November 24, 1776 86
To MARCUS HERZ, August 20, 1777 87
To MARCUS HERZ, August 28, 1778 89
To MARCUS HERZ, October 20, 1778 90
From MARCUS HERZ, November 24, 1778 92
To MARCUS HERZ, February 4, 177g 93
To MARCUS HERZ, May 1 , 1781 93

To MARCUS HERZ [about May 11, 1781} 95

To J. BERNOULLI, November 16, 1781 96
To CHRISTIAN GARVE, August 7, 1783 98
To MOSES MENDELSSOHN, August 16, 1783 105
To JOHANN SCHULTZ, August 26, 1783 108
From JOHANN SCHULTZ, August 28, 1783 109
To JOHANN SCHULTZ, February 17, 1784 in

Contents • vii
From F . V . L . PLESSING, March 75, 1784 " 3
From F . V . L . PLESSING, April 3, 1784 115

To C . G . SCHUTZ, September 13, 1785 119

From MARCUS H E R Z , February 27, 1786 120

To J . BERING, April 7, 1786 122

To MARCUS H E R Z , April 7, 1786 123

To L . H . JAKOB, September 11 [?}, 1787 124

From J . C . BERENS, December 5, 1787 126

To K . L . REI.NHOLD, December 28 and 1787 127

To JOHANN S C H U L T Z , November 25, 1788 128

To HEINRICH JUNG-STILLING [after March 1, 178g} 131

From SALOMON M A I M O N , April 7, 178g 133

From J. B . JACHMANN, April 75, 178g 134
To K . L . R E I N H O L D , May 12, 178g 136

To K . L . R E I N H O L D , May ig, 178g 143

To M A R C U S H E R Z , May 26, 178g 130

To F. H . JACOBI, August j o , 178g J

57
To L . E . BOROWSKI [between March 6 and 22, /790] 159
To J. G . C . C . KIESEWETTER, April 20, /790 161

From J. G. C . C . KIESEWETTER, April 20, /790 162

To A. W. REHBERG [before September 25, /790] 166

To C . F . HELLWAG, January J, 17g! 169

To J. F . GENSICHEN, April ig, 17g1 171

From J. G. C . C . KIESEWETTER, June 14, 17g1 172

From M A R I A VON H E R B E R T , [August] 17g1 174

From SALOMON M A I M O N , September 20, 779/ 175
To K. L . REINHOLD, September 21, 17g/ 177

To J. S. BECK, September 27, 17g1 179

From J. S. BECK, November 11, 17g1 180

To J. S. BECK, January 20, 7792 182

To J. H . KANT, January 26, 7792 185

To J. G . FICHTE, February 2, 1792 186

To M A R I A VON H E R B E R T , Spring, 1792 188

viii • Contents
From J. S. BECK, May 37, 17 190
To J. S. BECK, July 3, 7792 192
To J . S. BECK, October 16 [or 77], 7792 194
From J. S. BECK, November 10, 1792 195
From SALOMON MAIMON, November 30, 1792 196
To J. S. BECK, December 4, 7792 198
To J . B. ERHARD, December 21, 7792 199
From MARIA VON HERBERT, [January] 7793 200
From J. B. ERHARD, January 17, 7793 203
To ELISABETH MOTHERBY, February 11, 7793 204
To C. F. STXUDLIN, May 4, 7793 205
From J. G. C. C. KIESEWETTER, June 75, 1793 206
To J. S. BECK, August 18, 7793 207
From J . E. BIESTER, October 5, 7793 208
From J. G. C. C. KIESEWETTER, November 23, 7793 209
To K. L. REINHOLD, March 28, 1794 211
To J . E. BIESTER, April 10, 1794, 212
From J. S. BECK, June 77, 7794 213
To J. S. BECK, July 1, 1794 216
To FRIEDRICH WILHELM II [after October 12, 1794] 217
From J. E. BIESTER, December 17, 1794 220
To FRIEDRICH SCHILLER, March 30, 7795 221
From MATERNUS REUSS, April 1, 1796 222
From CONRAD STANG, October 2, 1796 224

To J. A. SCHLETTWEIN, May 29, 7797 226

FROM J. S. BECK, June 20, 1797 227
From J. S. BECK, June 24, 1797 231
To C. G. SCHÜTZ, July 10, 1797 234
To J . A. LINDBLOM, October 73, 7797 236
To J . H. TIEFTRUNK, October 73, 7797 238
From J. H. TIEFTRUNK, November 5, 7797 240
To J. H. TIEFTRUNK, December 11, 7797 245
FROM MARCUS HERZ, December 25, 7797 248

Contents • ix
To J . H . TIEPTRUNK., April 5, 1798
To CHRISTIAN GARVE, September 21, ijg8 250

To J. G. C. C. KIESEWETTER, October 19, ijg8 252

Open letter on Fichte's Wissenschaftslehre, August 7, 7799 253

Index 255

x • Contents
Introduction
 Introduction

Although most of Kant's letters were written reluctantly, some-

times hastily, and never with a view to publication, 1 they provide a
great deal of information abouc his life and attitudes, the develop-
ment of his philosophical ideas, and the impact of his thought and
character on his contemporaries. We do not find the wit and
liveliness that Kant the conversationalist was reputed to have or,
with one or two exceptions, the warmth and passion that Kant's
correspondents reveal in their own letters to him. Direct, humor-
less, unadorned by any flights of literary imagination, Kant's
letters invariably reflect some specific business or obligation and
seldom if ever manifest any sense of enjoyment or delight on the
part of their author, who obviously regarded letter-writing as a
chore and a distraction from more serious work. Nevertheless,
there are great rewards for the reader. The firsthand reports of the
evoiution in Kant's thinking, the replies to criticisms and ques-
tions from his disciples and foes—and sometimes the very failure
to reply to such inquiries—are invaluable aids to our under-
standing of Kant's philosophy. Metaphysics, theology, mathemat-
ics, education, political theory, astronomy, applied ethics—almost
all of Kant's intellectual interests are discussed and surveyed, and
at the same time a picture of Kant's personality and character, his
mental and physical anxieties, and an understanding of Kant's
place in the history of the late eighteenth century are made
available to us. Although many of the letters require little more
explanation than is provided in the footnotes, it may be useful to
review the topics discussed, identify some of the issues and person-
alities involved, and mention a few of the letters not included in
this collection.

1
Kant expressed himself on this point when he declined to include his letters
in the published correspondence of Lambert and again in that ot Mendelssohn.
See, for example, his remarks to J. Bernoulli, November 16, 1 7 8 1 [ 1 7 2 ] , and
to Marcus Herz, April 7, 1786 [267].

Introduction • 3
•- I. 1759-7°

Kant's career up to 1770, the year of his promotion to the

professorship of logic and metaphysics in the University of Königs-
berg, is not very well represented in the correspondence. Of the
fifty odd letters and fragments in the Prussian Academy of Sci-
ences edition, only the correspondence with Lambert, Hamann,
and Mendelssohn is of genuine importance.2
Lambert. J. H . Lambert (1728-77) was a mathematician, physi-
cist, and philosopher whose renown, at the time of his corre-
spondence, exceeded that of Kant. A member of the Berlin Acad-
emy, Lambert, in his Cosmological Letters ( 1 7 8 1 ) , supported an
astronomical theory somewhat similar to that of Kant's General
Natural History of the Heavens (Allgemeine Naturgeschichte und
Theorie des Himmels [ 1755])- 3 Lambert's New Organon, his
philosophy of science, appeared in 1764. In his first letter to Kant,
November 13, 1765 [33], he takes note of their common interests
and the similarity of their ideas in philosophy and in science-.
Lambert here makes mention of the need for "an analysis of the
2
A letter to J. G. Lindner in 1759 has some biographical interest; it reveah
how depressed Kant was wich his teaching position and perhaps with life in
general: "I sit daily at the anvil of my lecrurn and guide the heavy hammer of
my repetitious lectures, always beating out the same rhythm. Now and then a
nobler sort of inclination stirs in me somewhere, a desire to expand beyond
these narrow spheres; but in truth the threat of that feeling always drives me
back to hard work without delay. . . . In this town where I find myseif and
with the modest prosperity for which I allow myself to hope, I make do
finally with the applause I receive and the benefits I derive from that,
dreaming my life away." What the "nobler inclination" might have been, or
what it was that broke Kant out of his despondent mood, we do not know.
There are other miscellaneous letters of 1759—70 that may deserve mention. A
tantalizing note from a certain Frau Maria Charlotte Jacobi in 1762 hints very
faindy at romance; she and her girl friend send Kant a kiss. A letter to a
Fräulein Charlotte von Knobioch, in 1763, contains some amusing anecdotes
concerning Swedenborg's alleged feats of clairvoyance and communication
with ghosts together with Kant's skeptical comments on these stories. An
exchange of letters with Herder in 1768 mentions Kant's progress on "the
metaphysics of morals," a work Kant hoped to complete within a year. (In
fact the Foundations oj the Metaphysics of Morals did not appear until 1785,
the Metaphysics of Morals until 1797.)
3
Some people erroneously believed, after Lambert's death, that Kant's own
theory derived from Lambert. In his letter to Biester, June 8, 1781 [ 1 6 8 ] ,
Kant explained that he wrote his Natural History of the Heavens before
Lambert published a similar cosmological hypothesis and that Lambert had
remarked on this similarity in his letter of 1765 [ 3 3 ] . Kant's letter to J. F.
Gensichen, April 19, 1791 [466], also discusses the matter. Kant there
explains that his own theory of the Milky Way was formulated six years
earlier than Lambert's Cosmological Letters. This was in fact accurate.

4. • Introduction
elements of human knowledge," which should discuss "the univer-
sal and necessary possibilities of synthesizing and uniting of simple
concepts." He had read Kant's essay, "Only Possible Proof of the
Existence of God" (1763) and knew that Kant was working on a
reconstruction of the method of metaphysics analogous to one
which he himself advocated. Lambert suggests that they exchange
letters on their research, a proposal which must have flattered Kant
(who called Lambert "the greatest genius in Germany"), for he
replied to Lambert with unusual alacrity. Lambert's letter is amus-
ing also for its uncharitable observations (a prefiguration of C. P.
Snow's "two cultures") on Greek scholars, antiquarians, art critics,
and literati.
Kant's reply self-confidently announces that he has finally found
"the proper method for metaphysics and thereby also for the whole
of philosophy"; but he is not yet prepared to publish his findings
for, as he candidly admits, he lacks examples of propositions that
can be demonstrated by means of this method. He has therefore
put aside the project in order to devote himself to other essays, the
subject of two of these being the metaphysical foundations of
natural philosophy and the metaphysical foundations of practical
philosophy.4 Lambert awaited these books impatiently, as he states
in his next letter, but as it turned out, in vain. We can only guess
what Kant had in mind in 1765, though many scholars regard this
as the beginning of Kant's investigations leading to the Critique of
Pure Reason. It becomes clear that the discovery of the problem to
which Kant's letter of 1772 to Herz is devoted was one cause of
Kant's repeated postponement of his project, though undoubtedly
the heavy burden of his teaching duties (Kant .lectured up to
twenty-eight hours a week, in addition to private seminars) was
also important.
Lambert's reply, February 3, 1766 [37], describes his own
methodology at considerable length, utilizing the distinction be-
tween "formal" and "material" knowledge, a distinction that be-
came an important part of Kant's analysis of metaphysics in the
inaugural dissertation (1770) and also in his later critical writings.
Formal knowledge, Lambert suggests, is expressed in "simple
concepts" a priori; it is concerned only with the organization of
non-formal or material knowledge. Complex, synthesized concepts
4
As a matter of fact, Kant published nothing under these titles until twenty
years later, when the Metaphysical foundations of Natural Science appeared
(1786).

Introduction • 5
must be derived from simple concepts. The latter type of concepts,
such as space and time, require direct acquaintance, that is, intui-
don. The extent of Kant's indebtedness to Lambert is expressed in
his letter to Bernoulli, November 16, 1781 [ 1 7 2 ] .
Hamann. Kant's correspondence with J. G. Hamann (1730-88)
does not discuss any technical questions of philosophy but reveals
very strikingly the conflicting attitudes and convictions of these
philosophers. Hamann, the "wizard (or Magus) of the North" as
he was called, was the most improbable friend one could imagine
for Kant. Passionate, mystical, intellectually and physically untidy,
he was the antithesis of all that Kant and the Enlightenment
represented. His flamboyant style of writing is a language all its
own, using a veritable stream of consciousness technique full of
classical and biblical allusions along with copious, often brilliant
neologisms. Though at one time a deist, Hamann had undergone
a sudden conversion to an intensely fundamentalist and emotional
type of Christianity.3 The long letter of July 27, 1759, expresses
Hamanns' astonishment, rage, and amusement at the efforts of
Kant and J. C. Berens, a long-time friend of Hamann's, to con-
vert him away from zealotry back to what these men regarded as
rational deism. It is a brilliant letter, powerful and sarcastic.8
Less theatrical but nonetheless entertaining was Hamann's sec-
ond letter of 1759 (not included here), and the circumstances that
prompted it are again interesting for what they reveal about Kant.
Apparently Kant and Hamann had discussed collaborating on a
natural science textbook for children. (Kant's interest in education
and his views on that topic are also shown in his letter to Wolke,
March 28, 1776 [109].) Hamann lampoons the idea that Kant is
capable of this and argues that a book by a philosopher, written
for children, would have to be as ostensibly simple and babbling as
a book by God, written for mere human beings. Hamann suggests
basing physics on the biblical account of creation, presenting
physical phenomena with a view to showing their divine origin.
This suggestion could hardly have pleased Kant, and it is not
surprising that he failed to reply to this or to Hamann's subse-
quent effusions on the subject.

3
Kierkegaard must have recognized Hamann as a prehguration of himself.
He quotes Hamann on the title page of Fear and Trembling.
8
An English translation of some parts of the letter may be found in R. G.
Smith, /. G. Hamann (New York: Harper & Bros., i960). The translation in
the present volume is new and complete.

6. • Introduction
 Kant's only extant letters to Hamann were written in 1774.
They contained a tedious discussion of Herder's Älteste Urkunde
des Menschengeschlechts, which appeared anonymously in that
year. The main topic concerned Herder's intention in discussing
the occurrence of common symbols in both the biblical account of
creation and the literature of pagan antiquity, and Herder's claim
that this similarity reflected God's effort to instruct the human
race. The letters do include some pleasant academic gossip con-
cerning the promotion of a man of dubious piety—Hamann calls
him a "Roman-apostolic-catholic-heretic-crypto-Jesuit"—to the pro-
fessorship of theology, but they are otherwise rather boring. The
most interesting remark made in them is Kant's concluding plea to
Hamann (April 6. 1774 [86]) to communicate his further ideas
"if possible, in the language of men. For I, poor earthling that I
am, have not been properly trained to understand the divine
language of an Intuitive Reason."
Mendelssohn and the Popular Philosophers, Moses Mendelssohn
(1729-86) was the most distinguished of the so-called popular
philosophers of the German Enlightenment. A group of somewhat
unsystematic intellectuals, more or less Leibnizian in outlook
though often opposed to learned discourse and technical argu-
ments, they preferred to appeal instead to common sense, the
gesunder Menschenverstand, or healthy human understanding.
The men usually included under this heading were J. G. H. Feder,
C. Meiners. C. Garve, J. J. Engel, C. F. Nicolai, and J. E. Biester.
Feder and Meiners taught at Göttingen, where they later founded
the Philosophische Bibliothe\, a journal specifically devoted to
combatting Kant's "critical philosophy." The journal survived
only four volumes. Garve, a more sensitive man (his letters to
Kant are genuinely moving), worked in Breslau. It was Garve's
review of the Critique of Pure Reason (a review edited and
distorted by Feder before its publication in January, 1782, in the
Göttinger Gelehrte Anzeigen) that provoked Kant's wrath 7 and
stimulated him to write certain parts of the Prolegomena to Any
Future Metaphysics (the appendix of that work refers to the
review). Nicolai, a friend of Mendelssohn's and of Lessing's, was
editor of the Bibliothek^ der schönen Wissenschaften (1757-58),
then of the Briefe, die neueste Litteratur betreffend (1759-65)
and, most important, of the Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothe\

" See his letter to Garve, August 7, 1783 [ 2 0 5 ] .

Introduction • 7
(1765-1805), a propaganda organ of the Enlightenment. 8 Opposed
to prejudice, superstition, orthodoxy, pietism, mysticism, and Jes-
uitism, he was, for all his zeal, platitudinous and shallow. Kant,
who was for a time on cool but friendly terms with Nicolai,
directed one of his last essays, "Ober die Buchmacherei (1798),
against him, and Nicolai also became a target for Fichte, Goethe,
and Schiller. Biester, who published the Berliner Monatsschrift, to
which Kant contributed, was secretary to the minister of education,
von Zedlitz, as well as librarian in the Royal Library. As one of
Kant's chief ambassadors in the capital, his correspondence with
Kant during the period 1792-94 tells us much about Kant's
difficulties with the censorship of unorthodox religious views. The
French Revolution is also touched upon in these letters.
Of all these men, it was Mendelssohn for whom Kant had the
greatest respect and affection. Unlike most of the popular philoso-
phers, Mendelssohn did not disapprove of careful arguments and
rigorous demonstration. Like Kant, he deplored the fall of philoso-
phy, once the "queen of the sciences," to the shabby status of a
facile, diverting parlor game. In 1763, Mendelssohn and Kant
competed for the Berlin Academy Prize. Mendelssohn's Treatise
on Evidence in the Metaphysical Sciences won, but the judges
praised Kant's essay, An Inquiry into the Distinctness of the
fundamental Principles of Natural Theology and Morals (Unter-
suchung über die Deutlichkeit der Grundsätze der natürlichen
Theologie und der Moral), and the two works were to have been
published together. The topic proposed for this competition was
the question: "Whether metaphysical truths generally, and in
particular the fundamental principles of natural theology and
morals, are capable of proofs as distinct as those of geometry." 9
Mendelssohn maintained that metaphysics can be as certain as
geometry, though it is not as easily comprehended. Kant insisted
that there are fundamental differences between metaphysics and
mathematics, especially with regard to the role of definition or
concept formation. Mathematics arrives at its concepts synthetically,
from definitions; its concepts are constructed figures, from which

3
Nicolai is known also for a parody on Goethe's Sorrows of Werther: The
Joys of Young Werther (Freuden des jungen Werthers [ 1 7 7 5 ] ) .
9
A translation of Kant's essay is included in Kant's Critique of Practical
Reason and Other Writings in Moral Philosophy (Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 194g), translated and edited bv L. W. Beck.

8. • Introduction
we can derive only what we have originally put into them. 10
Validity is here independent of what exists in nature. Philosophy,
however, cannot produce its own objects but must take them as
given and try to see them as they are. Definitions are thus the end
of philosophy rather than the beginning. "Metaphysics is without
doubt the most difficult of human insights; but none has ever been
written."
The disagreement with Mendelssohn did not inhibit the start of
a warm friendship. Mendelssohn must have written a cordial letter
early in 1766 to which Kant's letter of February 7 [38] is a reply.
In this letter he expresses his pleasure at the prospect of a corre-
spondence with Mendelssohn, chats about a Jewish student whom
Mendelssohn had recommended to Kant, and asks Mendelssohn to
forward copies of Kant's Dreams of a Ghost-Seer Explained by
Dreams of Metaphysics to various gendemen (including Lam-
bert). Kant refers to it as einige Träumerey ("some reveries") and
adds: "It is, as it were, a casual piece, containing not so much a
working out of such questions as a hasty sketch of the way they
should be treated."
Evidendy the work estranged Mendelssohn by what the latter
took to be an insincere tone, "between jest and earnest." In his
answer to Mendelssohn (the latter's cridcal letter is not extant),
April 8, 1766 [39], Kant forcefully defends his own character. In
addition to this extended self-evaluation, unique in Kant's writ-
ings, he aiso indicates his view, of the worth of current meta-
physics, whose "chimerical insights" lead to folly and error. An
exposure of dogmatism is needed, says Kant, an organon, on
which he is now at work. Kant speaks of having already reached
"important insights" that will denne the proper procedure for
metaphysics.
The discussion of the soul, in this letter, gives us a brief
statement of the position Kant defended in his Dreams of a Ghost-
Seer. He is concerned with the relationship of material and spir-

10
It is interesting to see how Kant remained true to this early thesis
throughout his critical writings. Indeed, the claim is generalized in the
Critique of Pure Reason: all a priori knowledge depends on "what we have
originally put into" our judgments. See Critique A xx, B ix, B xii, B xiii,
B 130. I am grateful to Professor Samuel Todes for pointing out the similarity
of these passages to me. See also Kant's letters on mathematics in this
collection, as listed in the Index.

Introduction • 9
itual substances but is not optimistic about solving such metaphysi-
cal problems. What are the powers o£ spiritual substances, and
how can we discover the precise way in which souls are joined to
material substances? Our philosophical fabrications are completely
unhindered by any data when we discuss theories that purport to
answer these questions. Kant suggests that there are matters
(birth, life, and death) that we can never hope to understand by
means of reason. The main theme of the Dreams of a Ghost-Seer,
to which Kant is referring in this letter, is the parallel between the
dreams and visions of Swedenborg, on the one hand, and the
speculations of allegedly scientific metaphysics, on the other.
Kant's essay tries to show how a clever manipulation of concepts
can produce ostensible knowledge of the supersensible. He shows
that such structures are mere airy possibilities of thought, unde-
serving of serious attention. The metaphysician's theories are
''dreams of reason," whereas those of the ghost-seer are "dreams of
sensadon." He writes: "I do not know whether there are spirits;
yes, what is more, I do not even know what the word 'spirit'
means." Philosophy "excites the suspicion that it is found in bad
company" when serious efforts are devoted to explaining the
whims of fantastic persons.
Kant's attitude toward traditional metaphysics as shown in this
work and in the letter to Mendelssohn was, in 1766, quite close to
Hume's. The philosopher's task should be to survey the nature and
limits of our cognitive powers. Speculative metaphysics offers no
possibility of scientific certainty, its principles being based on mere
wish fulfilment. The tone of the critical philosophy is there,
though Kant had not yet developed the major theses, nor even
formulated the main questions, of the Critique of Pure Reason.

II. 1770-81

Kant's position in the dissertation of IJJO. In 1770 Kant re-

ceived the appointment he had long awaited, the professorship of
logic and metaphysics. He sent copies of his inaugural dissertation,
The Form and Principles of the Sensible and Intelligible Worlds,
to various scholars whose opinions he respected, among them
Mendelssohn 1 1 and Lambert. In the accompanying letter to Lam-
11
Mendelssohn's response in the letter of December 25, [770 [ 6 3 ] , offers a
number of significant criticisms of the dissertation, for example, of Kant's
interpretation of Shaftesbury as a follower of Epicurus. Mendelssohn's criti-

18. • Introduction
bert, Kant states some of the main theses of the dissertation.
Again, Kant is concerned with the need for a transformation of
metaphysics, a program that the separadon of non-empirical from
empirical principles will help to realize. His position at this dme,
pardy influenced by Leibniz' Nouveaux Essais (1765), involved
the separation of a "sense world" and an "intellectual world," with
a corresponding schism in the structure of our cognitive faculties.
In order to reconcile the independence of mathematics from expe-
rience with the applicability of mathematics to reality, Kant pro-
pounds the theory that space and time are forms of intuition,
invariant characteristics of immediate experience. 12 This is essen-
tially the position taken in the transcendental aesthetic of the
Critique of Pure Reason. The Newtonian view, that space and
time are "real beings" existing independently of objects, events,
and observers, Kant argued, makes unintelligible how geometry
(the science of space) can be known a priori to be valid for
everything in space and time. Geometry, on Newton's view of
space, would have to have the status of a merely empirical science.
Ultimately, Kant attempts to mediate between this absolute theory
of space and time and the theory of Leibniz. Though independent
of what fills them, space and time are not independent of knowing
minds. But Kant believed the consequence of his theory—that
space and time are supplied by our own faculty of sensibility—to
be that the objects that we perceive in space and time are only
phenomenal images of noumenal realities, and such noumenal
entities, if they are to be known at all, would have to be reached
by some non-empirical means, viz., pure thought. Thus we have
two "worlds": the world of our sensibility is "appearance," and
that of our understanding is genuine, "intelligible" reality. As
against Leibniz, the distinction between sensibility and under-
standing is made to be one of kind and not of degree—sensibility
is passive; understanding is active or "spontaneous." In addition,
along with the Platonic distinction of two worlds, Kant followed

cisms of Kant's theory of time, and similar objections by Lambert, are

answered in Kant's letter to Herz, February 2 1 , 1772 [70] and again in the
Critique of Pure Reason A 3 6 - B 53 if. Kant thought that his view had been
misinterpreted as a version of the subjective idealism of Berkeley.
12
Kant was led to this view particularly by the problem of space. His essay
On the First Ground of the Distinction of Regions in Space ( 1 7 6 8 )
defended the thesis that conceptually incongruent but symmetric figures (for
example, mirror images) cannot be distinguished without assuming, contrary
to Leibniz but in agreement with Newton, an absolute space independent of
all matter existing in it.

Introduction • 11
Leibniz in assuming that the categories or non-empirical concepts
of the intellect (causality, substance, necessity, and so on) have not
only a "logical use," that is, in the organization of experience, but
also a "real use," in which they provide knowledge of the world of
true Being.
It is this "dogmatic" position (in contrast to the skeptical view
of metaphysics in Dreams of a Ghost-Seer) against which Kant
reacted in the decade between 1770 and the appearance of the
Critique of Pure Reason in 1781. The change is recorded primarily
in Kant's letters to Marcus Herz (1747-1803). Along with Kant's
later correspondence with his apostatic disciples, these letters com-
prise perhaps the most significant philosophical material to be
found in Kant's letters.13
Hers and the letter of tfjT.. Herz studied in Königsberg from
1755 to 1770 and acted as "respondent" or "public defender" for
Kant's inaugural dissertation, a fact indicative of Kant's respect for
him. After studying medicine in Halle, Herz returned to Berlin in
1774 to begin his medical practice. By 1776, he was also giving
public lectures on the philosophy of Kant; several letters of 1778
deal with Herz's request for lecture notes from Kant. One of the
most distinguished members of Herz's audience was von Zedlitz,
the minister of spiritual affairs (which included education) to
whom Kant later dedicated the Critique of Pure Reason. But
Kant's confidence in Herz stemmed not only from the latter's
philosophical talents; Herz was a physician, and Kant a hypochon-
driac. Most of Kant's letters to Herz make mention of symptoms
and ailments, sometimes very extensively described, with discus-
sions of possible treatments and requests for advice. Though Kant
was never seriously ill, he constantly complained about his health
and the adverse effects of his indisposition (mainly gastric and
intestinal) on his work. 14
13
For a discussion of Herz and Kant, see L. W. Beck, "Kant's Letter to
Marcus Herz," in Studies in the Philosophy of Kant (Indianapolis: Bobbs-
Merriil Co., 1965), an essay that appeared originally in Philosophical Forum
(Boston University), XHI ( 1 9 5 5 ) . For another recent discussion of this letter,
see R. P. WoLff, Kant's Theory of Mental Activity (Cambridge, Mass.:
Harvard University Press, 1963). Virtually all of the standard commentaries
on Kant make some mention of the letter. Some scholars (for example,
Norman Kemp Smith) see it as supporting the "patchwork theory" of the
deduction of the categories, whereas others (for example, H. J. Paton) oppose
this interpretation. There is a good discussion of the letter in T. D. Weldon,
Kant's Critique of Pure Reason (London: Oxford University Press, 1958).
14
In one of his last works, The Strife of the Faculties, Kant blamed his
lifelong hypochondria on the narrowness o£ his chest.

12. • Introduction
 The letter of February 21, 1772, shows Kant's thinking at the
point at which the Leibnizian aspects of the theory In his inaugu-
ral dissertation first became suspect to him. Suddenly he is trou-
bled by the uncritical assumption he had made, that categories or
"intellectual representations," which Kant had characterized only
negatively as "ideas we employ that are not derived from our
experience of objects," could nevertheless be supposed to agree
with those objects and thus to represent things as they are. How
can concepts that do not produce their objects (like God's think-
ing) and that are not produced in us by the objects to which they
refer (like empirical concepts) be applicable a priori to an inde-
pendent reality? In other words, Kant is asking for a justification
or "deduction" of the "real use" of pure concepts when these con-
cepts are to apply not simply to mathematical "objects" that we
ourselves construct but to things existing independently of our
minds. He wants to know how we can tell that a concept "spon-
taneously" created by the mind actually corresponds to anything.
Kant says that he has found a way to classify these concepts "fol-
lowing a few fundamental laws of the understanding" and that
in three months he will be ready with his solution—an extra-
ordinarily sanguine prediction, as it turned out. For by the time
Kant had completed the Critique of Pure Reason, the "recollection
of David Hume," as he characterizes it in the Introduction to the
Prolegomena, had "interrupted [his] dogmatic slumbers. . . . ,"
and the problem stated as it is in this letter to Herz was found to
be incapable of solution. The categories could not be shown to
agree with the nature of things, if "thing" is taken to refer to
noumenal entities in a non-empirical world.
Though Kant had not yet arrived at the most distinctive argu-
ment of his critical position, the transcendental deduction, he had
evidently reached a form of the table of categories and, more
important, a formulation of what was to become the central
problem of the Critique of Pure Reason, viz., how are synthetic a
priori judgments possible. Here in the letter to Herz he mentions
that work for the first time by name. It was this momentous work
that took up most of Kant's attention in the "?ilent decade" of the
seventies.
Kant published very little between 1770 and 1781, and the
number of letters he wrote is also small. His correspondence with
Hamann in 1774 has already been mentioned. A few letters to
Herz tell of his progress or lack of progress on the Critique, along

Introduction • 13
with some very detailed discussion of his physical debilities, and
these letters are not only biographically important but help us to
see how intimate the friendship of these two men must have been.
The correspondence with Lavater and Wolke, however, presents
us with an entirely different side of Kant's intellectual interests.
Lavater. J. C. Lavater ( 1 7 4 1 - 1 8 0 1 ) was a Swiss poet, mystic,
and a renowned physiognomist, a man who influenced Goethe and
who was also close to Hamann. Lavater was an ardent reader of
Kant, his Lieblingsschriftsteller. His letters to Kant indicate that
the literary and learned world was awaiting Kant's new writings
with great eagerness. "Are you dead to the world?" Lavater asks.
"Why is it that so many scribble who cannot write, while you who
write so well are silent?" Lavater tells Kant that he and his
countrymen are anxious to see the Critique. In one letter he asks
Kant to evaluate his own book, on faith and prayer, somehow
imagining that Kant would approve of it. One can imagine how
Lavater's enthusiasm for Kant must have been tempered by the
latter's reply (April 28, 1773 [99] and [100]) for Kant's views
were already those of Religion within the Limits of Reason Alone.
The letters are in fact a clear and eloquent summary of Kant's
position. A certain cooling off on Lavater's part is confirmed by his
failure to reply to Kant for almost a year, although the two men
afterward remained on good terms and Lavater later once wrote to
Kant of his jov at having found someone to talk with "to satiety
and still not to satiety" about Kant's ideas. Though the corre-
spondence between them ended, Kant mentions Lavater a number
of times in various works, critically but not disrespectfully. He had
no patience for the Lavaterian attempt to analyze character by
means of the study of facial lines, calling it "indistinct concepts
without any order," and in his lectures on anthropology in 1785
Kant maintained that physiognomists are correct in their analyses
of character only when they know the people they are supposedly
analyzing. Elsewhere Kant refers to Lavater as a Schwärmer—a
fanatic or enthusiast inspired by a delusion—but Kant did not
always use this word abusively.
Letters on Education: Wol\e. Kant's interest in education was
always intense, to such an extent that he was even willing to
interrupt his work on the Critique in order to write and speak in
15
Cf. his reference to Maria von Herbert as die kleine Schwärmerin in a
letter to Elisabeth Motherbv, February n , 1793 [559].

14. • Introduction
 support of the educational reforms of an experimental school, the
Philanthropin. This institution was founded in Dessau in 1774 by
J. B. Basedow, a man whose views on education Kant regarded
highly. Kant used Basedow's Methodenbuch as the text in his
lectures on practical pedagogy in the winter semester of 1776-77.
The Philanthropin was based more or less on the liberal principles
of Rousseau's £mile.le From the very beginning, the school was in
serious financial difficulties, for which Basedow's enthusiasm failed
to compensate. Kant's correspondence with Basedow and the men
who replaced him, C. H . Wolke and J. H . Campe, reflects Kant's
efforts to keep the Philanthropin in business.17 The most impor-
tant of these letters, for a view of Kant's ideas on education and
especially on religious instruction, is the letter to Wolke of 1776
[109]. Kant believed that a child "must be raised in freedom, but
in such a way that he will allow others to be free as well"
(Reflexionen zur Anthropologie, No. 1473). In the letter to
Wolke, he makes explicit his opposition to traditional methods of
education and especially to customary religious education. Kant
urges that a child not even be introduced to prayer until his
understanding has matured to such a degree that he can under-
stand (what Kant regards as) the true purpose of devotional acts,
viz., to apprehend his duties as if the latter were divine commands.

III. Letters in the 1780's and 1790's

Reactions to the Critique of Pure Reason: Mendelssohn and

Garve. Readers of Kant who find him difficult to understand may
be reassured by the response of Kant's own contemporaries to the
publication of the Critique of Pure Reason. Mendelssohn, on
whom Kant had counted heavily to help disseminate the new
philosophy, called it dieses Nervensaftverzehrendes Wer\—"this
nerve-juice-consuming book"! Garve, too, proved disappointingly

16
The "natural" method of education at the Philanthropin insisted on
treating children as children. Powdered hair, swords, gilded coats, and makeup
were forbidden. The children had short haircuts and wore sailor jackets. They
learned languages in a sort of "Berlitz" program. The curriculum included
Latin, German, French, mathematics, geography, physics, music, dancing,
drawing, and physical education. Religion was taught in such a way that
sectarian distinctions in theology were completely avoided.
17
To this end, Kant published several appeals for subscriptions in the
Königsberger gelehrte und politische Zeitung.

Introduction • 15
unsympathetic. T o Mendelssohn and to Garve Kant wrote in 1783,
carefully setting forth some of the main theses of the Critique and
defending himself against various criticisms, especially that of
"unpopularity" in style of writing. Kant challenges Garve to
compose a deduction of the categories that will make pleasant
reading, or to try to construct a "whole new science" without the
difficult arguments and distinctions in the Critique (to Garve,
August 7 [205]; to Mendelssohn, August 16 [206]).
These letters taken together provide not only a nice introduction
to those theses but also show Kant's view (in 1783) on two
matters which his critics have frequently debated and about which
it must be admitted Kant himself was never entirely clear: the
distinction between appearance and thing-in-itself, on the one
hand, and the distinction between sensible and supersensible ob-
jects. Talking about the first distinction. Kant says to Garve that it
is a difference between two concepts or ways of talking about all
given objects. Viewed in this light, the distinction does not commit
Kant to the two "worlds" theory of the dissertation. In the letter to
Mendelssohn, however, Kant speaks of the existence of two radi-
cally different kinds of entities. The Critique, he says, does not
aim to deny the existence of objects (Gegenstände) that are not
objects of possible experience; in fact, the existence of such entities
is required by it! It would seem, then, that the claim that there
exist supersensible objects (übersinnliche Gegenstände") must be
distinguished from the appearance versus thing-in-itself dualism,
for, as Kant had indicated only a week earlier, in distinguishing
appearances from things as they are in themselves, the phrase
"thing-in-itself" refers not to some object other than the object we
encounter in experience but to that same object considered apart
from its relation to a knowing subject. In the decades following,
the problem of the status of the Kantian thing-in-itself became one
of the main targets for Kant's critics. Discussion centered around
the question whether Kant's theory of perception entails the claim
that unknowable things in themselves are the cause of our sense
impressions. Kant's ablest student, J. S. Beck, attempted to save
him from inconsistency by interpreting his theory to mean that
"thing-in-itself" is just another way of talking about the object that
appears and that it is this phenomenal object, not some mysterious
supersensible entity, that affects our senses. Kant's answers to
Beck's letters do not positively endorse this interpretation—by then
Kant was old and, as he told his followers, no longer equipped for

16. • Introduction
overly subtle discussions—but the letter to Garve may be taken as
one piece of evidence in support of Beck's interpretation.
Disciples and Critics. The sudden profusion of letters after 1783
attests to the impact of the Critique of Pure Reason on the
intellectual life of Germany and Europe. Though Kant's reputa-
tion in the learned world was already high, his fame now became
extended well beyond the sphere of the universities. Kant's phi-
losophy was the topic of discussion in literary salons and court
gatherings. Young ladies wrote to him for moral guidance, and
religious zealots and political absolutists, deploring the popularity
of his liberal ideas, wrote to him to try to convert him. Kant was
hailed as the benefactor of mankind, liberator of the human spirit
and defender of freedom. Journals were founded to spread the
critical philosophy, and several of Kant's students wrote populari-
zations of his work to make him understandable to the general
reading public. The progress of Kant's philosophy did not go
unchallenged, however. An upsurge of fanaticism, religious reac-
tion, and political interference in the form of censorship and
loyalty oaths was about to begin. As early as 1783 Kant heard
from his friend F. V. L. Plessing that the enemies of the Enlight-
enment were gathering strength, a lament which Plessing repeated
in his letter of March 15, 1784 [226]. Rumor had it that "a
Protestant king is supposed secretly to be a J-s-t!" wrote Plessing.
The Jesuits, "those hellish spirits," had poisoned the hearts of
princes. But as far as the government was concerned, Plessing's
dire warnings were a few years premature. Kant's most vocal
enemies, at this time, were not political figures but the old guard
philosophy professors who defended Leibniz and Wolff.
Although Kant was attacked and misunderstood by popular
philosophers, empiricists (who assailed Kant for subscribing to
synthetic a priori judgments), and rationalists (who assailed him
for limiting knowledge to the domain of experience), the favora-
ble reactions of younger men more than compensated for these
hostile opinions. The spread of Kantianism was aided by the
dedication of Kant's new disciples at the University of Jena,
especially C. G. Schütz, C. F. Schmid, and K . L . Reinhold. The
Allgemeine Literaturzeitung, to which Kant contributed, did
much to promote the critical philosophy. Schütz, whose corre-
spondence with Kant is of interest in tracing the progress of
Kant's writings after the Critique of Pure Reason, was the author
of the first sensible review of the Critique, and it was he who

Introduction • 17
persuaded Kant to write a review of Herder's Ideen (1785) for the
^JL-Z. 1 8 (Schütz was moved to tears fay Kant's refusal of the
generous honorarium offered by the journal.) Schmid's support of
Kantianism came in the form of an elucidatory dictionary of
Kantian terminology, Wörterbuch zum leichteren Gebrauche der
Kantischen Schriften (1788), and Reinhold's Letters concerning
the Kantian Philosophy (1786/87 in the Deutsche Merf^ür; 1790 as
a book) was most important in popularizing Kant. 1 3 By 1787,
when Reinhoid was professor of philosophy at the University of
Jena, people spoke of the "Kant-Reinhold" philosophy—a phrase
that lost its cogency, however, when Reinhold later became a
follower of Fichte. 20
Reinhold's letters to Kant, in 1787 and 1788, are rhapsodic in
praising the critical philosophy and its creator. They also contain
some nice academic gossip, including some anecdotes about Kant's
enemy at Jena, a Professor Ulrich, who made a practice of inviting
Reinhold's students to dinner in order to seduce them away from
the study of Kant! Kant's letter to Reinhoid, in 1788, expresses his
opinion of various contemporaries and states his approval of Rein-
hold's work. Of greater philosophical interest, however, are Kant's
letters in the following year, in which he gives a lengthy account
of his objections to the Wolffian philosopher, Eberhard.
J. A. Eberhard, professor of philosophy at Halle, was founder of
the Philosophisches Magazin, a periodical dedicated to destroying
Kant's philosophy. He denied the originality of Kant's analytic/
synthetic distinction, rejected the "Copernican revolution" with its
consequent limitation of the understanding to objects of sensible

18
In February, 1785, Schütz wrote Co Kant saying that Herder ought to
take pride in Kant's discussion of his book—the review was generally
recognized as Kant's even though it appeared unsigned. But Herder's reaction
to it was not what Schütz predicted, as can be seen from a letter Herder wrote
to Hamann in which he expresses his vexation and accuses Kant of being
bitter toward him for having decided not to follow the path of his former
teacher's "verbal juggling." Herder objects especially to being treated like a
schoolboy now that he is forty years old and a thinker in his own right.
19
Reinhoid, who was born in Vienna in 1758, started his career as a Jesuit.
Stirred by the Enlightenment under Emperor Josef, he came to reject most
orthodox dogmas and eventually he abandoned the Jesuit order and was
converted to Protestantism. In 1783, in Weimar, Reinhoid became the son-in-
law of C. M. Wieland, the famous novelist.
20
Reinhold's uncommon candor is shown by his public pronouncement,
while still at the height of his fame, thac Fichte had refuted him. He died,
virtually forgotten, in 1823.

18. • Introduction
intuition, and argued that reason, being capable of intellectual
intuitions, can furnish its own "material" without the aid of the
senses, Kant, in his letters to Reinhold, is especially critical of
Eberhard's attempt to use the principles of contradiction and
sufficient reason as devices for achieving knowledge of objects.
Some of the material in these letters was later incorporated into
Kant's polemical essay against Eberhard, On a Discovery accord-
ing to Which All New Critique of Pure Reason Is Supposed To
Be Obviated by an Earlier One (lieber eine Entdeckung nach der
alle neue Kriti\ der reinen Vernunft durch eine ältere entbehrlich
gemacht werden soll [1790]), in which Kant attacks the meta-
sensible use of reason, refutes Eberhard's objections to his notion
of synthetic judgments, and offers an interpretation of Leibniz that
contains the argument that Leibniz's theory requires completion
by Kant's own philosophy. The. main points in this essay against
the philosophical ancien regime may be found in the letters to
Reinhold of 1789.
Other Opposition: Marburg and Berlin. Eberhard's controversy
with Kant was by no means the only occasion on which the
entrenched partisans of competing philosophies did batde with
Kant and his followers. In Marburg the conflict came to a head
earlier than elsewhere. At the probable instigation of the' Wolff-
ians, Kant's theories were investigated for alleged impiety or
skepticism, and in 1786 lecturers were actually forbidden to discuss
his philosophy. 21 Apparently Kant's critic Feder, still stung by the
untoward aftereffects of his hostile review of the Critique, was one
of the main forces behind the ban.
Meanwhile in Berlin, the death of Frederick the Great (1786)
and the accession of Frederick William II created a climate that
proved to be hostile not only to Kant but to all the Enlightenment,
including some of Kant's bitter opponents. Whereas the Wolffians
regarded Kant as insufficiendy rationalistic, the inspired irrational-
ists who now came to power could see him only as the embodi-
ment of rationalism and as the enemy of orthodox, historical
Christianity, an intractable critic of every form of mysticism and
zealotry. The actual suppression of heresy did not get seriously
started until 1788. As late as December, 1787, Kant learned from J.
C. Berens that the new king was still allowing the same freedom

21
See notes to Kant's letter to J. Bering, April 7, 1786 [266].

Introduction • 19
of the press enjoyed under his predecessor (Berens to Kant,
December 5, 1787 [3x0]). But one year later, the troubles had
begun (Berens to Kant, October 25, 1788 [338]). It was suspected
in some quarters that since Kant had claimed that reason was
incapable of providing theoretical knowledge of the supersensible,
he must be secretly sympathetic to the religious reactionaries. His
friends implored him to make his position emphatically clear so as
to stop the fanatics. The bookdealer Meyer wrote from Berlin
(September 5, 1788 [ 3 3 3 ] ) asking Kant to compose an essay on
freedom of the press to fight the growing suppression. Kiesewetter
and Biester kept Kant informed of developments in the capital,
where, for a dme, the liberal theologians and clerics paid little
attention to the government's edicts on religion. In the decade that
followed, the antics of Frederick William II and his pious counse-
lors were to become more than the joking matter they first ap-
peared to be. The king's mystical visions and sexual escapades are
reported in a number of Kiesewetter's gossipy letters of 1790 and
after, a few samples of which have been included in this collection.
The heretic-hunting mood reached its climax, for Kant's career, in
1793-94, when Kant's publications on religion were brought under
the censorship of the royal Commission on Spiritual Affairs. In
1792, Fichte had sought Kant's advice on how to get his own
Critique of Revelation approved by the censor of theology in the
University of Halle. Thus, it was not oniv the government that
sought to suppress freedom of thought but some of the theological
faculties in the universities themselves. Kant explained to Stäudlin
(May 4, 1793 [574]) what he had tried to do in his Religion
within the Limits of Reason Alone and how he had presented the
book to the theological faculty in Königsberg to avoid conflict with
the authorities. In the fall of 1794, however, the order condemning
Kant's book, and any further expression of his unorthodox views,
was issued by the king's minister, Woellner. Kant was obedient,
though his response to the king (letter [642]) is in no way
obsequious. Kant's religion of "rational faith" is given a powerful
statement here.
Granting the forcefulness of Kant's letter to Frederick William
II, we must admit nevertheless that Kant was a constitutionally
timid person. Even twenty years earlier Kant had shown some-
thing of this character when, in considering an opportunity for a
better position, he confessed to Herz that "all change frightens

20. • Introduction
me" (early April, 1778 [ 1 3 4 ] ) . Now in his old age Kant was
unwilling to spend his remaining energy on political (or for that
matter philosophical) disputes. His letters of 1789 and after speak
repeatedly of his advancing age and increasing frailty. Again and
again he excuses himself for failing to act vigorously against his
various opponents. Biester respectfully but disappointedly accepted
Kant's decision to comply with the royal decree commanding
Kant's silence (December 17, 1794 [646]). Only after the death of
Frederick William II in 1797 did Kant feel himself freed from his
promise (on the rather casuistic grounds that the pronoun in
"Your Majesty's servant" referred specifically to that monarch, so
that the obligation to remain silent had been undertaken only to
him). Though Kant took a lively interest in the public contro-
versies and political turbulence of the decade following 1789, he
devoted himself as much as possible to the completion of his
philosophical system. Only on rare occasions did he allow himself
to be distracted from this work. One such occasion was the famous
Mendelssohn-Jacobi feud in the 1780's. Two others, of more per-
sonal than literary or philosophical interest, were the Plessing
affair and the tragic case of Maria von Herbert. Each of these three
topics requires some explanation.
Mendelssohn, Lessing, and Jacobi. The literary quarrel between
Mendelssohn and Jacobi 22 dominated the discussions of German
intellectuals for several years, until finally Kant himself was drawn
into the dispute. (Kant's essay, What Is Orientation in Think-
ing? contains his answer to the disputants, both of whom had
attempted to gain his support.) The story of this controversy is
somewhat complicated. F . H . Jacobi ( 1 7 4 3 - 1 8 1 9 ) , the "philos-
opher of faith," had maintained that Spinoza's philosophy con-
tained the only logically acceptable system of metaphysics. Since
this system was monistic, however, it entailed the denial of any
genuine theism. To accept Spinozism was therefore to become an
atheist. Hume, according to Jacobi, had performed an important
service by exposing the pretensions of natural theology, for he had
made it clear that God is an affair of the heart, not of reason, and
that philosophy (that is, Spinozism) must be givfcn up in the name
of faith. Jacobi also argued for the possibility of immediate intui-
tions of a supersensible reality. Like Kant, however, he held that

22
See also n. 1 to the letter from Marcus Herz, February 27, 1786 [260].

Introduction • 21
 the field of knowledge is restricted to objects of possible experi-
ence. Reason is incapable of penetrating beyond the sensible.23 So
much the worse for reason.
Now Lessing's position was not altogether opposed to Jacobi's.
Lessing had published some works of the deist H. S. Reimarus
(1694-1768) (under the title WOldenbüttel Fragments) but un-
like the deists, Lessing did not believe religious truths capable of
proof. A pioneer of the "higher criticism," Lessing believed that
faith rests on inner experience and that religious ideas are to be
judged by their effect on conduct. Lessing died in 1781, iust after
he had admitted to Jacobi that Spinoza's theory seemed to him to
be correct. This is what Jacobi wrote to Mendelssohn in 1783, and
from this disclosure arose their furious controversy, a controversy
on which some were even to put the blame for Mendelssohn's
death in I786."4 Since pantheism seemed to Jacobi indistinguish-
able from atheism, he was shocked at Lessing's confession. Men-
delssohn, however, took Jacobi's attack on Lessing to be also an
attack on himself, and even though Mendelssohn was not a panthe-
ist he felt called upon to defend Spinoza and Lessing. In his book
Morning Lessons (1785), Mendelssohn challenged Jacobi, who re-
plied by publishing his answer to Mendelssohn and their letters to
, each other. Herder and Goethe were drawn into the argument,
and both of them rejected Jacobi's equadon of Spinozism with
atheism.
What Lessing had said to Jacobi was that orthodox ideas about
.God were of no utility to him. God is One and All, and if Lessing
had to name anyone as philosophically sound, it would have to be
Spinoza. Like Spinoza, Lessing believed human actions to be
determined. God is the ultimate cause of the world order, and
everything that exists is a part of him. "Why should not the ideas
that God has of real things be these real things themselves?"

23
Unlike Kant, Jacobi maintained that we perceive tilings as they are in
themselves. He also rejected Kant's formalism in ethics and defended the
possibility of immediate moral intuitions. Jacobi's criticism of Kant's theory of
the thing-in-itseif became famous and was iacer repeated by various critics: the
affirmation of things-in-themselves, he argued, can be justified only by using
the causal principle, which principle is supposed to be subjectively grounded
and applicable only intraphenomenally. An epigrammatic remark of Jacobi's
was often quoted: "Without it [the assumption of things-in-themselves] I
could not get into the system; with it, I could not stay."
24
See notes to the letter from Marcus Herz, February 27, 17S6 [260].

22. • Introduction
asked Lessing. 25 One consequence of the Pantheismusstreit, as it
came to be called, was the revival of interest in the study of
Spinoza. Another, as has been mentioned, was Kant's essay on
orientation. The main letters mentioning the feud are those from
Mendelssohn (October 16, 1785), Biester (June 1 1 , 1786), and
Herz (February 27, 1786 [260]) 26 and Kant's letter to Herz
(April 7, 1786 [267]). In the last of these, Kant condemns Jacobi
as guilty of a frivolous and affected "inspiration" (Genieschwär-
merey) and goes on to speak of "the excellent Moses," so that it is
clear where Kant's sympathies lay.
L'affaire Plessing. When the editors of Kant's correspondence
were assembling their manuscripts, it was with considerable reluc-
tance that an indelicate letter of Plessing's (April 3, 1784 [228])
was included in the Prussian Academy edition of Kant's corre-
spondence. Plessing's friendship with Kant is a significant counter-
example for any theory that pictures Kant the "stern moralist" as
utterly inflexible, prudish, or inhuman. F . V . L. Plessing (1749-
1806) was a fascinating and unstable person who figured not only
in Kant's life but also in Goethe's (whose Harzreise im Winter
deals with Plessing). In his youth, Plessing studied at one univer-
sity after another, unable to settle on any one subject or in any one
place. His life was beset with neurotic and financial difficulties
involving his family. In 1782 he came to know Kant and Hamann
in Königsberg and decided that it might still be possible to make
something of himself, whereupon he studied for the doctorate with
Kant. Plessing did in fact become a philosopher,27 and some of his
correspondence with Kant is concerned with his philosophy of
history. He was a brooding, troubled man who found himself able
to accept Kant's negative doctrines, though he remained basically
dissatisfied with Kant's faith grounded on morality.
As Plessing's letters to Kant make clear, Plessing had become
involved in (and had lost) a paternity suit, and Kant had helped
him by acting as intermediary in transmitting Plessing's mainte-
nance payments. Kant's willingness to become involved in such an
unprofessional and undignified problem seems to reveal a less

25
"On the Reality of Things outside God," an essay for Mendelssohn.
26
These are not of any intrinsic interest and have not been included here.
27
In 1788 he accepted a professorship at Duisberg, one of the smallest
universities in Germany, far removed from the frontiers of intellectual debate,
which was just as he wished.

Introduction • 23
rigoristic attitude on his part than one might have expected. A
careful reading of the letter will disclose that Kant's tolerance of
Plessing's human failings did not, however, extend to a condoning
of the "unnatural" and calculated practice of birth control. Pless-
ing's arguments against Kant on this matter show a lively wit. It is
unfortunate that Kant's answer to Plessing is not available to us.
(Kant's highly puritanical attitude toward sex is made very ex-
plicit, however, in another letter, where even marital sexual rela-
tions are viewed as unsavory and the sexual libertine likened to a
cannibal! [To C. G. Schütz, July 10, 1797 ( 7 6 1 ) ] )
Maria von Herbert. Whatever difficulties Kant's philosophy may
have encountered in Prussia and other northern German states, the
spread of Kantian ideas in Austria and southern Germany aroused
even more opposition. (This may be seen in the letters of M. Reuss
[699] and C. Stang [ 7 1 5 ] , two Benedictine followers of Kant.) In
the town of Klagenfurt in southern Austria, however, there lived a
Baron Franz Paul von Herbert, one of the few people in reaction-
ary Austria who was interested in the philosophy of Kant. The
extent of his dedication is shown by the fact that in 1789, "driven
by a philosophical itch" (as K . Vorländer puts it), 23 he left his lead
factory, wife, and child to journey to Weimar, then to Jena, for the
sake of studying Kant's philosophy. In 1791 he returned to Kla-
genfurt, bringing with him some of the revolutionary spirit of the
critical philosophy. Herbert's house then became a center for the
passionate discussion of Kant's philosophy. It was, in the words of
one of Fichte's students, "a new Athens," dedicated to, among
other things, the improvement of religion, a task that required
replacing piety with morality.
Maria, the young sister of Franz Paul, who participated in these
discussions, was born in 1769. In family circles she was called
"Mizza" and her face was said to be very beautiful. If her physical
appearance is somewhat a matter of conjecture to us, the intensity
of her emotions and the sensitivity of her mind (notwithstanding
her charmingly bad spelling) are not. In 1791 she wrote her first
letter to Kant, a letter full of despair, which impressed him so
deeply that he showed it to his friend Borowski and prepared a
careful preliminary draft of his answer to her plea. Erhard, a friend
of her brother's and of Kant's, explained in a letter that she had
thrown herself into the arms of a certain man "in order to realize
- 3 K . Vorländer, Immanuel Kant, der Mann und das Werk. (Leipzig: Felix
Meiner, 1924), II, p. 1 1 6 .

24. • Introduction
 an idealistic love." Evidendy the man turned out to be a cad for, as
Erhard says, he "misused her." Maria fell in love a second time,
and for a while she deceived her new lover about her previous
relationship. When she finally disclosed her earlier affair to him,
his love for her cooled. In her letter, she begs Kant for guidance.
Kant's answer is interesting for what it reveals about his own
sensitivity to the nuances of emotional and moral problems and
about his views on love. He presents his statement in the manner
of a sermon, and there is a gently didactic tone throughout. Kant
seems willing to make seme concessions to the natural weaknesses
of human beings. He says in effect that, although we have a duty
to abstain from lying and from insincerity, we are to be forgiven
for failing to pour out every secret of our hearts to someone we
love. An ideal love would consist in mutual esteem and a totally
uninhibited sharing, but the inability to be utterly open with
another person is a sort of reticence that lies in human nature and
does not constitute a weakness of character. These consoling re-
marks are followed, however, by some more characteristically
Kantian moralizing: Maria is not to have any moral credit for
confessing her earlier deception, if the motive of her disclosure was
a desire to achieve peace of mind rather than true repentence for
having lied. Nor should she brood over the new lover's change of
heart; if his affection does not return, it was probably only sensual
in the first place. Besides, the value of one's life does not depend
on whether or not one achieves happiness.
The second and third letters Maria sent to her "spiritual physi-
cian" are less agitated than the first, but it is not so much
resignation as a deeper despair and a sense of overwhelming
apathy that breathes through them. The inner emptiness she
expresses, the sense of being "almost superfluous" to herself, of
being incapable of significant action (even morality has become
uninterestingly easy for her, since she feels no temptation to
transgress its laws), suggest a beautiful personality destroying
itself by the very clarity of its self-awareness. Maria tells Kant, in
her third letter (sometime early in 1794 [ 6 1 4 ] ) that she had in
fact been on the point of suicide but that though death would
please her she will not take her own life out of consideration for
morality and the feelings of her friends. Kant did not answer
either of these letters but sent them to Elizabeth Motherby, the
daughter of an English friend, as a warning to the young woman
(whose "good training had, however, made such a warning unnec-

Introduction • 25
essary," Kant said) of what happens to ladies when they think too
much and fail to control their fantasies! For all his perceptiveness
and liberalism, Kant was not enthusiastic about women's rights or
greatly concerned about the frustrations suffered by intelligent
ladies in a society that regarded them as merely useful or decora-
tive ornaments.29 In 1803, nine years after her last letter, Maria did
in fact commit suicide.
From Kant to Fichte. Although Kant's philosophical letters in
the 1790's touch on a great number of topics, some of the most
interesting letters are those that show the gradual defection of
Kant's once ardent admirers and that enable us to see the develop-
ment of Kant's own thinking in response to their criticisms. It is a
pity that there are no very serious philosophical exchanges with
Fichte in the correspondence.30 However, the correspondence with
S. Maimon, J. S. Beck, and J. H. Tieftrunk provides a wealth of
discussion of just those issues (principally the problems concerning
the Ding an sich, the "affecting" of sensibility, and the primary
significance of synthesis, or Zusammensetzung) that make the
transition from Kant to Fichte comprehensible.
In 1789 Salomon Maimon (1753-1800) sent Kant the manu-
script of his Essay on the Transcendental Philosophy ("Versuch
über die Transzendentalphilosophie [1790]). Their mutual friend
Herz described Maimon :o Kant as "formerly one of the rawest
Polish Jews" who by virtue of his brilliance and perseverance had
miraculously managed to educate himself in all the sciences. (See
Herz's letter, April 7, 1789 [351]-) Herz had read the book, and it
was on his advice that Maimon asked for Kant's opinion of it.
Kant answered Maimon's criticisms in a letter to Herz (May 26,

29
T h e limitations of Kant's sympathy for egalitarianism is shown also in his
attitude toward the rights of servants. See his letter to C. G. Schütz, July 10,
!
7 9 7 [ 7 6 1 ] . hi which he discusses the right to possess another person (a
household servant) as if the latter were a thing.
30
Kant's letter of February 2, 1792 [504] containing his advice to Fichte on
how to deal with the censorhip authorities in Halle is included in this
collection; it contains a good statement of Kant's religious beliefs. A number
of other letters in 1792 concern Kant's efforts to help Fichte publish his
Critique of Revelation (Versuch einer Kritik aller Offenbarung) and, with the
subsequent confusion as to its authorship, Fichte's explanation and apologies
for the confusion, and so on. (See notes to the letter to Fichte of February 2,
1792 [504].) The book was attributed to Kant himself, partly because it came
from his publisher, Härtung. Härtung had inadvertently left out the Preface,
in which Fichte spoke of the work as "my first venture before the public," a
phrase that would have made clear that the anonymous author was noc
Kant.

26. • Introduction
1789 [362]), and callcd his work a book full of "the most subtle
investigations" written by an astute critic who had understood him
better than any other. Maimon wrote again in July, 1789, express-
ing his gratitude for Kant's rejoinder, though he was not satisfied
with Kant's reply. He wrote several times in 1790, again in 1791
(see his letter of September 20 [486]), 1792, and 1793, but Kant
did not answer him. 31 Maimon's criticism of Kant in 1789 already
pointed the way to Fichte and the idealist movement that was soon
to take hold. He denied Kant's basic distinction between passive
sensibility and the active, spontaneous understanding. He main-
tained that the human mind is part of an infinite world soul that
produces not only the form but also the content of experience. The
understanding is intuitive, not merely discursive. Maimon ac-
cepted the negative, antidogmatic part of Kant's theory as correct
but rejected the positive theory of the thing-in-itself (which he
interpreted to mean the claimed existence of a thinkable entity
without any determinate characteristics) as inconceivable. We can-
not form a clear concept of either an object-in-itself or of a subject-
in-itself. The thing-in-itself loses its character of thinghood, in
Maimon's philosophy, and becomes merely an irrational limit of
rational cognition, the idea of an endless task whose completion is
constantly retreating as knowledge advances. The self-contradic-
tory assumption of the existence of things independent of all
consciousness arose in the attempt to explain the origin of the
"content" of appearances; but there is in fact no content or
material of experience independent of form. The distinction be-
tween the matter and form of knowledge is only a contrast
between a complete and an incomplete consciousness of what is
present to us, the incomplete consciousness being what we refer to
as the given, that irrational residue that we distinguish from the a
priori forms of consciousness. The contrast is only one of degree;
form and matter are the terminal members of an infinite series of
gradations of consciousness. The given is therefore only an idea of
the limit of this series.

31
In 1794, Kant spoke disparagingly of Maimon, in a letter to Reinhold on
March 28 [620]. It is one of the few places where Kant makes an anti-Semitic
remark. Perhaps it should be forgiven, on the grounds that Kant was
extremely sensitive to criticism and to the apostasy of his followers, and 1794
was a bad year for him not only on these two accounts but also because of his
troubles with the official proscription of his work on religion. The persecution
from which Kant suffered seemed serious enough to Kant's friends to warrant
an offer of asylum from one of them (the educator J. H. Campe).

Introduction • 27
 While on some issues Maimon took Hume's position against
Kant's (for example, he maintained that the concept of causality is
the product of habit, not a pure concept of the understanding), his
indebtedness to Leibniz is also evident. For some reason Maimon
called himself a skeptic, but his rejection of Kant's account of
things-in-themselves and the given, along with his conception of
the human understanding as part of the divine understanding,
clearly foreshadows Fichte and the development of "absolute ideal-
ism." In fact, Fichte wrote to Reinhoid, in 1795, "My esteem for
Maimon's talent is boundless. I firmly believe and am ready to
prove that through Maimon's work the whole Kantian philosophy,
as it is understood by everyone including yourself, is completely
overturned. . . . All this he has accomplished without anyone's
noticing it and while people even condescend to him. I think that
future generations will mock our century bitterly." 32
Kant's correspondence with Jakob Beck ( 1 7 6 1 - 1 8 4 0 ) contains
not only some of the most penetrating criticisms of Kant's theory
but also an indication of how Kant was himself being influenced
by the men he denounced as "my hypercritical friends." By 1799,
the seventy-five-year-old Kant (who complained to Garve, Septem-
ber 2 1 , 1798 [820] that his condition was reduced to that of a
vegetable) was so saddened by the independent line that his
former students had taken that he angrily criticized the position of
Fichte (whose books he had not read) and Beck (whose position
he had virtually adopted as his own) in an "Open letter on
Fichte's Wissenschaftslehre" (the last letter in this collection, Au-
gust 7, 1799). There he charged that his Critique of Pure Reason
had not been intended as a propaedeutic to any future system of
metaphysics, that it was in fact the complete statement of pure
philosophy, and that no "standpoint" (the allusion is to Beck's
Only Possible Standpoint from which the Critical Philosophy
Must Be Judged) of any interpreter or commentator is required in
order to comprehend it.
All of these remarks are either false or misleading. The occasion
of the open letter was a challenge put to Kant by a reviewer
in the Erlanger Literaturzeitung, January n , 1799, who asked
Kant whether his theories were really meant to be taken literally
32
There is a fairly lengthy discussion of Maimon's importance in Richard
Kroner's Von Kant bis Hegel (Tübingen: J. C. B. Möhr [Paul Siebeck],
1 9 2 1 - 2 4 ) . A more recent work devoted entirely to Maimon is Samuel Atlas'
From Critical to Speculative Idealism: The Philosophy of Solomon Maimon
(The Hague: Martinus Nijhorf, 1964).

28. • Introduction
{buchstäblich) or as interpreted by Fichte or Beck. Kant's personal
attack on Fichte as a "treacherous friend" may have been encour-
aged by his overly zealous disciple Johann Schultz, on whom Kant
relied for an account of Fichte's position and whom Kant had
earlier (see the letter to J. A . Schlettwein, May 29, 1797 [752])
endorsed as his most reliable expositor. Certainly, neither Fichte
nor Beck had done anything to deserve it. Fichte's official reply, in
the form of an open letter to Schelling, was temperate. Privately,
however, he declared Kant's theory to be "total nonsense" unless
given a Fichtean interpretation; he even called Kant "no more
than three-quarters of a mind" who had "mightily prostituted
himself." 33 That the Critique was supposed to be a propaedeutic
to a reconstruction of metaphysics was not only asserted by Kant
himself in numerous passages in the Critique but clearly implied
by him in his references to the system of metaphysics he intended
to compose when "the critical part of [his] task" was finished.
This is what he had written to L. H. Jakob [303] and to Reinhold
[322] in 1787 and 1788 in connection with his completion of the
third Critique.** A sketch of Kant's planned system of metaphysics
was even included in a letter to Beck in 1792 [500], and the
oudine Kant gives there agrees with the reorganized form of the
Critique that Beck recommended in his own letters. It would seem
then that the doctrinal gulf between Kant and his erstwhile
disciples was not at all as wide as Kant seems to suggest in the
declaration against Fichte.
Like Maimon, Beck denied the positive role that Kant's theory
of perception seemed to have given to the thing-in-itself. Beck
argued that when Kent spoke of objects affecting our sensibility it
could only be phenomenal objects that he had meant, not an

33
K . Vorländer, op. dt., II, 265.
34
Kant's statement to Jakob that on completion of the critical part of his
plan he could proceed to the dogmatic is puzzling if one recalls Kant's
customary use of the word "dogmatic" to stigmatize the philosophical method
he rejected, viz., one that proceeds without a prior investigation of reason's
competence to answer the questions it is asking. But perhaps Kant was
thinking of "dogmatic" in the sense in which he distinguished "dogmata"
from "mathemata" in the Critique of ?ure "Reason A 7 3 6 - B 764 and not in the
derogratory sense. In the Critique, a dogma is one sort of non-analytic
apodeictic proposition, viz., a synthetic proposition that can be "directly derived
from concepts." Mathemata are the other sort of synthetic a priori proposition,
not found in philosophy, which can be "directly obtained through the
construction of concepts." There are no dogmata "in the whole domain of
pure reason, in its merely speculative employment," Kant argued (loc. cit.).

Introduction • 29
unknowable thing-in-itself acting on an unknowable subject-in-
itself. T h e self that is affected and the object that acts on it must
both be viewed as products of a more basic activity of the under-
standing, an acdvity that we presuppose when we regard our
experiences as produced in us either by an independent object or
by our own power of thinking. This most basic activity Beck
equated with the function of producing the transcendental unity
of apperception in Kant's deduction of the categories, and it is this
"standpoint" one needs to attain in order to understand Kant's
theory. It is a unique act of synthesizing a priori, an act whereby
the subject constitutes himself as a conscious thinker.
Kant's agreement with Beck is shown most clearly in his will-
ingness to make the activity of synthesis (Zusammensetzung) the
basic condition of all cognition. Beck used the phrase "original
attribution" {ursprüngliche Beylegung), which Kant at first (and
with justification) found unintelligible; Beck's colleague J. H.
Tieftrunk spoke of an act of Setzen ("positing") [787]; and in
Fichte's Wissenschaftslehre the ego "posits" the non-ego in an
original Tathandlung. Although each of these men found his own
views to be either subtly or dramatically different from those of the
others (Beck, for example, tried to convince Kant that he was
radically opposed to Fichte), they agreed that Kant's theory of
affection must be reconsidered. But Kant himself had certainly
already modified his position when he wrote to Beck, as early as
January, 1792 [500]: "The content [of a representation] must
thus . . . be created [gemacht] by an inner activity . . . that
precedes a priori the manner in which the manifold is given."
Beck thought that Kant's method of exposition in the Critique
was only a concession to the uninitiated reader who had not yet
arrived at the "standpoint" of seeing "objects" as the product of
that original activity of the understanding. He and Tieftrunk,
both of them perhaps reiterating the criticisms of G. E. Schulze,
argued that it was inconsistent of Kant to make an unknowable
thing-in-itself that which affects us—inconsistent because "affect-
ing" is a causal relation and the concept of cause is supposed to be
meaningful only intraphenomenally and because Kant seems to
know a great deal about unknowables here, for example, that they
are real (another category illegitimately used) and efficacious.
Beck's suggested reconstruction of Kant's theory, which would
begin with the "standpoint," that is, the original activity of mind
that first produces the "I think" expressed in the categories, was, as

30. • Introduction
has already been pointed out, not at all uncongenial to Kant, and
the extent of Beck's influence on Kant may be seen in Kant's Opus
Postumum?5

The apostasy of Kant's ablest disciples may give the impression

that Kant's final years were spent in friendless isoladon. This was
not the case, although Kant was not on very warm terms with his
family. His sisters and their husbands were too far removed from
him in education and social position; his nieces must have been
illiterate (they signed Kant's will with X ' s ) . - N o r was Kant very
close to his brother Johann, whom he had not seen since 1758.
The love and esteem of his friends and former students, how-
ever, continued throughout their lives and his, and the respect
of men like Schiller must have been very pleasing to Kant's old
age. 36 Kiesewetter kept him supplied with his favorite turnips,37
along with the latest gossip from Berlin. J. Richardson, who
published an English translation of Kant's Essays and Treatises,
kept him informed on the progress of his philosophy in England, 38
J. H . I. Lehmann sent sausages from Göttingen (along with gossip
and Feder's belated apologies to Kant), as did F . Nicolovius, 39 and
Herz wrote movingly to his old friend and mentor.40 In 1798 Kant
spoke of a work that would fill the last gap in his system, the
transition from the metaphysical foundations of natural science to

36
For a discussion of this, sec Herman-J. de Vleeschauwer, The Develop-
ment of Kantian Thought, translated by A. R. C. Duncan (London: Thomas
Nelson & Sons, Ltd., 1 9 6 2 ) . This book is an altogether invaluable study for an
understanding of Kant's relationship to his contemporaries. Kant's Opus
Postumum is also discussed at some length in F . Copleston's History of
Philosophy, Vol. VI (London: Burns & Oates, Ltd., 1 9 6 0 ) , though Copleston
attributes to Fichte the influence I believe to be Beck's. Since Kant had not
read Fichte's Wissenschaftslehre and knew it only from a review and from
what Johann Shultz told him of it, Copleston's conjecture seems mistaken.
36
Kant's correspondence with Schiller deals with the latter's request that
Kant contribute an article to the journal Die Hören. Kant declined. The letters
are respectful on both sides. It is not clear whether Kant was aware of
Schiller's poetry and dramas.
37
Gourmet readers may be interested in Kiesewetter's advice on how to
cook these turnips (November 25, 1798 [ 8 2 7 ] ) . They must be washed in
w a r m water, dropped at once into boiling water, and then cooked for no more
than fifteen minutes. They must be stored in a dry place.
38
T h e translation was published in two volumes in London, 1 7 9 8 - 9 9 .
Richardson sent a letter June 2 1 , 1798 [808] (not included in this collection)
along with the first volume of the translation.
39
Friedrich Nicolovius ( 1 7 6 8 - 1 8 3 6 ) had a publishing firm in Königsberg
(1790-1818).
40
December 25, 1797 [ 791 ].

Introduction • 31
physics. Until 1801, his seventy-seventh year, he devoted what
energy he had to this project. But in April of 1802 he wrote, 41 " M y
strength diminishes daily, my muscles vanish, and even though I
have never had any actual illness and have none now, it is two
years since I have been out of the house. Nevertheless I view all
changes that are in store for me with calm." In April, 1803, he
celebrated his last (seventy-ninth) birthday with his dinner com-
panions. In October of that year he became ill (after eating his
favorite English cheese) but recovered sufficiently to entertain his
usual dinner guests later that month. From December until the
following February, however, he grew much weaker and his death
came on the twelfth of February, "a cessation of life and not a
violent act of nature," said his friend and biographer, Wasianski.' 2
41
To the fiance of his brother's daughter, Pastor K. C. Schoen, April 23,
i3O2 [892].
42
Quoted in K. Vorländer, Immanuel Kants Leben (2d ed.; Leipzig: Felix
Meiner, 1 9 2 1 ) , p. 207.

32. • Introduction
The Letters
From J. G. Hamann, July 27,
- II - VOL. x, pp. j-16

Honored tutor,
I do not hold it against you that you are my rival or that
you have enjoyed your new friend [Berens] for weeks during all
of which I only saw him for a few scattered hours, like a phantom
or even more like a clever scout.1 I shall however bear this grudge
against your friend, that he ventured to introduce you yourself
into my very own seclusion; and that he not only tempted me to
let you see my sensiuvity, wrath, and jealousy but even exposed
you to the danger of getting quite close to a man whom the disease
of his passions has given an intensity of thinking and of feeling
that a healthy person does not possess. This is what I wanted to
say to your sweetheart right in the ear when I thanked you for the
honor of your first visit.
if you are Socrates and your friend wants to be Alcibiades, then
for your instruction you need the voice of a genius. And that role
is one I was born for; nor can I be suspected of pride in saying this
—an actor lays aside his royal mask, no longer walks and speaks
on suits, as soon as he leaves the stage—allow me therefore to be
called "genius" and to speak to you as a genius out of the clouds,
as long as I am writing this letter. But if I am to speak as a genius,
I beg that you give me at least the patience and attentiveness with
which an illustrious, handsome, clever, and informed public re-
cently heard the farewell address of a mortal concerning the
fragments of an urn on which one could with effort decipher the

1
This letter from Hamann to Kant was written shortly after Kant and J. C.
Berens ( 1 7 2 9 - 9 2 ) visited Hamann in Königsberg. The point of the visit was
to convert Hamann away from the orthodox Chrisdanity he had recently
embraced. Before Hamann's trip to London in 1757 and his sudden conver-
sion, he and Berens had both been enamored of deism and world citizenship.
In an effort to restore him to what Berens and Kant regarded as sanity, Kant
tried to persuade Hamann to translate some articles from the French 'Ency-
clopedic. As is obvious from this letter, the efforts of Kant and Berens were in
vain.

From J. G. Hamann, July 27, 7759 • 35

letters BIBLIOTEK.2 The "project" was to learn to think of beautiful
bodies. Only a Socrates can do that, never a count; no legislature
will create a genius out of a Watson, through the power of its
governing offices and the authority of its election.
I write in epic style since you do not yet understand how lyric
language must be read. An epic author is a historian of unusual
creatures and their still more unusual lives. A lyric author is the
historian of the human heart. Self-knowledge is hardest and high-
est; the easiest and most disgusting, natural history, philosophy,
and poetry. It is pleasant and profitable to translate a page of Pope
—into the fibers of the brain and of the heart—but vanity and a
curse to leaf through a part of the Encyclopedie? I finished the
work you proposed to me only last night. The article concerning
beauty is a piece of chattering and a summarizing of Hutchinson
[jic]. 4 T h e article about art is less harsh ana thus sweeter than the
Englishman's discourse concerning nothing but a word. So only
one article remained that really deserved translation. It had to do
with forced labor.5 Every perceptive reader of my heroic letter will
appreciate from experience the effort required to be calm about
such people but will also have the sympathy for ail forced laborers
that the writer of my article has for them and will look for the
amelioration of the abuses that make it impossible for them to be
good forced laborers. Since I, however, have no desire to become
one and hold no office of that sort on this earth, where I'have to be
dependent on the mood of those who are lower than I, this article
will find enough other translators who have a calling for that job.
A man of the world who knows the art of making visits will
always put enterprises in charge of a good superintendent.
To return to our dear cousin [Berens]. You cannot love this old
man out of inclination; the motive must be vanity or selfish
egotism. You should have known him when I loved him. In those
days he thought the way you do, most honorable tutor, about

2
The allusion is to the academic farewell address of Matthias Friedrich
Watson, professor of poetry in Königsberg, 1756-59. Hamann thought the
speech incredible. Evidently it consisted largely of autobiographical anecdotes,
together with extracts from a book entitled Critical Outline of a Selected
Library [Bibliothek.] for Friends of Philosophy and Belles-Lettres.
3
The famous Encyclopedic ou Dictionnaire Raisonee des Sciences, des Arts
et des Metiers ( 1 7 5 1 ) .
4
The article, "Beau," is by Diderot. In its historical introduction, there is a
discussion of Francis Hutcheson's aesthetics.
5
N . A. Boulanger's article, "Corvee."

36 • From J. G. Hamann, July 27, I J 5 9

natural rights; he knew nothing but generous tendencies in him-
self and in me.
You have it, this final contempt is a leftover bit of love for you.
Let yourself be warned and let me parrot Sappho:

Ah, send me back my wanderer,

Ye Nisaean matrons and Nisaean maids,
Nor let the lies of his bland tongue deceive you!
I think your acquaintance with him is still innocent and that
you are merely passing the long summer and August evenings.
Could you not see me as a girl, confused and shamed, a girl who
has sacrificed her honor to her friend, who entertains his company
with her weaknesses and nakedness, of which she has made no
secret to him, privately.
France, the life of the court, and his present association with a
pack of Calvinists, these are responsible for all the trouble. He
loves the human race as a Frenchman loves a woman, for his mere
personal enjoyment and at the expense of her virtue and honor. In
friendship as in love, he casts aside all secrets. But that means that
he denies the god of friendship; and when Ovid, his heart's poet,
writes to a corrupt friend, he is still tender enough to prefer to her
love-making the intimacy of another person.

Those kisses are common to you with me,

And common to me with you—why does
Any third attempt to share those goods? 7

That he thinks differently than he talks, writes differently than

he talks, I shall be able to show you more clearly when we have
occasion to talk and walk. Yesterday everything was supposed to
be open, and in his last little note he wrote me: "I beg you not to
make us a laughingstock by misusing in any way what I, as an
honest friend, am writing to you—our domestic affairs are none of
your business now—we live quietly here, cheerful, human, and
Christian." I have lived up to this condition so scrupulously that I
have plagued my conscience over innocent words that escaped my
lips and that no one could have understood. Now everything is
supposed to be public. But I shall keep to what he has written.
We are not going to reach an understanding. I am not going to

6
Ovid Heroides, Epis. X V , v. 53-56 (trans, by Grant Showerman; Cam-
bridge, Mass.: Loeb Classical Library, 1 9 1 4 ) .
7
Ovid Amores 2, 5, 31 f. (trans, by Grant Showerman; Cambridge, Mass.:
Loeb Classical Library, 1 9 1 4 ) .

From J. G. Hamann, July 27, 7759 • 37

put up with having to justify myself. Because I cannot justify
myself without damning my judges, and these are the dearest
friends I have on earth.
If I had to justify myself, I would have to argue:

1) that my friend [Berens] has a false conception of himself,

2) an equally false conception of all his fellow men,
3) has had and sail has a false conception of me,
4) has wrongly and one-sidedly judged the issue between us as a
whole and in its context,
5) has not the slightest conception or feeling as to what he and I
have heretofore done and are still doing.

Because I know all the principles and motivations of his actions,

I can forgi-ve what I know and don't know that he has done and
still does, since he, according to his own confession, cannot make
head or tail of anything I say or do. This must seem like bragging
to you and happens quite naturally in the course of events. I am
still too modest, but I can certainly boast with my bleary red eyes
against one with cataracts.
It would be a simple matter, compared with all my work and
effort, to get myself acquitted. But to be condemned to the poison
cup while innocent! Acquittal is what all Xantippes and Sophists
think of—but not Socrates; for to him it was more a matter of the
innocence of his conscience than of its reward, staying alive.
So that sort of Apology is out of the question for me. The God I
serve, whom scoffers take to be clouds, fog, "vapeurs and Hypo-
chondrie," will not be appeased by means of rams' blood and
calves' blood; otherwise I could prove very quickly that your
friend's reason and wit, as my own, is a lascivious calf and his
noble intentions a ram with horns.
What your friend doesn't believe is as little my affair as what I
believe is his affair. On this subject we are thus divided, and the
talk remains simply a matter of trade. A whole world full of
handsome and profound minds, were they nothing but morning
stars and Lucifers, could be neither judge nor expert witness here,
and such a world is not the public of a lyric poet, who smiles at the
applause of his eulogy and remains silent at its faults.
Peter the Great was called upon by the gods to have his own
people imitate the handsome spirit of other nations in certain petty
details. But do we get younger by shaving off our beards? The
truth is not found in mere sensuous judgments.
A subject of a despotic government, says Montesquieu, mustn't

From J. G. Hamann, July 27, 7759•38

know what is good and evil.8 Let him be afraid, as if his prince
were a god who could cast down his body and soul into hell. Were
he to have insights, he would be an unhappy subject for his state;
if he has any virtue, he is a fool to let it be noticed.
A patrician in a Greek republic could not have connections with
the Persian court, if he were to avoid being rebuked as a traitor to
his fatherland.
Are the laws of the vanquished proper for the conqueror? Was
the subject repressed by those laws? Do you grant your fellow
citizens a similar fate?
Abraham is our father—do we work according to Peter's plan?
as the ruler of a little free state in Italy learned to babble of
"commerce" and "the Public"—do your father's works understand
what you say, use your knowledge judiciously, and put your
"alas!" in the right place. We can do more harm with truths than
with errors, if we use the former absurdly and are able to modify
the latter by luck or by habit. That is why many an orthodox soul
can ride to the devil, in spite of the truth, and many a heretic gets
to heaven, despite excommunication by the ruling church or public.
How far a man can be effective in the order of the world is a
task for you, a task, however, to which one dare not turn until one
understands how the soul may be effective in the system of its little
world. Whether "pre-established harmony" is not at least a happier
sign of this miracle than "infiuxus physicus" manages to express,
you may decide for yourself. Meanwhile I am content to deduce
from that, that the Calvinistic church is as little in a position to
make an adherent of your friend as is the Lutheran.
These impressions are nothing but apples that I toss as Galatea
did to tease her lover. I am as little concerned with truth as is your
friend; like Socrates, I believe everything that others believe—but I
aim to disturb other people in their beliefs. That is what the wise
man had to do, because he was surrounded with Sophists and
priests whose sound reason and good works existed only in the
imagination. There are people who imagine themselves healthy
and honorable, just as there are malades imaginaires.
If you want to judge me from Mr. B's critique and my writings,
that is as unphilosophical a judgment as if one were to survey
Luther from head to toe by reading one brochure to the duke of
Wolfenbüttel [we].
8
See Montesquieu, De l'Esprit des Lois, Bk. Ill, chap. 9, and Bk. IV, chap.
3*

From J. G. Hamann, July 27, 7759 • 39

 He who trusts another man's reason more than his own ceases to
be a man and stands in the front ranks of the herd of mimicking
cattle. Even the greatest human genius should seem to us unwor-
thy of imitation. Nature, said Batteux; 9 one mustn't be a Spinozist
in matters of fine arts or in those of government.
Spinoza led an innocent mode of life, too timid in reflection;
had he gone farther, he would have expressed the truth better than
he did. He was incautious in whiling away his time and occupied
himself too much with spider webs; this taste revealed itself in his
thinking, which can only entangle small vermin.
Of what use are the archives of all kings and of all centuries, if
a few lines out of this great fragment, a few notes out of this chaos,
can give us knowledge and power. How happy is the man who
can visit daily the archives of him who can guide the hearts of all
kings like brooks,10 who does not desire in vain to inspect his
marvelous economy, the laws of his kingdom, and so on. A
pragmatic author says about this: "The statutes of the Lord are
more precious than gold, than much fine gold, sweeter than honey
and the dripping honey comb." 1 1 "The law of thy mouth is better
unto me than thousands of gold and silver." "I have more under-
standing than all my teachers, for Thy testimonies are my medita-
tion. I understand more than the ancients, because Thou through
Thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies, for
they are ever with me."
What do you think of this system? I want to make my neighbors
happy. A rich merchant is happy. So that you might become rich
—you need insight and moral virtues.
In my mimicking style, a sterner logic prevails and a connection
more coherent than in the concepts of lively minds. Your ideas are
like the playing colors of shot silk, says Pope.
At this instant I am a leviathan, the monarch or prime minister
of Ocean, on whose breath depends the ebb and flow of the tides.
The next instant I see myself as a whale, created by God, as the
mightiest poet says, to sport in the sea.
I must almost laugh at the choice of a philosopher to try to
change my mind. I look upon the finest logical demonstration as a

9
Charles Batteux, Les Beaux Arts Reduits a urt Me me Principe (Paris,
1 7 4 7 ) , P- 9: "The spirit which is father to the arts must imitate nature."
10
Prov. 21:1.
II
Ps. 1 9 : 1 0 - 1 1 .
12
Ps. 1 1 9 : 72, 99-ioo, 98.

40 • From J. G. Hamann, July 27, IJ59

sensible girl regards a love letter and upon a Baumgartian explana-
tion as a witty courtesan.
I have been imposed upon with dreadful lies, most honored
tutor. I wonder whether your reading so many travel books has
made you credulous or incredulous. One forgives the original
authors, since they do it unaware and, like a comic hero, "speak
prose without knowing it." 1 3 Lies are the mother tongue of our
reason and wit.
One mustn't believe what one sees—let alone what one hears.
When two people are in different situations, they must never fight
about their sense impressions. A stargazer can tell a person on the
fourth story a great deal. The latter must not be so stupid as to
claim the other man's eyes are sick. Come on down: then you'll be
convinced that you didn't see anything. A man in a deep ditch
without water can see stars at bright noon. The man on the
surface does not deny the stars—but all he can see is the lord of the
day. Because the moon is closer to the earth than the sun is, you
tell your moon fairy tales about the glory of God. It is God's glory
to conceal a thing; it is the glory of kings to search out a matter. 14
As one knows the tree by its fruits, so I know that I am a
prophet from the fate that I share with all witnesses: slander,
persecution, contempt.
All at once, my dear tutor!, I want to deprive you of the hope of
bargaining with me about certain matters that I can judge better
than you. I have more data, I base myself on facts, and I know my
authors not out of journals but by carefully and repeatedly wallow-
ing in them; I have not read extracts but the Acts themselves,
wherein the "interests" of the king as well as that of the country
are discussed.
Every animal has its characteristic gait in its thinking and
writing. One proceeds in sentences and pages like a grasshopper;
the other, in a cohesive connection like a slow worm in its track
for the sake of security, which his construction may need. The one
straight, the other crooked. According to Hogarth's system, the
snake line is the basis of all beautiful painting, as I read in the
vignette on the title page. 15
The Attic philosopher, Hume, needs faith if he is to eat an egg

13
Monsieur Jourdain. in Moliere's Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, Act II, scene
6.
14
Prov. 2 5 : 2 .
15
William Hogarth's The Analysis of Beauty (London, 1753).

From J. G. Hamann, July 27, 7759 • 41

and drink a glass of water. 13 He says: Moses, the law of reason, to
which the philosopher appeals, condemns him. Reason is not given
to you to make you wise but to make you aware of your folly and
ignorance, just as the Mosaic law was given to the Jews, not to
make them righteous, but rather to make their sins more sinful to
them. 17 If he needs faith for food and drink, why does he deny
faith when he judges of matters that are higher than sensuous
eating and drinking.
T o explain something by means of custom—custom is a compos-
ite thing consisting of monads. Custom is called "second nature,"
and its phenomena are just as perplexing as nature itself, which it
imitates.
If Hume were only sincere, consistent with himself . All his
errors aside, he is like Saul among the prophets.13 I only want to
quote one passage that will prove that one can preach the truth in
jest, and without awareness or desire, even if one is the greatest
doubter and, like the serpent, 13 wants to doubt even what God
said. Here it is: "The Christian religion not only was at first
attended with miracles, but even at this day cannot be believed by
any reasonable person without one. Mere reason is insufficient to
convince us of its veracity. And whoever is moved by Faith to assent
to it, is conscious of a continued miracle in his own person, which
subverts all the principles of his understanding, and gives him a
determination to believe what is most contrary to custom and
experience . . ." ["custom" and "experience" italicized by
Hamann]. 20
Beg your friend that it becomes him least to laugh at the
eyeglasses of my aesthetic imagination, for I must arm the naked
eyes of my reason with those same glasses.
A tender lover never worries about his expenses, when an affair
breaks up. So if perhaps, according to the new "right of nature" of
old people, the question were one of money, tell him that I have
nothing and must myself live on my father's generosity; that
nevertheless everything belongs to him that God may want to give
me—which, however, I do not follow, because I might then lose
the blessing of the fourth commandment. If I should die, I want to
13
See Hume's Treatise of Human Nature, Bk. I, Pt. Ill, sees, vi and vii.
17
Rom. 7 : 7 - 3 .
13
1 Sam. 1 0 : 1 1 ; 19:24.
19
Gen. 3 : 1 - 5 .
20
Hume's Enquiry concerning Human Understanding, Sec. X, concluding
paragraph.

42 • From J. G. Hamann, July 27, IJ59

bequeath my corpse to him, which he can then, like the Egyptians,
treat as a forfeit, as is supposedly written in the pleasant Happelio
of Greece, Herodotus. 21
The lyre for lyric poetry is the tireli of the lark. If only I could
sing like a nighdngale sings. So there will at least have to be art
critics among the birds, who always sing, and boast of their
incessant diligence.
You know, most honored tutor, that genii have wings and that
they sound just like the applause of the multitude.
If one is permitted to mock God with grace and strength, why
shouldn't one be able to amuse oneself with idols?
Mother Lyse sings: Make mockery of idols false. 22 A philoso-
pher however looks at poets, lovers, and visionaries as a man looks
at a monkey, with pleasure and pity.
As soon as men can understand one another, they can work. He
who confused the languages—who punished the exemplars of
pride out of love and also for the sake of political ends, for the
good of the populace as a friend of humanity—joined them
together again on the day that they slandered men with tongues of
fire, as if intoxicated by sweet wine. 23 The truth did not want
highway robbers to get too close to her; she wore dress upon dress,
so that they had misgivings about ever finding her body. How
terrified they were when they had their wish and saw the truth,
the terrible ghost, before them.
I shall come and pick up this letter in person at the earliest
possible date.

From J. H. Lambert, November 13,

- 33 - VOL. X, pp. 51-54

Dear sir:
I believe that the similarity of our ways of thinking will
excuse this letter, its frankness, and the omission of customary
21
The allusion is to Herodotus' story concerning the treasure of Rhampsin-
itos. See his History, Bk. II, chap. 1 2 1 .
22
From the eighth stanza of the song, "Sei Lob und Ehr' dem Höchsten
Gut," by the famous Johann Schütz (1640-90).
23
Gen. 1 1 : 7 - 9 .

From J. H. Lambert, November 13,1765 • 43

circumlocutions. I need no such artificial mannerisms, since Profes-
sor and Pastor Reccard's 1 trip to Königsberg gives me such a fine
opportunity to express to you the pleasure I feel at our agreement
on so many new thoughts and investigations. You may already
have learned from the Reverend Dr. Reccard, dear sir, that he lives
for the sake of astronomy, and finds his pleasure in the depths of
the firmament. I need not recommend him further.
A year ago Professor Suizer 3 showed me your "Only Possible
Proof of the Existence of God." I found in it my own thoughts
and even the phrases I would choose to express them, and I
decided at once that if you were to see my Organon 3 you too
would find your own likeness in most of my book. Since then, I
have worked out my Architectonic* and the book has been ready
for the printer for a year now. But now I see, dear sir, that you are
going to publish a Proper Method for Metaphysics this coming
Easter. What could be more natural than my desire to see whether
what I have done is in accord with the method you propose? I
have no doubts as to the correctness of the method. The only
difference will be that I do not count under "architectonic" all the
things heretofore treated in metaphysics and that, on the other
hand, a complete metaphysics must include more than has pre-
viously been the case. I take "architectonic" to include all the
simple and primary parts of human knowledge and not only the
principia, which are principles [Gründe] derived from the farm of
knowledge, but also the axiomata and postulata. Axiomata must
be derived from the matter of knowledge and actually only appear
in simple concepts, thinkable in themselves and not self-contradic-
tory, whereas postulata state the universal and necessary possibil-
ities of the synthesis [Zusammensetzung] and uniting [Verbin-

1
Gotthilf Christian Reccard ( 1 7 3 5 - 9 8 ) came to Königsberg as professor of
theology in 1765.
•Johann Georg Suizer ( 1 7 2 0 - 7 9 ) , aesthetician, member of the Berlin
Academy of Sciences, and one of the men to whom Kant rent his inaugural
dissertation for review. His letter to Kant of December 8, 1770 [62], con-
tains some interesting remarks on space and time, but for some reason
Kant did not take his criticisms as seriously as he did those of Lambert and
Mendelssohn.
3
Neues Organon oder Gedanken über die Erforschung und Bezeichnung
des Wahren und dessen Unterscheidung vom Irrthum und Schein ("New
Organon, or Thoughts on the Discovery and Designation of Truth and its
Differentiation from Error and Appearance") (Leipzig, 1764).
4
Anlage zur Architectonic oder Theorie des Einfachen und des Ersten in
der philosophischen und mathematischen Erkenntr.iss ("Oudine of Architec-
tonic, or Theory of the Simple and Primary Elements of Philosophical and
Mathematical Knowledge") (Riga, 1 7 7 1 ) .

44 • From /. H. Lambert, November /J, 7765

dung] of the simple concepts. We do not get to any material
knowledge from the form alone; we shall remain in the realm of
the ideal, stuck in mere nomenclature, if we do not look out for
what is primary and thinkable in itself, the matter or objective
stuff of knowledge.
If the Architectonic were a novel, I think it would already have
found numerous publishers, so true is it that booksellers and
readers corrupt each other, both of them wanting to avoid any
thorough thinking. Hereabouts one philosophizes exclusively
about so-called belles-lettres. Poets, painters, and musicians find the
vocabulary of their own arts too lowly, and each one therefore
borrows the ardstic terms of the other. The poet speaks of nothing
but coloration, the mixing of hues, brush strokes, composition and
design, style, shade, and so on. The musician speaks of coloration,
expression, wording, the fiery and witty "ideas" expressed by the
notes, the "pedantry" of the fugue, and so on. He has, just like the
painter, a "style" in which he can sound sublime, moderate,
middle-class, heroic, crawling, and so on. It is such metaphors,
which no one understands or explains, that give these arts their
refined and elevated character; and just for that reason one ac-
quires a learned and "sublime" appearance when one uses them.
Since no one has yet troubled to sift out what is intelligible in such
expressions and restate it in its proper terms, one can use them all
the more boldly. Explicadon cannot be carried out to the point
where colors become comprehensible to the blind or sounds to the
deaf. Yet this is evidently the intention of such metaphors.
But I come back to the Architectonic. I see from various indica-
tions that Mr. Kanter 5 is a man who will also publish philosophy
and larger works, and for this reason I wanted to give him a
number of things to print, though at the moment I have no other
manuscript. Whether it would be advantageous or all the same,
because of the costs, to have it printed in Leipzig would depend on
the difference in prices and the freight charges. If it could be done
in Leipzig, there are various other reasons why that would be best.
In my ignorance I take the liberty of forwarding the enclosed
sheet, in case Mr. Kanter might be inclined to publish the work
and could deliver it by Easter. The honorarium would be around
two hundred thalers and is the more moderate because the work
will necessarily create a stir.
I can tell you with confidence, dear sir, that your ideas about the
3
Johann Jakob Kanter, ( 1 7 3 8 - 8 6 ) , bookdeaier and publisher in Königs-
berg.

From J. H. Lambert, November 13,1765 • 45

origin of the world, which you mention in the preface 3 to Only
Possible Proof . . . were not known to mc before. What I said on
page 149 of the Cosmological Letters 7 dates from 1749. Right after
supper I went to my room, contrary to my habit then, and from
my window I looked at the starry sky, especially the Milky Way. I
wrote down on a quarto sheet the idea that occurred to me then,
that the Milky Way could be viewed as an ecliptic of the fixed
stars, and it was this note I had before me when I wrote the
Letters in 1760. In 1761 I heard in Nürnberg that an Englishman
had had similar thoughts a few years before,3 which he had had
printed in letters to another Englishman, but that these ideas were
quite undeveloped and the translation that someone in Nürnberg
had begun had not been completed. I answered that the Cosmolog-
ical Letters would not arouse interest until perhaps some future
astronomer discovers something in the sky that cannot be ex-
plained in any other way. And when the system will have been
verified a posteriori, then the lovers of Greek literature will labor
without rest until they can prove that the whole system was
already known to Philolaus or Anaximander or some Greek wise
man or other and that it has only been rediscovered and polished
up in more recent times. For these people can find everything
among the ancients, as soon as you tell them what to look for. I
am more surprised, however, that Newton did not stumble on the
idea, since he did know of the difficulty about the fixed stars.
I have a number of wishes, dear sir. One of them I shall not
express, since I don't know whether and how far the present
constitution of things will let it be so. However, I can say that the
wish is not mine alone. The other thing is that it would be very

3
See Kant's Werk?, II, 68 f., for the preface to Kant's Only Possible Proof
of the Existence of God, in which a footnote refers to his earlier General
Natural History and Theory of the Heavens (Allgemeine Naturgeschichte und
Theorie des Himmels) and to Lambert's agreement with ideas on the
formation of the world, the Milky Way, and the fixed stars, as expressed in
Lambert's Cosmological Letters of 1 7 6 1 . Kant's General Natural History was
published in 1755, but the publisher went bankrupt just as the book came out.
As a result, Kant's theories, specifically the nebular hypothesis, were not well
known to Lambert and other physicists. Laplace, forty-one years later, does not
mention Kant's book.
7
Cosmological Letters on the Establishment of the Universe (Cosmologische
Briefe über die Einrichtung des Weltbauses [Augsburg, 1 7 6 1 ] ) .
3
An Original Theory and New Hypothesis of the Universe, by Thomas
Wright of Durham ( 1 7 5 0 ) . Kant credits this work with stimulating his own
composition of the General Natural History. Kant knew of Wright's ideas
from a 1 7 5 1 review of his book in a Hamburg newspaper.

46 • From J. H. Lambert, November /j, 7765

pleasant, if time and your affairs allow it, to exchange letters with
you. Cosmology, metaphysics, physics, mathematics, belles-lettres,
and their principles, and so on, in short, every quest of new ideas,
and every occasion that I might be of service to you. We have
heretofore hit upon almost the same investigations without know-
ing it. Would we not make better progress by advising one
another in advance? H o w easily one reaches agreement in the
consequences when one is agreed in the starting points, and how
emphatic one can then be. Wolf has brought approximately half of
the method of mathematics into philosophy. The other half re-
mains to be done, so we know what to strive for.
I am honored to be, with sincere respect, dear sir,

J . H . LAMBERT
, Professor and member of the
Royal Academy of Sciences
Berlin

To J. H. Lambert, December 31, 1765

- 34 - VOL. X, pp. 54-57

Dear sir:

Nothing could have been more welcome and pleasant for

me than to receive the letter with which you have honored me;
for, in all sincerity, I hold you to be the greatest genius in
Germany, a man capable of important and enduring contributions
to the investigations on which I too am working. I beg you also
not to think me negligent for my delay in answering. Mr. Kanter,
whom I informed of your proposal, asked me to postpone my
letter until he might indicate his final decision to you in a letter of
his own. H e recognizes very well the significance of an association
with such a distinguished writer as you, and ,he is willing enough
to undertake the publication. But he would like to postpone it,
since he does not have enough time before the Easter book fair
and he is overwhelmed with other commitments. He has gone into
partnership with his former employee, Mr. Hartknoch, who man-
aged his affairs in Riga till now, and he has assured me that he

To ]. H. Lambert, December 31,1765 ' 47

will send you his explanation of the matter just mendoned right
away.
It is no small pleasure for me thac you have noticed the fortu-
nate agreement of our methods, an agreement that I have often
observed in your writings. It has served to increase my confidence,
since it is a logical confirmation that shows that our methods
satisfy the touchstone of universal human reason. I value gready
your invitation to share our plans with each other, and since I feel
highly honored by this proposal I shall not fail to make use of it.
For unless I deceive myself I think I have finally reached some
conclusions I can trust. But the talent one sees in you, dear sir,
combining an exceptional acuteness for details with a breadth of
vision of the whole, is universally admitted, so that your willing-
ness to unite your powers with my small endeavors allows me to
hope for important instruction, for myself and perhaps for the
world as well.
For a number of years I have carried on my philosophical
reflections on every earthly subject, and after many capsizings, on
which occasions I always looked for the source of my error or tried
to get some insight into the nature of my blunder, I have finally
reached the point where I feel secure of the method that has to be
followed if one wants to escape that delusion of knowledge that
has us constantly expecting to reach a conclusion, yet just as
constantly makes us retrace our steps, a delusion from which the
devastating disunity among supposed philosophers also arises. For
we lack a common standard with which to procure agreement from
them. Now, whatever the nature of the investigation before me, I
always look to see what it is I have to know in order to solve a
particular problem, and what degree of knowledge is possible for a
given question, so that the judgment I make is often more limited
but also more definite and secure than is customary in philosophy.
What I am working on is mainly a book on the proper method of
metaphysics (and thereby also the proper method for the whole of
philosophy). Apropos, I must tell you, dear sir, that Mr. Kanter, in
true bookseller's fashion, did not hesitate to announce the title in
the Leipzig catalog when he heard from me that I might have a
work with that title ready for the next Easter fair. I have, however,
departed so widely from my original plan that I now want to
postpone this book a little while, for I regard it as the culmination
of my whole project. My problem is this: I noticed in my work
that, though I had plenty of examples of erroneous judgments to

48 • To /. H. Lambert, December j/, 7765

illustrate my theses concerning mistaken procedures, I did not
have examples to show in concreto what the proper procedure
should be. Therefore, in order to avoid the accusation that I am
merely hatching new philosophical schemes, I must first publish a
few littie essays, the contents of which I have already worked out.
The first of these will be the "Metaphysical Foundations of Natu-
ral Philosophy" and the "Metaphysical Foundations of Practical
Philosophy." 1 With the publication of these essays, the main work
will not have to be burdened excessively with detailed and yet
inadequate examples.
The moment for ending my letter has arrived. I shall in the
future have the honor of presenting you, dear sir, with parts of my
project, and I shall request your very respected judgment.
You complain with reason, dear sir, of the eternal trifling of
punsters and the wearying chatter of today's reputed writers, with
whom the only evidence of taste is that they talk about taste. I
think, though, that this is the euthanasia of false philosophy, that
it is perishing amid these foolish pranks, and it would be far worse
to have it carried to the grave ceremoniously, with serious but
dishonest hair-splitting. Before true philosophy can come to life,
the old one must destroy itself; and just as putrefaction signifies
the total dissolution that always precedes the start of a new
creation, so the current crisis in learning magnifies my hopes that
the great, long-awaited revolution in the sciences is not too far off.
For there is no shortage of good minds.
Professor Reccard, who pleased me with his kind visit and also
with your honored letter, is well liked here and universally re-
spected as he deserves to be, though certainly there are few people
able to appreciate his full worth. He sends his regards, and I am,
with the greatest respect, dear sir,

Your most devoted servant,

I. KANT
P.S. As I had finished this letter, Mr. Kanter sent over the letter he
owes you, which I am enclosing.

1
Kant's Metaphysiche Anfangsgründe der Naturwissenschaft did not in fact
appear unti! twenty years later, 1786. No "metaphysical foundations of
practical philosophy" was ever published by Kant. See L . W . Beck's Commen-
tary on Kant's Critique of Practical Reason (Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, i960), chap, i, for a full account of Kant's plans, and changes of plans,
for a book on the foundations of ethics.

From J. H. Lambert,N o v e m b e r1 3 , 1 7 6 5• 49
From f . H. Lambert, February IJ66
- 37 - VOL. X, Pp. 62-6j

Dear sir,

I am in every way obliged to you for your most treasured

letter of December 3 1 and should like especially to render my
sincerest thanks for your efforts in connection with Mr. Kanter. If
it suits him I should be very pleased to see him here at Easter and
to make the necessary appointments with him. I shall also have
various matters to discuss with him in connection with the calen-
der revision that I have undertaken for the Academy. Might I beg
you, sir, to inform Mr. Kanter of ail this when you have time. I
have nothing else to say in answer to his letter. But do think up
ways in which, perhaps because of my location [in Berlin], I can
be of service to you, so that I shall not remain your debtor.
There is no denying it: whenever a science needs methodical
reconstruction and cleansing, it is always metaphysics. The univer-
sal, which is supposed to reign in that science, leads us to suppose
ourselves omniscient, and thus we venture beyond the limits of
possible human knowledge. I think this shows that if we want to
avoid omissions, premature inferences, and circular reasoning, we
had better work piecemeal, demanding to know at every step only
what is capable of being known. I think it has been an unrecog-
nized but perennial error in philosophy to force the facts and,
instead of leaving anything unexplained, to load up with conjec-
tures, thus actually delaying the discovery of the truth.
The method that your writings exhibit, sir, is undeniably the
only method that one can use with security and progress. I see it
approximately as follows (and this is also how I set it forth in the
last part of my Dianoiologie [Neues Organon I, 386-450]). . . .
[Lambert's account of his method is lengthy and not very interest-
ing. He warns against hasty generalization and the overlooking of
ambiguities and urges that philosophical investigations begin with
"simple" rather than "complex" things.]
But I wanted to make some more general remarks. The first
concerns the question whether or to what extent knowing the

50 • From J. H. Lambert, February 3,1766

form of knowledge leads to knowing the matter. This question is
important for several reasons. First, our knowledge of the form, as
in logic, is as incontestable and right as is geometry. Second, only
that part of metaphysics that deals with form has remained undis-
puted, whereas strife and hypotheses have arisen when material
knowledge is at issue. Third, the basis of material knowledge has
not, in fact, been adequately shown. Wolf assumed nominal defini-
tions and, without noticing it, shoved aside or concealed all diffi-
culties in them. Fourth, even if formal knowledge does not abso-
lutely determine any material knowledge, it nevertheless deter-
mines the ordering of the latter, and to that extent we ought to be
able to infer from formal knowledge what would and what would
not serve as a possible beginning. Fifth, a knowledge of form can
also help us to determine what belongs together and what must be
put into distinct categories, and so on.
In thinking over these relationships of form and matter, I
arrived at the following propositions, which I only want to list
here.
1. Form gives us principles, whereas matter gives us axioms and
postulates.
2. Formal knowledge must begin with simple concepts, which
cannot be internally self-contradictory, since they are simple in
themselves and conceivable and independent in themselves.
3. Axioms and postulates actually contain only simple concepts.
For synthesized concepts [zusammengesetze Begriffe] are not
conceivable a priori in themselves. The possibility of synthesizing
must first of all be derived from the principles [ Grundsätzen ] and
postulates.
4. Either no synthesized concepts are conceivable or the possibil-
ity of synthesizing must already be conceivable in the simple
concepts.
5. The simple concepts are individual concepts. For genera and
species contain the fundamenta divisionum et subdivisionum
within them and, just for that reason, are more highly synthesized
the more abstract and universal they are. The concept of "thing,"
ens, is of all concepts the most synthesized.
6. According to the Leibnizian analysis, which proceeds by way
of abstraction and analogies, one arrives at more highly synthe-
sized concepts the more one abstracts, and for the most part, at
nominal relational concepts that concern the form more than the
matter.

59•From J. H. Lambert, February 3 , 1 7 6 6

 7- On the other hand, since form consists of nothing but rela-
tional concepts, it can give an account of nothing but simple
relational concepts.
8. Accordingly, the really objectively simple concepts must be
found by a direct intuition [ Anschauen ] of them, that is, we must,
in good anatomical fashion, assemble all the concepts and let each
one pass through inspection, in order to see whether, when we
ignore all the relations of a given concept to other concepts, there
are several concepts included in it or whether it is indeed simple
[einförmig].
9. Simple concepts are like space and time, that is to say, totally
different from one another, easily recognizable, easy to name, and
practically impossible to confuse, if we abstract from their degrees
and concentrate only on their kinds [quale]. And thus I believe
that not a single one of those concepts remains unnamed in cur
language.
With these propositions in mind I have no hesitation in saying
that Locke was on the right track when he sought the simple
elements in our knowledge. But we need to eliminate the distor-
tions caused by linguistic usage. For example, there is an unde-
niably individual, simple something in the concept of extension—
something that is not found in any other concept. There is some-
thing simple in the concepts of duration, existence, movement,
unity, solidity, and so on, something belonging uniquely to each
of these concepts, that can readily be distinguished in thought
from the many relational concepts that may accompany them.
Axioms and postulates that lay the groundwork for scientific
knowledge are also indicated by these simples and are all of the
same type as Euclid's.
The other remarks I wanted to make concern the comparison of
philosophical and mathematical knowledge. I realized that where
mathematicians have succeeded in opening up a new field that
philosophers previously thought they had entirely completed, the
mathematicians not only had to reverse everything the philoso-
phers had done but also had to reconstruct everything on simple
foundations, so much so that philosophy was entirely useless and
contemptible to them. The single condition that only homogene-
ous elements can be added implies that all philosophical proposi-
tions whose predicates do not apply uniformly to their subjects arc
rejected by the mathematician. And there are entirely too many
such propositions in philosophy: A watch is called "gold" when

52 • From J. H. Lambert, February 3, IJ66

even the casing is hardly made of gold. Euclid does not derive his
elements from either the definition of space or that of geometry
but begins instead with lines, angles, and so on, the simple
elements in the dimensions of space. In mechanics, we make little
use of the definition of motion; rather, we immediatly consider
what accompanies motion, viz., a body, the direction, velocity,
time, force, and space, and these elements are compared with one
another in order to discover principles. I have been led to the
conclusion that as long as a philosopher does not carry his analysis
of measurable objects to the point where the mathematician can
find unities, measures, and dimensions he must surely still be
hanging on to some confusion, or at least the predicates of his
propositions do not apply uniformly to the subjects.
I await impatiently the publication of both your "First Prin-
ciples of Natural Philosophy and of Practical Philosophy" and I
agree entirely that a genuine method commends itself most effec-
tively when displayed in actual examples, since one can then
illustrate it with individual cases, whereas it might well be too
abstract when expressed logically. But once the examples are there,
logical remarks about them become highly serviceable. Examples
perform the same job that figures do in geometry, for the latter,
too, are actually examples or special cases.
I close now and want to assure you that our continued corre-
spondence would be exceptionally pleasing to me. I remain most
eagerly at your service, sir,

Your most devoted servant,

J. H . LAMBERT
Berlin
At the corner of Cronenstrasse and
Schinkenbrücke in the Bethgenschen house

53•From J. H. Lambert, February 3,1766

To Moses Mendelssohn, April 8, ij66
- 39 - VOL. x, pp. 69-73

Dear sir,
For your kind efforts in forwarding the writings I sent
you, I again send my sincerest thanks and my readiness to recipro-
cate in any way that I might be of service.1
The unfavorable impression you express concerning the tone of
my little book proves to me that you have formed a good opinion
of the sincerity of my character, and your very reluctance to see
that character ambiguously expressed is both precious and pleas-
ing to me. In fact, you shall never have cause to change this
opinion. For though there may be flaws that even the most
steadfast determination cannot eradicate completely, I shall cer-
tainly never become a fickle or fraudulent person, after having
devoted the largest part of my life to studying how to despise those
things that tend to corrupt one's character. Losing the self-respect
that stems from a sense of honesty would therefore be the greatest
evil that could, but most certainly shall not, befall me. Although I
am absolutely convinced of many things that I shall never have the
courage to say, I shall never say anything I do not believe.
I don't know whether, in reading this rather untidily completed
book, you noticed certain indications of my reluctance to write it.
For I saw that my prying inquiry into Swedenborg's "visions"
would make a great stir among people who knew him personally

1
T h e letter is a reply to Mendelssohn's letter, not extant, of some time
between February 7 and April 8. On the former date, Kant replied to another
letter of Mendelssohn's (also not extant). He expressed his pleasure at the
prospect of a correspondence with Mendelssohn and asked him to forward
some copies of Kant's Dreams of a Ghost-Seer Explained by Dreams oj
Metaphysics (Träume eines Geistersehers, erläutert durch Träume der Meta-
physic^ [ 1 7 6 6 ] ) to various gentlemen (including Lambert). Kant referred to
the book as einige Träumerey ("some reveries") and added: "It is, as it were,
a casual piece, containing not so much a working out of these questions as a
hasty sketch of the way they should be decided." He asked for Mendelssohn's
opinion. As is evident from Kant's reply, the opinion was not what Kant had
hoped. Mendelssohn was offended by what he took to be the tone of Kant's
essay, "between jest and earnest."

54 • To Moses Mendelssohn, April 8, IJ66

or from his letters and published works and that I would never be
at peace from their incessant questions until I had got rid of the
alleged cognitions mentioned in all these anecdotes.
It was in fact difficult for me to devise the right style with which
to clothe my thoughts, so as not to expose myself to derision. It
seemed to me wisest to forestall other people's mockery by first of
all mocking myself; and this procedure was actually quite honest,
since my mind is really in a state of conflict on this matter. As
regards the spirit reports, I cannot help but be charmed by stories
of this kind; but as regards the rational bases of such reports, I
cannot rid myself of one or two suspicions of their correctness—
leaving aside the absurdities, fancies, and unintelligible notions
that undermine their value.
As to my expressed opinion of the value of metaphysics in
general, perhaps here and again my words were not sufficiently
careful and qualified. But I cannot conceal my repugnance, and
even a certain hatred, toward the inflated arrogance of whole
volumes full of what are passed off nowadays as insights; for I am
fully convinced that the path that has been selected is completely
wrong, that the methods now in vogue must infinitely increase the
amount of folly and error in the world, and that even the total
extermination of all these chimerical insights would be less harmful
than the dream science itself, with its confounded contagion.
I am far from regarding metaphysics itself, objectively consid-
ered, to be trivial or dispensable; in fact I have been convinced for
some time now that I understand its nature and its proper place in
human knowledge and that the true and lasting welfare of the
human race depends on it—an appraisal that would seem fantastic
and audacious to anyone but you. It befits brilliant men such as
you to create a new epoch in this science, to begin completely
afresh, to draw up the plans for this heretofore haphazardly
constructed discipline with a master's hand. As for the stock of
knowledge currently available, which is now publicly up for sale, I
think it best to pull off its dogmatic dress and treat its pretended
insights skeptically. My feeling is not the result of frivolous incon-
stancy but of an extensive investigation. Admittedly, my suggested
treatment will serve a merely negative purpose, the avoidance of
stupidity [stultitia caruisse], but it will prepare the way for a
positive one. Although the innocence of a healthy but uninstructed
understanding requires only an organon in order to arrive at
insight, a propaedeutic [catarcticon ] is needed to get rid of the

To Moses Mendelssohn, April 8, IJ66 • 55

pseudo insight of a spoiled head. If I may be permitted to mention
something of my own efforts, I think I have reached some impor-
tant insights in this discipline since I last published anything on
questions of this sort, insights that will establish the proper proce-
dure for metaphysics. My notions are not merely general ones but
provide a specific criterion. T o the extent that my other distrac-
tions permit, I am gradually preparing to submit these ideas to
public scrutiny, but principally to yours; for I flatter myself that if
you could be persuaded to collaborate with me (and I include in
this your noticing my errors) the development of the sciences
might be significantly encouraged.
It suffices for my not inconsiderable pleasure that my superficial
little essay will have the good fortune to entice "Basic Reflec-
tions" 2 from you on this point, and I regard it as useful enough if
it occasions deeper investigations in others. I am sure that the main
point of all these considerations will not escape you, though I
could have made it more clear if I had not had the paper printed
one page at a time. I could not always foresee what would lead to
a clearer understanding of later pages; moreover, certain explana-
tions had to be left out, because they would have occurred in the
wrong place. In my opinion, everything depends on our seeking
out the data of the problem, how is the soul present in the world,
both in material and in non-material things. In other words, we
need to discover the nature of that power of external agency, and
the nature of that receptivity or capacity of being affected by an
external agency, of which the union of a soul with a human body
is only a special case. Since we have no experience through which
we can get to know such a subject in its various relationships (and
experience is the only thing that can disclose the subject's external
power or capacity), and since the harmony of the soul with the
body discloses only the counterrelationship of the inner condition
(thinking or willing) of the soul to the outer condition of the
material body (not a relation of one external activity to another
external activity) and consequently is not at all capable of solving
the problem, the upshot of all this is that one is led to ask whether
it is intrinsically possible to determine these powers of spiritual
substances by means of a priori rational judgments. This investiga-
tion resolves itself into another, namely, whether one can by means
of rational inferences discover a primitive power, that is, the

- A reference to Mendelssohn's Phatdon ( 1 7 6 7 ) . In the second dialogue,

Mendelssohn argues that a material thing cannot think.

To Moses Mendelssohn, April 8, IJ66•56

primary, fundamental relationship of cause to effect. And since I
am certain that this is impossible, it follows that, if these powers
are not given in experience, they can only be invented. But this
invention, an heuristic fiction or hypothesis, can never even be
proved to be possible, and it is a mere delusion to argue from the
mere fact of its conceivability (which has its plausibility only
because no impossibility can be derived from the concept either).
Such a delusion is Swedenborg's reverie [Träumerei], though I
myself would try to defend it if someone were to argue it impos-
sible. My analogy between a spiritual substance's actual moral
influx and the force of universal gravitation is not intended seri-
ously; but it is an example of how far one can go in philosophical
fabrications, completely unhindered, when there are no data, and
it illustrates how important it is, in such exercises, first to decide
what is required for a solution of the problem and whether the
necessary data for a solution may be lacking. If, for the time being,
we put aside arguments based on propriety or on the divine
purposes and ask whether it is ever possible to attain such knowl-
edge of the nature of the soul from our experience-—a knowledge
sufficient to inform us of the manner in which the soul is present
in the universe, in relation both to matter and to beings of its own
sort—we shall then see whether birth (in the metaphysical sense),
life, and death are matters we can ever hope to understand by
means of reason. Here we must decide whether there really are not
limitations established by the bounds of our reason, or rather, the
bounds of the experience that contains the data for our reason. But
I shall stop now and commend myself to your friendship. I beg
also that you convey to Professor Sultzer my particular respect and
the desire to hear from him. I am, most respectfully,

Your most devoted servant,

I. KANT
Königsberg

To Moses Mendelssohn, August 1 6 , 1 7 8 3 • 57

To J. H. Lambert, September 2, ijjo
- 57 - VOL. x, pp. 96-99

Noble sir,
Honored professor,
I am taking advantage of the opportunity I have of
sending you my [inaugural] dissertation by way of the respondent
of that work, a capable Jewish student of mine. At the same time,
I should like to destroy an unpleasant misunderstanding caused by
my protracted delay in answering your valued letter. The reason
was none other than the striking importance of what I gleaned
from that letter, and this occasioned the long postponement of a
suitable answer. Since I had spent much time investigating the
science [metaphysics] on which you focused your attention there,
for I was attempting to discover the nature and if possible the
evident and immutable laws of that science, it could not have
pleased me more that a man of such discriminating acuteness and
universality of insight, with whose method of thinking I had often
been in agreement, should offer his services tor a united testing
and pursuit of the pian for the secure construction of this science. I
could not persuade myself to send you anything less than a clear
summary of how I view this science and a definite idea of the
proper method for it. The carrying out of this intention entangled
me in investigations that were new to me and, what with my
exhausting academic work, necessitated one postponement after
another. For perhaps a year now, I believe I have arrived at a
position that, I flatter myself, I shall never have to change, even
though extensions will be needed, a position from which all sorts
of metaphysical questions can be examined according to wholly
certain and easy criteria. The extent to which these questions can
or cannot be resolved will be decidable with certainty.
I could summarize this whole science, as far as its nature, the
sources of its judgments, and the method with which one can
progress in it are concerned; and this summary could be made in a
rather small space, namely, in a few letters, to be submitted to your
thorough and knowledgeable judgment. It is that judgment for

58 • To }. H. Lambert, September 2, 1770

which I beg here, anticipating the most excellent results from your
criticism. But since in a project of such importance a little expendi-
ture of time is no loss at all, if one can thereby produce something
complete and lasting, I must beg you again to believe my good
intentions to be unaltered but again to grant me more time to
carry them out. In order to recover from a lengthy indisposition
that has bothered me all summer, and at the same time to keep
busy during odd hours, I have resolved this winter to put in order
and complete my investigations of pure moral philosophy, in
which no empirical principles are to be found, the "Metaphysics of
Morals." It will in many respects pave the way for the most
important views involved in the reconstruction of metaphysics and
seems to be just as necessary in view of the current state of the
practical sciences, whose principles are so poorly defined. After I
have completed this work I shall make use of the permission you
gave me, to present you with my essays in metaphysics, as far as I
have come with them. I assure you that I shall take no proposition
as valid which does not seem to you completely warranted. For
unless this agreement can be won, the objective will not have been
reached, viz., to ground this science on indubitable, wholly incon-
testable rules. For the present it would please and instruct me to
have your judgment of some of the main points in my dissertation,
since I intend to add a few pages to it before the publisher presents
it at the coming book fair. I want both to correct the errors caused
by hasty completion and to make my meaning more determinate.
The first and fourth sections can be scanned without careful
consideration; but in the second, third, and fifth, though my
indisposition prevented me from working them out to my satisfac-
tion, there seems to me to be material deserving more careful and
extensive exposition. The most universal laws of sensibility play an
unjustifiably large role in metaphysics, where, after all, it is merely
concepts and principles (Grundsätze) of pure reason that are at
issue. A quite special, though purely negative science, general
phenomenology (phaenomologia generalis), seems to me to be
presupposed by metaphysics. In it the principles of sensibility, their
validity and their limitations, would be determined, so that these
principles could not be confusedly applied to objects of pure
reason, as has heretofore almost always happened. For space and
time, and the axioms for considering all things under these condi-
tions, are, with respect to empirical knowledge and all objects of
sense, very real; they are actually the conditions of all appearances

To /. H. Lambert, September 2, IJJO • 59

and of ail empirical judgments. But extremely mistaken conclu-
sions emerge if we apply the basic concepts of sensibility to
something that is not at ail an object of sense, that is, something
thought through a universal or a pure concept of the understand-
ing as a thing or substance in general, and so on. It seems to me,
too (and perhaps I shall be fortunate enough to win your agree-
ment here by means of my very inadequate essay), that such a
propaedeutic discipline, which would preserve metaphysics proper
from any admixture of the sensible, could be made usefully ex-
plicit and evident without great strain.
I beg your future friendship and kind interest in my modest
scientific efforts. I hope I may be permitted to commend to you
Mr. Marcus Herz, who is delivering this letter and who would like
your help with his studies. He is a young man of excellent
character, industrious and capable, who adheres to and profits
from every piece of good advice.
I am, most respectfully,

Your most devoted servant,

I. KANT
Königsberg

From /. H. Lambert, October IJJO

-61 - VOL. X, pp. 103-10

Dear sir,
Your letter and also your dissertation concerning the
sensible and intellectual world gave me great pleasure, especially
because I regard the latter as a sample of how metaphysics and
ethics could be improved. I hope very much that your new position
may occasion more of such essays, since you have not decided to
publish it separately.
You remind me of my suggestion of five years ago, of a possible
future collaboration. I wrote to Mr. Holland 1 about it at that time,
and would have written to some other scholars, too, had not the
book catalogs shown me that belles-lettres are displacing everything

1
Georg Jonathan Kolland ( 1 7 4 2 - 8 4 ) , mathematician and philosopher.

60 • From J. H. Lambert, October 13, IJJO

else. I think that the fad is passing, however, and that people are
ready to take up the serious disciplines once more. I have already
heard from some people who never read anything but poems,
novels, and literary things at the universities that, when they had
to get down to business, they found themselves in an entirely new
country and had to start their studies all over again. These people
are in a position to know what needs to be done at the universities.
In the meantime I planned to write some little treatises myself,
to invite the collaboration of some scholars with similar views, and
thus to create a private society where all those things that tend to
ruin public learned societies would be avoided. The actual mem-
bers would have been a small number of selected philosophers,
who would, however, have had to be at home in physics and
mathematics as well, since in my view an authentic metaphysician
is like a man who lacks one of his senses, as the blind lack
sight. . . . The members would have expressed their opinions on
difficult matters in the form of questions, or in such a manner that
room would have been left for rejoinders and objections. . . .
But I turn now to your excellent dissertation, since you particu-
larly wanted to have my thoughts about it. If I have correctly
understood the matter, certain propositions are basic, and these are,
briefly, as follows:
The first main thesis is that human knowledge, by virtue of
being knowledge and by virtue of having its own form, is divided
in accordance with the old phaenomenon and noumenon distinc-
tion and, accordingly, arises out of two entirely different and, so to
speak, heterogeneous sources, so that what stems from the one
source can never be derived from the other. Knowledge that comes
from the senses thus is and remains sensible, just as knowledge
that comes from the understanding remains peculiar to the un-
derstanding.
My thoughts on this proposition have to do mainly with the
question of universality, namely, to what extent these two ways of
knowing are so completely separated that they never come to-
gether. If this is to be shown a priori, it must be deduced from the
nature of the senses and of the understanding. But since we first
have to become acquainted with these a posteriori, it will depend
on the classification and enumeration of [their] objects [obiecte].
This seems also to be the path you take in the third section. In
this sense it seems to me quite correct to say that truths that
integrally involve space and location [Ort] are of an entirely

From ]. H. Lambert, October /j, ijyo • . 61

different sort from those that must be regarded as eternal and
immutable. I merely mentioned this in my Alethiology, No. 81.87
[in Lambert's Neues Organon (1764)], for it is not so easy to give
the reason why truths integrally involve time and location in this
way and in no other, even though the question is extremely
important.
But there I was talking only of existing things. The truths of
geometry and chronometry, however, involve time and location
essentially, not merely accidentally; and in so far as the concepts of
space and time are eternal, the truths of geometry and chronome-
try belong to the class of eternal, immutable truths also.
Now you ask whether these truths are sensuous? I can very well
grant that they are. The difficulty seems to lie in the concepts of
time and location and could be expressed without reference to this
question. The first four statements in your No. 14 seem to me
quite correct; 3 and it is especially good that you insist on the true
concept of continuity, which metaphysics seems to have completely
forgotten,3 since people wanted to bring it in as the idea of a set of
connected simple entities [Complexus Entium Simplicium] and
therefore had to alter the concept. The difficulty actually lies in che
fifth statement. You do not offer the statement, time is the subjec-
tive condition [Tempus est subiectiva conditio], and so on, as a
definition.4 It is nevertheless supposed to indicate something pecu-
liar and essential to time. Time is undeniably a conditio sine qua
non and belongs therefore to the representation of every sensible

2
The propositions are as follows: ( 1 ) The idea of time does not originate
in, but is presupposed by, the senses. (2) The idea of time is singular, not
general. (3) The idea of time, therefore, is an intuition . . . not a sensuous
but a pure intuition. (4) Time is a continuous quantity. . . . (Kant's Werk.e,
II, 398 ff.)
3
In discussing the fourth proposition (see n. 2), Kant argues: " A contin-
uous quantity is one that does not consist of simple parts. . . . The metaphys-
ical [Leibnizian] law of continuity is this: All changes are continuous or
Sowing, that is, opposite states succeed each other only by an intermediate
series of different states." Lambert is criticising the Wolffian metaphysics,
which maintained that "if in a composite the parts are arranged next to each
other in turn in such an order that it is absolutely impossible that others be
placed between them in some other order, then the composite is called a
continuum. By the agency of God, continuity precludes the possible existence
of a distinct part intermediate between two adjoining parts." (See Christian
Wolff, Philosophia prima, Sive Ontologia [173Ö], No. 554, and Cosmologia
Generalis [ 1 7 3 1 ], Nos. 176 ff.)
* " T i m e is the subjective condition necessary, because of the nature of the
human mind, for co-ordinating any sensible objects among themselves by
means of a certain law." (Kant's IVer^e, II, 400.)

62 • From ]. H. Lambert, October 13, IJ-JO

object and of every object integrally involving time and location.
Time is also particularly necessary in order that any human being
have such representations. It is also a pure intuition [Intuitus
purus], not a substance, not a mere relation. It is distinct [sie
differiert] from duration [dauer] in the way location is distinct
from space. It is a particular determination of duration. Moreover,
it is not an accident that perishes along with substances, and so on.
These propositions are all correct. They lead to no definition, and
the best definition will always be that time is time, since we do not
want to involve ourselves in logical circularity by defining it in
terms of its relations to things that are in time. Time is a more
determinate concept than duration, and for that reason, too, it
leads to more negative propositions. For example, whatever is in
time has some duration [dauert]. But the reverse does not hold, in
so far as one demands a beginning and an end for "being in time."
Eternity is not in time, since its duration is absolute. Any sub-
stance that has absolute duration is likewise not in time. Every-
thing that exists has duration, but not everything is in time, and so
on. With a concept as clear as that of time, we do not lack
propositions. The trouble seems to lie only in the fact that one
must simply think time and duration and not define them. All
changes are bound to time and are inconceivable without time. 2{
changes are real, then time is real, whatever it may be. If time is
unreal, then no change can be real. I think, though, that even an
idealist must grant at least that changes really exist and occur in
his representations, for example, their beginning and ending. Thus
time cannot be regarded as something unreal. It is not a substance,
and so on, but a finite determination of duration, and like dura-
tion, it is somehow real in whatever this reality may consist. If this
cannot be identified without danger of confusion, by means of the
words we use for other things, it will either require the introduc-
tion of a new primitive term or it will have to remain unnamed.
The reality of time and of space seems to have something so
simple and peculiar about it that it can only be thought and not
defined. Duration appears to be inseparable from existence. What-
ever exists has a duration that is either absolute or of a certain
span, and conversely, whatever has duration must necessarily,
while it lasts, exist. Existing things that do not have absolute
duration are temporally ordered, in so far as they begin, continue,
change, cease, and so on. Since I cannot deny reality to changes,
until somebody teaches me otherwise, I also cannot say that time

From ]. H. Lambert, October / j , /770 • 63

(and this is true of space as well) is only a helpful device for
human representations. And as for the colloquial phrases in use
that involve the notion of time, it is always well to notice the
ambiguities that the word "time" has in them. For example,

A long time is an interval of time or of two moments [inter-

vallum temporis vel duorum momentorum j and means "a definite
duration."
At this or that time, and so on, is either a definite moment, as in
astronomy, the time of setting, of rising [tempus immersionis,
emersionis], and so on, or a smaller or larger interval preceding or
following a moment, an indefinite duration or point in time, and
so on.

You will gather easily enough how I conceive location [Ort]

and space [Raum], Ignoring the ambiguities of the words, I
propose the analogy,

Time : Duration = Location : Space

The analogy is quite precise, except that space has three dimen-
sions, duration only one, and besides this each of these concepts has
something peculiar to it. Space, like duration, has absolute but also
finite determinations. Space, like duration, has a reality peculiar to
it, which we cannot explain or define by means of words that are
used for other things, at least not without danger of being mislead-
ing. It is something simple and must be thought. The whole
intellectual world [Gedankenwelt] is non-spatial; it does, however,
have a counterpart [Simulachrum ] of space, which is easily dis-
tinguishable from physical space. Perhaps this bears a still closer
resemblance to it than merely a metaphoric one.
The theological difficulties that, especially since the time of Leib-
niz and Clarke, 5 have made the theory of space a thorny problem
have so far not confused me. I owe ail my success to my preference
for leaving undetermined various topics that are impervious to
clarification. Besides, I did not want to peer at the succeeding parts
of metaphysics when working on ontology. I won't complain if
people want to regard time and space as mere pictures and
appearances. For, in addition to the fact that constant appearance
is for us truth, though the foundations are never discovered or
only at some future time; it is also useful in ontology to take up
5
The Leibniz-Clarke correspondence of 1 7 1 5 and 1 7 1 6 was published in
London, 1 7 1 7 , and in German translation, Frankfurt, 1720. For a recent
discussion of the controversy, see Robert Paul Wolff, Kant's Theory of Mental
Activity (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. 1 9 6 3 ) , pp. 4-8.

64 • From J. H. Lambert, October t], IJJO

 concepts borrowed from appearance, since the theory must finally
be applied to phenomena again. For that is also how the astrono-
mer begins, with the phenomenon; deriving his theory of the
construction of the world from phenomena, he applies it again to
phenomena and their predictions in his Ephemerides' [star calen-
dars], In metaphysics, where the problem of appearance is so
essential, the method of the astronomer will surely be the safest.
The metaphysician can take everything to be appearance, separate
the empty from the real appearance, and draw true conclusions
from the latter. If he is successful, he shall have few contradictions
arising from the principles and win much favor. It .only seems
necessary to have time and patience.
I shall be brief here in regard to the fifth section. I would regard
it as very important if you could find a way of showing more
deeply the ground and origin of truths integrally involving space
and time. As far as this section is concerned with method, how-
ever, I would say here what I said about time. For if changes, and
therefore also time and duration, are something real, it seems to
follow that the proposed division in section five must have other,
and in part more narrow, intentions; and according to these, the
classification might also be different. This occurred to me in Nos.
25-26. In regard to N o. 27, the ' whatever exists, exists in some
place and at some time" [Ouicquid est, est alicubi et aliquando], is
partly in error and partly ambiguous, if it is supposed to mean
located at a time and in a place [in tempore et in loco]. Whatever
has absolute duration is not in time [in tempore], and the intellec-
tual world is only "located in" [in loco] the aforementioned
counterpart [Simulachri] of space or in the "place" [loco] of
intellectual space [Gedankenraums].
What you say in No. 28, and in the note on pages 2-3 concern-
ing the mathematical infinite, that it has been ruined by the
definitions in metaphysics and that something else has been sub-
stituted for it, has my full approval. In regard to the "being and
not being at the same time" [Simul esse et non esse] mentioned in
No. 28, I think that a counterpart of time [Simulachrum tem-
poris] exists in the intellectual world as well, and the phrase "at
the same time" [Simul] is therefore used in a different sense when
it occurs in the proofs of absolute truths that are not tied to time
and place. I should think that the counterpart of space and time
[,Simulacrum spatii et temporis] in the intellectual world could
also be considered in the theory you have in mind. It is an

From J. H. Lambert, October /J, 1770 • 65

imitation of actual space and actual dme and can readily be
distinguished from them. Our symbolic knowledge is a thing
halfway between sensing and actual pure thinking. If we proceed
correcdy in the delineation of the simples and in the manner of
our synthesizing, we thereby get reliable rules for constructing
signs of things that are so highly synthesized that we need not
review them again and can nevertheless be sure that the sign
represents the truth. No one has yet formed himself a clear
representation of all the members of an infinite series, and no one
is going to do so in the future. But we are able to do arithmetic
with such series, to give their sum, and so on, by virtue of the
laws of symbolic knowledge. We thus extend ourselves far beyond
the borders of our actual [wirklichen] thinking. The sign V — i
represents an unthinkable non-thing. And yet it can be used very
well in finding theorems. What are usually regarded as specimens
of the pure understanding can be viewed most of the time as speci-
mens of symbolic knowledge. This is what I said in No. 122 of my
Phaenomenology with reference to question No. no. 8 And I have
nothing against your making the claim quite general, in No. 10.
But I shall stop here and let you make whatever use you wish of
what I have said. Please examine carefully the sentences I have
underlined and, if you have dme, let me know what you think of
them. Never mind the postage. Till now I have not been able to
deny all reality to time and space, or to consider them mere images
and appearance. I think that every change would then have to be
mere appearance too. And this would contradict one of my main
principles (No. 54, Phaenomenology). If changes have reality,
then I must grant it to time as well. Changes follow one another,
begin, continue, cease, and so on, and all these expressions are
temporal. If you can instruct me otherwise, I shall not expect to
lose much. Time and space will be real appearances, and their
5
"Phänomenologie oder Lehre von dem Schein" is a part of Lambert's
Nettes Orgartort. The claim made by Kant, Co which Lambert refers, is that
man is "incapable of any intuition of intellectual concepts," so that our
cognition must be "symbolical." Since "all the material of our cognition is
given only by the senses, but the noumenon, as such, is not conceivable by
representations drawn from sensations, the intellectual concept is destitute of
all data of human intuition." (Wer^e, II, 396.) In Lambert's book, the
question is raised "to what extent it is possible for us to have a distinct
representation of truths without any sensuous images?" He argues that words
and signs must be used as substitutes for images and that by means of them it
is possible to transcend the imagination. Algebra is said to be a perfect
example of this.

66 • From J. H. Lambert. October 13, l-]~}0

foundation is an existent something that truly conforms to time
and space just as precisely and constandy as the laws of geometry
are precise and constant. The language of appearance will thus
serve our purposes just as precisely as the unknown "true" lan-
guage. I must say, though, that an appearance that absolutely
never deceives us could well be something more than mere appear-
ance. . . .
I have the honor of being, very respectfully,

Your most devoted servant,

J. H . LAMBERT
Berlin

From Moses Mendelssohn, December 25, IJJQ

- 63 - VOL. x, pp. 113-16

Noble sir,
Distinguished professor,
Mr. Marcus Herz, who is indebted to you for your
instruction and even more for the wisdom you imparted to him in
your personal association, continues gloriously on the path that he
began under your tutelage. I endeavor to encourage his progress a
little through my friendship. I am sincerely fond of him and have
the pleasure of almost daily conversations with him. Nature has
truly been generous to him. He has a clear understanding, a gentle
heart, a controlled imagination, and a certain subtlety of mind that
seems to be peculiar to that race. But how lucky for him that these
natural gifts were so early led on the path of truth and goodness.
How many people, without this good fortune, left to themselves in
the immeasurable region of truth and error, have had to consume
their valuable time and best energies in a hundred vain attempts,
so that they lacked both time and power to follow the right road
when at last, after much groping about, they found it. Would that
I might have had a Kant for a friend before my twentieth year!
Your dissertation has now reached my eager hands, and I have
read it with much pleasure. Unfortunately my nervous infirmities
make it impossible for me of late to give as much effort of thought
to a speculative work of this stature as it deserves. One can see that

67 • From Moses Mendelssohn, December 25, IJ-JO

this little book is the fruit of long meditation and that it must be
viewed as part of a whole system, the author's own creation, of
which he has only shown us a sample. The ostensible obscurity of
certain passages is a clue to the practiced reader that this work
must be- part of a larger whole with which he has not yet been
presented. For the good of metaphysics, a science that, alas, has
fallen on sad days, it would be a shame for you to keep your
thoughts in stock for long without offering them to us. Man's life
is short. How quickly the end overtakes us, while we still cherish
the thought of improving on what we have. And why do you so
carefully avoid repeating what you have said before? Old ideas are
seen in another light, suggesting new and surprising views, when
they appear in the context of your new creations. Since you possess
a great talent for writing in such a way as to reach many readers,
one hopes that you will not always restrict yourself to the few
adepts who are up on the latest things and who are able to guess
what lies undisclosed behind the published hints.
Since I do not quite count myself as one of these adepts, I dare
not tell you ail the thoughts that your dissertation aroused in me.
Allow me only to set forth a few, which actually do not concern
your major theses but only some peripheral matters.
Pages 2-3 [Werke, II, 388]. You will find some thoughts
concerning infinite extension, similar though not as penetratingly
expressed, in the second edition of my Philosophische Schriften,
now in press. I shall be honored to send you a copy. Mr. Herz can
testify that everything was ready for the printer before I received
your book, and I told him of my pleasure at finding that a man of
your stature should agree with me on these points.
Page 1 1 [Werke, II, 396]. You regard Lord Shaftesbury as at
least a distant follower of Epicureanism. But I have always
thought that one must distinguish carefully between Shaftesbury's
"moral instinct" and the feeling of pleasure [Wollust\ of Epi-
curus. The former, for Shaftesbury, is merely an innate faculty for
distinguishing good from evil by means of the mere feeling [of
pleasure or displeasure] that these arouse. For Epicurus, on the
other hand, the feeling of pleasure is not only a criterion of
goodness [criterium boni] but is itself supposed to be the highest
good [summum bonum]
1
In No. 9 of the dissertation, Kant attributed to Shaftesbury and Epicurus
the view that the feelings of pleasure or displeasure are the criteria of
morality.

68 • From Moses Mendelssohn, December 25, IJ-JO

 Page 15 [ W e r k e , II, 399], Quid significet vocula post. . . }
This difficulty seems to demonstrate the poverty of language rather
than the incorrectness of the concept. The little word "after"
[post] originally signifies a chronological order; but it is possible
to use it to indicate any order in general where A is possible only
when or in case B does not exist. In short, the order in which two
absolutely (or even hypothetically) contradictory things can exist.
You will object that my unavoidable words "when or in case"
presuppose the idea of time. Very well, then, let us shun those
litde words, too, if you like. I begin with the following explica-
tion:
If A and B are both real and are the immediate (or even the
remote) consequences [rationaia] of a ground, C, I call them
hypothetically compatible things [compossibilia secundum quid]:
if they are unequally remote consequences, or rationaia, I call
them hypothetically incompatible. I continue:
Hypothetically compatible things (things that in this world are
compossibilia) are simultaneous; hypothetically incompatible real
things [Actualia], however, are successive, to wit, the nearer
rationatum precedes, and the more remote one follows.
Here, I hope, there occurs no word presupposing the idea of
time. In any case, it rests more with language than with the
thoughts.
For several reasons I cannot convince myself that time is some-
thing merely subjective. Succession is after all at least a necessary
condition of the representations that finite minds have. But finite
minds are not only subjects; they are also objects of representa-
tions, both those of God and those of their fellows. Consequendy it
is necessary to regard succession as something objective.
Since we have to grant the reality of succession in a representing
creature and in its alterations, why not also in the sensible objects,
which are the models and protoypes of representations in the
world ?
On page 17 [Werke, II, 401], the way you find a fallacious
circularity in this way of conceiving time is not clear to me. Time
is (according to Leibniz) a phenomenon and has, as do all
appearances, an objective and a subjective aspect. The subjective is
the continuity we attribute to it; the objective is the succession of
2
" F o r I understand what the word 'after' means only by means of the
previous concept of time." Kant argues that time therefore cannot be defined
by reference to the series of actual things existing one after the other.

69 • From Moses Mendelssohn, December 25, IJ-JO

alterations that are equidistant consequences [rationata] of a com-
mon ground.
On page 23 [Werke, II, 406], I don't think the condition eodem
tempore [at the same time] is so necessary in the law of contradic-
tion. In so far as something is the same subject, it is not possible to
predicate the A and non-A of it at different times. The concept of
impossibility demands no more than that the same subject cannot
have two predicates, A and non-A. Alternatively, one could say it
is impossible that non-A be a predicate of the subject A.
I would not have been so bold as to criticize your book with
such abandon had not Mr. Herz made known to me your true
philosophical spirit and assured me that you would never take
offense at such frankness. This attitude is so rare, among imitators,
it frequently serves as a distinguishing mark of men who think for
themselves. He who has himself experienced the difficulty of
finding the truth, and of convincing himself that he has found it,
is always more inclined to be tolerant of those who differ from
him. I have the honor of being, noble sir and revered professor,
most respectfully,

Your most devoted servant,

MOSES MENDELSSOHN

To Marcus Merz, February '21, 7772

- 70 - VOL. X, pp. /29-J5

Noble sir,
Esteemed friend,
You do me no injustice if you become indignant at the
total absence of my replies; but lest you draw any disagreeable
conclusions from it, let me appeal to your understanding of the
way I think. Instead of excuses, I shall give you a brief account of
the kind of things that have occupied my thoughts and that cause
me to put off letter-writing in my idle hours. After your departure
from Königsberg I examined once more, in the intervals between
my professional duties and my sorely needed relaxation, the project
that we had debated, in order to adapt it to the whole of philoso-
phy and other knowledge and in order to understand its extent

70 • To Marcus Herz, February 21, IJJ2

 and limits. I had already previously made considerable progress in
the effort to distinguish the sensible from the intellectual in the
field of morals and the principles that spring therefrom. I had also
long ago oudined, to my tolerable satisfaction, the principles of
feeling, taste, and power of judgment, with their effects—the
pleasant, the beautiful, and the good—and was then making plans
for a work that might perhaps have the dde, "The Limits of Sense
and Reason." I planned to have it consist of two parts, a theoretical
and a practical. The first part would have two sections, ( I ) general
phenomenology and (2) metaphysics, but this only with regard to
its nature and method. The second part likewise would have two
sections, ( 1 ) the universal principles of feeling, taste, and sensuous
desire and (2) the basic principles of morality. As I thought
through the theoretical part, considering its whole scope and the
reciprocal relations of all its parts, I nodced that I still lacked
something essential, something that in my long metaphysical stud-
ies I, as well as others, had failed to pay attendon to and that, in
fact, constitutes the key to the whole secret of hitherto still obscure
metaphysics. I asked myself: What is the ground of the relation of
that in us which we call "representation" to the object? If a
representation is only a way in which the subject is affected by the
object, then it is easy to see how the representation is in conformity
with this object, namely, as an effect in accord with its cause, and
it is easy to see how this modification [Bestimmung] of our mind
can represent something, that is, have an object. Thus the passive
or sensuous representations have an understandable relationship to
objects, and the principles that are derived from the nature of our
soul have an understandable validity for all things insofar as those
things are supposed to be objects of the senses. In the same way, if
that in us which we call "representation" were active with regard
to the object, that is, if the object itself were created by the
representation (as when divine cognitions are conceived as the
archetypes of all things), the conformity of these representations to
their objects could be understood. Thus the possibility of both an
inteliectus arcketypi (on whose intuition the things themselves
would be grounded) and an inteliectus ectypi (which would
derive the data for its logical procedure from the sensuous in-
tuition of things) is at least intelligible. However, our under-
standing, through its representations, is not the cause of the object
(save in the case of moral ends), nor is the object [Gegenstand]
the cause of the intellectual representations in the mind {in sensu

To Marcus Herz,"February21, 7772 • 71

reali). Therefore the pure concepts of the understanding must not
be abstracted from sense perceptions, nor must they express the
reception of representations through the senses; but though they
must have their origin in the nature of the soul, they are neither
caused by the object [Obiect] nor bring the object itself into being.
In my dissertation I was content to explain the nature of intellec-
tual representations in a merely negative way, namely, to state that
they were not modifications of the soul brought about by the
object. However, I silently passed over the further question of how
a representation that refers to an object without being in any way
affected by it can be possible. I had said: The sensuous repre-
sentations present things as they appear, the intellectual representa-
tions present them as they are. But by what means are these things
given to us, if not by the way in which they affect us? And if such
intellectual representations depend on our inner activity, whence
comes the agreement that they are supposed to have with objects—
objects that are nevertheless not possibly produced thereby? «And
the axioms of pure reason concerning these objects—how do they
agree with these objects, since the agreement has not been reached
with the aid of experience? In mathematics this is possible, because
the objects before us are quantities and can be represented as
quantities only because it is possible for us to produce their
mathematical representations (by taking numerical units a given
number of times). Hence the concepts of the quantities can be
spontaneous and their principles can be determined a priori. But in
the case of relationships involving qualities—as to how my under-
standing may form for itself concepts of things completely a priori,
with which concepts the things must necessarily agree, and as to
how my understanding may formulate real principles concerning
the possibility of such concepts, with which principles experience
must be in exact agreement and which nevertheless are independ-
ent of experience—this question, of how the faculty of the under-
standing achieves this conformity with the things themselves, is still
left in a state of obscurity.
Plato assumed a previous intuition of divinity as the primary
source of the pure concepts of the understanding and of first
principles. Mallebranche [Wc] believed in a still-continuing peren-
nial intuition of this primary being. Various moralists have ac-
cepted precisely this view with respect to basic moral laws. Crusius
believed in certain implanted rules for the purpose of forming
judgments and ready-made concepts that God implanted in the

72 • To Marcus Herz, February 21, ljj2

human soul just as they had to be in order to harmonize with
things. Of these systems, one may call the former the infiuxus
hyperphysicus and the latter the harmonia praesiabilita intel-
lectualis. But the deus ex machina is the greatest absurdity one
could hit upon in the determinadon of the origin and validity of
our knowledge. It has—besides its deceptive circle in the conclu-
sion concerning our cognitions—also this additional disadvantage:
it encourages all sorts of wild notions and every pious and specula-
tive brainstorm.
While I was searching in such ways for the sources of intellec-
tual knowledge, without which one cannot determine the nature
and limits of metaphysics, I divided this science into its naturally
distinct parts, and I sought to reduce the transcendental philoso-
phy (that is to say, all concepts belonging to completely pure
reason) to a certain number of categories, but not like Aristode,
who, in his ten predicaments, placed them side by side as he found
them in a purely chance juxtaposition. On the contrary, I arranged
them according to the way they classify themselves by their own
nature, following a few fundamental laws of the understanding.
Without going into details here about the whole scries of investi-
gations that has continued right down to this last goal, I can say
that, so far as my essential purpose is concerned, I have succeeded
and that now I am in a position to bring out a "Critique of Pure
Reason" that will deal with the nature of theoretical as well as
practical knowledge—insofar as the latter is purely intellectual. Of
this, I will first work out the first part, which will deal with the
sources of metaphysics, its methods and limits. After that I will
work out the pure principles of morality. With respect to the first
part, I should be in a position to publish it within three months.
In mental preoccupation of such delicate nature, nothing is more
of a hindrance than to be occupied with thoughts that lie outside
the scope of the field. Even though the mind is not always exerting
itself, it must still,ioth in its relaxed and happy moments, remain
uninterruptedly open to any chance suggestion that may present
itself. Encouragements and diversions must serve to maintain the
mind's powers of flexibility and mobility, whereby it is kept in
readiness to view the subject matter from other sides all the time
and to widen its horizon from a microscopic observation to a
universal oudook in order that it may adopt all conceivable posi-
tions and that views from one may verify those from another.
There has been no other reason than this, my worthy friend, for

To Marcus Herz, "February 21, 7772 • 73

my delay in answering your pleasant letters—for you certainly
don't want me to write you empty words.
With respect to your discerning and deeply thoughtful litde
work, several parts have exceeded my expectations.1 However, for
reasons already mentioned, I cannot let myself go in discussing
details. But, my friend, the effect that an undertaking of this kind
has on the status of the sciences among the educated public is such
that when, because of the indisposition that threatens to interrupt
its execution, I begin to feel anxious about my project (which I
regard as my most important work, the greater part of which I
have ready before me)—then I am frequently comforted by the
thought that my work would be just as useless to the public if it is
published as it would be if it remains forever unknown. For it
takes a literary man with more reputation and eloquence than I
have to stimulate his readers in such a way that they exert
themselves to meditate on his writing.
I have found your essay reviewed in the Breslau paper and, just
recently, in the Göttingen paper. If the public judges the spirit and
principal intent of an essay in such a fashion, ail effort is in vain. If
the reviewer has taken pains to grasp the essential points of the
effort, his criticism is more welcome to the author than all the
excessive praise resulting from a superficial evaluation. The Göt-
tingen reviewer dwells on several applications of the system that in
themselves are trivial and with respect to which I myself have
since changed my views—with the result, however, that my major
purpose has only gained thereby. A single letter from Mendelssohn
or Lambert means more to an author in terms of making him re-
examine his theories than do ten such opinions from superficial
pens. Honest Pastor Schultz, the best philosophical brain I know
in this neighborhood, has grasped the points of the system very
well; 1 wish that he might get busy on your little essay, too. There
are two mistaken interpretations in his evaluation of the system
that he is examining. The first one is the criticism that space,
instead of being the pure form of sensuous appearance, might very
well be a true intellectual intuition and thus might be objective.
The obvious answer is that there is a reason why space is not given
in advance as objective or as intellectual, namely, if we analyze
fully the representation of space, we have in it neither a repre-

1
Herz's Betrachtungen aus der spekulativen Weltwetsheit ( 1 7 7 1 ) .

74 • To Marcus Herz, February 21, ij72

sentation of things (as capable of existing only in space) nor a real
connection (which cannot occur without things); that is to say, we
have no effects, no relationships to regard as grounds, consequently
no real representadon of an object or anything real, nothing of
what inheres in the thing, and therefore we must conclude that
space is nothing objective.
The second misunderstanding leads him to an objection that has
made me reflect considerably, because it seems to be the most
serious objection that can be raised against the system, an objection
that seems to occur naturally to everybody, and one that Mr.
Lambert has raised.2 It runs like this: Changes are something real
(according to the testimony of inner sense). Now, they are pos-
sible only on the assumption of time; therefore time is something
real that is involved in the determination of the things in them-
selves.
Then I asked myself: Why does one not accept the following
parallel argument? Bodies are real (according to the testimony of
outer sense). Now, bodies are possible only under the condition of
space; therefore space is something objective and real that inheres
in the things themselves. The reason lies in the fact that it is
obvious, in regard to outer things, that one cannot infer the reality
of the object from the reality of the representation, though in the
case of inner sense the thinking or the existence of thought and the
existence of my own self are one and the same. The key to this
problem lies herein. There is no doubt that I must think my own
state under the form of time and that therefore the form of the
inner sensibility does give me the appearance of changes. I do not
deny that changes are real, any more than I deny that bodies are
real, even though by real I only mean that something real corre-
sponds to the appearance. I can't even say that the inner appear-
ance changes, for how would I observe this change if it doesn't
appear to my inner sense? If one should say that it follows from
this that everything in the world is objectively and in itself
unchangeable, then I would reply: Things are neither changeable
nor unchangeable. Just as Baumgarten states in his Metaphysics,
paragraph r8: "The absolutely impossible is neither hypothetically
possible nor impossible, for it cannot be considered under any
condition," so also here, the things of the world are objectively or

2
Sec Lambert's letter of October 1 3 , 1770 [ 6 1 ] .

T o Marcus Herz,"February21, 7772 • 75

in themselves neither in one and the same state at different times
nor in different states, for thus understood they are not in dme at
all.
But enough about this. It appears that one doesn't obtain a
hearing by stating only negative propositions. One must rebuild on
the plot where one has torn down, or at least, if one has cleared
away the brainstorms, one must make the pure insights of the
understanding dogmatically intelligible and delineate their limits.
With this I am now occupied, and this is the reason why, often
contrary to my own intent of answering friendly letters, I withhold
from such tasks what free time my very frail constitution allows
me for contemplation and give myself over to the net of my
thoughts. And so long as you find me so negligent in replying, you
should also give up the idea of repaying me and suffer me to go
without your letters. Even so, I would count on your constant
affection and friendship for me just as you may always remain
assured of mine. If you will be satisfied with short answers then
you shall have them in the future. Between us the assurance of the
honest concern that we have for each other must take the place of
formalities.
I await your next delightful letter as a token of your sincere
reconciliation. And please fill it up with such accounts as you must
have aplenty, living as you do at the very seat of the sciences, and
please excuse my taking the liberty of asking for this. Greet Mr.
Mendelssohn and Mr. Lambert, likewise Mr. Suitzer, and convey
my apologies to these gentlemen for similar reasons.
Do remain forever my friend, just as I am yours!

I. K A N T
Königsberg

To Marcus Herz [toward the end of IJJS\

- 79 - VOL. x, pp. 143-46

. Noble sir,
Esteemed friend,
It pleases me to receive news of the good progress of your
endeavors, but even more to see the signs of kind remembrance

76 • To Marcus Herz [toward the end of 1773]

and of friendship in the communications imparted to me. Train-
ing in the practice of medicine, under the guidance of a capable
teacher, is exactly what I wish. The cemetery must in the future
not be filled before the young doctor has learned how to attack the
disease properly. Do make many careful observations. Here as
elsewhere, theories are often directed more to the relief of the idea
than to the mastery of the phenomenon. Macbride's Systematic
Medical Science1 (I believe you are already acquainted with it)
appealed to me very much in this regard. In general, I now feel
much better than before. The reason is that I now understand
better what makes me ill. Because of my sensitive nerves, all
medicines are without exception poison for me. The only thing I
very occasionally use is a half teaspoonful of fever bark with water,
when I am plagued by acid before noon. I find this much better
than any absorbentia. But I have given up the daily use of this
remedy, with the intention of strengthening myself. It gave me an
irregular pulse, especially toward evening, which rather frightened
me, until I guessed the cause and, adjusting it, relieved the
indisposition. Study the great variety of constitutions. My own
would be destroyed by any doctor who is not a philosopher.
You search industriously but in vain in the book fair catalog for
a certain name beginning with the letter K. After the great effort I
have made on the not inconsiderable work that I have almost
completed, nothing would have been easier than to let my name be
paraded therein. But since I have come this far in my projected
reworking of a science that has been so long cultivated in vain by
half the philosophical world, since I see myself in possession of a
principle that will completely solve what has hitherto been a riddle
and that will bring the misleading qualities of the self-alienating
understanding under certain and easily applied rules, I therefore
remain obstinate in my resolve not to let myself be seduced by any
author's itch into seeking fame in easier, more popular fields, until
I shall have freed my thorny and hard ground for general cultiva-
tion.
I doubt that many have tried to formulate and carry out to
completion an entirely new conceptual science. You can hardly
imagine how much time and effort this project requires, consider-
ing the method, the divisions, the search for exactly appropriate
1
David Macbride ( 1 7 2 6 - 7 8 ) , a physician in Dublin. A German translation
of his A Methodical Introduction to the Theory and Practice of Physic
(London, 1 7 7 2 ) was published in 1773.

To Marcus Herz [toward the end of 7 7 7 3 ] • 77

terms. Nevertheless, it inspires me with a hope that, without fear
of being suspected of the greatest vanity, I reveal to no one but
you: the hope that by means of this work philosophy will be given
a durable form, a different and—for religion and morality—more
favorable turn, but at the same time that philosophy will be given
an appearance that will make her attractive to shy mathematicians,
so that they may regard her pursuit as both possible and respecta-
ble. I still sometimes hope that I shall have the work ready for
delivery by Easter. Even when I take into account the frequent
indispositions that can always cause interruptions, I can still prom-
ise, almost certainly, to have it ready a little after Easter.
I am eager to see your investigation of moral philosophy appear.
I wish, however, that you did not want to apply the concept of
reality (perfection) to moral philosophy, a concept that is so
important in the highest abstractions of speculative reason and so
empty when applied to the practical. For this concept is tran-
scendental, whereas the highest practical elements are pleasure and
displeasure, which are empirical, and their object may thus be
anything at all. Now, a mere pure concept of the understanding
cannot state the laws or prescriptions for the objects of pleasure
and displeasure, since the pure concept is entirely undetermined in
regard to objects of sense experience. The highest ground of
morality must not simply be inferred from the pleasant; it must
itself be pleasing in the highest degree. For it is no mere specula-
tive idea; it must have the power to move. Therefore, though the
highest ground of morality is intellectual, it must nevertheless
have a direct relation to the primary springs of the will.
1 shall be glad when I have finished my transcendental philoso-
phy, which is actually a critique of pure reason, as then I can turn
to metaphysics, which has only two parts, the metaphysics of
nature and the metaphysics of morals, of which I shall present the
latter first. I therefore look forward to the future.
1 have read your review of Platner's Anthropologie.2 I would
not have guessed the reviewer by myself at this time, and I was
pleased by the evident progress of his skill. This winter I am
giving, for the second time, a lecture course on anthropology, a
subject that I now intend to make into a proper academic disci-
pline. But my plan is quite unique. I intend to disclose the bases
2
Herz reviewed Ernst Platner's Anthropologie für Arzte und Weitweise
(Leipzig, 1 7 7 : ) in the Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek, X X ( 1 7 7 3 ) , N'o. 1 , pp.
25-51.

78 • To Marcus Herz [toward the end of ij-3]

of all sciences, the principles of morality, of skill, of human
intercourse, of the method of molding and governing men, and
thus of everything that pertains to the practical. I shall seek to
discuss phenomena and their laws rather than the possibility of
modifying universal human nature. Hence the subde and, to my
view, eternally futile inquiries as to the manner in which bodily
organs are connected with thought I omit entirely. I include so
many observations of ordinary life that my listeners have constant
occasion to compare their ordinary experience with my remarks
and thus, from beginning to end, lind the lectures entertaining
and never dry. In my spare time, I am trying to prepare a
preliminary study for the students out of this very pleasant empiri-
cal study, an analysis of the nature of skill (prudence) and even
wisdom that, along with physical geography and distinct from all
other learning, can be called knowledge of the world.
I saw my portrait in front of the library. It is an honor that
disturbs me a little, for, as you know, I earnestly avoid all appear-
ance of surreptitiously seeking eulogies or ostentatiously creating a
stir. The portrait is well struck though not striking. I note with
pleasure that this project stems from the amiable partisanship of
my former students.
The review of your work that appears in the same issue 3 proves
what I feared: that it takes quite a long time to put new thoughts
into such a light that a reader may get the author's specific
meaning and the weight of his arguments, until the reader may
reach the point where such thoughts are fully and easily familiar.
I am, with most sincere affection and regard,

Your devoted servant and friend,

I. KANT

To J. C. Lavater, April 28, 7775

- 99 - VOL. X, p p . I 7 6 - J 9

. . . You ask for my opinion of your discussion of faith and

prayer. Do you realize whom you are asking? A man who believes
3
Lambert's review of H e n ' s commentary on Kant's dissertation. Herz's
essay, Betrachtunger. aus der spekulativen Weltweisheit, was published in
I77I-

To J.C. Lavater, April 28,1775 • 79

 that, in the final moment, only the purest candor concerning our
most hidden inner convictions can stand the test and who, like
Job, takes it to be sin to flatter God and make inner confessions,
perhaps forced out by fear, that fail to agree with what we freely
think. I distinguish the teachings of Christ from the report we
have of those teachings. In order that the former may be seen in
their purity, I seek above all to separate out the moral teachings
from all the dogmas of the New Testament. These moral teach-
ings are certainly the fundamental doctrine of the Gospels, and the
' remainder can only serve as an auxiliary to them. Dogmas tell us
only what God has done to help us see our frailty in seeking
justification before Him, whereas the moral law tells us what we
must do to make ourselves worthy of justification. Suppose we
were ignorant of what God does and suppose we were convinced
only of this: that, because of the holiness of His law and the
insuperable evil of our hearts, God must have hidden some supple-
ment to our deficiencies somewhere in the depth of His decrees,
something we could humbly rely on, if only we should do what is
in our power, so as not to be unworthy of His law. If that were so,
we should have all the guidance we need, whatever the manner of
communication between the divine goodness and ourselves might
be. Our trust in God is unconditional, that is, it is not accompa-
nied by any inquisitive desire to know how His purposes will be
achieved or, still less, by any presumptuous confidence that the
soul's salvation will follow from our acceptance of certain Gospel
disclosures. That is the meaning of the moral faith that I find in
the Gospels, when I seek out the pure, fundamental teachings that
underlie the mixture of facts and revelations there. Perhaps, in-
view of the opposition of Judaism, miracles and revelations were
needed, in those days, to promulgate and disseminate a pure
religion, one that would do away with all the world's dogmas.
And perhaps it was necessary to have many ad hominem argu-
ments, which would have great force in those times. But once the
doctrine of the purity of conscience in faith and of the good
transformation of our lives has been sufficiently propagated as the
only true religion for man's salvation (the faith that God, in a
manner we need not at all understand, will provide what our frail
natures lack, without our seeking His aid by means of the so-called
worship that religious fanaticism always demands)—when this
true religious structure has been built up so that it can maintain
itself in the world—then the scaffolding must be taken down. I

80 • To ]. C. Lavater, April 28,1775

respect the reports of the evangelists and aposdes, and I put my
humble trust in that means of reconciliation with God of which
they have given us historical tidings—or in any other means that
God, in his secret counsels, may have concealed. For I do not
become in the least bit a better man if I know this, since it
concerns only what God does; and I dare not be so presumptuous
as to declare before God that this is the real means, the only means
whereby I can attain my salvation and, so to speak, swear my soul
and my salvation on it. For what those men give us are only their
reports. I am not close enough to their times to be able to make
such dangerous and audacious decisions. Moreover, even if I could
be sure, it would not make me in any way more worthy of the
good, were I to confess it, swear it, and fill up my soul with it,
though that may be of help to some people. On the contrary,
nothing is needed for my union with this divine force except my
using my natural God-given powers in such a way as not to be
unworthy of His aid or, if you prefer, unfit for it.
When I spoke of New Testament dogmas I meant to include
everything of which one could become convinced only through
historical reports, and I also had in mind those confessions or
ceremonies that are enjoined as a supposed condition of salvation.
By "moral faith" I mean the unconditional trust in divine aid, in
achieving all the good that, even with our most sincere efforts, lies
beyond our power. Anyone can be convinced of the correctness
and necessity of moral faith, once it is made clear to him. The
auxiliary historical devices are not necessary for this, even if some
individuals would in fact not have reached this insight without the
historical revelation. Now, considered as history, our New Testa-
ment writings can never be so esteemed as to make us dare to have
unlimited trust in every word of them, and especially if this were
to weaken our attendveness to the one necessary thing, namely, the
moral faith of the Gospels, whose excellence consists in just this:
that all our striving for purity of conscience and the conscientious
conversion of our lives toward the good are here drawn together.
Yet all this is done in such a way that the holy law lies perpetually
before our eyes and reproaches us continually for even the slightest
deviation from the divine will, just as though we were condemned
by a just and unrelenting judge. And no confession of faith, no
appeal to holy names nor any observance of religious ceremonies
can help—though the consoling hope is offered us that, if we do as
much good as is in our power, trusting in the unknown and

r, April 28, I J J ; • 81
mysterious heip of God, we shall (without meritorious "works" of
any sort) partake of this divine supplement. Now, it is very clear
that the apostles took this btblical doctrine of divine aid as the
fundamental thesis of the Gospels, and whatever might be the
actual basis of our salvation from God's point of view, the aposdes
took the essential requirement for salvadon to be not the honoring
of the holy teacher's religious doctrine of conduct but rather the
veneration of this teacher himself and a sort of wooing of favor by
means of ingrauation and encomium—the very things against
which that teacher had so explicidy and repeatedly preached.
Their procedure was in fact more suitable for those times (for
which they were writing, without concern for later ages) than for
our own. For in those days the old miracles had to be opposed by
new miracles, and Jewish dogmas by Christian dogmas.
Here I must quickly break off, postponing the rest till my next
letter (which I enclose). My most devoted compliments to your
worthy friend Mr. Pfenniger.

Your sincere friend.

I. KANT

To /. C. Lavater [after Aprti 28,1775]

(Enclosed in the previous letter)

- 100 - VOL. x, pp. 179-80

I would rather add something incomplete to my inter-

rupted letter than nothing at all. My presupposition is that no
book, whatever its authority might be—yes, even one based on the
testimony of my own senses—can substitute for the religion of
conscience. The latter tells me that the holy law within me has
already made it my duty to answer for everything I do and that I
must not dare to cram my soul with devotional testimonies,
confessions, and so on, which do not spring from the unfeigned
and unmistaking precepts of that law. For although statutes may
bring about the performance of rituals, they cannot beget inner
convictions. Because of this presupposition, I seek in the Gospels
not the ground of my faith but its fortification, and I find in the
moral spirit of the Gospels a clear distinction between what I am

82 • To J. C. Lavater [after April 28, 1775]

obligated to do and the manner in which this message is to be
introduced into the world and disseminated, a distinction, in short,
between my duty and that which God has done for me. The
means of disclosure of my obligations may be what it will—noth-
ing new is thereby provided for me, though my good convictions
are given new strength and confidence. So much for the clarifica-
tion of that part of my letter in which I spoke of the separation of
two related but unequivalent parts of the holy scriptures and of
their application to me.
As for your request that I give my opinion of the ideas on faith
and prayer in your Vermischte Schriften ("Miscellaneous Writ-
ings" [1774]), the essential and most excellent part of the teach-
ings of Christ is this: that righteousness is the sum of all religion
and that we ought to seek it with all our might, having faith (that
is, an unconditional trust) that God will then supplement our
efforts and supply the good that is not in our power. This doctrine
of faith forbids all our presumptuous curiosity about the manner
in which God will do this, forbids the arrogance of supposing that
one can know what means would be most in conformity with His
wisdom; it forbids, too, all wooing of favor by the performing of
rituals that someone has introduced. It allows no part of that
endless religious madness to which people in all ages are inclined,
save only the general and undefined trust that we shall partake of
the good in some unknown way, if only we do not make ourselves
unworthy of our share of it by our conduct.

To C. H. Wolfe, March 28, IJJ6

- IO9 - VOL. X, pp. I9I-94

Noble sir,
Esteemed professor,
With sincerest pleasure I take this opportunity, while
carrying out an assignment I have been given, to let you know of
my great sympathy for your excellent school, the Philanthropin.
Mr. Robert Motherby, a local English merchant and my dear
friend, would like to entrust his only son, George Motherby, to the
care of your school. Mr. Motherby's principles agree completely

To C.H.Wolke, March 28,1776 • 83

with those upon which your institution is founded, even in those
respects in which it is farthest removed from ordinary assumptions
about education. The fact that something is unusual will never
deter him from freely agreeing to your proposals and arrange-
ments in all that is noble and good. His son will be six years old
on the seventh of August this year. But though he has not reached
the age you require, I believe that his natural abilities and motiva-
tions are already such as to satisfy the intent of your requirement.
That is why his father wants no delay in bringing the boy under
good guidance, so that his need for activity may not lead him to
any bad habits that would make his subsequent training more
difficult. His education thus far has been purely negative, which I
regard as the best that can be done for a child in those years. He
has been allowed to develop his nature and his healthy reason in a
manner appropriate to his years, without compulsion, and has
been restrained oniy from those things that might set his mind in
a wrong direction. He has been brought up without inhibitions,
but not so as to be troublesome. He has never experienced force
and has always been kept receptive to gende suggestions. Though
his manners arc not the finest, he has been taught not to be naughty,
but without his being reprimanded into bashfulness and timidity.
This was ail the more necessary in order that a real ingenuousness
might establish itself in him and especially so that he would not
come to feel a need to lie. Some of his childish transgressions have
therefore been excused so as not to give him the temptation to
break the rule of truthfulness. Besides this, the only thing he has
been taught is to write in Latin script when the letters are recited
for him. He can do this (but only with a lead pencil). He is thus a
blank slate on which nothing has yet been scribbled, a slate that
should now be turned over to a master hand, so that the uneras-
able characteristics of sound reason, of knowledge and right-
eousness, may be inscribed upon it.
In matters of religion, the spirit of the Philanthropin agrees
perfectly with that of the boy's father. He wishes that even the
natural awareness of God (as the boy's growth in age and under-
standing may gradually make him arrive at it) should not be
aimed at devotional exercises directly but only after he has realized
that these are valuable merely as a means of animating an effective
conscience and a fear of God, so that one does one's duties as
though they were divinely commanded. For it is folly to regard
religion as nothing more than a wooing of favor and an attempt to

84 • To C. H. Wolke, March 28, iy76

ingratiate oneself with the highest being, since this results in
reducing the differences among various religions to differences of
opinion as to what sort of flattery is most appealing to God. This
illusion, whether based on dogmas or independent of them, is one
that undermines all moral dispositions, for it takes something
other than a conversion to righteousness to be the means of
surreptitiously currying favor with God, as though one need not
be too fastidious about righteousness since one has another exit
ready in case of emergency.
It is for this reason that our pupil has been kept ignorant of
religious ceremonies. It may take a certain amount of skill, there-
fore, to give him a clear idea of their meaning when, at your
discretion, he first attends such ceremonies. But he is being placed
in the charge of a man who is accustomed to finding wisdom
whence it truly springs, a man whose judgment can always be
trusted. It would also please the boy's father very much if in the
future the Philanthropin were also to teach English according to
your easy and reliable method, for the boy will be going to
England when his education is completed.
The child has already had measles and the pox, and no particu-
lar care need be taken about illnesses.
The father will be happy to pay the 250 thaler annual boarding
fee, according to whatever arrangements you wish.
He asks your advice about what clothes, beds, and necessary
equipment are customary in your school. He hopes'that it may be
possible to send the boy this summer, so that the amusements you
have organized for your pupiis will make him like his new sur-
roundings. If you have no one who could escort him, there is a
reliable foreign merchant who can bring him along toward the
end of July.
All of these are firm decisions, not just tentative plans. I
therefore hope to hear from you soon, even if only a brief reply,
for I realize how busy you are with your important work. I am
most sympathetic to the noble labors to which you have dedicated
yourself.

Your sincere admirer, friend, and servant,

IMMANUEL K A N T
Professor of Philosophy

To C. H. Wol\e, March 28,1776 • 85

To Marcus Herz, November 24, 17/6
- 1 1 2 - VOL. X, pp. I98-2OO

[Kant begs that he not be compared with Lessing. As yet he

has not earned it, though he hopes to. He finds his work on "The
Critique of Pure Reason" often tedious; he is tempted not to
follow his plan but to work instead on something easier. Yet he is
drawn back.]
. . . It must be possible to survey the field of pure reason, that is,
of judgments that are independent of all empirical principles, since
this lies a priori in ourselves and need not await any exposure from
our experience. What we need in order to indicate the divisions,
limits, and the whole content of that field, according to secure
principles, and to lay the road marks so that in the future one can
know for sure whether one stands on the floor of true reason or on
that of sophistry—for this we need a critique, a discipline, a canon,
and an architectonic of pure reason, a formal science, therefore,
that can require nothing of those sciences already at hand and that
needs tor its foundations an entirely unique technical vocabulary. I
do not expect to be finished with this work before Easter and shall
use part of next summer for it, to the extent that my incessandy
interrupted health will allow me to work. But please do not let
these intentions arouse any expectations, which are sometimes
likely to be disappointed.
And now dear friend, I beg of you not to be offended by my
negligence in writing but hope that you will honor me with news,
especially literary, from your region. My most devoted regards to
Mr. Mendelssohn, and also to Mr. Engel, Mr. Lambert, and Mr.
Bode, who greeted me via Dr. Reccard.

Your most devoted servant and friend,

I. KANT

To Marcus Herz, November 24,1776

To Marcus Herz, August 20, i j
- 1 2 0 - VOL. X, pp. 2II-I4

Noble doctor,
Dearest friend,
Today Mr. Mendelssohn, your worthy friend and mine
(for so I flatter myself), is departing. To have a man like him in
Königsberg on a permanent basis, as an indmate acquaintance, a
man of such gende temperament, good spirits, and enlightenment
—how that would give my soul the nourishment it has lacked so
completely here, a nourishment I miss more and more as I grow
older! For as far as bodily nourishment goes, you know I hardly
worry about that and I am quite content with my share of earthly
goods. I fear I did not manage to take full advantage of my one
opportunity to enjoy this rare man, partly because I worried about
interfering with his business here. The day before yesterday he
honored me by attending two of my lectures, taking potluck, so to
speak, since the table was not set for such a distinguished guest.
The lecture must have seemed somewhat incoherent to him, since
I had to spend most of the hour reviewing what I "had said before
vacation. The clarity and order of the original lecture were largely
absent. Please help me to keep up my friendship with this fine
man.
You have made me two presents, dear friend, that show me
that both in talent and in feeling you are that rare student who
makes all the effort that goes into my often thankless job seem
amply rewarded.
Your book for doctors was thoroughly appealing to me and
gave me genuine pleasure, though I cannot take the slightest credit
for the honor it will bring you. 1 An observant, practical mind
shines through the book, along with that subtle handling of
general ideas that I have noticed in you before. You are sure to
achieve disunction in the medical profession if you continue to
practice the art not simply as a means of livelihood but as a way of

1
Briefe an Aerzte (Mitau, 1 7 7 7 ) .

To Marcus Herz, August 20, 7777 • 87

satisfying the curiosity of the experimental philosopher and the
conscientiousness of the humanitarian within you.
Of the various indispositions that constantly plague me and
often make me interrupt my intellectual endeavors (heartburn
seems to be the general cause, though I seem to all my acquaint-
ances just as healthy as I was twenty years ago), there is one
complaint you may be able to help me with: I am not exactly
constipated, but I have such a difficult and usually insufficient
evacuation every morning that the remaining feces that accumu-
late become the cause, as far as I can tell, not only of that gas I
mentioned but also of my clouded brain. To counteract this, I have
sought relief in the past three weeks (when nature did not help
me out with an unusual evacuation) through gentle purgatives.
They did sometimes help, by accelerating an unusual movement.
Most of the time, though, they produced a merely fluid evacuation,
without dislodging the bulk of the impure stuff, and caused not
only a feeling of weakness (which diuretic purgatives always do)
but also an ensuing constipation. My doctor and good friend did
not know what prescription would be exactly right for my condi-
tion.2 I notice in Monro's book on dropsy a classification of
purgatives that corresponds exactly to my idea.3 He distinguishes
hydragogic (diuretic) and eccoprotic (laxative) and notices cor-
recdy that the former cause weakness. He says that the strongest of
diuretics is jalap resin (resina Jalappae] and that senna leaves
and rhubarb are milder. On the other hand, he regards crystals of
cream of tartar and tamarinds as laxatives, which is what I need.
Mr. Mendelssohn says that he himself has found the latter useful
and that it consists of the pulp of the tamarinds. I would be most
grateful to you if you would write me a prescription for this,
which I could use from time to time. The dosage must be small
for me, for I have usually reacted more than I wanted to from a
smaller dosage than the doctor prescribed. Please arrange it so that
I can take more or less, as necessary.
1 think your second gift robs you of an enjoyable and expensive
collection, just to prove your friendship for me, a friendship that is
all the more delightful because it springs from the pure sources of
an excellent understanding. I have already entertained some of my

2
Johann Gerhard Trümmer.
3
Donald Monro (1729—92), An Essay on the Dropsy and its Different
Species (London, 1756). A German translation bv K. C. Krause was published
in Leipzig, 1777.

88 • To Marcus Hers, August 20, ^777

friends with this book, a stimulant to good taste and the knowl-
edge of antiquity. I wish that this pleasure of which you have
deprived yourself could be replaced in some way.
Since we parted company my philosophical investigations, grad-
ually extended to all sorts of topics, have taken systematic form,
leading me slowly to an idea of the whole system. Not until I have
that will it be possible to judge the value and interrelationships of
the parts. There is an obstacle to the completion of my "Critique
of Pure Reason," and all my efforts are now devoted to removing
it. I hope to be through this winter. The thing that detains me is
the problem of presenting these ideas with total clarity. I know
that something can seem clear enough to an author himself and
yet be misunderstood even by knowledgeable readers, if it departs
entirely from their accustomed way of thinking.
Every news of your growing success, honors, and domestic good
fortune is received with the greatest interest by

Your always devoted friend and servant,

I. K A N T

To Marcus Herz, August 28, ijjB

- I40 - VOL. X, pp. 24O-42

Most worthy friend,

I should be very pleased to gratify your wish, especially
when the purpose is connected with my own interest.1 However, it
is impossible for me to do so as quickly as you ask. Whatever
depends on the diligence and aptitude of my students is invariably
difficult, because it is a matter of luck whether one has attentive
and capable students during a certain period of time and also
because those whom one has recendy had disperse themselves and
are not easily to be found again. It is seldom possible to persuade
one of them to give away his own transcript. But I shall try to
attend to it as soon as possible. I may yet find something here or
there on the logic course. But metaphysics is a course that I have

1
Herz had requested a set of lecture notes that he might use in Berlin for
his o w n lectures on Kant's philosophy.

To Marcus Herz, August 28,1778 • 89

worked up in the last few years in such a way that I fear it must
be difficult even for a discerning head to get precisely the right
idea from somebody's lecture notes. Even though the idea seemed
to me intelligible in the lecture, still, since it was taken down by a
beginner and deviates greatly both from my formal statements and
from ordinary concepts, it will call for someone with a head as
good as your own to present it systematically and understandably.
When I have finished my handbook on that part of philosophy
on which I am sdll working indefatigably, which I think will be
soon, then every transcription of that sort will also become fully
comprehensible, through the clarity of the over-all plan. In the
meantime I shall make an effort to find a serviceable set of lecture
notes for your purposes. Mr. Kraus has been in Elking for several
weeks but will return shordy, and I shall speak to him about it.
Why don't you start with the logic. While that is progressing, the
materials for the remaining work will be gathered. Although this
is supposed to be a task for the winter, it may be possible to gather
the supplies before the summer is over, thus allowing you time for
preparation. Mr. Joel says that he left me in good health, and that
is so, for I have accustomed myself for many years to regard a very
restricted degree of well-being as good health, a degree of which
the majority of people would complain, and, to whatever extent I
can, I take recreation, rest, and conserve my strength. Without this
hindrance my little projects, in the pursuit of which I am other-
wise content, would have been brought to completion long ago.
I am, in immutable friendship and dedication,

Your most devoted

I. KANT
P.S. Did you also receive my letter of about a half a year ago, with
its enclosure for Breitkopf in Leipzig?

To Marcus Herz, October 20, IJJ8

- I4I - VOL. X, pp. 242-43

Dearest and worthiest friend,

To be of service to my upright and indefatigable capable
friend, in a matter that will reflect back some approbation on

90 • To Marcus Herz, October 20,

myself as well, is always pleasant and important to me. However,
there are many difficulties in carrying out the commission you
gave me. Those of my students who are most capable of grasping
everything are just the ones who bother least to take explicit and
verbatim notes; rather, they write down only the main points,
which they can think over afterward. Those who are most thor-
ough in note-taking are seldom capable of distinguishing the
important from the unimportant. They pile a mass of misunder-
stood stuff under that which they may possibly have grasped
correctly. Besides, I have almost no private acquaintance with my
listeners, and it is difficult for me even to find out which ones
might have accomplished something useful. My empirical psychol-
ogy is now briefer, since I lecture on anthropology. But since I
make improvements or extensions of my lectures from year to
year, especially in the systematic and, if I may say, architectonic
form and ordering of what belongs within the scope of a science,
my students cannot very easily help themselves by copying from
each other.
However, I do not abandon the hope of gratifying your wish,
especially if Mr. Kraus helps me. He will arrive in Berlin toward
the end of November. He is one of my favorite and most capable
students. Please have padence unul then.
Especially I beg you to do me the favor of announcing to His
Excellency, Mr. von Zedlitz, 1 through his secretary, Mr. Biester,
that the aforementioned Mr. Kraus will deliver the requested
transcript.
My letter to Breitkopf may actually have arrived there, but
perhaps he had nothing to reply to the rather negadve answer I
had to give him; otherwise no reason.
I close hurriedly and am still

Your true friend and servant,

I. KANT

1
Ksrl Abraham von Zedlitz ( 1 7 3 1 - 9 3 ) , minister of education in the
Department of Spiritual Affairs, to whom Kant dedicated the Critique.

To Marcus Herz, October 20, iyy8 • 91

From Marcus Herz, November 24, IJJ8
- I43 - VOL. X , P P . 2 4 3 - 4 5

Honored professor, revered teacher,

Here I am again, dunning. Isn't it true, dearest sir, I'm
an impetuous person? Forgive me, by assuming that I know the
man to whom I dare to be impetuous; it can be no one else than he
who dwells constantly in the center of my thoughts and my heart!
I am enjoying a degree of happiness this winter to which I never
aspired even in my dreams. Today, for the twentieth time, I am
lecturing on your philosophical teachings to approbation that ex-
ceeds all my expectations. The number of people in my audience
grows daily; it is already over thirty, all of them people of high
status or profession. Professors of medicine, preachers, lawyers,
government administrators, and so on, of whom our worthy minis-
ter [Zedlitz] is the leading one; he is always the first to arrive and
the last to leave, and until now he has not missed a single session,
as neither have any of the others. It seems to me that this course is
in many ways a remarkable thing, and not a day passes that I do
not reflect on the impossibility of ever repaying you, through any
act of mine, the tenth part of the happiness I enjoy in a single
hour, which I owe to you and to you alone!
I have now completed half of the logic and hope to be finished
with the other half by Januarv. I have several very complete
notebooks of your lectures on logic, and to these I owe my
audience's applause; here and there your fruitful ideas led me to
other views that appeal to my listeners. But the foundations of it
all are yours.
It will all depend on you whether I can carry of? the metaphys-
ics course. I don't even have complete copies of your lectures, and
certainly the whole business will be virtually impossible for me
without them. T o build up the course from scratch, all alone, is
not within my powers, nor have I the time, since most of my time
is taken up with my practical work.
I beg you again, therefore, to send me, with the earliest mail, at
least some incomplete notebooks, if the complete ones are not to be

92 • From Marcus Hers. November 24, IJJ8

had. Diversity, I think, will compensate for incompleteness, sincc
each set of notes will have nodced something different. I beg you
especially for an ontology and a cosmology.
I take the liberty of recommending to you a young nobleman,
Mr. von Nolte, of Kurland, who is passing through here. He is a
very clever and well-educated young man, who has been in the
service of France for a year and now is going into that of Russia.
He will bring you something that should go with your anthology.
From certain letters that Mr. Kraus wrote to his friends, I see
how troubled the good man is about his stay here. Please be good
enough to assure him that everything will be done to make his
stay as pleasant as possible. He is always welcome to dine at
Friedländer's, and free lodging has also been arranged.
I am and shall always be, with the greatest respect,

Your honored sir's most devoted servant,

M. HERZ

To Marcus Herz, February 7779

- 146 - VOL. X, p. 24S

. . . A certain misology that you, as I, detected -and regretted in

Mr, Kraus derives, as does much misanthropy, from this: that in
the first instance one loves philosophy, in the second, people, but
one finds both ungrateful, partly because one expected too much of
them, partly because one is too impauent in awaiting the reward
for one's efforts from the two. I know this sullen mood also; but a
kind glance from either of them soon reconciles us with them
again and serves to make our attachment to them even
stronger. . . .

To Marcus Herz, May 1, IJ8I

- 164 - VOL. X, pp. 266-6J

In the current Easter book fair there will appear a book of mine,
entided Critique of Pure Reason. It is being published by Hart-

To Marcus Herz, February 4, I-JJ<); May 1, IJ8I • 93

noch's firm, printed in Halle by Grunert, under the direction of
Mr. Spener's Berlin book company. This book contains the result
of all the varied investigations, which start from the concepts we
discussed under the heading ''The sensible world and the intelli-
gible." I am anxious to hand over the summation of my efforts to
the same insightful man who deigned to cultivate my ideas, so
discerning a man that he penetrated those ideas more deeply than
anyone else.
With this in mind I beg you to deliver the enclosed letter in
person to Mr. Carl Spener and to arrange the following matters
with him; after you talk with him, please send me news with the
earliest possible mail, if my demands are not too extravagant.
1. Find out how far along the printing is and on which day of
the fair the book will appear in Leipzig.
2. Since I intended that four copies go to Berlin—a dedicatory
copy to His Excellency, Minister von Zedlitz, one for you, one for
Mr. Mendelssohn, and one for Dr. Sell, which last should please be
delivered to the music master Mr. Reichard (who recently sent me
a copy of Sell's Philosophische Gespräche)—I beg that you ask Mr.
Spener to write to Halle immediately and see to it that these four
copies be sent to Berlin, at my expense, as soon as the printing is
done and that they be delivered to you. Please !av out the postage
money for me, have the dedicator/ copy elegantly bound, and
present it in my name to His Excellency, Mr. von Zedlitz. It is of
course taken for granted that this copy will reach Berlin so early
that no other could possibly have reached the Minister before it.
Please lay out the expenses for me or sign for them in my name.
For the copies themselves, there is nothing to pay, for I arranged
with Mr. Hartknoch to have ten or twelve of them at my disposal.
As soon as I hear from you about all this I shall take the time to
write to you and Mr. Mendelssohn somewhat more fully about this
work. Until then, with greatest respect and friendship,

Your devoted servant,

I. KANT

94 • To Marcus Herz, May i, i~8l

To Marcus Herz [about May / / , IJ8I ]
- 166 - VOL. x, pp. 268—70

Honored sir, dearest friend,

Sincere thanks for your efforts in distribudng the four
copies of my book. I am even more thankful that you are deter-
mined to study this work thoroughly, despite the fact that you are
busy with your own writings (for I hear that you are working on
a medical encyclopedia). I can count on such effort only from a
very few readers now, though I am most humbly convinced that in
dme this will become more general; for one cannot expect a way
of thinking to be suddenly led off the beaten track into one that
has heretofore been totally unused. That requires dme, to stay that
style of thinking little by little in its previous path and, finally, to
turn it into the opposite direction by means of gradual impres-
sions. But from a man who as a student delighted me by grasping
my ideas and thoughts more quickly and exactly than any of the
others—from this man I can hope that shortly he will grasp those
concepts of my system that alone make possible a decisive evalua-
tion of its worth. He, however, who becomes entirely clear about
the condition in which metaphysics lies (not only at present, but
always), that man will find it worthwhile, after only a cursory
reading, at least to let everything lie fallow until the question here
at issue is answered. And in this, my work, may it stand or fall,
cannot help but bring about a complete change of thinking in this
part of human knowledge, a part of knowledge that concerns us so
earnesdy. For my part I have nowhere sought to create mirages or
to advance specious arguments in order to patch up my system; I
have rather let years pass by, in order that I might get to a finished
insight that would satisfy me completely and at which I have in
fact arrived; so that I now find nothing I want to change in the
main theory (something I could never say of any of my previous
writings), though here and there little additions and clarifications
would be desirable. This sort of investigation will always remain
difficult, for it includes the metaphysics of metaphysics. Yet I have
a plan in mind according to which even popularity might be

To Marcus Herz [about May 11, IJ8I ] • 95

gained for this study, a plan that could not be carried out initially,
however, for the foundations needed cleaning up, particularly
because the whole system of this sort of knowledge had to be
exhibited in all its articulation. Otherwise I would have started
with what I have entitled the "Antinomy of Pure Reason," which
could have been done in colorful essays and would have given the
reader a desire to get at the sources of this controversy. But the
school's rights must first be served; afterward one can also see
about appealing to the world.
I am very uncomfortable at Mr. Mendelssohn's putting my book
aside; but I hope that it will not be forever. 1 He is the most
important of all the people who could explain this theory to the
world; it was on him, on Mr. Tetens, and on you, dearest man,
that r counted most. Please give him, in addition to my highest
regards, a diatetic observation that I made on myself, which,
because of the similarity in our studies and our resultant weak
health, might serve to restore this excellent man to the learned
world, this man who for so long has withdrawn from it, finding
that attention to it was incompatible with his health. . . . [Kant
then recounts his own symptoms. His suggested remedy is not
extant.].

To /. Bernoulli/ November 16, ijBi

- 1 7 2 - VOL. X, pp. 276-7«?

Esteemed sir,
I received your letter of November ist on the 10th. I have
an obligation to satisfy your request in regard to Lambert's corre-
spondence, an obligation that is based not only on my duty to the
distinguished man's literary estate but on my own interests as well,

1
Mendelssohn wrote, in a letter to Elise Reimarus, January 5, 17S4: "Very
nice to hear that your brother does not think much of the 'Critique of Pure
Reason.' For my part, I must admit that I don't understand it. The summary
that Mr. Garve put in the Bibliotek. is clear to me, but other people say that
Garve didn't understand him properly. It is therefore pleasant to know that I
am not missing much if I go thence without understanding this work."

' J o h a n n Bernoulli, mathematician and physicist ( 1 7 4 4 - 1 8 0 7 ) . [A rule

divides the footnotes for each letter when, as here, they fail on the same page.]

96 • To J. Bernoulli, November 16, IJ8I

since the latter are bound up with your proposed publication.2 It is,
however, not entirely within my power to satisfy your expecta-
tions. I can tell you the exact date of his first letter: November 13,
1765. But I cannot seem to find his last letter,3 written in 1770,
though I am certain I kept it. However, since I received a letter
from the late Mr. Sulzer on December 8, 1770, in answer to one
that I wrote to him on the same occasion on which I wrote to Mr.
Lambert, namely, when I sent him my dissertation, I suspect that
Mr. Lambert's reply may have arrived at about the same time.
The excellent man had made an objection to the ideas concerning
space and time that I had expressed, an objection that I answered
in the Critique of Pure Reason, pages 36-38.'4
You are fully justified in expecting that I would keep a copy of
my letters to such an important correspondent—but unfortunately I
never wrote him anything worth copying—just because I attached
so much importance to the proposal that this incomparable man
made to me, that we collaborate on the reform of metaphysics. I
saw at that time that this putative science lacked a touchstone with
which to distinguish truth from deception, since different but
equally persuasive metaphysical propositions lead inescapably to
contradictory conclusions, with the result that one proposition
inevitably casts doubt on the other. I had some ideas for a possible
reform of this science then, but I wanted my ideas to mature first
before submitting them to my friend's penetrating scrutiny and
further development. For that reason the projected collaboration
was postponed again and again, since the enlightment I sought
seemed always to be near, yet always distanced itself on further
investigation. In the year 1770 I was already able to distinguish
clearly the sensibility in human knowledge from the intellectual
part by means of precise limiting conditions [Grenzzeichen]. The
main steps in this analysis, expressed in my dissertation (mixed
with many theses that I should not accept today), I sent to the
great man, hoping to have the remainder of my theory ready before
long. But then the problem of the source of the intellectual
elements in our knowledge created new and unforeseen difficulties,
and my postponement became all the more necessary as it
stretched on, until all the hopes I had set in anticipation of his
2
Bernoulli was preparing an edition of Lambert's correspondence, which
appeared between 1782 and 1785.
3
October 1 3 , 1770 [ 6 1 ] .
4
See Lambert's letter [ 6 1 ] and Critique of Pure Reason A 36-39 = B
53-55-

To J. Bernoulli, "November 16,1781 • 97

brilliant counsel were shattered by the untimely death of that
extraordinary genius. I regret this loss all the more since, now that
I think I have found what I was looking for, Lambert would be
just the man whose bright and perceptive mind—all the more free
of prejudice because of its very inexperience in metaphysical specu-
lations and therefore all the more skillful—could have shown me
the possible errors in my Critique of Pure Reason after examining
its propositions in their total context. And with his concern for
achieving something stable for human reason, the union of his
efforts with mine might have brought about a truly finished piece
of work. Even now I do not discount the possibility of such an
achievement, but since the project is now deprived of that fine
mind, it will be more difficult and more protracted.
These are my reasons for begging pardon of you and the public
for not having used that fine opportunity better and the reasons
why my answers to the departed man's kind letters are lack-
ing. . . .

Your obedient servant,

I. KANT

To Christian Garve, August J, 1783

- 205 - VOL. X, pp. 336-43

Honored sir,

I have long noticed in you an enlightened philosophical

spirit, and I have appreciated your refined taste, the product of
wide reading and worldly experience, so that I, along with Sultzer,
have regretted the illness that has hampered you from rewarding
the world with the total fecundity of your excellent talents. Now I
experience the still greater pleasure of finding in your letter clear
evidence of your fastidious and conscientious honesty and of your
humane manner of thinking, which bestows genuine value upon
those intellectual gifts. This last is something I think I cannot say
of your friend in Göttingen, who, entirely without cause, has filled
his review (which I can call "his" since it mutilates your essay)

98 • To Christian Garve, August j, 1783

 with the breath of pure animosity. 1 There were, after all, some
things in my book that should have deserved mendon, even if he
did not immediately approve of the explanation of the difficulties I
discovered; he should have mentioned them if only for the reason
that I first showed those difficulties in their proper light and in
. their proper context, because I reduced the problem, so to speak, to
its simplest terms, even if I did not solve it. Instead, he tramples
1
J . G. H. Feder distorted Garve's review of the Critique of Pure Reason.
The review appeared in the Zugaben zu den Göttinger gelehrten Anzeigen,
January 19, 1782. Kant wrote his Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics
partly in answer to the Garve-Feder review (see the appendix to that work).
Feder attempted to justify his actions to Garve, in a letter of May 7, 1782, on
the grounds that abbreviation was necessary and that "certain changes will be
of help to some of the readers." Garve's review, as written, appeared in the
Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek., Suppl. to Vols. X X X V H - L I I , Pt. II, pp.
838-62. But according to Hamann's letter to Herder, December 8, 1783,
"Kant is not satisfied with it and complains of being treated like an imbecile.
He won't answer it; but he will answer the Güttingen reviewer, if the latter
dares to review the Prolegomena, too." To Johann Schultz, Kant wrote on
August 22, 1783, "I have only been able to skim it, because of various
distracting tasks; but leaving aside the many scarcely avoidable errors in
getting my meaning, it seems to be something quite different and much more
thought out than what was in the Göttingen Anzeige (which was supposed to
be Garve's)."
Kant's only other extant letter to Garve, September 2 1 , 1798, laments
Garve's and his own ill health, complains of the "vegetative rather than
scholarly condition (eating, walking, and sleeping)" to which he, Kant, is
reduced, and makes one extremely interesting remark on the origins of the
Critique of Pure Reason: "It was not from the investigation of the existence of
God, of immortality, and so on, that I started but from the antinomy of pure
reason, 'The world has a beginning ; it has no beginning ,' and so on,
up to the fourth [«V] antinomy: 'Man has freedom'—against this: 'There is
lom; everything belongs to natural necessity.' These were what first
ne from the dogmatic slumbers and drove me to the critique of reason
order to end the scandal of reason's ostensible contradictions with

•1 in September, 1798, Garve had sent Kant a copy of his history of

ethics, Uebersicht der vornehmsten Principien der Sittenlehre, von dem
Zeitalter des Aristoteles an bis auf unsre Zeiten (Breslau, 1798). In it,
Garve discusses Kant's ethics, and after commending Kant's illumination of
the field, the edification of his teachings, and the "sensitivity of his heart,"
Garve raises the following objections: ( 1 ) that Kant starts from unproven
presuppositions and develops his ideas according to postulated goals, (2) that
his rational law lacks motivations, (3) that he ends, by reuniting virtue and
happiness after all, in contradiction to his own theory, and (4) that the moral
law lacks content. Kant's Opus Postumum (Konv. 4, Bl. 3) contains a
fragmentary answer to the first charge: " T o Garve. My principles are not
taken from a certain, previously extracted purpose, for example, what is best
for everybody, but simply because that is the way it must be, without any
conditions. It is in no way the assumption of a principle [Grundsatz]."

To Christian Garve, August 7, 1783 • 99

everything with a certain impetuosity, yes, I can even say with
visible rage. I mention only one small example: he deliberately
omits the word "Mr.," which customarily prefaces the word "au-
thor" in this newspaper to sweeten a criticism a little bit. I can
guess very weil who this man is, from his style, especially when he
tells us his own ideas. As a contributor to a famous newspaper, he
has, if not the honor, at least the reputation of an author in his
power for a little while. But he is at the same time himself an
author and thereby jeopardizes his own reputation in no small
way. But I shall speak no more of this, since you are pleased to call
him your friend. Actually he ought to be my friend as well, though
in a broader sense, if common interest in the same science and dedi-
cated if misdirected effort to secure its foundations can constitute
literary friendship. It seems to me though that here as elsewhere it
has failed; this man must have feared to forfeit something of his
own pretentions at such innovations as mine, a fear that is entirely
groundless. For the issue here does not concern the limitedness of
authors but the limitedness of human reason. . . .
You can believe me, esteemed sir, and you can also make
inquiries any time with my publisher, Hartknoch, at the Leipzig
book fair, that I never believed any of his assurances that you were
responsible for the review; and so I am highly pleased to obtain
confirmation of my view, through your good letter. I am not so
pampered and egotistic that criticism and reprimand—even assum-
ing them to be directed against what I think are the most excellent
merits of my work—would provoke me, if the deliberate intent to
injure and to distort what is worthy of approval (which may still
be found here and there) did not stare one in the face. And I
await with pleasure your unmutilated review in the Allgemeine
deutsche Bibliothek. You have presented your action to me in a
most favorable light, with an uprightness and integrity of prin-
ciples that characterize the true scholar and always fill me with
respect, whatever your judgment may turn out to be. Furthermore,
I must admit that I have not counted on an immediately favorable
reception of my work. That could not be, since the expression of
my ideas—ideas that I had been working out painstakingly for
twelve years in succession—was not worked out sufficiently to be
generally understandable. To achieve that I would have needed a
few more years instead of the four or five months I took to com-
plete the book out of fear that such an extensive project would
finally become a burden, were I to linger any more, and that my

ioo • To Christian Garve, August 7, iy3]

advancing years (I am already sixty) would perhaps make it im-
possible for me to finish the whole system that I still have in my
mind. And I am now actually satisfied with my decision, as the
work stands, to such an extent that I should not wish it unwritten
for any price, though neither would I want to take on again for any
price the long labors that it took to produce it. People will get over
the initial numbness caused unavoidably by a mass of unfamiliar
concepts and an even more unfamiliar language (which new
language is nonetheless indispensable). In time, a number of
points will become clear (perhaps my Prolegomena will help this).
These points will shed light on other passages, to which of course a
clarifying essay from me may be requisite from time to time. And
thus, finally, the whole work will be surveyed and understood, if
one will only get started with the job, beginning with the main
question on which everything depends (a question that I have
stated clearly enough), gradually examining every part with con-
certed effort. In a word, the machine is there, complete, and all
that needs to be done is to smooth its parts, or to oil them so as to
eliminate friction, without which, I grant, the thing will stand
still. Another peculiarity of this sort of science is that one must
have an idea of the whole in order to rectify all the parts, so that
one has to leave the thing for a time in a certain condition of
rawness, in order to achieve this eventual rectification. Had I
attempted both tasks simultaneously, either my capability or my
life span would have proved insufficient.
You choose to mention, as a just criticism, the lack of popular
appeal in my work, a criticism that can in fact be made of every
philosophical writing, if it is not to conceal what is probably
nonsense under a haze of apparent cleverness.* But such popular-
ity cannot be attempted in studies of such high abstraction. If I
could only succeed in getting people to go along with me for a
stretch, in concepts that accord with those of the schools together

* [Kant's footnote] In order to clear myself of the charge that my

innovations of language and my impenetrable obscurity cause my readers
unnecessary difficulty in grasping my ideas, let me make the following
proposal. It is of the highest importance to give a deduction of the pure
concepts of the understanding, the categories, that is, to show the possibility of
wholly a priori concepts of things in general: for, without this deduction, pure
a priori knowledge can have no certainty. Weil then, I should like someone to
try to do this in an easier, more popular fashion; he will then experience the
great difficulties that are to be found in this field of speculation. But he will
never deduce the categories from any other source than that which I have
indicated, of that I am certain.

T o Christian Garve, August 7, 1783 • 101

with barbarisms of expression, I should like to undertake a popu-
lar yet thorough exposition myself (though others will be better at
this), for which I already have a plan. For the time being, let us be
called dunces [doctores umbratici], if only we can make progress
with the insight, with whose development the sophisticated public
will of course not sympathize, at least until the work emerges
from its dark workshop and, seen with all its polish, need not be
ashamed of being judged. Be so kind as to have another fleeting
glance at the whole and to notice that it is not at all metaphysics
that the Critique is doing but a whole new science, never before
attempted, namely, the critique of an a priori judging reason.
Other men have touched on this faculty, for instance, Locke and
Leibnitz, but always with an admixture of other faculties of
knowing. To no one has it even occurred that this faculty is the
object of a formal and necessary, yes, an extremely broad, science,
requiring such a manifold of divisions (without deviating from
the limitation that it considers solely that uniquely pure faculty of
knowing) and at the same time (something marvelous) deducing
out of its own nature all the objects within its scope, enumerating
them, and proving their completeness by means of their coherence
in a single, complete cognitive faculty. Absolutely no other science
attempts this, that is, to develop a priori out of the mere concept of
a cognitive faculty (when that concept is precisely defined) ail the
objects, everything that can be known of them, yes, even what one
is involuntarily but deceptively constrained to believe about them.
Logic, which would be the science most similar to this one, is in
this regard much inferior. For although it concerns the use of the
understanding in general, it cannot in any way tell us to what
objects it applies nor what the scope of our rational knowledge is;
rather, it has to wait upon experience or something else (for
example, mathematics) for the objects on which it is to be em-
ployed.
And so, my dearest sir, I beg you, if you should wish to apply
yourself any further in this matter, to use your position and
influence to encourage my enemies (not my personal enemies,
since I am at peace with all the world), the enemies of my book,
but not the anonymous ones, encourage them not to grab every-
thing or anything at all at once, out of context, but to consider the
work in its proper order: first, to examine or grant my theory
concerning the distinction between analytic and synthetic knowl-
edge; then, to proceed to the consideration of the general problem,

102 • T o Christian Garve, August ~j, 1783

how synthetic a priori knowledge is possible, as I have clearly
stated it in the Prolegomena; then, to examine successively my
attempts to solve this problem, and so on. For I believe I can
demonstrate formally that not a single truly metaphysical proposi-
tion, torn out of the whole system, can be proved except by
showing its relation to the sources of all our pure rational knowl-
edge and, therefore, that it would have to be derived from the
concept of the possible system of such cognitions. But regardless of
how kind and eager you may be in carrying out my request, I am
reconciled to the prevailing taste of our age, which imagines
difficult speculative matters to be easy (but does not make them
easy), and I believe your kind efforts in this regard will be
fruidess. Garve, Mendelssohn, and Tetens are the only men I
know through whose co-operation this subject could have been
brought to a successful conclusion before too long, even though
centuries before this one have not seen it done. But these men are
leary of cultivating a wasteland that, with all the care that has
been lavished on it, has always remained unrewarding. Meanwhile
people's efforts continue in a constant circle, returning always to
the point where they started; but it is possible that materials that
now lie in the dust may yet be worked up into a splendid
construction.
You are kind enough to praise my presentation of the dialectical
contradictions of pure reason, though you are not satisfied with the
solution of these antinomies.* If my critic from Göttingen had
presented only a single judgment of this sort, I should at least have
assumed him to be of good will and would have put the blame on
the (not unexpected) failure of most of my sentences to express
my meaning, that is, mainly on myself, instead of allowing a
certain bitterness into my reply. Or perhaps I would have made no

* [Kant's footnote] The key is already provided, though its initial use is
unfamiliar and therefore difficult. It consists in this: that all objects that are
given to us can be interpreted in two ways [nach zweyerley Begriffen nehmen
kar. ]: on the one hand, as appearances; on the other hand, as things in
themselves. If one takes appearances to be things in themselves and demands
of those appearances the absolutely unconditioned in the series of conditions,
one gets into nothing but contradictions. These contradictions, however, fall
away when one shows that there cannot be anything wholly unconditioned
among appearances; such a thing could only be a thing in itself. On the other
hand, if one takes a thing in itself (which can contain the condition of
something in the world) to be an appearance, one creates contradictions where
none are necessary, for example, in the matter of freedom; and this contradic-
tion fails away as soon as attention is paid to the variable meaning that objects
can have.

To Christian Garve, August 7, 1783 • 103

answer at all—in any case, only a few complaints at his absolutely
condemning everything without having grasped the basic points.
But such an insolent tone of contempt and arrogance ran through
the review that I was necessarily moved to draw this great genius
into the open, if I could, in order to decide, by comparison of his
work to my own, however humble the latter may be, whether
there really is such a great superiority on his side or whether,
perhaps, a certain literary cunning may not lie behind it, an
attempt to make people praise whatever agrees with him and
condemn whatever opposes. Thus he achieves somewhat of a
dominion over all the authors on a given subject (who, if they
want to be well thought of, will be compelled to scatter incense
and extol the writings of their presumed critic as their guide), and
without extravagant effort, he manages to make a name for himself.
Judge from this whether I have argued my "dissatisfaction" with
the Götungen critic, as you are pleased to call it, "somewhat
harshly."
After your kind explanation of this matter, according to which
the actual reviewer must remain incognito, my expectation con-
cerning a challenge comes to nothing, for he would have to submit
himself to it voluntarily, that is, reveal himself; but even in that
case, I would be bound not to make the slightest public use of the
information you have given me as to the true course of the affair.
Besides, a bitter intellectual quarrel is so repugnant, and the irame
of mind one has to assume in order to carry it on is so unnatural to
me, that I would rather assume the most extensive labors in
explaining and justifying what I have already written against the
sharpest opponents (but against those who base their attacks only
on reasons) than to activate and nourish a feeling in myself for
which my soul would otherwise never have room. If the reviewer
in Göttingen should feel it necessary to answer the statement I
made in the newspaper—if he should do this without compromis-
ing his person—then I would feel cailed upon (though without
prejudice to my obligation to you) to take appropriate measures to
remove this burdensome inequity between an invisible assailant
and one who defends himself before the eyes of all the world. A
middle course is still open, namely, to reveal himself if not publicly
then at least to me in writing (for the reasons I indicated in the
Prolegomena) and to announce and settle publicly but peacefully
the point of the controversy as he picks it out. But here one would
like to exclaim: O cares of men! Weak men, you pretend that vou

t04 • To Christian Garve, August 7, i j 8 ]

arc only concerned with truth and the spread of knowledge,
whereas in fact it is only your vanity that occupies you!
And so, esteemed sir, let this occasion not be the only one for
pursuing our acquaintance, which I so much desire. The sort of
character you reveal in your letter (not to mendon your excellent
talents) is not so abundant in our literary world that a man who
values purity of heart, gentleness, and compassion as greater than
all science can help but feel a lively desire for closer ties with one
who combines in himself these virtues. Any advice, any sugges-
tion, from such an insightful, fine man, will always be treasured
by me; and if there is ever any way in which I can reciprocate this
favor, the pleasure will be doubled. I am, with true respect and
devotion, esteemed sir,

Your most obedient servant,

I. KANT

To Moses Mendelssohn, August i6, 1783

- 206 - VOL. X, pp. 344-46

[Kant discusses a man whom Mendelssohn had recommended.

He goes on to deny the rumor that he is planning a trip. He
subscribes to the medical principle, "Every man has his own
particular way of preserving his health, which he must not alter if
he values his safety. . . . One lives longest if one does not strain
or worry about lengthening one's life but also refrains from
shortening it by disturbing the benevolent nature in us."]
. . . That you feel yourself dead to metaphysics does not offend
me, since virtually the entire learned world seems to be dead to
her, and of course, there is the matter of your nervous indisposi-
tion (of which, by the way, there is not the slightest sign in your
book, Jerusalem). I do regret that your penetrating mind, alien-
ated from metaphysics, cannot be drawn to the Critique, which is
concerned with investigating the foundations of that structure.
However, though I regret this, and regret that the Critique repels
you, I am not offended by this. For although the book is the
product of nearly twelve years of reflection, I completed it hastily,
in perhaps four or five months, with the greatest attentiveness to

T o Moses Mendelssohn, August 16,1783 • 105

its content but less care about its style and ease of comprehension.
Even now I think my decision was correct, for otherwise, if I had
delayed further in order to make the book more popular, it would
probably have remained unfinished. As it is, the weaknesses can be
remedied little by little, once the work is there, in rough form. For
I am now too old to devote uninterrupted effort both to complet-
ing a work and also to the rounding, smoothing, and lubricating
of each of its parts. I certainly would have been able to clarify
every difficult point; but I was constantly worried that a more
detailed presentation would detract both from the clarity and
continuity of the work. Therefore I abstained, intending to take
care of this in a later discussion, after my statements, as I hoped,
would gradually have become understood. For an author who has
projected himself into a system and become comfortable with its
concepts cannot always guess what might be obscure or indefinite
or inadequately demonstrated to the reader. Few men are so
fortunate as to be able to think for themselves and at the same
time be able to put themselves into someone else's position and
adjust their style exactly to his requirements. There is only one
Mendelssohn.
But I wish I could persuade you, dear sir (granted that you do
not want to bother yourself further with the book you have laid
aside), to use your position and influence in whatever way you
think best to encourage an examination of my theses, considering
them in the following order: One would first inquire whether the
distinction between analytic and synthetic judgments is correct;
whether the difficulties concerning the possibility of synthetic
judgments, when these are supposed to be made a priori, are as I
describe them; and whether the completing of a deduction of
synthetic a priori cognitions, without which all metaphysics is
impossible, is as necessary as I maintain it to be. Second, one
would investigate whether it is true, as I asserted, that we are
incapable of making synthetic a priori judgments concerning any-
thing but the formal condition of a possible (outer or inner)
experience in general, that is, in regard to sensuous intuition and
the concepts of the understanding, both of which are presupposed
by experience and are what first of all make it possible. Third, one
would inquire whether the conclusion I draw is also correct: that
the a priori knowledge of which we are capable extends no farther
than to objects of a possible experience, with the proviso that this
field of possible experience does not encompass all things in

ic6 • To Moses Mendelssohn, August 16,1783

 themselves; consequently, there are other objects in addition to
objects of possible experience—indeed, they are necessarily presup-
posed, though it is impossible for us to know the slightest thing
about them. If we were to get this far in our investigations, the
solution to the difficulties in which reason entangles itself when it
strives to transcend entirely the bounds of possible experience
would make itself clear, as would the even more important solu-
tion to the question why it is that reason is driven to transcend its
proper sphere of activity. In short, the dialectic of pure reason
would create few difficulties any more. From there on, the critical
philosophy would gain acceptability and become a promenade
through a labyrinth, but with a reliable guidebook to help us find
our way out as often as we get lost. I would gladly help these
investigations in whatever way I can, for I am certain that some-
thing substantial would emerge, if only the trial is made by
competent minds. But I am not optimistic about this. Mendels-
sohn, Garve, and Tetens have apparently declined to occupy them-
selves with work of this sort, and where else can anyone of
sufficient talent and good will be found? I must therefore content
myself with the thought that a work like this is, as Swift says, a
plant that only flowers when its stem is put into the soil. Mean-
while, I still hope to work out, eventually, a textbook for meta-
physics, according to the critical principles I mentioned; it will
have all the brevity of a handbook and be useful for academic
lectures. I hope to finish it sometime, perhaps in the distant future.
This winter I shall have the first part of my [book on] moral
[philosophy] substantially completed.1 This work is more adapted
to popular tastes, though it seems to me far less of a stimulus to
broadening people's minds than my other work is, since the latter
tries to define the limits and the total content of the whole of
human reason. But moral philosophy, especially when it tries to
complete itself by stepping over into religion without adequate
preparation and definition of the critical sort, entangles itself
unavoidably either in objections and misgivings or in folly and
fanaticism.
Mr. Friedländer 2 will tell you how much I admired the penetra-
tion, subtlety, and wisdom of your Jerusalem. I regard this book as

1
Possibly the foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals, which appeared in
April, 1785.
2
David Friedländer, friend of Herz and Mendelssohn ( 1 7 5 0 - 1 8 3 4 ) , a
merchant in Königsberg who later became a banker and Stadrat in Berlin.

To Moses Mendelssohn, August 16,1783 • 107

the proclamation of a great reform that is gradually becoming
imminent, a reform that is in store not only for your own people
but for other nations as well. You have managed to unite with
your religion a degree of freedom of thought that one would
hardly have thought possible and of which no other religion can
boast. You have at the same time thoroughly and clearly shown it
necessary that every religion have unrestricted freedom of thought,
so that finally even the Church will have to consider how to rid
itself of everything that burdens and oppresses man's conscience,
and mankind will finally be united with regard to the essential
point of religion. For all religious propositions that burden our
conscience are based on history, that is, on making blessedness
contingent on belief in the truth of those historical propositions.
But I am abusing your patience and your eyes, and shall add
nothing further except to say that news of your welfare and
contentment cannot be more welcome than to your

Most devoted servant,

I. K A N T

To Johann Schultz/ August 26, Ij8j

- 2X0 - VOL. X, pp. 35O-5I

[Kant expresses his pleasure with Schultz's interpretation ui

him, praises Schultz's intelligence, and so on.]
I can see from your P.S. (as well as from other things you say)
how deeply and correctly you have entered into the spirit of the
case.2 You suggest that each third category might well be derived
from the preceding two concepts—an entirely correct opinion and
one at which you arrived all by yourself, for my own statement of
this property of the categories (Prolegomena § 39, Remark 1)

1
Johann Schultz ( 1 7 3 9 - 1 8 0 5 ) , court preacher, professor of mathematics in
Königsberg, and Kant's favorite expositor.
2
In his postcript to a letter of August 2 1 , 1783 [208] Schultz asked
"whether in each of the four groups of categories, the third category might
not be derived from the first, as follows: totality is a plurality in which no
unity is lacking or negated; limitation is a reality containing negation;
community is that condition of a substance in which cause and effect are
considered together; necessity is the impossibility of non-existence."

108 • To Johann Schultz. August 26, 1783

could easily be overlooked.3 This and other properties of the table
of categories that I mentioned seem to me to contain the material
for a possibly significant invention, one that I am however unable
to pursue and that will require a mathematical mind like yours. If
an ars characteristica combmatoria is at all possible,4 it
would work most excellently with such basic concepts [Elemen-
tarbegriffe]. And since the conditions of a priori sensibility are
entirely different from these concepts (sensation in general, empiri-
cally undetermined, must be added to supply the material for
them), the former conditions would have an entirely different
character. Rules would be possible that would make it perspicuous
how objects of sensibility can have a category as predicate (in so
far as they are considered as objects of experience), but also vice
versa: that categories can in themselves contain no spatial or
temporal determinations unless a condition is added to them that
enables them to be related to sensible objects. I have touched on
similar points already in my "Dissertation on the Sensible World,"
in the section entided De methodo circa sensibüia et mtellectualia.
Perhaps your penetrating mind, supported by mathematics, will
find a clearer prospect here where I have only been able to make
out something hovering vaguely before me, obscured by fog, as it
were. . . .

From Johann Schultz, August 28,

- 211 - VOL. X, pp. J52-53

You will be kind enough to forgive me, dear sir, for failing to
answer your two most excellent letters, but business and other

3
Kant also added this remark to the second edition of the Critique,
B 1 1 0 f.
4
Leibniz, in his Dissertation de arte combinatoria ( 1 6 6 6 ) , proposed a sort
of universal algebra that would exhibit the relations among simple ideas. The
bask thought was that all complex ideas are compounded from a certain
number of simple ideas and that, by constructing an ideal language, the
properly selected name of a complex idea would show immediately what the
constituent simple ideas were—in other words, that the analysis of the
complex could be seen at a glance. The "Art of Combination" would be a
method of invention whereby all the possible combinations of simple ideas
would be shown, providing a table of all the possibilities in the world.

From Johann Schultz, August 28,1783 • 109

distractions kept me from it. Thank you for sending me the Garve
review. I was very eager to see it and it was pleasant to have my
desire satisfied sooner than I expected. The review is far bette:
than that wretched Göttingen review 1 and shows in fact that Mr.
Garve has thought his way through your Critique with consider-
able care. Nonetheless, it is so inadequate to that great book that,
on the whole, it still casts an unfavorable shadow on it. It seems
therefore that my modest essay 2 is not made superfluous by
Garve's, all the more so since you are kind enough to assure me
that I have been so fortunate as to grasp your meaning almost
everywhere. I can therefore hope to realize my goal and make the
public aware of the true purpose and meaning of your excellent
work, so that people will not need to exert themselves too much—
something that philosophers nowadays seem to fear. This has
made me resolve to follow your suggestion and publish my discus-
sion not as a review but as an independent book. In this way 1
need not worry so much about the length and can announce a
more complete table cf contents and not confine myself to the
theory of the schematism, the concepts of reflection, and the
necessary proofs of the principles of pure understanding, paralo-
gisms, and antinomies. Now I can discuss the dialectic somewhat
more explicitly and clearly. With regard to the latter, I look
forward to your promised clarification of what needs to be added,
which I know in advance will greatly facilitate my work. With
equal pleasure I await your promised suggestions as to how the
whole matter can be presented most conveniendv and what gen-
eral problems might be introduced at the outset before presenting
your solutions. . . . I really did overlook the place in your Prole-
gomena? which shows me once more how not even the smallest
particular of your system has eluded your acute mind. Since I see
from this that you actually do recognize every third category to be
a concept derivable from the preceding two, it seems to me that
the idea I had in mind when I raised this question is quite correct:
the third category in each group should be eliminated, and the
total number reduced by one third, since I take "category" to mean

1
That is, the review of the Critique written by Garve but mutilated by
Feder.
2
Erläuterungen über des Herrn Professor Kant Krittk_ der reinen Vernunft,
1784.
3
See the letter of August 26, 1783 [ 2 1 0 ] .

110 • From Johann Schultz, August 28,178]

simply a basic concept [Stammbegriff], that is, a concept that
cannot be derived from any prior concept.
The ingenious idea of using the table of categories to invent an
ars characteristica combinatoria, which you were kind enough
to suggest to me, is most excellent and I agree completely that if
such a thing were possible at all it would be particularly here. But
except for you, I know of no man with sufficient creative genius to
carry out such a project. . . .

J . SCHULTZ

To Johann Schultz, February i j , 1784

- 221 - VOL. X, pp. 366-6J

It gives me special pleasure to learn from Mr. Dengel that your

thorough and at the same time popular book on the Critique is
ready for publication. I had intended to put at your disposal
certain suggestions that might help to make my book easier to
grasp; but external and internal distractions, among them my
usual indisposition, have interrupted this plan several times. And
now I am glad that none of those things had any influence on your
work, which is so much the more consistent and original in the
presentation of your ideas.
Allow me just one observation, dear sir, which I intended to
communicate to you in answer to your note of August 22d last
year but which only now occurred to me again as I read through
your manuscript. I beg you to consider this question more closely
in order that a possible major divergence in our views of one of
the basic parts of the system may be avoided. This observation
concerns the thought you expressed at that time, dear sir, that
there might be only two categories in each class, since the third
category arises out of the union of the first with the second [in
each group]. You came to this insight by means of your own acute
thinking. However, it does not, in my opinion, have the conse-
quence that you draw from it; and thus your suggested change in
the system is not required. (It would rob the system of an
otherwise very uniform, systematic character.)

To Johann Schultz, February 17,1784 • Iii

 For although the third category does certainly arise out of a
uniting of the first and second, it does not arise out of their mere
conjunction but rather out of a synthesis [Verknüpfung] whose
possibility itself constitutes a concept, and this concept is a particu-
lar category. Moreover, the third category is sometimes not appli-
cable where the first two are valid. For example, a year, many
years in future time—these are real [reale] concepts; but the
totality of future years, the collective unity of a future eternity,
which is to be thought as a whole (completed, as it were) cannot
be conceived. And even when the third category is applicable, it
always contains something more than the first and second alone or
taken together, viz., the derivation of the second from the first.
(And this is not always possible: for example, necessity is nothing
else than existence insofar as it could be deduced from possibility;
community is the reciprocal causality of substances with respect to
their determinations. But the fact that determinations of one
substance can be caused by another substance is an idea that one
cannot absolutely presuppose; rather, the idea is one of the synthe-
ses without which no reciprocal relation of objects in space, and
consequently no outer experience, would be possible.) In short, I
find that just as a syllogism shows in its conclusion something
more than the activity of the understanding and judgment re-
quired by the premises, viz., a further particular activity belonging
specifically to reason, so, too, the third category is a particular, to
some extent original, concept. (In a syllogism a general rule is
stated by the major premise, whereas the minor premise ascends
from the particular to the general condition of the rule; the
conclusion descends from the general to the particular, that is, it
says that what was asserted to stand under a general condition in
the major premise is also to be asserted of that which stands under
the same condition in the minor premise.) For example, the
concepts of quantum, compositum, and totum belong under the
categories of unity, plurality, and totality; but a quantum, thought
as a compositum, would not yet yield the concept of a totality,
except insofar as the concept of the quantum is thought as deter-
minable by the composition, which is not possible in the case of
every quantum—for example, [the totality of] infinite space [can-
not be thought as determined by the composition of particular
regions or quanta of space.]
I hope, dear sir, that you will find these remarks correct and that
you will think the issue of whether the system of categories needs

112 • To Johann Schultz, February ij, 1-84

to be changed an issue important enough to warrant your atten-
tion before your manuscript is printed. For nothing could please
our opponents more than to detect dissension over fundamental
principles.
But why do I dwell on these things when perhaps you have long
ago abandoned these sketchy ideas on the basis of your own
reflection and are besides completely free, here as elsewhere, to do
as you wish. I have no doubts that your book, as also your
ingenious theory of parallel lines,1 will broaden and extend human
knowledge and contribute to your deserved fame. With full re-
spect I am

Your most obedient servant,

I. KANT
P.S. Since I now anticipate reading your work in print, I have the
honor of returning with my most devoted thanks the pages you
sent to me.

From F. V. L. Plessing,1 March 15, ij8d

- 2 2 6 - VOL. X, pp. 37I-72

Since there is mail leaving for West Prussia I shall send along
this note to you, to express my eternal esteem for you and to assure
you that I think of you always with the deepest feelings of which
my soul is capable. I have been very ill this winter and am still
suffering from eye trouble that makes me utterly unfit for work.
But now I hope to get better. Because my father happens to be
sending letters to Graudenz today, I am writing these few words
to thank you for your kindness in carrying out my request, as your
letter of Februarv. 3 informed me.2 Trustingo in the very/ noble
sentiments I know you to have, I am taking the liberty again of
sending three thalers to that same woman, with my most humble
1
Entde^te Theorie der Parallelen nebst einer Untersuchung über den
Ursprung ihrer bisherigen Schwierigkeit (Königsberg, 1 7 8 4 ) .
1
Friedrich Victor Leberecht Plessing ( 1 7 4 9 - 1 8 0 6 ) . See Introduction, pp.
2 3 - 2 4 , and the letter of April 3, 1784 [ 2 2 8 ] .
2
Kant acted as intermediary in transmitting money from Plessing to a
woman whose child Plessing was accused of fathering. See also the letter of
April 3 , 1784 [ 2 2 8 ] .

From F. V. L. Plessing, March 15,1784 • 113

request that you deliver them to Mr. John 3 so as to take care of
the quarterly compensation. This money is coming via Graun-
denz. I think that Mr. John can be trusted always to pay the
money correctly, but I don't know whether he gets a receipt from
that person or not. He has not written me for a year and a day. If
I knew some other way to arrange it, I would not bother him with
this chore.
As far as I am able and as far as the nature of the case permits, I
shall answer your question as to what I meant in saying that
fanaticism and superstition are now again threatening us with
great restrictions on freedom of thought, indeed, something even
worse, and all men of integrity who love humanity are trembling.
You have guessed one of the directions from which danger threat-
ens, only you do not picture the magnitude of it. Particularly
Jesuits, those enemies of reason and human happiness, are now
carrying on their work in every possible manner. Their organiza-
tion is more powerful than ever, and they infiltrate M-r-n [Free-
masons], Catholics, and Protestants. A certain Protestant king is
himself supposed to be secretly a J-s-t. These hellish spirits have
poisoned the hearts of princes and lords. They are responsible for
the pretended toleration the Catholics are evincing, whereby they
hope finally to convert the Protestants to Catholicism. Exorcism
and similar fanatical nonsense, also alchemy and the like, are
things in which the most distinguished people beiieve. I myself
have heard sophisticated people in Berlin talking this way. Also, a
former associate of Schropfer's 4 is staying with an important
person in Potsdam or Berlin. The Emperor's edict of toleration 3 is
of little consequence, and Belial carries on his game even there.
Just as mankind has always raged against its own welfare,
against reason and enlightenment, so, too, it is happening now.
The Protestants are trying to combat the Enlightenment (they call
it atheism and the work of the devil) by forming societies: one of
them has spread its branches through Switzerland, Holland, Ger-
many, and Prussia—even Königsberg. Here, in this locality where
sound reason is completely contraband, where the inhabitants are

3
George Friedrich John ( 1 7 4 2 - 1 8 0 0 ) , author and financial officer.
4
Johann Georg Schrepfer ( 1 7 3 9 - 7 4 ) , a leading apostle of Rosicrucianism,
also a cafe proprietor in Leipzig. He was influential in the highest government
circles, for example, on Bischoffswerder, 'a favorite of Friedrich Wilhelm
II's.
5
Joseph II of Austria (1741—50) issued his toleration edict in 1 7 8 1 .

114 • From F. V. L. Plessing, March 15, IJ04

nothing but Abderites,6 there is also a lodge of this society
(Urlsperger 7 of Augsburg is the founder, and in Berlin the
members whom one may mention publicly include Silberschlag
and Apitch. 8 ) The Jesuits are behind these societies too, trying to
nip reason in the bud as much as they can and to plant the seed of
ignorance. How great our king seems to me! And how grateful to
him must human reason be! If only he could live another 20
years.9 It seems that despotism, fanaticism, and superstition are
trying to conquer all of Europe. Catholicism and Jesuitism are
reaching even England, Denmark, and Sweden. England will soon
be overcome.
Forgive me for expressing all these thoughts so crudely. I cannot
write more coherendy at present. . . .

Plessing

From F. V. L. Plessing, April 3, 1784

- 228 - VOL. X, pp. 374-78

Dear sir,
Esteemed sir,
My heartfelt thanks for the trouble and the care that you
have up till now always taken on my behalf. I shall never cease to
acknowledge my indebtedness for it. The thought of you will be
with me always.
I want to answer your letter immediately. 1 You are a just man
and have an ardent feeling for the duties of humanity, and
therefore your displeasure is aroused against a certain unnamed
man, because you believe that he has not adequately done his duty

6
The inhabitants of Abdera were considered proverbially stupid by the
ancient Greeks, though Protagoras and Democritus also lived in this Thracian
town.
' J o h a n n August Urlsperger ( 1 7 2 8 - 1 8 0 6 ) . The society was the Deutsche
Christentums Gesellschaft zur Beförderung reiner Lehre und wahrer Gottselig-
keit ("German Christian Society for the Advancement of Pure Doctrine and
True Piety").
8
Johann Esias Silberschlag; Apitch was a merchant.
9
Frederick the Great died in 1786.
1
Sometime in March, 1784; not extant.

From F. V. L. Plessing, April 3,1784 ' 115

toward a certain woman. Any vivid feeling tends, at some mo-
ments, to displace all our other feelings: let us now consider the
conduct of that unnamed man more closely, so that perhaps those
feelings for him that have been silenced in you for some time
might be reawakened. For that man also deserves justice, and a
man with your heart will not deny it to him.
First of all, I must assure you, on my honor and conscience, that
the unnamed one used not the slightest artifice to seduce the
person in question. He used neither persuasion nor protestations of
love. The woman in question was subdued by the momentary
feeling of a merely animal impulse; the unnamed one encountered
no resistance. As little as 1 excuse the unnamed one for sinking
into this weakness, he is nevertheless innocent of the offence of
leading virtue astray, and he is innocent of this both in the present
case and throughout his life. I can swear on the soul of the
unnamed one that, had he found even the slightest sign of resist-
ance, which might have betrayed a nobie sense of virtue, he would
have honored that sentiment. There is still another assurance I can
give you in the name of the unnamed one: of the young people of
today, he is one who least deserves the charge of leading a
dissolute life devoted to the satisfaction of animal instincts in the
love of the opposite sex. He could rather be blamed for having
been excessive in his nobler metaphysical love, in the most un-
happy way, thereby having lost virtually the total health of his
body and soul. Only a few times did he give in to animal feelings
with that person, and afterward he lived strictly removed from her
and felt disgust and inner displeasure with himself.
The unnamed one is supposed to have behaved immorally in
that, while engaging in this animal experience, he sought to guard
against the unfortunate consequences of his action. Now I regard
such illicit satisfactions of love as on the whole unpermissible, but
if a man has once succumbed to this natural weakness, is it
immoral of him to be moved by the fear of tragic consequences
and thus not wholly to give himself up to his instincts in those
moments? The confines of this letter do not permit any further
discussion of this delicate matter, which can be viewed from so
many sides. I only want to ask this one thing: Are married people
immoral when, after conception, they continue to satisfy the drive
of physical love nevertheless, even though the purpose of procrea-
tion cannot thereby be achieved any longer? I think this example
is pertinent to the case of the unnamed one; for if it is a moral

II6 • From F .V. L. Piessing, April 3, 1784

law, when satisfying this natural impulse, to do it only for the sake
of procreadon, then married people are immoral when they con-
tinue to practice the works of love after the goal of procreation can
no longer be achieved. If, however, the unnamed one has really
erred in this, I believe that one should not seek the source of this
error in his heart—in his moral depravity. He must certainly not
have believed at the time (in fact his mental state was highly
unusual then, and it would be difficult to find examples of other
people with whom to compare his mental state) that he had
committed himself to a significantly immoral principle. This can
be inferred from his whole behavior. However evil a man may be,
he will yet try to have the appearance of a just man, assuming he
has not yet been totally unmasked as a scoundrel. He will not
freely reveal his innermost thoughts, admitting his evil intentions.
The unnamed one, on the other hand, did reveal his thoughts to a
distinguished man. 2 So there are only two possibilities: either the
unnamed one must be the most simple-minded man in the world,
not understanding that he exposes himself to the bitterest scorn by
revealing his bad principles; or he must be the most shameless
scoundrel, whose insensitivitv and impudence have gone so far
that disgrace and honor mean nothing to him. I doubt that the
unnamed one has in any way given you cause to suspect that he is
either entirely simple-minded or a thoroughgoing scoun-
drel. . . .
Furthermore, the unnamed one is supposed to have acted immo-
rally in that he lied to the woman in question, since, in view of the
resemblance between the child and the unnamed man, who has so
many distinguished features, the truth of her testimony [that he is
the father] is thereby confirmed. If the unnamed one has been
unfair to that person, he sincerely begs her forgiveness. But having
done that, I can assure you with the greatest certainty that the
unnamed one had much evidence to support his suspicion. For in
the first place, the unnamed one had an experience that is very
common in Königsberg; there are so very many lewd females in
Königsberg who misuse the names of people they don't know. I
know a respected merchant in Königsberg whoj within the space
of a year, was accused by seven females of having got them
pregnant; he swore to me on his honor and conscience that he had
not even met all of them, especially the seventh one whom he had
2
Theodor Gottlieb von Hippel (1741—96), privy war counselor and
Stadtpräsident of Königsberg.

From F. V. L. Plessing, April j , 1784. • 1 x 7

never seen in his life. He gave money to six of these lewd women,
to avoid a spectacle. But he lost his patience with the seventh and
threw her out the door, whereupon she sued him (for there are
lots of those whore-lawyers in Königsberg; Mr. H[ippel] himself
intervened in a praiseworthy manner, so that a few of these
wicked men were suspended from practicing law). The woman
testified as to the place, the hour, everything very precisely, and the
man lost the case. He appealed to Berlin and finally won, but it
cost him several hundred thalers. The unnamed one thus at least
knew of many cases in which females of that sort practice deceit.
True enough, this would not in itself justify his stating positively
that her testimony was false. But there was another reason, which
he explained to Mr. H., that persuaded him that what she said was
false: if in fact her testimony should actually have some basis, he
would have to admit his conviction that the male sex does not
supply the cause but only the remote occasion of procreation.
Or can the alleged resemblance of the child constitute an ade-
quate proof against the unnamed oner I don't think that this
could be defended either on legal or on physical grounds. If it
were [considered proof], then, for example, some mothers could
be accused cf sexual intercourse with animals—for I once saw in
Leipzig a nine-year-old child whose body was almost wholly
covered with deer hair and who also had other deerlike charac-
teristics, especially the feet.3 This phenomenon is also illustrated by
the example of the late elector of Saxonv.4 Besides this, there are
hundreds of cases where numerous resemblances between strangers
have been noticed, without the suspicion being warranted that one
of them owed his existence to the other. And then one would have
to investigate to see whether this resemblance between the child
and the unnamed one really exists; the power of the imagination,
often makes people see things. . . .
[Plessing agrees to double the payments in support of the child
anyway, to one reichsthaler every month. He'll do better when his
circumstances permit it. He regrets having been weak and causing
trouble thereby. Plessing's whole life has been a chain of ills; the
path of his life has always been over thorns. Evil always triumphs;
goodness is defeated. The woman's present sad circumstances are
not his fault. He gave her a great deal of money, which she
3
Perhaps Anna Marie Herrig, b. 1 7 7 1 .
4
Perhaps Friedrich Christian ( 1 7 2 2 - 6 3 ) , who suffered from congenital
lameness.

118 • From F. V.L. Plessing, April 3, 1784

mismanaged. There are ten more pages of this letter in the
Prussian Academy edition.]

To C. G. Schütz/ September 13, ry8$

- 243 - VOL. X, pp. 406-J

. . . I owe you a review that I promised to write. Dearest friend!

You will forgive me for having been prevented from writing it by
a feeling of obligation to work on something else, something on
which I have felt obliged to work partly by its relationship to my
whole project and partly because of the train of my thoughts.
Before I can compose the "Metaphysics of Nature," which I have
promised to do, I had to write something that is in fact a mere
application of it but that presupposes an empirical concept. I refer
to the metaphysical foundations of the theory of body [Körper-
lehre] and, as an appendix to it, the metaphysical foundations of
the theory of soul [Seelenlehre]. For the metaphysics [of nature],
if it is to be wholly homogeneous, must be a completely pure
science. But I wanted to have some concrete examples available to
which I could refer in order to make my discourse comprehen-
sible; vet I did not want to bloat the system by including these
examples in it. So I finished them this summer, under the title
"Metaphysical Foundations of Natural Science" ["Metaphysische
Anfangsgründe der Naturwissenschaft"], and I think the book
will be welcomed even by mathematicians. It would have been
published this Michaelmas, if I hadn't injured my hand and been
prevented from writing the ending. The manuscript must now lie
till Easter.
N o w I am proceeding immediately with the full composition of
the "Metaphysics of Morals." 2 Pardon me, therefore, dearest
friend, if I cannot send anything to the Allgemeine Literaturzei-
tung for a long time. I am already rather old and find it more
difficult now to adjust quickly to different kinds of work. I have to

•"•Christian Gottfried Schütz ( 1 7 4 7 - 1 8 3 2 ) , professor of rhetoric and poetry

in Jena. Founder, in 1785, with the aid of Wieland and Bertuch, of the
Allgemeine Literaturzeitung, a journal devoted to the cause of Kant's
philosophy.
- I n fact it was not until 1797 that Kant published a work with this title.

To C. G. Schütz, September 13, /7S5 • 119

hold my thoughts together without interruption, lest I lose the
thread that unites the whole system. But I shall in any case
undertake the review of the second part of Herder's Ideen? . . .

From Marcus Herz, February 27, Ij86

- 260 - VOL. X, pp. 43I-3]

Esteemed teacher,
You will receive, dearest teacher, via Mr. D. Joel, a copy
of my Essay on Vertigo [Versuch über den Schwindel], which I
mentioned in my letter of 25 November. I once expressed the main
idea of the work in one of the conversations I was fortunate
enough to have with you—I still recall all of them with delight.
The idea lay in my mind awaiting adequate knowledge of physiol-
ogy before it could have whatever weak influence it may have on
practice. You see, dearest sir, that I am not entirely disioval to you,
that I am much more a deserter who still wears your uniform and
who, while associating with other (not hostile) powers, is still in
your service. Or. to express myself less Prussianlv, 1 enjoy wander-
ing around the border towns of both countries, philosophy and
medicine, and it gives me joy when I can make suggestions and
arrangements for their common government. I think it would be a
good thing if similar border areas between philosophy and its
neighboring territories were diligently visited by philosophers as
well as by people in practical studies and artists of all sorts. The
one would avoid thereby the frequently valid charge of useless
meditation, the others that of empiricism.
What do you say to the uproar that has started up among our
preachers and inspired heads, exorcists and droll poets, enthusiasts
and musicians, since and concerning Moses' [Mendelssohn] death,
an uproar for which the counselor of Pimplendorf [Pempelfort—
the reference is to F. H. Jacobi] gave the signal? 1 If only a man
3
See Kant's Werlte, VIII, 58-66.
1
For a general account of the Mendelssohn-Jacobi feud, see the Introduction
to this volume of letters. The uproar to which Herz refers is enormously
Concerning Spinoza's
complicated. Mendelssohn had replied to Jacobi's book.
Theory. Moses Men-
The reply appeared after Mendelssohn's death, entitled
delssohn to the Friends of Lessing: An Appendix to Mr. Jacobi's Corre-

120 • From Marcus Herz. February 27, IJ86

 like you would say "Shut up!" to this swarm of rascals, I bet they
would scatter like chaff in the wind. Above all, I wish I had
guessed the mischievousness of that foolish lyricist of Wansebeck;
in his entire life and thought, the only things that rhyme are the
endings of his childish verses. With what resolute malice he
misinterprets our Moses, toward whom he had "a certain tender-
ness," just to destroy his fame and esteem. They have been saying
here lately that you are going to publish a short essay against
Jacobi's book, which seemed all the more probable to me since you
did not answer Moses' last letter. If only you would take the
opportunity to say something on behalf of your deceased friend
against the contemporary and I suppose future irrational Jaco-
bites!
We are now busy putting our Moses' papers in order. His

spondence concerning Spinoza's Theory (Berlin, 1786). The editor, a popular

philosopher named J. J. Engel, wrote an introduction to the work, saying that
the event which prompted Mendelssohn's writing of this work was also that
which caused his death (p. iv). Mendelssohn's agitation over Jacobi's book had
so stirred up his blood, according to Engel, that, with his nervous system
already weakened, only the slightest external stress was needed to kill him.
But Mendelssohn himself had told Herz that his illness was caused by a cold
he had caught while on a walk to his publisher. A newspaper article claimed
that Mendelssohn died nobly, a martyr to his defense of the suppressed rights
of reason against fanaticism and superstition; Lavacer had given him the first
blow, and Jacobi had finished the job. In defense of Jacobi, the composer J. F.
Reichardt wrote in the Berliner Zeitung that Mendelssohn had not in fact
taken the controversy wich Jacobi seriously. Engel replied that Reichardt had
no right to consider himself one of Mendelssohn's confidants. Herz agreed and
wrote as a physician, pointing out the difference between the immediate and
dispositional causes of death. Herz and Friedländer contradicted Reichardt as
to Mendelssohn's sensitivity to Jacobi's charges. The arguments continued,
with the poet M. Claudius joining in on Jacobi's side; he is "that foolish
lyricist of Wansebeck" to whom Herz alludes. An anonymous essay (actually
by J. H. Schulz) maintained that Mendelssohn thought himself to have refuted
atheism once and for all in his Jerusalem. But Mendelssohn was confronted
with a work (also by Schulz) entitled Philosophische Betrachtung über
Theologie und Religion überhaupt, und über die jüdische insonderheit ( 1 7 8 4 )
and, seeing his defense of theism threatened, he became concerned about
Jacobi's branding Lessing an atheist. Therefore he conspired against Jacobi, but
without success, and his death was the result of the anger he felt at seeing his
plans miscarry.

Hamann gives a number of impressions of Kant's reactions to the dispute.

In a letter of October 25, 1786, Hamann wrote that Kant was not at one with
the Berliners (that is, Herz et al.). In a letter to Herz, April 7, 1786 [267],
Kant expressed his opinion of the feud. In October, 1786, Kant published
his essay, What Is Orientation in Thinking? ( W a s Heisst: Sich im Denken
Orientiren?), in which Kant opposed both Jacobi's philosophy of feeling as'
well as Mendelssohn's claim to establish theological knowledge on the basis
of "sound common sense."

From Marcus Herz, February 2J, ij86 • 121

correspondence is perhaps the only important thing that might be
given to the public, if his friends will give us their letters from
him, since he himself copied only a very few. Will you be so good
as to let us have yours, dearest sir? . . .
T o be esteemed by you as you are by me is my warmest
desire.

Your faithful student and servants,

M . HERZ

To /. Bering/ April j, IJ86

266 - VOL. X, p. 44I

. . . You ask how soon my ["System of] Metaphysics" will ap-

pear. I now feel it will be another two years. In the mean dme, if I
remain healthy, I shall publish something to take its place tempo-
rarily, viz., a new, highly revised edition of my Critique, which
will come out soon, perhaps within half a year; my publisher,

' J o h a n n Bering ( 1 7 4 3 - 1 8 2 5 ) , professor of philosophy in Marburg. Bering

was a disciple of Kant, and it was he who informed Kant (September 2 1 ,
1786, letter 279) of the "Cabinets Order," dated Weissenscein, August 29..
1786, forbidding lectures on Kant's philosophy at Marburg during the coming
winter semester—an interesting irony, in view of that university's later fame as
•a center of Kant scholarship. Bering did not know the source of the opposition
to Kant—he suspected Professors Christoph Meiners and J. G. H . Feder in
Göttingen. (Some scholars regard the theologian Samuel Endemann's denunci-
ation as the probable source.) The philosophical faculty of Marburg was
instructed to report to the government by the end of the year whether Kant's
philosophy encouraged scepticism, and whether it sought "to undermine the
certainty of human knowledge." T h e report sent on October 1 1 , 1786, praised
Kant's genius and depth of thinking but stated that his difficult terminology,
obscurity, and unusual ideas insured his innocuousness, since he could never
have any influence on the public even if his works did contain errors. The
report then notes the distinction between doubt and scepticism and points out
that the former is essential for scientific progress: Kant has in fact sought to
refute the profound and dangerous doubts of the illustrious Hume; having
rejected the traditional proofs of God and the immortality of the soul, he has
nevertheless sought to establish these truths on a surer foundation. The report
is signed by eight men, including Bering. They did not all agree on the
correctness of Kant's views, but all of them favored freedom of inquiry for the
university. For the full texts, see Kant's Werk,e, XIII, 182 f. An announcement
in the Allgemeine Literaturzeitung in October, 1787, removed the injunction
against lectures on Kant's philosophy, though the lectures were to be "privatis-
sime," that is, restricted to advanced students.

122 • To /. Bering, April 7, /7S6

hearing of my intention, quickly sold his entire stock of the book
and is now spurring me on. In it I shall attend to all the
misinterpretations and misunderstandings that have come to my
attention since the book began circulating. A number of things
will be condensed and many new things that will clarify the
theory will be added. I shall not change any of its essentials, since I
thought out these ideas long enough before I put them on paper
and, since then, have repeatedly examined and tested every propo-
sition belonging to the system and found that each one stood the
test, both by itself and in relation to the whole. Since, if I am
successful with this project, almost any insightful person would be
able to construct a system of metaphysics in conformity with my
theory, I am therefore putting off my own composition of such a
system for a while longer, in order to gain time for my system of
practical philosophy, which is the sister of the former system and
requires a similar treatment, though the difficulties are
fewer. . . .

To Marcus Herz, April iy86

- 267 - VOL. X, pp. 442-4ß

I found the lovely work 1 with which you have once again made
me a present worthy of you, my dearest friend, as far as I have
read—for my current distractions (on account of which I beg you
also to forgive the brevity of this letter) have not allowed me the
time to read it through completely.
The Jacobi [-Mendelssohn] controversy is nothing serious; it is
only an affectation of inspired fanatics trying to make a name for
themselves and is hardly worthy of a serious refutation. It is pos-
sible that I shall publish something in the Berliner Monatsschrift
to expose this fraud. 2 Reichardt, too, has been infected with the
genius-disease and associates himself with the chosen ones. It is all
the same to him how he does it, as long as he can make a big
impression, as an author no less, and as to that too much has been
granted him. I regret very much that no usable manuscripts can be

1 Versuch über den Schwindel. Cf. letter from Herz, February 27, 1786
[260].
2
See Kant's essay, What Is Orientation in Thinking?

T o Marcus Herz, April 7, IJ86 • 123

obtained from the excellent Moses [Mendelssohn], But I can
contribute nothing to the publication of his correspondence, since
his letters to me contain nothing really scholarly, and a few
general remarks of that nature do not provide material for a
scholarly opus postumum. I ask you also to leave out any letters of
mine that might turn up among his papers. They were never
intended to be read by the public. . . .
There are great difficulties here in collecting money for the
monument in Berlin. 3 But I shall see what can be done.
Do maintain your love and habitual kind feeling for him who
remains always, with warmth and respect,

Your loyal, devoted servant and friend,

I. K A N T

To L. H. Jakob/ September //[?], ijSj

- 303 - VOL. x, pp. 493-35

Esteemed sir,

I take this opportunity to thank you for sending me your

very successful book and for the good news you mentioned in your
last letter. My congratulations on your new professorship.
Toellner's manual is quite good for a logic text.2 In my humble
opinion, it is necessary to present logic in its purity, as I said in the
Critique, that is, as consisting merely of the formal rules of
thinking, leaving aside all materials that belong to metaphysics
(on account of the origin of the concepts, in regard to their
content) or to psychology. In this way, those formal rules of logic
are not only easier to grasp but also more coherent and comprehen-
sive. Feder thinks this fastidiousness pedantic and useless. I have
3
A monument to Leibniz, Lambert, and Suizer. The fourth side was to
have a portrait of Mendelssohn. Hamann wrote Jacobi, April 27, 1786, that
Kant thought the Jewish community should bear ail the costs alone for the
honor given to a Jewish philosopher in putting him among such men. Since
Hamann was himself an anti-Semite, his report of Kant's opinion may well
be a lie.
1
Ludwig Heinrich Jakob ( 1 7 5 9 - 1 8 2 7 ) , professor of philosophy in Halle,
later in Russia.
2
Johann Gottlieb Toellner ( 1 7 2 4 - 7 4 ) , professor of theology in Frankfurt
and elsewhere, editor of A. G. Baumgarten's Acroasis logics (1765).

124 • To L.H.Jakob,September it [:], i~Sj

never written a metaphysics; please tell Mr. Hemmerde 3 that I am
opposed to the publicadon of my minor writings at present. I
might revise them when I have the time for it and will then
announce it, but don't expect this for another two years.
My Critique of Practical Reason is at Grunert's now.4 It contains
many things that will serve to correct the misunderstandings of
the [critique of] theoretical [reason]. I shall now turn at once to
the "Critique of Taste," with which I shall have finished my
critical work, so that I can proceed to the dogmatic part. I think it
will appear before Easter. 5
I wish you would try to compose a short system of metaphysics
for the time being; I don't have the time to propose a plan for it
just now. The ontology part of it would begin (without the
introduction of any critical ideas) with the concepts of space and
time, only insofar as these (as pure intuitions) are the foundation
of all experiences. After that, there are four main parts that would
follow, containing the concepts of the understanding, divided
according to the four classes of categories, each of which consti-
tutes a section. All of them are to be treated merely analytically, in
accordance with Baumgarten, 6 together with the predicables, their
connection with time and space, and how they proceed, just as
Baumgarten presents them. For every category, the corresponding
synthetic principle (as presented in the second edition of the
Critique) indicates how experience must conform to the category,
and thus the whole of ontology is covered. Now after all this, the
critical conception of space and time as formfs] of sensibility and
the deduction of the categories are presented. For the latter, as well
as the former, cannot be understood completely before this, and
neither can the only possible way of proving the principles, as has
been seen. Then come the transcendental ideas, which pertain
either to cosmology, psychology, or theology, and so on. I must
close now, and I am, with friendship,

Your devoted servant,

I. KANT

3
Car! Hemmerde, printer in Halle.
4
Friedrich August Grunert, printer in Halle.
5
The Critique of Judgment appeared in 1790. On Kant's "dogmatic" plans,
see the introduction to this collection of letters, p. 29, n. 34.
6
Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten ( 1 7 1 4 - 6 2 ) , aesthetician and professor of
philosophy in Frankfurt and elsewhere, whose works Kant used as text-
books.

To L. H. Jakob, September 11 [ ? ], /7S7 • 125

From J. C. Berens/ December 5, IJ8J
- 3IO - VOL. X, pp. 507-8

[Berens tells of his travels through West Prussia. Kant and his
Critique are taking hold in Halle, Leipzig, and elsewhere. As yet
there is no actual intrigue against Kant's philosophy, but teachers
are reluctant to abandon their old ways and dislike seeing the
foundations of their system undermined.]
. . . Plattner 2 refused to discuss your philosophy; he said only
"We teach Kant" [wir lesen Kanten}. His elegant lectures are
more on philosophizing than on philosophy as such. The year
draws to a close; otherwise I would have liked to lock up
Wieland 3 and Reinhoid,4 both of whom are very enthusiastic
about [the Critique of] Pure Reason, or so their countrymen tell
me. Wieland maintains that if it is Kant who has denned the
limits of .the understanding we can all rest contented with that
position. Reinhoid, a former Capuchin monk or even Jesuit 3 but a
thoroughly intelligent, unprejudiced man (he was in Berlin re-
cently), weeps, or so Dr. Biester 5 told me, when he hears that
your holy doctrine is not vet universally recognized. Prof. Eber-
hard 7 fears the moral consequences of your new philosophy and
thinks you should have followed the old view. Your former
admirer, Prof. Ulrich,3 is becoming your enemy, since Reinhoid
has taken away his laurels. . . . So far we still have freedom of
1
Johann Cristoph Berens ( 1 7 2 9 - 9 2 ) , merchant, friend of Kant's and
Hamann's.
2
E r n s t Plattner ( 1 7 4 4 - 1 8 1 3 ) , professor of medicine and physiology in
Leipzig.
3
Christoph Martin Wieland ( 1 7 3 3 — 1 8 1 3 ) , the famous German author.
4
Karl Leonhard Reinhoid ( 1 7 5 8 - 1 8 2 3 ) , son-in-law of Wieland, who be-
came one of Kant's most famous disciples and popularizers. See the various
letters to and from Kant in this collection.
3
Jesuit.
6
Johann Erich Biester ( 1 7 4 9 - 1 8 1 6 ) . See his letter of October 5, 1793
[596], n. 1 .
' Johann August Eberhard ( 1 7 3 8 - 1 8 0 9 ) , professor of philosophy in Halle,
opponent of Kant's. On Eberhard, see Kant's letters to Reinhoid of May 1 2
and 19, 1789 [359 and 3 6 0 ] .
3
Johann August Heinrich Ulrich ( 1 7 4 4 - 1 8 0 7 ) , professor of philosophy in
Jena.

126 • From J. C. Berens, December 5, SJ8J

thought and freedom of the press. The secret personal letters of
people in the current regime are circulated openly at court and in
town. . . .

To K. L. Reinhold? December 28 and 31, IJ8J

- 313 - VOL. X, pp. 513-15

. . . I was very pleased to learn at last that you are the author of
those excellent Letters} I had asked the printer Mr. Grunert in
Halle to send you a copy of my Critique of Practical Reason as a
small token of my respect, but till now I did not know your exact
address and Grunert was therefore unable to carry out my request.
If you would please show him the enclosed letter he will do it if he
sdll has copies. This little book will sufficiently resolve the many
contradicdons that the followers of the old guard philosophy
imagine they see in my Critique, and at the same time the
contradictions in which they themselves are unavoidably involved
if they refuse to abandon their botched job are made perspicu-
ous. . . .
Without becoming guiity of self-conceit, I can assure you that the
longer I continue on my path the less worried I become that any
contradicuon or alliance (of the sort that is common nowadays)
will ever significantly damage my system. My inner conviction
grows, as I discover in working on different topics that not only
does my system remain self-consistent but also, when somedmes I
cannot see the right way to investigate a certain subject, I find that
I need only look back at the general picture of the elements of
knowledge, and of the mental powers pertaining to them, in order
to discover elucidadons I had not expected. I am now at work on
the critique of taste, and I have discovered a kind of a priori
principle different from those heretofore observed. For there are
three faculties of the mind: the faculty of cognition, the faculty of
feeling pleasure and displeasure, and the faculty of desire. In the
Critique of Pure (theoretical) Reason, I found a priori principles
1
Kar! Leonhard Reinhold ( 1 7 5 8 - 1 8 2 3 ) , professor of philosophy in Jena,
then Kiel, one of Kant's most important popularizers, disciples, and later,
apostates. His Letters on the Kantian Philosophy (Briefe über die Kantische
Philosophie [ 1 7 8 6 - 8 8 ] ) did much to bring Kant's ideas to the public.

T o K. L. Reinhold, December 28, 31, IJ&J • 127

for the first of these, and in the Critique of Practical Reason, a
priori principles for the third. I tried to find them for the second as
well, and though I thought it impossible to find such principles,
the systematic nature of the analysis of the previously mentioned
faculties of the human mind allowed me to discover them, giving
me ample material for the rest of my life, material at which to
marvel and if possible to explore. So now I recognize three parts of
philosophy, each of which has its a priori principles, which can be
enumerated and for which one can delimit precisely the knowl-
edge that may be based on them: theoretical philosophy, teleology,
and practical philosophy, of which the second is, to be sure, the
least rich in a priori grounds of determination. I hope to have a
manuscript on this completed though not in print by Easter; it will
be entitled "Critique of Taste." "
Please convey to your esteemed father-in-law 3 not only my
highest regard but also my sincerest thanks for the manifold
pleasures that his inimitable writings have given me.
If you have time, I would appreciate any news of the iearned
world, from which we are here rather removed. The learned world
has its wars, alliances, and secret intrigues just as much as the
political world. I am neither willing nor able to play that game,
but it is entertaining and it gives one a useful slant to know
something of it. . . .

I . KAMT

To Johann Schultz, November 25, IJ88

- 340 - VOL. x, pp. 554-57

Venerable and esteemed sir,

When I consider writings that aim at the rectification of
human knowledge, especially at the clear, unobscured presentation
of our cognitive powers, I am entirely opposed to any factional or
rhetorical concealment of whatever errors in my own system may
be brought to my attention. My motto is rather, Honesty is the
best policy. Therefore my motive in wanting to see your solid
2
The Critique of Judgment
did not appear until 1790, however.
3
The famous German author, Christoph Martin Wieland ( 1 7 3 3 - 1 8 1 3 ) .

128 • To Johann Schultz, November 25, ij88

book 1 before its publication was only to forestall the many future
controversies that might be avoided by an easily resolved misun-
derstanding, especially since we live so close to each other and can
exchange our views so easily.
Allow me therefore to state certain doubts I feel about your
contendon that, contrary to my own thesis, there are no synthetic a
priori cognitions in arithmedc, only mere analytic ones.
Universal arithmetic (algebra) is an ampliative science to such
an extent that one cannot name a single rational science equal to it
in this respect. In fact the remaining parts of pure mathematics
[Mathssis] make progress largely because of the development of
that universal theory of quantities. If the latter consisted of merely
analytic judgments, one would have to say at least that the
definition of "analytic" as merely explicative was wrong. And
besides that we face the difficult and important question, how is it
possible to extend our knowledge by means of analytic judgments
alone?
I can form a concept of one and the same quantity by means of
many different additions and subtractions; (notice that both of
these processes are syntheses, however.) Objectively, the concepts I
form are identical (as in every equation). But subjectively, de-
pending on the type of combination [Zusammensetzung] that I
think, in order to arrive at that concept, they are very different. So
that at any rate my judgment goes beyond the concept I get from
the synthesis, in that the judgment substitutes another concept
(simpler and more appropriate to the construction) in place of the
first concept, though it determines the same object. Thus I can
arrive at a single determination of a quantity by means of 3 + 5,
or 12 — 4, or 2 X 4, or 2s, namely 8. But my thought "3 + 5 " did
not include the thought "2 X 4." Just as little did it include the
concept "8," which is equal in value to any of these.
Certainly arithmetic has no axioms, since its object is actually
not any quantum, that is, any quantitative object of intuition, but
rather quantity as such, that is, it considers the concept of a thing
in general by means of quantitative determination.2
On the other hand, arithmetic has postulates, that is, imme-
diately certain practical judgments. For if I regard 3 4- 4 as the
setting of a problem, namely, to find a third number (7) such that
1
J. Schulz [or Schultz], Prüfung der Kantischen Kritik, der reinen Ver-
nunft
2
(Königsberg), Pt. I (1 789) and Pt. II ( 1 7 9 2 ) .
CL Critique of Pure Reason A 164 = 3 204 f.; A 732 = B 760 ff.

To Johann Schultz, November 2 5 , 1 7 8 8 • 129

the one number will be seen as the complementum ad totum of the
other, the solution is found by means of the simplest operation,
requiring no special prescription, namely, by the successive addi-
tion that the number 4 proposes simply as a continuation of the
counting up to 3. The judgment "3 + 4 = 7" does seem to be a
purely theoretical judgment, and objectively regarded, that is what
it is; but subjectively, the sign " + " signifies the synthesis involved
in getting a third number out of two other numbers, and it
signifies a task to be done, requiring no instruction or proof.
Consequently the judgment is a postulate. Now assuming it were
an analytic judgment, I would have to think [denken] exactly the
same thing by "3 -r 4" as by "7," and the judgment would only
make me more clearly conscious of what I thought. But since
12 — 5 yields a number (7) that is actually the same number I
thought when I was adding 3 + 4, it follows, according to the
principle "things equal to the same thing are equal to each other,"
that when I think "3 and 4" I must at the same time be thinking
" 1 2 and 5." And this does not jibe with my own awareness.
All analytic judgments by means of concepts have this charac-
teristic: they can represent a predicate only as a constituent concept
('Theilbegrif) contained in the subject concept. In the case of
definitions, both concepts must be reciprocal. But in an arithmetic
judgment, namely, an equation, both concepts must be absolutely
reciprocal and objectively identical, for example, the concepts
"3 + 4" and "7." In the problem, conjoin 3 and 4 in one number,
the number 7 must arise not out of an analysis [Zergliederung] of
the constituent concepts but rather by means of a construction, that
is, synthetically. This construction, a single counting up in an a
priori intuition, presents the concept of the conjunction of two
numbers. Here we have the construction of the concept of quantity
rather than that of a quantum. For the idea that the conjoining of
3 and 4, as distinct quantitative concepts, could yield the concept
of one magnitude was only a thought. The number 7 is thus the
presentation of this thought in an act of counting together.
Time, as you correctly notice, has no influence on the properties
of numbers (considered as pure determinations of quantity), as it
may have on the character of those changes (of quantity) that are
possible only relative to a specific state of inner sense and its form
(time). The science of numbers, notwithstanding the succession
that every construction of quantity requires, is a pure intellectual
synthesis, which we represent to ourselves in thought. But insofar

130 • To Johann Schultz, November 2 5 , 1 7 8 8

as specific quantities (quanta) are to be determined in accordance
with this science, they must be given to us in such a way that we
can grasp their intuidon successively; and thus this grasping is
subjected to the time condition. So that when all is said and done,
we cannot subject any object other than an object of a possible
sensible intuition to quantitative, numerical assessment, and it thus
remains a principle without exception that mathematics can be.
applied only to ser.sibilia. The magnitude of God's perfection, of
duration, and so on, could only be expressed by means of the
totality of reality; it could not possibly be represented by means of
numbers, supposing someone wanted to measure even a merely
intelligible unity.
I take this opportunity to note that, since the enemies of the
Critique like to gnaw at every phrase, it would be advisable to
change the passage on page 27 a little, where there is a reference to
a "sensuous" understanding and the divine understanding appears
to have a sort of thinking attributed to it. . . .

Your devoted servant,

I. KANT

To Heinrich Jung-Stilling [after March I, /7S9]

- 347 - VOL. xi, p. 10, and xxm, pp. 494-95

Your interest in every investigation into the nature of man does

honor to you, dear sir; it stands in contrast to the attitude of the
majority of speculative minds, whose interests are motivated only
by partisanship or vanity. And it is quite right of you to seek in
the Gospels the final satisfaction of your striving for a secure
foundation of wisdom and hope, since that book is an everlasting
guide to true wisdom, one that not only agrees with the specula-
tions of a perfected reason but sheds new light on the whole field
surveyed by that reason, illuminating what still remains opaque to
it.
That the Critique of [Pure] Reason has been useful to you in
this quest must be owing not to me but to your own keen mind,
which manages to draw something of value out of even an
imperfect work. But I was quite surprised that the system of

To Heinrich Jung-Stilling [after March 1,178g] • 131

categories, which must indeed be the foundation for any classifica-
tion of the principles of a science based on a priori concepts, would
be the place you would look for help in setting up a system of civil
law. I think that here, too, you are correct.
The principles that you suggest for your classification as the
foundation of civil law cannot serve that purpose properly, since
they are valid also as precepts for Man in the state of nature, even
the third of your principles, "Be a member of civil society." One
might raise the question how laws should be decreed if a civil
society is already presupposed; and in that case, I think one might
say following the order of the categories: ( i ) as regards quantity,
the laws must be of such a nature that one [citizen] might have
decreed them for ail, and all for one; (2) as regards quality, it is
not the citizen's purpose [Zweck.] that the laws must decide, for
everyone may be allowed to pursue his own happiness in conform-
ity with his own inclination and power; but laws do concern
everyone's freedom and the forcible limitation on that freedom
imposed by the condition that each man's freedom must be com-
patible with every other man's; 1 (3) as regards the category of
relation, it is not those of the citizen's activities that relate to
himself or to God that are to be condemned but only those
external activities that restrict the freedom of his fellow citizens;
(4) as for modality, the laws {qua compulsive) must be given not
as arbitrary and accidental commandments for some purposes that
happen to be desired but only insofar as they are necessary for the
achievement of universal freedom.
But the general problem of civil union is this: To combine
freedom with a compulsion that is yet consistent with universal
freedom and its preservation. In this manner there arises a state of
external justice (status iustitiae externae) whereby that which was
only an Idea in the state of nature (namely, the notion of law
[Recht] as the mere power [Befugnis] to compel) is realized.
Around the end of this summer I shall begin to work on my
"Metaphysics of Morals," and by next Easter I should be finished
with it. In it the a priori principles for any civil constitution in
general will also be discussed.
In view of the integrity of your thinking and the lively concern
for all that is good that I perceive in your letters to me, I am sure
1
Cf. Critique of Pure Reason A 3 1 6 = B 373. " A constitution allowing the
greatest possible human freedom in accordance with laws by which the
freedom of each is made to be consistent with that of all others. . . ."

132 • To Heinrich Jung-Stilling [after March 1, I"j3g]

that the peace of mind with which, not without justification, you
are pleased to credit me, in the evening of my life, will brighten
the days of your own life, and may there be many of them still to
be lived through.
With respect and friendship, I am

Your most devoted servant,

I. KANT

From Salomon Maimon, April 7, 1789

- 352 - VOL. X I , p. 15

Esteemed sir,
Filled with the veneration owed to a man who has
reformed philosophy and thereby reformed all other sciences as
well, I am emboldened to approach you only by the love of
truth.
Condemned at birth to live out the best years of my life in the
woods of Lithuania, deprived of every assistance in acquiring
knowledge, I finally had the good fortune to get to Berlin, late
though it was. Here the support of certain noble-minded persons
has put me in a position to study the sciences. It was natural, I
think, that my eagerness to arrive at my main goal—the truth—
should make me neglect to some extent those subordinate studies,
language, method, and so on. Therefore, for a long time I dared
not make any of my thoughts public, to expose them to a world
whose taste is currently so sophisticated, even though I had read
various systems of philosophy, had thought through them and,
now and then, discovered something new. Finally I was lucky
enough to see your immortal book, to study it, and to reconstruct
the whole of my thinking in order to come into accord with it. I
have tried as hard as I can to draw the final implications from this
work, to impress them on my memory, and to seek out the track
of the main argument, so that I might penetrate the author's mind.
With this end in view, I have written down my results and have
made a few comments, mainly concerning the following points:
1. The distinction you draw between analytic and synthetic
propositions and the reality of the latter.

From Salomon Maimon, April 7,17^9,

 2. The question, Quid Juris? This question, because of its
importance, deserves the attention of a Kant. If one speils it out
the way you yourself do, it becomes: How can something a priori
be applied with certainty to something a posteriori? The answer or
deduction that you give in your book is, as the answer of only a
Kant can be, totally satisfying. But if one wishes to amplify the
question, one asks: How can an a priori concept be applied to an
intuidon, even an a priori intuition? This question must await the
master's attention, if it is to be answered satisfactorily.
3. I define a new class of ideas which I call ideas of the
understanding [Verstandesideen], which signify material totality,
just as your ideas of reason signify formal totality. I beiieve I have
opened the way to a new means of answering the aforementioned
Quid Juris question.
4. The question, Quid facti? You seem to have touched on this,
but it is, I think, important to answer it fully, on account of the
Humean skepticism.
These comments summarize the content of the manuscript that
I venture to submit to you. My good friends have urged me for a
long dme to publish this book, but I did not want to comply
without having subjected it to your priceless judgment. If a Kant
shouldfindthe book not utterly unworthy of his attention, he will
certainly not scorn him who approaches so reverentially. He will
answer, will instruct where errors ar: committed, or give his
approval if the work is found to deserve it, and he will thereby
make its author doubly happy.1
Your wholly devoted servant and admirer,
SALOMON MAIMON
Berlin

From /. B. Jachmann, April 15, iy8<)

- 3 5 4 - VOL. XI, pp. 21-25

. . . Last Tuesday I presented my paper on the distinction be-

tween synthetic and analytic judgments to the Speculative Society.
What I said was mainly what you said in the Introduction to your
' S e e the letter from Kant to Herz, May 26, 1789 [ 3 6 2 ] for Kant's reply.

134 • From J. B. Jachmann, April 15, 1789

 Critique, and I also tried to acquaint the Society with the over-all
intent and plan of your book. I especially tried to put the question,
"How are synthetic a priori judgments possible?" in its most
conspicuous light. My intention was to show the solution to this
question and thus at the same time to discuss space andtime.I
had previously worked out my lecture in German with this end in
mind, but I put off making an English translation so long that I
was unable to finish it ontime.I found it particularly difficult to
find the right words for your ideas, and this was all the more
difficult for me since I had never read any philosophical books in
English. Besides this, I thought my essay too long for the occasion,
and since the subject is so speculative, I feared it would fatigue the
audience, since they would be unable to follow the arguments. As
far as my reading of the essay went, it was highly successful.
People marveled at the originality of the plan, the importance of
the subject, the unusual precision in the definition of concepts, and
so on. But they regretted that, after I had aroused their curiosity, I
had not satisfied it, for I did not tell them the solution of this
important question. They requested unanimously that I relate it to
them as soon as possible. —Hume's views, and especially those of a
certain Hardley [sic] 1 (I don't know whether this book has been
translated into German), are strongly admired and defended in
this Society and also among most of the philosophers in Scotland.
A priori judgments are totally impossible, according to Hardley,
whom I have, however, not read myself—I know him only, from
conversations. All our concepts rest on sensation, reflexion, and
association, and so on. All necessary judgments, for example, are
mere identities, as, for example, in mathematics, the proposition
7 + 5 = ii. So that when I say "7 and 5," I am at the same time
saying "12." Twelve is only another way of expressing "7 4- 5,"
just as "Deus" is another word for God. They also talk a great
deal about "common sense." The proposition that everything that
happens has a cause is not a necessary proposition. It depends
merely on the uniformity of experience, and so on. Dr. Reid of
Glasgow 2 does not agree. . . . Hardley's theory of the passions3

1
David Hartley ( 1 7 0 5 - 5 7 ) . The book referred to is his Observations on
Man, His Frame, His Duty, and His Expectations (London, 1749). Part I, Ch.
III, Sec. II, deals with mathematical judgments.
2
Thomas Reid ( 1 7 1 0 - 9 6 ) .
3
Joseph Priestley, Hartley's Theory of the Human Mind: On the Principle
of the Association of Ideas (London, 1 7 7 5 ) , Ch. III, Sec. Ill, Prop. 41.

From J. B. ]achmann, April 75, /7S9 • 135

is especially popular here; I am convinced that the theory is
without foundations. He maintains that ail depressing [nieder-
schlagende] passions arc only abstractions or negations of the stimu-
lating [erregenden] passions. For example, fear is only an abstrac-
tion derived from hope, as cold is the abstraction of heat, and
therefore not truly a real thing. I have had some extraordinarily
strong arguments over this, in the Medical Society as well as in the
Speculative Society. . . .
Your most obedient friend and servant,
JOH. B E N J . JACHMANN
Edinburgh

To K. L. Reinhoid, May 12, I J8<)

- 359 - VOL. XI, pp.

Sincerest thanks, my cherished and dearest friend, for the com-

munication of your kind opinion of me, which arrived together
with your lovely present on the day after my birthday! The
portrait of me by Mr. Loewe, a Jewish painter, done without my
consent, is supposed to resemble me to a degree, from what my
friends say. But a man who knows painting said atfirstglance: a
Jew always paints people to look like Jews. And the proof of this is
found in the nose. But enough of this.
I couldn't send you my judgment of Eberhard's new attack,
since our shop did not even have all three of thefirstissues of his
magazine, and I could find them only in the public library.
Whence the delay in my answer. That Mr. Eberhard, along with a
number of people, has not understood me is the least you can say
(for that might be partly my fault). But I shall show you in my
following remarks that he sets out to misunderstand me, and even
to make me incomprehensible.
In thefirstissue of the magazine he tries to appear as a man
who is aware of his own importance in the eyes of the philosophi-
cal public. He speaks of "sensations" aroused by the Critique, of
"sanguine hopes" that were "surpassed," of how many people were
stunned and have not yet recovered (as if he were writing for the
theater, or the boudoir, about some rival), and like a man who is

136 • To K. L. Reinhoid, May 12, i'-ßg

 fed up with watching the show, he determines to put a stop to it.
—I wish that this insolent charlatanry might be shoved under his
nose a bit.—The first three issues of the magazine more or less
make up a unit, of which the third, from page 307 on,1 attacks the
main contention of my Introduction in the Critique and closes
triumphandy with "We should therefore now. . . . " I cannot fail
to make a few remarks about this, so that those readers who take
the trouble to check up on it will not overlook the fraud with
which this man, who is dishonest in every line he writes—on those
matters where he is weak and on those where his opponent is
strong—puts everything in an equivocal light. I shall only indicate
the pages and the opening words of the places I discuss and beg
you to look them up yourself. The refutation of the fourth part of
the third issue will serve to reveal the whole nature of this man's
"insight" as well as his character. My remarks concern mainly
pages 314-19.
On pages 314 f. he writes, "According to this the distinction
would be," and so on, to "insofar as anything definite can be made
out of this." 2
His explanation of an a priori synthetic judgment is pure
deception, namely, a flat tautology. For in the expression "an a
priori judgment" it is already implied that the predicate of the
judgment is necessary; and the expression "synthetic" implies that
the predicate is not the essence or any essential part of the concept
that serves as subject of the judgment, for otherwise the predicate
would be identical with the subject and the judgment would thus
not be synthetic. Whatever is thought as necessarily connected
with a concept, but is not thought through identity, is thought as
something necessarily connected with, but distinct from, the es-
sence of the concept, that is, connected with the essence through
some ground. For it is one and the same thing to say that the
predicate is not thought as part of the essence of the concept but
yet as necessary through it, or to say that it is grounded in the

1
"On the Distinction between Analytic and Synthetic Judgments."
2
Eberhard wrote: "The distinction between analytic and synthetic judg-
ments would seem to be this: analytic judgments are those whose predicates
state the essence or some of the essential parts of the subject; those whose
predicates assert no determination belonging to the essence or to the essential
parts of the subject are synthetic. This is what Mr. Kant must say, if he
presents the contrast so that the first are merely explicative and the latter are
ampliative, insofar as we can make anything definite out of his explana-
tion."

To K.L. Reinhold, May 12, iy8g • 137

essence, that is, it must be thought as an attribute of the subject.
Therefore his pretended great discovery is nothing but a shallow
tautology in which by spuriously substituting other meanings for
the technical terms of logic, one creates the illusion of having
really offered a basis of explanation.
But this sham discovery has yet a second inexcusableflaw:as an
alleged definition, it is not convertible. For I can say in any case:
In every synthetic judgment the predicates are attributes of the
subject. But I cannot say conversely: Every judgment that asserts
an attribute of its subject is a synthetic a priori judgment—for
there are also analytic attributes. Extension is an essential part of
the concept of a body, for it is a primitive characteristic of the
latter that cannot be derived from any other inner characteristic.
Divisibility, however, is also a necessary predicate of the concept of
body, and therefore an attribute, but only in the sense that it can
be inferred (as subaltern) from another predicate (extension).
Now divisibility can be derived from the concept of something
extended (as composite), according to the law of identity;, and the
judgment "Every body is divisible" is an a priori judgment that
has the attribute of a thing for its predicate (the thing for its
subject) and thus is not a synthetic judgment. Consequently, the
fact that a predicate in a judgment is an attribute does not at all
serve to distinguish synthetic a priori judgments from analytic
judgments.
All similar errors, which start out as confusions and end up as
deliberate deceptions, are based on this point: the logical relation
of ground and consequent is mistaken for a real relation. A
ground is (in general) that whereby something else (distinct from
it) is made determinate (quo posito determinate * ponitur aliud)
["where a determinate is posited, something else must be
posited"]. A consequent (rationum) is quod non ponitur nisi
posito alio ["that which is not posited unless something else has
been posited"]. The ground must thus always be something dis-
tinct from the consequent, and he who can give no ground but the
* [Kant's footnote] This expression must never be left out of the definition
of "ground." For a consequent, too, is something that, if I posit it, I must at
the same time think something else as posited, that is, a consequent always
belongs to something or other that is its ground. But when I think something
as consequent, I merely posit some ground or other; which ground is
undetermined. (Thus the hypothetical judgment is based on the rule, a
positione consequents ad posttionem antecedentis non valet consequents.) On
the other hand, if the ground is posited, the consequent is determined.

138 • To K. L. Reinhoid, May 12, i'-ßg

given consequent itself shows that he does not know (or that the
fact does not have) any ground! Now this distinction of ground
and consequent is either merely logical (having to do with the
manner of representation) or real, that is, in the object itself. The
concept of extension is logically distinct from the concept of the
divisible; for the former contains the latter, but it contains more
besides. In the fact itself, however, the two are identical, for
divisibility really does lie in the concept of extension. Now it is
real distinctness that one requires for a synthetic judgment. When
logic says that all (assertoric) judgments must have a ground, it
does not concern itself with this real distinction at all. Logic
abstracts from it, for the distinction depends on the content of
cognition. If, however, one asserts that every thing has its ground,
one always means by this the real ground.
Now when Eberhard names the principle of sufficient reason as
the principle for synthetic propositions generally, he must mean
none other than the logical axiom. This axiom, however, allows
also for'analytic grounds, and it can of course be derived from the
law of contradiction; but then it is a clumsy absurdity on his part
to justify his so-called non-identical judgments on the basis of the
principle of sufficient reason, a principle that on his own view is
merely a consequence of the law of contradiction (a law that is
absolutely incapable of grounding any but identical judgments).
In passing I remark (so that in the future people may more
easily take notice of Eberhard's wrong track) that the real ground
is in fact twofold: either the formal ground (of the intuition of the
object)—as, for example, the sides of a triangle contain the ground
of the angle—or the material ground (of the existence of things).
The latter determines that whatever contains it will be called the
cause. It is quite customary that the conjurers of metaphysics,
before one is taken in, make sleights of hand and leap from the
logical principle of sufficient reason to the transcendental principle
of causality, assuming the latter to be already contained in the
former. The statement nihil est sine ratione, which as much as says
"everything exists only as a consequence," is in itself absurd—
either that, or these people give it some other* meaning. Thus the
whole discussion of essence, attributes, and so on, absolutely does
not belong to metaphysics (where Baumgarten, along with several
others, has put it) but only to logic. For I can easily find the
logical essence, by the analysis of my concepts into all that I think
under them, that is, I canfindthe primary constitutiva of a given

T o K. L. Reinhold, May 12, ij8g • 139

concept, as well as the attributes, as rationata logica of this essence.
But the real essence (the nature) of any object, that is, the primary
inner ground of all that necessarily belongs to a given thing, this is
impossible for man to discover. For example, extension and im-
penetrability are the whole logical essence of the concept of matter,
that is, they are all that is necessarily and primitively contained in
my, and every man's, concept of matter. But to recognize the real
essence of matter, the primary, inner, sufficient ground of all that
necessarily belongs to matter, this far exceeds the capacity of
human powers. We cannot discover the essence of water, of earth,
or the essence of any other empirical objects; even the real essence
of space and time and the reason why the former has three
dimensions, the latter only one, are unknowable. And the reason
for this is precisely that since the logical essence is to be known
analytically and the real essence must be known synthetically and
a priori, there must be a ground of synthesis for the former, which
bring us at least to a standstill.
The reason that mathematical judgments offer only synthetic
attributes is not that all synthetic a priori judgments have to do
exclusively with attributes; it is rather that mathematical judg-
ments cannot but be synthetic and a priori. On page 314, where
Eberhard introduces such judgments as examples, he writes, cau-
tiously: "The question as to whether there are such judgments
outside mathematics may for the present be put off." Why did he
not at least offer one of the various examples from metaphysics for
purposes of comparison;1 He must have found it difficult to find
one that would stand such comparison. On page 319, however, he
ventures to consider one, which he claims to be an obviously
synthetic proposition. But it is obviously analytic, and the example
fails. The proposition is: Everything necessary is eternal; all neces-
sary truths are eternal truths. The latter judgment says no more
than that necessary truths are not restricted by any accidental
conditions (and therefore are also not restricted to any position in
time); and this is exactly what the concept of necessity is, so that
the proposition is analytic. But if what he wants to assert is that
necessary truth exists at alltimes,this is an absurdity to which we
cannot be expected to agree. He couldn't possibly intend the first
proposition to mean the eternal existence of a thing, for then the
second proposition would be totally unrelated to it. (At first I
thought the expression "eternal truths" and its opposite, "temporal

140 • To K. L. Reinhoid, May 12, i'-ßg

truths," were merely affectations employing figurative termi-
nology, rather improper for a transcendental critique. Now it
seems that Eberhard really takes them literally.)
On pages 318-19, we read: "Mr. K. seems to understand 'syn-
thetic judgment* to mean judgments that are not absolutely neces-
sary truths and, of absolutely necessary truths, just those whose
necessary predicates can only be discovered a posteriori by the
human understanding. For, except for mathematical judgments,
3
only experiential judgments are necessary." This is such a crude
misunderstanding, or rather a deliberate misrepresentation of my
view, that one can predict how "genuine" the consequences are
going to be.
Of his opponents he says repeatedly that their distinction be-
tween synthetic and analytic judgments has already been known
for a long time. Maybe so! But the reason why the importance of
the distinction has not been recognized seems to be that all a priori
judgments were regarded as analytic, whereas only experiential
judgments [Erfahrungsurteile] were reckoned as synthetic, so that
the whole point of the distinction disappeared.
Andfinally,Mr. Eberhard says on page 316: "One seeks in vain
for Kant's principle for synthetic judgments." But that principle is
unequivocally presented in the whole Critique, from the chapter
on the schematism on, though not in a specific formula. It is this:
all synthetic judgments of theoretical cognition are possible only
by the relating of a given concept to an intuition. If the synthetic
judgment is an experiential judgment, the intuition must be em-
pirical; if the judgment is a priori synthetic, there must be a pure
intuition to ground it. It is impossible (for us human beings) to
have pure intuitions that do not consist merely of the form of the
subject and the form of his receptivity to representations, that is,
his capacity to be affected by objects (for otherwise no object is
given). For this reason, the reality of synthetic a priori proposi-
tions is itself sufficient to prove that these propositions concern
only sensible objects and cannot transcend appearances; this is
shown even without our having to know that space and time are
those forms of sensibility and that the a priori concepts to which
we relate our intuitions, in order to make synthetic a priori
3
[Translator's note] I have inserted the whole passage in place of Kant's
brief reference. The last word, however, should be "synthetic" rather than
"necessary"—Kant misread Eberhard here.

T o K. L. Reinhold, May 12,1789 • 141

judgments, are the categories. However, once we recognize these
categories and their origin as the form of thinking, we shall be
convinced that they do not by themselves provide genuine knowl-
edge, and that, when supplied with intuitions, they do not give us
any supersensible theoretical knowledge, though they can be used
for practical ideas without stepping outside their proper sphere.
This is so just because the limitation of our power of conferring
objective reality upon our concepts is not a limitation on the
possibility of things. Nor does this limitation restrict the use of the
categories, as concepts of things in general, when considering the
supersensible, which is grounded by the genuinely given practical
ideas of reason. Thus the principle of synthetic a priori judgments
has infinitely greater fruitfulness than the principle of sufficient
reason, which determines nothing and which, regarded in its
universality, is merely logical.
These then, dear friend, are my remarks on the third issue of
Eberhard's magazine, which 1 put wholly at your disposal.'1 The
delicacy to which you have committed yourself in your projected
work, and the restraint of character that it requires, may be not
only unearned by this man but actually disadvantageous, if you are
driven too far. I shall have the honor of. sending you the conclu-
sion of my remarks on the second issue during the next week,
which will serve to reveal his truly malicious character (leaving
aside his ignorance).
3 / Since he is inclined to imasrine
O everv/ O^entie-
ness a weakness, he can oniy be stopped by a blunt confrontation
with his absurdities and misrepresentations. Please use my remarks
as you seefit,for they are only hints to help you recall what your
own diligent study of this material must already have disclosed. I
give you full permission even to use my name wherever and
whenever you please.
For your lovely book, which I have not yet had time to read, my
sincerest thanks. I am eager to hear of your theory of the faculty of
representation [Vorstellungsi/ermogen], which should appear at
the same book fair as my Critique of Judgment (a part of which is
the "Critique of Taste") next Michaelmas. My compliments to

4
Reinhoid used Kant's replies to Eberhard in the fena Allgemeine Litera-
turzeitung, 1789. Kant's polemical essay On a Discovery according to Which
Any New Critique of Pure Reason Has Been Made Superfluous by a Previous
One (Ueber eine Entdeckung, nach der alle neue Kritik der reinen Vernunft
durch eine ältere entbehrlich gemacht werden soll) appeared in 1790; see
Werke, VIII, pp. 1 8 5 - 2 5 1 , and 492-97.

142 • To K. L. Reinhoid, May 12, i'-ßg

Messrs. Schütz, Hufeland, and your distinguished father-in-law
[C. M. Wieland].
With the greatest respect and sincere friendship, I am
Your devoted
I. Kant
See enclosure

To K. L Reinhold, May ig, iy8g

- 360 - VOL. XI, pp. 4O-48

[Kant sends additional criticisms of Eberhard's magazine, "a

disgusting piece of work," to expose the fraud of Eberhard's
attack. . . .]
Page 12. "Plato and Aristotle denied the certainty of any sense-
knowledge and restricted certainty to the area of non-sensible ideas
or ideas of the understanding," says Eberhard.1 Just the opposite is
true of Aristotle. The principle nihil est in intellectu, quod non
antea fuerit in sensu (a principle that agrees with Locke's) is the
criterion for distinguishing the Aristotelian school. . . .
Pages 25-26. Eberhard writes: "If it is said that sensible concepts
are intuitive [anschauend], this is quite true: they are immediately
intuitive. But concepts of the understanding are also intuitive, only
they are mediately intuitive. For they are derived from sensible
concepts and can be intuited m the latter; and even if they are
constructed out of abstract concepts, they bring with them the
mediately intuitive signs [Merkmale] of the abstract concepts out
of which they are constructed. . . ." Here there is a double ab-
surdity. Pure concepts of reason [reine Vernunftbegrifje], which
Eberhard identifies with pure concepts of the understanding, he
interprets as concepts that have been drawn from sensuous con-
cepts (like extension or color, which once resided in sense repre-
sentations). This is just the opposite of the criterion I gave for
pure concepts of reason. And then the notion of "mediate intui-
tion" is self-contradictory. I say only that to a concept of pure
reason a corresponding intuition could be given, in which, how-
1
[Translator's note] I have inserted the full passages from Eberhard, in
piace ot Kant's brief references.

To K. L. Reinhold, May 79, 77S9 • 143

ever, nothing of that concept is contained. It contains only the
manifold upon which the concept of the understanding (the
concept of an object in general) applies the synthetic unity of
apperception, be the intuition what it may.
Page 156. [Eberhard speaks of necessary truths that have objects
"lying entirely outside the sphere of sense-knowledge, which can
neither be warranted nor refuted by experience." Later he says,
"their logical truth follows necessarily from their metaphysical
truth; the two are indivisibly united. That is, as soon as the power
of representation has, in accordance with its necessary laws,
thought something as possible and as independently actual, that
thing must be possible and independently actual."] Here he talks
of necessary laws, and so on, without noticing that in the Critique
the task is just this: to show which laws are objectively necessary,
and how we are authorized to assume them valid for the nature of
things, that is, how they can possibly be synthetic and yet a priori.
For otherwise we are in danger (like Crusius, whose language
Eberhard uses here) of taking a merely subjective necessity (based
on habit or on our inability to imagine an object any other way)
for an objective necessity.
Pages 157-58. [Eberhard insists on the possibility of progress in
metaphysics.] Here one might ask, as the foreign scholar did when
they showed him the Sorbonne lecture hall, "They've argued here
for three hundred years; what have they found out?"
Page 158. "We can always work to extend it, without commit-
ting ourselves. . . ." Here we mustn't let him get by. For his
declaration concerns an important point, viz., whether a critique of
pure reason must precede metaphysics or not. From page 157 to
159 he demonstrates his confusion as to what the Critique is trying
to do, and he displays his ignorance just where he tries to parade
as learned. This passage alone reveals the trickery he is up to. He
sounds off about metaphysical truth and its demonstration (at the
start of the section on transcendental truth), contrasting this with
logical truth and its demonstration. But all judgmental truth,
insofar as it rests on objective grounds, is logical, whether the
judgment itself belongs to physics or to metaphysics. We are in the
habit of contrasting logical truth with aesthetic truth (that of a
poet), for example, heaven as a vault and the sunset dipping into
the sea. For the latter sort we require only that the judgment have
the appearance of truth for all men, that is, that it agree with
subjective conditions of judgment. When we speak of objective

144 • T o K. L. Reinhoid, May 12, i'-ßg

determining grounds of a judgment, however, we make no distinc-
tion between geometric truth, physical or metaphysical truth, and
logical truth.
. . . When he says, on page 158, "In this way the mathematicians
have completed the design of whole sciences without even discuss-
ing the reality of the objects of these sciences!' and so on, he shows
himself to be supremely ignorant, not only in his make-believe
mathematics, but in his utter lack of comprehension of what it is
that the Critique demands with respect to the intuitions without
which the objective reality of concepts cannot be secured. We must
therefore pause a moment to discuss his examples.
Mr. Eberhard wants to free himself from the demand, so
troublesome yet so unavoidable for all dogmatism, that no concept
be admitted to the class of cognitions if its objective reality is not
made evident by the possibility of the object's being presented in a
corresponding intuition. He thus calls upon the mathematicians,
who are supposed not to have made mention, with even a single
word, of the reality of the objects of their concepts and who
nevertheless have succeeded in designing entire sciences. He could
hardly have hit upon a more unfortunate example for his purpose.
For it is exacdy the opposite: the mathematician cannot make the
smallest assertion about any object whatsoever without exhibiting
it (or, if we are considering only quantities without qualities, as in
algebra, exhibiting the quantitative relationships for which the
symbols stand) in intuition. As usual, he has, instead of investigat-
ing the subject himself, merely leafed through some books, which
he has not understood, and has hunted up a place in Borelli
(editor of Apollonius's Cornea) that just accidentally seems to suit
his business: "Subiectum enim . . . delineandi." Had he the
slightest grasp of what Borelli was talking about, he would find
that the definition that Apollonius gives, for example, of a parab-
ola is itself the exhibition of a concept in intuition, viz., the
intersection of a cone under certain conditions. In establishing the
objective reality of the concept, here as always in geometry, the
definition is at once a construction of the concept. If, however, in
accordance with the characteristic of this conic section, drawn
from this definition—viz., that the (semi-) ordinate is the mean
proportional between one parameter and the abscissa—the problem
is set as follows: given the parameter, how do you draw the
parabola? (that is, how are the ordinates to be applied upon the
given diameter), the solution, as Borelli correcdy says, belongs to

To K. L. Reinhold, May 12,1789 • 145

art, which follows science as a practical corollary. For science has
to do with the properties of an object, not with the manner in
which the object may be produced under given conditions. If a
circle is defined as a curve all of whose points are equidistant from
a mid-point, is not this concept given in intuition? And this even
though the practical proposition that follows, viz., to describe a
circle (as a straight line is rotated uniformly about a point), is not
at all considered. Mathematics is the most excellent paradigm for
the synthetic use of reason, just because the intuitions with which
mathematics confers objective reality upon its concepts are never
lacking. This demand for intuitions is one we cannot always
sufficiently comply with in philosophy (insofar as philosophy is
supposed to be theoretical knowledge). When intuitions are lack-
ing, we must be resigned to forego the claim that our concepts
have the status of cognitions (of objects). We must admit that
they are only ideas, mere regulative principles for the use of reason
directed toward objects given in intuition, objects that, however,
can never be known completely, since they are conditioned.
Page 163. "Now this principle of sufficient reason. . . ." Here
he makes a confession that will not appeal to many of the empiri-
cists who are his allies in attacking the Critique, viz., that the
principle of sufficient reason is only possible a priori. He explains,
though, that the principle could only be demonstrated by means of
the principle of contradiction, which makes it ipso facto an analy-
tic judgment and thus demolishesrightat the outset his projected
attempt to account for the possibility of synthetic a priori judg-
ments by means of that principle. The demonstration thus turns
out pathetically. First he treats the principle of sufficient reason as
a logical principle (which it must be if he wants to derive it from
the principle of contradiction), so that the principle says in effect,
"Every assertoric judgment has a ground"; but then he proceeds to
use the principle as if it had a metaphysical meaning, that is, in the
sense of "Every event has a cause," which is an entirely different
sense of "ground." In the latter proposition, it is the "real ground,"
the relation of causality, and this relation cannot in any way be
represented by the principle of contradiction, as the relation of
logical ground can. On page 164 the argument begins, "Two
propositions that contradict each other cannot both be true," and
the example, page 163, is "An amount of air moves eastward." If
this example is related to the proposition just cited, the application
of the logical principle of sufficient reason would read: The

146 • To K. L. Reinhoid, May 12, i'-ßg

proposition, "An amount of air moves eastward," must have a
ground. For without a ground, that is, a representation other than
that of the concept of air and that of an eastward movement, the
representation of the predicate (that is, the ground) is wholly
undetermined. But this proposidon is an experiential one, and
consequently it is not merely thought problematically but assertori-
cally, as grounded, and grounded in experience, a cognition by
means of the perceptions that have been combined [verknüpft].
But this ground is identical to that stated in the proposition (I
refer to what is present perceptually, not to what is merely possible
conceptually); it is consequently an analytic ground of judgment,
in accordance with the principle of contradiction, and has nothing
in common with the real ground, which concerns the synthetic
relationship between cause and effect in the objects themselves. So
Eberhard starts with the analytic principle of sufficient reason (as a
logical principle) and leaps to the metaphysical principle of causal-
ity, which is always synthetic and which is never mentioned in
logic. His argument is thus a crude fallacy of ignoratio elenchi;
it does not prove what he wants it to but only shows something
that was never in fact disputed. But this is not the reader's only
problem: the paralogism on pages 163-64 is too awful to be
mentioned.2 Put in syllogistic form it would read: If there were no
sufficient reason why the wind moves eastward, it could just as
well (instead of that—Eberhard has to add this, otherwise the
conclusion of the hypothetical proposition is false) move toward
the west; now there is no sufficient reason why, and so on.
Therefore the wind could just as well move both eastward and
westward, which is self-contradictory. This syllogism walks on all
fours.
The principle of sufficient reason, so far as Mr. Eberhard has
shown, is thus still only a logical principle and analytic. Viewed
from this perspective, there are not two but three principles of
knowledge: (1) the principle of contradiction, for categorical
2
"Either everything has a ground or not everything has a ground. If the
latter, something could be possible and thinkable though its ground is nothing.
But if, of two opposing things, it were possible for one-of them to be without
a sufficient reason, then the other one could also be without a sufficient reason.
If, for example, an amount of air could move eastward, so that the wind is
eastward, even though the air was not warmer and thinner in the east, this
amount of air could just as well move westward as eastward; the same air
would thus simultaneously be able to move in two opposing directions, east and
west, and thus both east and not-east, that is, something couid simultaneously
be and not be, which is contradictory and impossible."

T o K. L. Reinhold, May 12,1789 • 147

judgments, (2) the principle of (logical) ground, for hypothetical
judgments, and (3) the principle of division [Eintheilung] (ex-
cluded middle between two mutually contradictory propositions),
for disjunctive judgments. All judgments mustfirst,as problem-
atic (as mere judgments) insofar as they express possibility, con-
form to thefirstprinciple; second, as assertoric (qua propositions)
insofar as they express logical actuality, that is, truth, they must
conform to the principle of sufficient reason; third, as apodictic (as
items of knowledge), they must conform to the principle of
excluded middle. The reason for the last point is that an apodictic
truth can only be thought possible by negating its contrary, that is,
by dividing the representation of a predicate into two contradic-
tory opposites and excluding one of them.
On page 169 the attempt to prove that the simple, qua intelli-
gible, can be made intuitive, comes out more pitifully than all the
other arguments. For he talks of "concrete" time as something
synthesized [Zusammengesetzten], whose simple elements are
supposed totierepresentations, and he does not remark that in
order to conceive the succession of that concrete time one would
already have had to presuppose the pure intuition of time wherein
those representations are supposed to succeed one another. But
since there is nothing simple in the pure intuition, which the
author calls non-pictorial [unbildlich] (or non-sensible), it follows
without question that the understanding does not in any way
elevate itself above the sphere of sensibility when it is conceiving
time. With his would-be primary elements for the composition of
space, his "simples," he opposes not only Leibniz' correct opinion
but also the whole of mathematics. From my remarks concerning
page 163 you can determine the value of pages 244-56 and the
claimed objective validity of his logical principle of sufficient
reason.3 He wants to infer, from a consideration of the ideas and
connections of ideas that make up the principle (which he really
takes for the principle of causality), and from its objective neces-
sity, that the ground of the principle must lie not merely in the
subject but in objects; however, I am not sure I understand this

3
Eberhard attacks the question, "Can we attribute external reality—a
possibility or actuality—beyond our cognitive power" to objects that we judge
to be external? His proof that external objects are actual is then derived from
"healthy reason" [gesunden Vernuft], which requires "true objects external to
it," corresponding to those representations that are not grounded in the subject
himself.

148 • To K. L. Reinhoid, May 12, i'-ßg

confused discussion. But why does he need such circumlocutions,
when he thinks he can deduce it from the principle of contradic-
tion r
I don't remember whether in my previous letter I mentioned
this man's strange and thoroughly provocative misinterpretation or
misrepresentation of my account of ideas of reason (ideas for
which no corresponding intuition can be given) and of my discus-
sion of the supersensible in general. He maintains that the concept
of a chiliagon is such an idea and that nevertheless we can have a
good deal of mathematical knowledge of it. Now this is so absurd
a misunderstanding of the concept of "supersensible" that a child
would see through it. For the question is just whether there can be
an exhibition of the idea in a possible intuition, in accordance with
our \ind of sensibility; the degree—the power of the imagination
to grasp the manifold—may be as great or small as it will. Even if
something were presented to us as a million-sided figure and we
were able to spot the lack of a single side at first glance, this
representation would still be a sensible one; and only the possibil-
ity of exhibiting the concept of a chiliagon in intuition can ground
the possibility of this object itself in mathematics. For then the
construction of the object can be completely prescribed, without
our worrying about the size of the measuring stick that would be
required in order to make this figure, with all its parts, observable
to the eye. You can tell what sort of a man Eberhard is from this
example of his misrepresentation.
He is good at giving false citations, particularly, for example, on
page 301. But on pages 290 and 298 s. he surpasses himself, for
there he becomes a veritable Falsarius. He cites A 44 of the
Critique, where I said, "The philosophy of Leibniz and Wolff, in
thus treating the difference between the sensible and the intelli-
gible as merely logical, has given a completely wrong direction to
all investigations into the nature and origin of our knowledge,"
and expounds it thus: "Mr. Kant accuses the philosophy of Leib-
niz and Wolff of counterfeiting the concept of sensibility and
appearance by making the distinction between the sensible and the
intellectual a merely logical one." Just as some people are inclined
to believe lies that they themselves have often repeated, so Eber-
hard becomes zealous to the point that he attributes the word
"counterfeit" (verfälscht) to me, when the word in fact exists only
in his brain. He does this three times on one page (page 298) in
discussing my supposedly unrestrained attack on Leibniz. What

T o K. L. Reinhold, May 12,1789 • 149

do you call someone who deliberately falsifies a document in a
legal trial?
I content myself with these few remarks and beg you to use
them as you seefitbut, where possible, in a vigorous fashion. You
must not expect restraint of this man who has made braggadocio
his maxim in order to trick people into granting him recognition. I
wouldfighthim myself, but for the time it would take, which I
must rather use to complete my project; for already I feel the
infirmities of age and must therefore leave the struggle to my
friends, if they deem it worth the effort to defend my cause.
Basically I cannot help but be pleased by the general movement
that the Critique has inspired and still stimulates, even with all the
alliances that are formed against it (though the opponents of the
Critique are split and will remain so); for all this calls attention to
the book. Besides, the unending misunderstandings and misinter-
pretations provide a stimulus to the further clarification of expres-
sion that occasions the misunderstanding. So I really do not fear
these attacks, as long as we remain calm underfire.Still, it is a
good deed to the community to unmask at the outset a man
composed entirely of deceit, who uses nimbly, from long experi-
ence, every device that can seduce a casual reader into biind faith
in him, for example, the appeal to misinterpreted passages in the
writings of distinguished men. Feder is with ail his limitations at
ieast honest, a property totally absent from Eberhard's think-
ing. . . .
With warmth and friendship, and with the greatest respect for
the integrity of your character, I am, faithfully,
Your entirely devoted servant,
I. KANT
Königsberg

To Marcus Herz, May 26, . jySg

- 362 - VOL. XI, pp. 48-55

Every letter that I receive from you, dearest friend, gives me

genuine pleasure. Your noble feeling of gratitude for the small
contribution I made to the development of your excellent native

150 • To Marcus Herz, May 26, lj-3g

talents sets you apart from the majority of my students. What can
be more consoling, when one is close to leaving this world, than to
see that one has not lived in vain, since one has brought up some,
even if only a few, to be good human beings.
But what are you thinking of, dearest friend, in sending me a
large package of the most subtle invesugations, not only to read
through but to think through, I who in my 66th year am still
burdened with the extensive work of completing my plan (pardy
in producing the last part of the critique, namely, that of judg-
ment, which should appear soon, and partly in working out a
system of metaphysics, of nature as well as of morals, in conform-
ity with those critical demands). Besides, I am continuously kept
on the move by many letters, demanding special explanations of
certain points, and my health grows progressively worse. I had
half decided to send the manuscript back immediately, with the
aforementioned, totally adequate apology. But one glance at the
work made me realize its excellence and that not only had none of
my critics understood me and the main questions as well as Mr.
Maimon does but also very few men possess so much acumen for
such deep investigations as he; and this moved me to lay his book
aside tili I might have a few moments oi* leisure, which I have
found only now and then only enough to get through the first tu/o
parts, of which I can write only briefly.
Please convey this to Mr. Maimon. I assume it is taken for
granted that this is not meant for publication.
If I have correctly grasped the sense of his work, the intention is
to prove that if the understanding is to have a law-giving relation-
ship to sensible intuition (not only to the empirical but also to the
a priori sort), then the understanding must itself be the originator
not only of sensible forms but even of the material of intuition,
that is, of objects. Otherwise the quid juris could not be answered
adequately; which question could, however, be answered accord-
ing to Leibnizian-Wolfian [sic] principles, if one grants them the
view that sensibility is not specifically different from the under-
standing but differs from it only in degree of consciousness,
belonging to the understanding qua knowledge of the world. The
degree is infinitely small, in thefirstkind of representation; it is of
a given (finite) magnitude in the second. An a priori synthesis can
have objective validity only because the divine understanding, of
which ours is only a part (or as he expresses it, "though only in a
limited way"), is one with our own understanding; that is, it is

To Marcus Herz, May 26,1789 • 151

itself the originator of forms and of the possibility of the things
(in themselves) in the worid.
However, I doubt very much that this was Leibnitz' or Wolf's
opinion, or that this could really be deduced from their explana-
tions of the distinction between sensibility and the understanding;
and those who are familiar with the teachings of these men will
find it difficult to agree that they assume a Spinozism; for, in fact,
Mr. Maimon's way of representing is Spinozism and could be used
most excellently to refute the Leibnizians ex concessis.
Mr. Maimon's theory consists basically in the contention that an
understanding (indeed, the human understanding) not only is a
faculty of thinking, as our understanding and perhaps that of all
creatures essentially is, but is actually a faculty of intuition, where
thinking is only a way of bringing the manifold of intuition
(which is obscure because of our limitations) into clear con-
sciousness. I, on the ether hand, conceive of the understanding as a
special faculty and ascribe to it the concept of an object in general
(a concept that even the clearest consciousness of our intuition
would not at all disclose). In other words I ascribe to the under-
standing the synthetic unity of apperception, through which alone
the manifold of intuition (of whose every feature I may neverthe-
less be particularly conscious), in a unified consciousness, is
brought to the representation of an object in general (whose
concept is then determined by means of that manifold).
Now Mr. Maimon asks: How do I explain the possibility of
agreement between a priori intuitions and my a priori concepts, if
each has its specifically different origin, since this agreement is
given as a fact but the legitimacy or the necessity of the agreement
of two such heterogeneous manners of representation is incompre-
hensible. And vice versa, how can I prescribe, for example, the law
of causality to nature, that is, to objects themselves, by means of
my category (whose possibility in itself is only problematic).
Finally, how can I even prove the necessity of these functions of
the understanding whose existence is again merely a fact, since
that necessity has to be presupposed if we are to subject things,
however conceived, to those functions.
To this I answer: All of this takes place in relation to an
experiential knowledge that is only possible under these condi-
tions, a "subjective" consideration, to be sure. It must, however, be
objectively valid as well, because the objects here are not things in
themselves but mere appearances. Therefore, the form in which

152 • T o Marcus Herz, May 26, ij8g

they are given depends on our understanding, on the one hand, on
the subjective, that is, specific, manner of our intuition; on the
other hand, it depends on the uniting of the manifold in a
consciousness, that is, according to the thinking both of the object
and of the cognition. Only under these conditions, therefore, can
we have experiences of objects; and consequently, if intuition (of
objects of appearance) did not agree with these conditions, objects
would be nothing for us, that is, not objects of knowledge at all;
we should have knowledge neither of ourselves nor of other
things.
In this way it can be shown that if we are able to make synthetic
judgments a priori, these judgments are concerned only with
objects of intuition as mere appearances. Even if we were capable
of an intellectual intuition (for example, in such a way that the
infinitely small elements of intuition were noumena), it would be
impossible to show the necessity of such judgments in conformity
with the nature of our understanding in which concepts such as
"necessity" exist. For such intuitions would still be mere percep-
tions; for example, the perception that in a triangle two sides taken
together are larger than the third side—not the recognition that
this property would have to belong to a triangle necessarily. But
we are absolutely unable to explain further how it is that a sensible
intuition (such as space andtime),the form of our sensibility, or
such functions of the understanding as those out of which logic
develops are possible; nor can we explain why it is that one form
agrees with another in forming a possible cognition. For we
should have to have still another manner of intuition than the one
we have and another understanding with which to compare our
own and with which everyone could perceive things in themselves.
But we can only judge an understanding by means of our own
understanding, and so it is, too, with all intuition. It is, however,
entirely unnecessary to answer this question. For if we can demon-
strate that our \nowledge of things, even experience itself, is only
possible under those conditions, it follows that all other concepts of
things (which are not thus conditioned) are for us empty and
utterly useless for knowledge. But not only that; all sense data for
a possible cognition would never, without those conditions, repre-
sent objects. They would not even reach that unity of conscious-
ness that is necessary for knowledge of myself (as object of inner
sense). I would not even be able to know that I have sense data;
consequendy for me, as a knowing being, they would be absolutely

T o Marcus Herz, May 26,1789 • 153

 nothing. They could still (I imagine myself to be an animal) carry
on their play in an orderly fashion, as representations connected
according to empirical laws of association, and thus even have an
influence on my feeling and desire, without my being aware of
them (assuming that I am even conscious of each individual
representation, but not of their relation to the unity of repre-
sentation of their object, by means of the synthetic unity of their
apperception). This might be so without my knowing the slightest
thing thereby, not even what my own condition is.
It is difficult to guess the thoughts that may have hovered in the
mind of a deep thinker and that he himself could not make
entirely clear. Nevertheless I am quite convinced that Leibniz, in
his pre-established harmony (which he, like Baumgarten after
him, made very general), had in mind not the harmony of two
different natures, namely, sense and understanding, but that of
two faculties belonging to the same nature, in which sensibility
3nd understanding harmonize to form experiential knowledge. If
we wanted to make judgments about their origin—an investiga-
• tion that of course lies wholly beyond the limits of human reason
—we could name nothing beyond our divine creator; once they are
given, however, we are fully able to explain their power of making
a priori judgments (that is, the quid juris).
I must content myself with these remarks and cannot, because of
my limited time, go into details. I remark only that it is not
necessary to assume, with Mr. Maimon, "ideas of the under-
standing" [VerstandesideenJ.1 Nothing is thought in the concept
of a circle other than that all straight lines drawn between it and a

1
Maimon wrote: "The material completeness of a concept, insofar as this
completeness cannot be given in intuition, is an idea of the understanding
[V erstandsidee]. For example, the understanding dictates a rule or condition
to itself: that from a given point, an infinite number of equal lines can be
drawn. Out of this (by the uniting of their end points), the concept of a circle
is produced. The possibility of this rule, and thus the possibility of the concept
itself, can be shown in intuition (by the movement of a line around a given
point). Consequendy, the formal completeness (the unity in the manifold) can
also be shown. However, its material completeness (in the manifold) cannot
be given in intuition, for one can always draw only a finite number of lines
equal to one another. It is therefore not a concept of the understanding
[Verstandsbegriff] to which an object corresponds but only an idea of the
understanding [Verstandsidee], which one can approach asymptotically in
intuition by means of the successive production of such lines. It is thus a
limiting concept [Gränzbegriff]." Versuch über die Transcendentalphilosophie
(Berlin, 1790), pp. 75 f. Cf. Maimon's letter to Kant of April 7, 1789 [ 3 5 2 ] ,
p. 1 3 3 .

154 • To Marcus Herz. May 26, i~8g

 single point (the center) are equal. This is a merely logical
function of the universality of judgment, in which the concept of a
line consdtutes the subject and signifies only as much as "any
line," not the totality of lines, that could be inscribed on a plane
from a given point. Otherwise every line would, with equal
jusdce, be an idea of the understanding; for the idea includes all
lines as parts that can be thought between two points (thinkable
only in it) and whose number is also infinite. That this line can be
infinitely divided is also not an idea, for it signifies only a contin-
uation of the division unlimited by the size of the line. But to see
this infinite division in its totality, and consequently as completed,
is an idea of reason, the idea of an absolute totality of conditions
(of synthesis) demanded of an object of sense, which is impossible
since the unconditioned is not at all to be found among appear-
ances.
Furthermore, the possibility of a circle is not merely problem-
atic, dependent, as it were, on the practical proposidon "to inscribe
a circle by the movement of a straight line around afixedpoint";
rather, the possibility is given in the definition of the circle, since
the circle is actually constructed by means of the definition, that is,
it is exhibited in intuition, not actually on paper (empirically) but
in the imagination (a priori). For I may always draw a circle free
hand on the board and put a point in it, and I can demonstrate all
properties of the circle just as well on it, presupposing the (so-
called) nominal definition, which is in fact a real definition, even
if this circle is not at all like one drawn by rotating a straight line
attached to a point. I assume that the points of the circumference
are equidistant from the center point. The proposition "to inscribe
a circle" is a practical corollary of the definition (or so-called
postulate), which could not be demanded at all if the possibility—
yes, the very sort of possibility of thefigure—werenot already
given in the definition.
As for defining a straight line, it cannot be done by referring to
the identity of direction of all the line's parts, for the concept of
direction (as a straight line, by means of which the movement is
distinguished, without reference to its size) already presupposes
this concept. But these are incidentals.
Mr. Maimon's book contains besides this so many acute observa-
tions that he could have published it at any time, with no small
advantage to his reputation and without offending me thereby,
though he takes a very different path than I do. Still, he agrees

T o Marcus Herz, May 26,1789 • 155

with me that a reform must be undertaken, if the principles of
metaphysics are to be madefirm,and few men are willing to be
convinced that this is necessary. But, dearest friend, your request
for a recommendation from me, to accompany the publicadon of
this work, would not be feasible, since it is after ail largely directed
against me. That is my judgment, in case the work were pub-
lished. But if you want my advice about publishing the work as it
is, it seems best to me, since Mr. Maimon is presumably not
indifferent to being fully understood, that he use the time required
for the publication to work up a complete theory. There he should
indicate clearly not merely the manner in which he thinks of the
principles of a priori knowledge but also what his system implies
concerning the solution of the tasks of pure reason, which consti-
tute the essential part of the goals of metaphysics. The antinomies
of pure reason could provide a good test stone for that, which
might convince him that one cannot assume human reason to be
of one kind with the divine reason, distinct from it only by
limitation, that is, in degree—that human reason, unlike the divine
reason, must be regarded as a faculty only of thinking, not of
intuiting; that it is thoroughly dependent on an entirely different
faculty (or receptivity) for its intuitions, or better, for the material
out of which it fashions knowledge; and that, since intuition gives
us mere appearances whereas the tact itself is a mere concept of
reason, the antinomies (which arise entirely because of the confu-
sion of the two) can never be resolved except by deducing the
possibility of synthetic a priori propositions according to my prin-
ciples.
I remain as ever your loyal servant and friend,
I. KANT

156 • To MarcusHerz.May 26, i~8g

To F. H. Jacobi, Atigust 30, 1789
VOL XI
- 375 - - . PP- 75-77

Esteemed sir:
The gift from Count von Windisch-Graetz,1 containing
his philosophical essays, has arrived (thanks to you and to Privy
Commercial Counselor R. Fischer), and I have also received the
first edition of Histoire metaphysique . . . from the book dealer
Sixt.
Please thank the Count for me and assure him of my respect for
his philosophical talent, a talent that he combines with the noblest
atdtudes of a cosmopolite. In the last mendoned work, I observed
with pleasure that the Count discusses, with the clarity and mod-
esty of one who is at home in the great world, the same matters
with which I in my scholastic fashion have also been concerned,
viz., the definition and encouragement of human nature's noblest
incentives [Triebfedern], incendves that have so often been con-
fused with (and even taken for) physical urges and that have
failed to produce the results that one rightfully expects of them. I
long passionately to see him complete this work, for it obviously is
systematically related to his other two books (the one on secret
sociedes and the one on voluntary changes of the constitution in
monarchies). This system would certainly have great influence,
pardy as a wonderfully realized prophecy, partly as sage counsel to
despots, in the current European crisis. No statesman has hereto-
fore inquired so deeply into the principles of the art of governing
men or has even known how to go about such an inquiry. But that

1
Joseph Nicolaus v. Windisch-Graetz ( 1 7 4 4 - 1 8 0 2 ) , a writer on political
philosophy, whom Kant mentions also in Perpetual Peace. His position
resembled Kant's on several points; for example, he insisted that human
activity could not be understood in terms of merely passive sensations, he
rejected eudaemonism, and he argued that the idea of immortality must be
based on virtue, not vice versa. The writings to which Kant alludes are:
Solution provisoire d'un Probleme, ou Histoire metaphysique de I'organiza-
tion antmale (1789), Objections aux societes secretes ( 1 7 8 8 ) , and 2 dis-
course on the question whether a monarch has the right to change a
constitution (1789).

To F. H. Jacobi, August j o , /7S9 • 157

is why none of the proposals of such people have succeeded in
convincing anyone, much less in producing results.
For the newest edition of your handsome book on Spinoza's
theory, my warmest thanks. You have earned distinction,firstof
all for having clearly presented the difficulties of the teleological
road to theology, the road that Spinoza seems to have chosen. To
dash with hasty, enterprising steps toward a far away goal has
always been injurious to a thorough insight. He who shows us the
cliffs has not necessarily set them up, and even if someone main-
tains that it is impossible to pass through them with full sails (of
dogmatism), he has not on that account denied every possibility of
getting through. I think that you will not find the compass of
reason to be unnecessary or misleading in this venture. The
indispensible supplement to reason is something that, though not
part of speculative knowledge, lies only in reason itself, something
that we can name (viz., freedom, a supersensible power of causal-
ity within us) but that we cannot grasp. The question whether
reason could only be awakened to this concept of theism by being
instructed with historical events or whether it would require an
incomprehensible supernatural inspiration [Einwirkung], this is
an incidental question, a question of the origin and introduction of
this idea. For one can just as well admit that if the gospel had not
previously instructed us in the universal moral laws, in their total
purity, our reason would not yet have discovered them so com-
pletely; still, once we are in possession of them, we can convince
anyone of their correctness and validity using reason alone.
You have thoroughly refuted the syncretism of Spinozism and
the deism of Herder's God. All syncretistic talk is commonly based
on insincerity, a property of mind that is especially characteristic of
this great artist in delusions (which, like magic lanterns, make
marvelous images appear for a moment but which soon vanish
forever, though they leave behind in the minds of the uninformed
a conviction that something unusual must be behind it all, some-
thing, however, that they cannot catch hold of.)
1 have always thought it my duty to show respect for men of
talent, science, and justice, no matter how far our opinions may
differ. You will, I hope, appraise my essay on orientation, in the
Berlinische Monatsschrift, from this perspective. I was requested
by various people to cleanse myself of the suspicion of Spinozism,
and therefore, contrary to my inclination, I wrote this essay.2 I
2 What Is Orientation in Thinking? (Was heisst: Sich im Denken
Orientieren? ( 1 7 8 6 ] ) . The essay is included in L. W. Beck's edition of

158 • To F. H. Jacobi, August j o , 1789

hope you will find in it no trace of deviation from the principle I
have just affirmed. With inner pain I have read some other attacks
upon your views and those of some of your worthy friends, and I
have even spoken out against such attacks. I do not understand
how it is that otherwise good and reasonable men are often
inclined to regard as meritorious an attack that they would take to
be highly unfair were it directed against themselves. Yet true merit
cannot be diminished by such shadows cast on its gleaming
brilliance; it will not be mistaken.
Our Hamann3 has accepted the posidon of private tutor at
Count von Keyserling's in Curland, principally with the intention
of systematizing his many-sided knowledge by presenting it to
others, and he likes it there. He is a decent, honest soul. He is
thinking of devodng himself to schooiteaching since he recently
lost his father and mother and needs to help his orphaned sisters at
home.
I wish you many years of good health, good cheer, and good
fortune to pursue the work you so love, the noblest task of all, viz.,
reflection on the serious principles on which the general welfare of
mankind depends, and I am, most respectfully,
Your most devoted servant,
I. K A N T

To L.E.Borows\i1 [between March 6 and 22, /790]

- 4II - VOL. XI, pp. I4I-4S

You ask me what might be the source of the fanaticism

[Schwärmerei] that is so rapidly gaining ground and how this
disease might be cured. Both of these questions are as difficult for
physicians of the soul as was the influenza epidemic that spread all
around the world a few years ago (what the Viennese call "Rus-
sian catarrh") for physicians of the body. The influenza infected
people one right after the other, but it soon cleared up by itself. I
Kant's Critique of Practical Reason and Other Writings in Moral Philosophy
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1949). It is Kant's answer to the
famous pantheism controversy between Jacobi and Mendelssohn.
3
Johann Michael Hamann, son of J. G. Hamann, ( 1 7 6 9 - 1 8 1 3 ) .
1
L u d w i g Ernst Borowski ( 1 7 4 0 - 1 8 3 2 ) , one of Kant's first students and,
later, biographer. Borowski's profession was the ministry.

To L. E. Borowski [between March 6 and 22, /790] • 159

think the two sorts of doctors have much in common, being better
able to describe the illnesses than to discover their origin or cure.
How fortunate arc the sick when the doctor's only prescription is
dietary, a recommendation of pure cold water as an antidote to the
disease, trusting kind nature to do the rest.
It seems to me that the universally prevailing mania for reading
[Lesesucht] is not only the carrier that spreads this illness but also
the poison (miasma) that produces it. The more well-to-do and
fashionable people, claiming their insights at least equal if not
superior to the insights of those who have troubled to pursue the
thorny path of thorough investigation, are content with indices
and summaries, skimming the cream off the sciences. These people
would like to obscure the obvious difference between loquacious
ignorance and thorough science, and this is easiest to do by
snatching up incomprehensible things that are no more than airy
possibilities and presenting them as facts that the serious natural
scientist is supposed to explain. They ask him how he can account
for the fulfilment of this or that dream,2 presentiment, astrological
prophccy, transmutation of lead into gold, and so on. For in
matters of this kind, when once the fact is conceded (and these
people will not let it be questioned), one man is as ignorant of the
explanation as another. Theyfindit hard to learn everything the
natural scientist knows, so they take the easier road, attempting to
dissolve the inequality between them and him by showing that
there are matters about which neither of them knows what to say,
matters of which the unscientific man is therefore tree to judge in
any way whatsoever, since the scientist cannot correct him. This is
where the mania begins, and from there it spreads to ordinary
people as well.
1 see only one antidote for this disease: thoroughness must be
substituted for dilettantism in education, and the desire to read
must not be eradicated but redirected so as to become purposeful.
When this happens, the well-instructed man will enjoy reading
only what will genuinely profit his understanding, and everything
else will disgust him. In his Observations of a Traveller, a German
doctor, Mr. Grimm,3findsfault with what he calls "the French
omniscience," but that is not nearly as tasteless as what the
German does, usually constructing a ponderous system that he
2
The reference is to Swedenborg.
3
Bemerkungen eines Reisenden
J. F. C. Grimm ( 1 7 3 7 - 1 8 2 1 ) , of Weimar,
durch Deutschland, Frankreich, England und Holland (Altenburg, 1 7 7 5 ) .

160 • To L. E. Borowsbj [between March 6 and 22, /790]

becomes fanatically unwilling to abandon. The Mesmer-show 4 in
France is only a fad and will soon disappear completely.
The customary trick the fanatic uses to give his ignorance the
appearance of science is to ask, "Do you understand the real cause
of magnedc force, or do you know the material stuff that exercises
such marvelous effects in electrical phenomena?" Thus he thinks
he is justified in expressing his opinions on a subject that, in his
view, the greatest natural scientist understands as little as he does,
and he ventures to hold forth even on the most likely effects of this
force. But the scientist considers only those effects to be genuine
that are susceptible of experimental testing, so that the object of
investigation is wholly under his control. The fanatic, on the other
hand, snatches up effects that could have originated in the imagi-
nation of either the observer or the subject being observed, so that
there is no possibility of experimental control.
There is nothing to be done about this mischief except to let the
animal magnetist magnetize and disorganize, as long as he and his
credulous fellows desire. We can only advise them to keep away
from moral issues and recommend that they pursue the single road
of natural science, using experiment and observation to discover
the properties of objects of outer sense. Elaborate refutation here is
beneath the dignity of reason and, furthermore, accomplishes
nothing. Disdainful silence is more appropriate toward such mad-
ness. Movements of this kind, in the moral realm, have but a short
duration before they make way for new follies.

To J. G. C. C. Kiesewetter, April 20, 1790

- 419 - VOL. xi, pp. 154-55

. . . The criterion of a genuine moral principle is its uncondi-

tional practical necessity; thereby it differs entirely from all other
sorts of practical principles. The possibility of freedom, if this be
considered (as in the Critique of Pure Reason) prior to any
discussion of the moral law, signifies only the transcendental
concept of the causality of an earthly creature in general insofar as
that causality is not determined by any ground in the sensible
* Mesmer's theory of "animal magnetism" was taken up throughout France.

T o ]. G. C. C. Kiesewetter, April 20, Ijgo • 161

world; and all that is shown there is that there is nothing self-
contradictory about this concept (it is not specifically the concept
of the causality of a will). This transcendental idea [of freedom]
acquires content by means of the moral law, and it is given to the
will (the will being a property of a rational being—man) because
the moral law allows no ground of determinadon from nature (the
aggregate of objects of sense). The concept of freedom, as causal-
ity, is apprehended in an affirmation, and this concept of a free
causality is without circularity interchangeable with the concept of
a moral ground of determination.1

From J. G. C. C. Kiesewetter, April 20, iygo

- 420 - VOL. XI, pp. I55~6o

Dearest, best professor,

[Kiesewetter apologizes for not writing sooner and gives
a somewhat lengthy account of his circumstances, his success as a
private tutor and lecturer, and news of various mutual acquaint-
ances. He tells of a Professor Seile,1 a physician in Berlin, who was
about to publish an essay that, Seile hoped, would give the death
blow to Kant's system.]
. . . As far as I have learned, his main argument is that even
assuming that you had proved space and time to be forms of our
sensibility, you could not show that they were only forms of
1
This passage is one of the places where Kant tries to answer the charge
that his arguments for freedom and the moral law are circular, each assuming
the reality of the other. The circularity is only apparent, he explains, since
"freedom" is used in two senses: first, to signify the negative, "transcendental"
idea of independence from the determinism of nature (a concent whose non-
contradictoriness Kant thinks he has shown in the antinomy of the first
Critique), and second, to signify the positive concept of freedom as autonomy,
a unique sort of causality possessed by rational beings. Cf. Grundlegung zur
Metaphysik, der Sitten, in Werke, IV, 450, in which Kant offers a somewhat
different solution: the activity of thinking, he maintains there, is itself a
manifestation of freedom. The charge of circularity came from a critic named
J. F. Flatt. The two concepts of freedom have been discussed by L. W. Beck in
his Commentary on Kant's Critique of Practical Reason (Chicago: University
of Chicago Press, i960), p. 59.
1
Christian Gottlieb Seile (originally Sell) ( 1 7 4 8 - 1 8 0 0 ) , an empiricist and
one of the men to whom Kant sent complimentary copies of the Critique.

162 • From J. G. C. C. Kiesewetter, April 20, Ijgo

sensibility, since it is still possible to imagine them to belong to
things in themselves, a possibility that you are in no position to
deny, in view of your claim that we can know nothing of things in
themselves. Besides, one might also try to show why we intuit in
just these and no other forms. In his opinion, space and time are
subjectively necessary conditions of our intuitions, but there are
properties of things in themselves that correspond to them.—If it
turns out that his whole attack contains nothing more significant
than that, I shall not find it so frightening. How is Mr. S. going to
prove that space and time belong to things in themselves? And if
he admits that space and time are forms of sensibility, how can he
claim that they are nevertheless dependent on things in them-
selves? For if they were given by means of objects, they would be
part of the matter of intuition, not its form. I shall gladly send you
a copy as soon as the book appears.
Strange things are happening here nowadays. A week ago last
Sunday the King got married to the Countess of Dehnhof,2 in one
of the rooms of the castle here. The probability is—virtually a
certainty, to my mind—that Zöllner3 performed the wedding.
Minister Wöllner4 and Mr. von Geysau 5 attended the King; the
2
Sophie Juliane Friederike Wilhelmine, Countess of Dönhoff ( 1 7 6 8 - 1 8 3 4 )
married Friedrich Wilhelm II on April 1 1 , 179c. She is mentioned again in
the letter from Kiesewetter of June 14- 1791 [474].
3
Johann Friedrich Zöllner, preacher and Oberkpnsistorialrat (prior in
charge of the principal church in the district) in Berlin ( 1 7 5 3 - 1 8 0 4 ) . Zöllner
argued warmly against the King's new catechism.
4
Johann Christoph Wöllner, favorite of Friedrich Wilhelm II ( 1 7 3 2 - 1 8 0 0 ) .
Wöllner, an orthodox theologian, was once characterized by Frederick the
Great as "a deceitful, scheming priest and nothing more." (K. Vorländer,
Immanuel Kant's Leben [Leipzig: Felix Meiner, 1 9 2 1 ] , p. 1 5 7 . )
Friedrich Wilhelm II put special trust in Wöllner, elevating him on July 3,
1788, to the position of minister of justice (replacing Minister Zedlitz, to
whom Kant dedicated the Critique of Pure Reason) and head of the
departments concerned with spiritual matters. Six days later his Religionsedict
appeared, asserting that even Lutheran and Calvinistic teachers were trying to
destroy the basic truths of Holy Scripture and were disseminating countless
errors under the pretense of enlightenment. The edict paid lip service to the
Prussian tradition of toleration and freedom of conscience but insisted that
everyone should keep his opinions to himself and take care not to undermine
other people's faith. On December 19, 1788, a new censorship edict followed,
designed to limit "the impetuosity of today's so-called enlighteners" and the
"freedom of the press, which has degenerated into insolence of the press." All
writings published domestically or to be exported beyond Prussia were put
under censorship. The King anticipated that the censorship would "put a
check on those works that oppose the universal principles of religion, the state,
and civil order." (See Vorländer, o p . cit., p. 158.)
At first, the edict had no effect. Liberal theologians preached more freely

From J. G. C. C. Kiesewetter, April 20, Ijgo • 163

 mother and sister of the Countess and her stepbrother (or cousin, I
forget which) attended the bride. The King arrived Saturday
evening from Potsdam and the marriage took place Sunday eve-
ning at 6. The Countess was dressed in white (like the heroine of
a novel), with hair unfurled. She resides in Potsdam now. It is
presumed that the Elector of Saxony 8 will have to promote her to
imperial princess. Formerly she was lady-in-waiting to the reign-
ing queen. For almost a year the king has been carrying on
negotiations with her, but her public behavior was such that one
couldn't tell whether she gave him a hearing or not.
About two weeks ago her mother came, or so the Countess has
let it be circulated, to take her to Prussia, at her request. The
Countess then publicly makes her farewells at court. The reigning
queen makes her a present of a pair of brilliant earrings and tells
her she will know best of what they may remind her. Everybody
thinks she has left, just as the marriage is taking place. The Queen
has received the news rather calmly. What I have told you up to
now is, apart from precise details, known to almost everyone, and
it is causing a mighty sensation among the public. The crowd at
Zöllner's sermons has diminished and even at an introduction that
he recently held, where people used to come in droves, the church
was empty.—The following facts are known only to a few persons.
The King and Queen are divorced, a decree to which she agreed at
the time of the "negotiations" with the late Lugenheirn.7 The
King gave up all maritalrights,and the Queen retained only the
' honorary tide. Dr. Brown 3 declared her unbalanced, and this is
very probably true, since insanity ran in the family. She often
dances around on chairs and tables and sees ghosts. What a

than ever, Kant's friend Berens wrote to him. One man wanted to print
Luther's essay on freedom of thought, especially the sentence, "Knights,
Bishops, and Nobles are fools if they meddle in matters of faith." Berens
thought that similar passages written by the late Frederick the Great should be
published as an appendix. He asked Kant (as had others before him) to
express his views on the problem in Biester's journal, the Berliner Monats-
schrift.
For a time, Wöllner pretended to be friendly to Kant, allowing Kiesewetter
to lecture on Kant's philosophy (though with his own spy sometimes in
attendance). See Kiesewetter's letter of June 14, 1791 [474].
5
Levin von Geysau, a Prussian army officer.
8
Friedrich August III ( 1 7 6 3 - 1 8 1 7 ) ; after 1806, as king, Friedrich August
I.
7
Julie von Voss, Countess Lugenheim, another mistress of Friedrich Wil-
helm II ( 1 7 6 7 - 8 9 ) .
8
Dr. Carl Brown, royal physician.

164 • From /. G. C. C. Kiesewetter, April 20, 1790

misfortune it would be for our state if this defect had been
transmitted to her children.
War preparations are still continuing here.9 The most remarka-
ble thing, though, is that the King and not the ministry wants
war. The official plan is as follows: our army will be divided into
four corps, thefirst,led by the King, with Möllendorf10 com-
manding under him, willfightthe Austrians; the second, led by
the Duke of Braunschweig,11 will oppose the Russians; Prince
Friedrich 12 commands the reconnaissance corps against the Sax-
ons; and besides these there is supposed to be a so-called flying
corps. As far as Saxony is concerned, they say that at the time that
the late Emperor was still alive a special envoy of the Emperor's
who had come for a private audience with the Elector at the Saxon
court was arrested. The audience was, however, granted, and the
envoy inquired of the Elector how he would act if Prussia should
go to war. The Elector replied that he would remain neutral. The
envoy received this answer with pleasure and asked the Elector to
make an official proclamation. But happily the Marquis Lucche-
sini13 prevented this, though the Elector had given his answer
orally. So now an army will compel the Elector to join our
side. . . .
[Kiesewetter wishes Kant a happy 67th birthday tomorrow.]
Your devoted servant,
J. G . C . KIESEWETTER
Berlin
P.S. My last letter 14 told you the story of the catechism rejected by
the Ober Consistorium. Now Mr. Silberschlag and Preacher
Hecker 15 are reworking an old catechism, composed by the late
Inspector Hecker,16 containing a compilation of theological twad-
dle.

9
Against Austria.
10
W . J. H. v. Möllendort, general field marshall, governor of Berlin
(1724-1816).
11
Carl Wm. Ferdinand, Prussian field marshall ( 1 7 3 5 - 1 8 0 6 ) .
12
D u k e of York ( 1 7 6 3 - 1 8 2 7 ) .
13
Girolamo Lucchesini ( 1 7 5 2 - 1 8 2 5 ) , Italian by birth, at that time sent to
Warsaw by Friedrich Wilhelm II as envoy extraordinary and minister plenipo-
tentiary.
14
March 3, 1790 [409], in Werke, XI, 1 3 7 .
10
Andreas Jakob Hecker ( 1 7 4 6 - 1 8 1 9 ) , chaplain at the Dreifaltigkeitskirche
and, from 1785, director of the united institutes of the royal Realschule.
16
Johann Julius Hecker ( 1 7 0 7 - 6 8 ) , founder of the Realschule in Berlin.

From ]. G. C. C. Kiesewetter, April 20, /790 • 165

To A. W. Rehberg1 [before September 25, /790]
- 448 - VOL. XI, pp. 207-10

The question is: Since the understanding has the power to

create numbers at will, why is it incapable of thinking y'z in
numbers? For if the understanding could thinks it, it ought to be
able to produce it, too, since numbers are pure acts of its spontane-
ity, and the synthetic propositions of arithmetic and algebra cannot
limit this spontaneity by the condition of intuition in space and
time. It seems, therefore, that we must assume a transcendental
faculty of imagination, one that, in represendng the object inde-
pendently even of space and dme, connects synthetic representa-
tions solely in pursuance of understanding. From this faculty, a
special system of algebra could be constructed, a knowledge of
which (were it possible) would advance the method of solving
equations to its highest generality.
This is how I understand the question put to me.
An Attempt to Answer This Question
(1) I can regard every number as the product of two factors,
even if these factors are not immediately given to me or even if
they could not be given in numbers. For, if the given number is
15, I can take one of the factors as 3, so that the other is 5, and
3 X 5 = 15. Or let the given factor be 2; then the second factor
sought is 15/o. Or let thefirstfactor be the fraction the other
10
factor is %, and so on. It is thus possible, given any number as
product and given one of its factors, to find the other factor.
(2) If neither of the factors is given but only a relauonship
between them—for example, it is given that they are equal—so
that we have a and the factor sought is x, where i'.x — x'.a (that
is, x is the mean proportional between 1 and a), then, since a — %2,
x must = \/a. That is, the square root of a given quantity, for
example, V2, is expressed by the mean proportional between 1 and
the given number (in this case, 2). It is thus also possible to think
numbers such as that one.
-"•On August Wilhelm Rehberg, see the letter to J. E. Biester of April 10,
1794 [ 6 2 1 ] , n. 2.

166 • To A. W. Rehberg [before September 25, /790]

 Geometry shows us, by the example of the diagonal of a square,
that the mean proportional quantity between the quantities I and
2 can be found and that V2 is consequently not an empty, object-
less concept. So the question is only, why cannot a number be
found for this quantity, a number whose concept would represent
the quantity (its relation to unity) clearly and completely.
From the fact that every number could be represented as the
square of some other number, it does not follow that the square
root must be rational (that is, have a denumerable relation to
unity). This can be seen by means of the principle of identity, if
we consider the concepts basic to the question: the idea of two
equal (but undetermined) factors of a given product. For there is
no determinate relation to unity given in these concepts, only an
interrelationship. It follows from paragraph 1 above, however, that
this root, located in the series of numbers between two members of
that series (let them be divided into decades, for instance), will
always encounter still another intermediate number and thus an-
other relation to unity. This must be so when one part of the root
is found in this series. But the reason why the understanding,
which has arbitrarily created the concept of V2, must content itself
with an asymptotic approach to the number V2 and cannot also
produce the complete numerical concept (the rational relationship
of \ 2 to unity)—the reason for this has to do withtime,the
successive progression as form of all counting and of all numerical
quantities; for time is the basic condition of all this producing of
quantities.
It is true that the mere concept of the square root of a positive
quantity, that is, V«, as represented in algebra, requires no synthesis
in time. Similarly, one can see the impossibility of the square root
of a negative quantity, V —• a (where the same relation would have
to hold between the positive quantity, unity, and another quantity,
x, as holds between x and a negative quantity *), if the condition of
time did not enter into this insight. This can be seen from the
mere concepts of quantities. But as soon as, instead of a, the
number for which a stands is given, so that the square root is not
simply to be named (as in algebra) but calculated (as in arith-
metic), the condition of all producing of numbers, viz., time,

* f Kant's footnote] Since this is seif-contradictory, the expression V—a

stands for an impossible quantity.

167•To A. W. Rehberg [before September 25, /790]

bccomes the inescapable foundation of the process. Indeed, we
then require a pure intuition, in which we discover not only the
given quantity but also the root, and we learn whether it can
possibly be a whole number or can only be found as an irrational
number by means of an infinite series of diminishing fractions.
The following consideration shows that what is needed for the
concept of the square root of a definite number, for example, 15, is
not the mere concept of a number, provided by the understanding,
but rather a synthesis in time (as pure intuition): from the mere
concept of a number, we cannot tell whether the root of that
number will be rational or irrational. We have to try it out, either
by comparing the products of all smaller whole numbers up to 100
with the given square, according to the multiplication table, or, in
the case of larger numbers, by dividing them up, in accordance
with demonstrated theorems, trying to find the components of the
square or the parts of a twofold or »-fold root; and wherever the
test of multiplying a whole number by itself does not yield the
square, we increase the divisors of unity in order to obtain an
infinite series of diminishing fractions, a series that expresses the
root, though only in an irrational way (since the series can never
be completed, though we can carry it out as far as we like).
Now if it were assumed to be impossible to explain or to prove a
priori that if the root of a given quantity cannot be expressed in
whole numbers it also cannot be expressed determinated in frac-
tions (though it could be given as accurately as one wants), this
would be a phenomenon concerning the relation of our power of
imagination to our understanding, a phenomenon that we perceive
by means of experiments with numbers but that we are totally
unable to explain by means of the concepts of the understanding.
But since we can explain it and demonstrate it, there is no need to
assume this conclusion.
It seems to me that the puzzle about the mean proportional,
which the penetrating author who questions the adequacy of our
imaginative powers to execute the concepts of the understanding
has discovered in arithmetic, is really based on the possibility of a
geometric construction of such quantities, quantities that can never
be completely expressed in numbers.
For the puzzlement one feels about V2 seems to me not to be
produced by the proposition that, for every number, one can find a
square root that, if not itself a number, is a rule for approximating
the answer as closely as one wishes. What perplexes the under-

168 • To A. W. Rehberg [before September 25, /790]

Standing is rather the fact that this concept V2 can be constructed
geometrically, so that it is not merely thinkable but also adequately
visualizable, and the understanding is unable to see the basis of
this. The understanding is not even in a posidon to assume the
possibility of an object V2, since it cannot adequately present the
concept of such a quandty in an intuition of number, and would
even less anticipate that such a quantity could be given a priori.
The necessity of the synthesis [Verknüpfung] of the two forms
of sensibility, space andtime,in determining the objects of our
intuition—so that time, when the subject makes himself the object
of his representation, must be imagined as a line, if it is to be
quantified, just as, on the other hand, a line can be quantified only
by being constructed intime—thisinsight of the necessary synthe-
sis of inner sense with outer sense, even in the determination of
the time of our existence, seems to me of aid in proving the
objective reality of our representations of outer things (as against
psychological idealism) though I am not able to pursue this idea
farther at the moment.

To C. F. Hell wag, January ijgi

- 461 - VOL. XI, pp. 245-47

. . . I shall think over your remarks on the distinction between

synthetic and analytic propositions,1 insofar as this concerns logic
1
In his letter of December 1 3 , 1790 [460], Hellwag suggested that
convertible synthetic propositions would have analytic propositions as their
converses, whereas the converse of an analytic proposition would in some
instances be synthetic. For example, " 'All physical bodies are heavy' is
synthetic; the synthesis of 'physical' and 'bodies' is the condition for the
predicate 'heavy,' since it is not true that all physical things are heavy (a
rainbow is physical but not heavy) or that all bodies, in a broad sense, are
heavy (geometrical bodies are in a way bodies but are not heavy). Conversion
yields two mutually independent analytic propositions: 'Everything heavy is a
physical body' and 'Everything heavy is a body.' If we convert these [analytic]
propositions, the subject of the converse synthetic propositions needs to be
supplemented by the word 'certain': 'Certain physical things are heavy' and
'Certain bodies are heavy.' Another example: 'All bodies are extended' is
analytic. Add to this 'All bodies are three-dimensional'-—conversion yields the
fully synthetic proposition 'All extended, three-dimensional things are bodies.'
The connection of the two concepts in the subject of this proposition is the

To C. F. Hellwag, January 3, 779/ • 169

rather than metaphysics. In metaphysics, where we are not so
much concerned with the place of concepts in a judgment (the
question of form) as with the question whether or not the con-
cepts of certain judgments have any material content, your sug-
gestions about convertibility are not relevant.
But as for the question, What is the ground of the law that
matter, in all its changes, is dependent on outer causes and also
requires the equality of action and reaction in these changes
occasioned by outer causes?—I could easily have given a priori the
universal transcendental ground of the possibility of these laws as
well, in my Metaphysical Foundations of Natural Science. It might
be summarized as follows.
All our concepts of matter contain nothing but the mere repre-
sentation of outer relationships (for that is all that can be repre-
sented in space). But that which we posit as existing in space
signifies no more than a something in general to which our
imagination can attribute no characteristics but those of an outer
thing, insofar as we regard the thing as mere matter, consequently
as devoid of any genuinely inner properties such as the power of
conception, feeling, or desire. From this it follows that, since every
change presupposes a cause, and we cannot conceive of an abso-
lutely inner cause producing change in outer, lifeless things
(things that are merely material), the cause of all change (from a
state of rest to a state of motion and, conversely, along with the
specification of such changes) must lie in external matter, and
without such a cause no change can take place. It follows that no
special, positive principle of the conservation of motion in a
moving body is required but only a negative one, viz., the absence
of any cause of change.
As for the second law, it is based on the relationship of active
forces in space in general, a relationship that must necessarily be
one of reciprocal opposition and must always be equal (actio est
aequalis reactioni), for space makes possible only relationships
such as these, precluding any unilateral relationships. Thus the
changes in spatial relationships, that is, motion and the action of
bodies in producing motion in other bodies, requires that there be
nothing but reciprocal and equal motions. I cannot conceive of a
line drawn from body A to every point of body B without drawing
equally as many lines in the opposite direction, so that I conceive
condition for the predicate, for not every extended thing is a body (a plane is
extended) and not all three dimensional things are bodies. . . ."

170 • To C. F. Hell wag, January 3, ijgi

the change of relationship in which body B is moved by the thrust
of body A as a reciprocal and equal change. Here, too, there is no
need for a special posidve cause of opposiuon of the moved body,
just as there was no such need in the case of the law of inertia,
which I mentioned above. The general and sufficient ground of
this law lies in the character of space, viz., that spatial relationships
are reciprocal and equal (which is not true of the relations be-
tween successive positions in time). I shall look over Lambert's
opinion on this matter in his Beyträgen? . . .

To J. F. Gensichen/ April 19, 779/

- 466 - VOL. XI, pp. 252-5J

Dear tutor Gensichen,

In order to give proper credit to everyone who has
contributed to the history of astronomy, I wish you would add an
appendix to your dissertation and explain how my own modest
conjectures differ from those of subsequent theorists.
1. The conception of the Milky Way as a system of moving suns
analogous to our planetary system was formulated by me six years
before Lambert published a similar theory in his Cosmological
Letters?
1. The idea that nebulae are comparable to remote milky ways
was not an idea ventured by Lambert (as Erxleben maintains in
his Foundations of Natural Philosophy 3 on p. 540, even in the
new edition), for Lambert supposed them (at least one of them)
to be dark bodies, illuminated by neighboring suns.
2 Beyträgen zum Gebrauche Mathematik und deren Anwendung (Berlin,
Werk.e, XIII, 292.
1 7 7 0 ) . See Kant's
1
The original German version of this letter is not extant. A virtually
incomprehensible English translation appeared in Kantstudien, II ( 1 8 9 7 ) ,
104 f., under the title " A New Letter of Kant, by Walter B. Waterman,
Boston, Mass." My translation is a reworking of this, with several obvious
mistranslations corrected. It may nevertheless be false to the original here and
there. On Gensichen, see notes to the letter to J. H. Tieftrunk of October 1 3 ,
1797 [784]-
2
J. H . Lambert, Kosmologische Briefe ( 1 7 6 1 ) . Cf. the letter from Lambert
of November 1 3 , 1 7 6 5 [ 3 3 ] .
3
Johann Christian Polykarp Erxleben (professor of physics in Göttingen
[ 1 7 4 4 - 7 7 ] ) , Anfangsgründe der Naturlehre ( 1 7 7 2 ) .

To J. F. Gensichen, April 19, jygj • 171

 3- A long time ago I defended a view that has been supported
by recent observations, namely, that the production and conserva-
tion of the ring of Saturn could be accounted for by the laws of
centripetal force alone. This view now appears to be well con-
firmed. There is, it seems, a revolving mist whose center is that of
Saturn, and this mist is composed of particles whose revolution is
not constant but varies with their distance from the center. This
also confirms the rate of Saturn's revolution on its axis, which I
inferred from it, and its flatness.
4. The agreement of recentfindingswith my theory as to the
production of the ring of Saturn from a vaporous matter moving
according to the laws of centripetal force seems also to support the
theory that the planets [great globes] were produced according to
the same laws, except that their property of rotation must have
been produced originally by the fall of this dispersed substance as a
result of gravity. Mr. Lichtenberg^ approval of this theory gives it
added force.4 The theory is that prime matter, dispersed through-
out the universe in vaporous form, contained the materials for an
innumerable variety of substances. In its elastic state, it took the
form of spheres simply as a result of the chemical affinity of
particles that met according to the laws of gravitation, mutually
destroying their elasticity and thus producing bodies. The heat
within these bodies was sufficient to produce the illumination that
is a property of the larger spheres, the suns, whereas it took the
form of internal heat in the smaller spheres, the planets. . . .
Please do not be offended at my request, and do me the honor
also of favoring me with your company at dinner tomorrow if you
possibly can.
I. Kant

From J. G. C. C. Kiesewetter, June 14, ijyi

- 474 - VOL. XI, pp. 264-66

Dearest professor,
[Kiesewetter apologizes for not writing. He sends Kant a
copy of his new logic book, which he has dedicated to Kant.] . . .
* Georg Christoph Lichtenberg ( 1 7 4 2 - ^ 9 ) . In 1791 Lichtenberg published
an edition of "Erxleben's book.

172 ' From f , G. C. C. Kiesewetter, June id, 1 7 9 2

 The fact that your [book on] moral [philosophy] has not
appeared at the current book fair has created quite a stir, since
everyone was expecting it. People around here are saying (though
it must be their imagination) that Woltersdorf, the new Obercon-
sistorialrath/ has managed to get the King to forbid you to write
anymore. I myself was asked about this story at court. I talked
with Wöllner 2 recently and hisflatterymade me blush. He tried
to appear very favorably disposed toward me, but I don't trust him
at all. People are now virtually convinced that he is being used by
others who are forcing him to do things he otherwise would not
do.
The King has already had several visions of Jesus; they say he is
going to build Jesus a church in Potsdam for his very own. He is
weak in body and soul now, and he sits for hours, weeping.
Dehnhof 3 has fallen from grace and has gone to her sister-in-law,
but the King has written to her again and in all probability she
will come back soon. Rietz 4 is sdll an influential woman. The
people who tyrannize over the King are Bischofswerder,5 Wöllner,
and Rietz. A new edict on religion is expected, and the populace
grumbles at the prospect of being forced to go to church and Holy
Communion. For thefirsttime they have the feeling that there are
some things that no prince can command them to do. Caution is
necessary, lest the spark ignite. The soldiers are also very discon-
tented. They have received no new uniforms this past year, on
account of Rietz, who took the money to go to Pyrmont. Besides
that, the late King used to give them 3 gulden after every review,
as a bonus, and now they get only 8 groschen.
Models forfloatingbatteries are being built here, everything is
being made battle-ready, and this time we are going to war even
with our treasury. The Turkish ambassador,6 one of the most
insignificant men I have ever seen, is still here, boring himself and
everybody else. There is much talk of a marriage of the Duke of
1
Theodor Carl Georg Woltersdorf ( 1 7 : 7 - 1 8 0 6 ) held this position from
1791.
2
Johann Cristoph Wöllner. See Kiesewetter's letter of April 20, 1790 [420]
and notes.
3
Countess Donhofi, mistress and then wife of Friedrich Wilhelm II. Cf.
Kiesewetter's letter of April 20, 1790 [420].
4
Wilhelmine Enke ( 1 7 5 2 for ' 5 4 ] - i 8 2 o ) , another mistress of Friedrich
Wilhelm II, who was engaged to the court official Rietz; she later became
Countess Lichtenau.
5
Johann Rudolf von Bischofswerder ( 1 7 4 1 - 1 8 0 3 ) , a favorite of the King's.
6
Ahmed Axmi Effendi.

From J. G. C. C. Kiesewetter, June 14, iygi • 173

York 7 and Princess Friederike, but the minor details of the story
make it improbable. They say, namely, that the King wants to
give two million toward effacing his debts and, in addition, to give
her 100,000 thalers annually, even though the law allows only a
total of 100,000 thalers for every princess's dowry.
But what all have I been chattering about to you—things that
you either know already or have no desire to hear. Only the suspi-
cion that these matters might interest you has induced me to write
of them.
Literary news I have none, at least none that you have not got
from the scholarly papers. Snell8 has published an explanation of
your critique of aesthetic judgment. It seems to me admirable.
Spatzier 3 has published an abridgement of your critique of teleolo-
gical judgment, but it is not nearly as good, . . .
Your devoted friend and servant,
J . G . C . KIESEWETTER

From Maria von Herbert, [August] ijt)i

- 478 - VOL. XI, pp. 273-74

Great Kant,
As a believer calls to his God, I call upon you for help,
for solace, or for counsel to prepare me for death. The reasons you
gave in your books were sufficient to convince me of a future
existence—that is why I have recourse to you—only I found
nothing, nothing at all for this life, nothing that could replace the
good I have lost. For I loved an object that seemed to me to
encompass everything within itself, so that I lived only for him.
He was the opposite of everything else for me, and everything else
seemed to me a bauble, and I really felt as if human beings were
7
Prince Friedrich, Duke of York ( 1 7 6 3 - 1 8 2 7 ) married Princess Friederike
Charlotte Ulrike Katharine, daughter of Friedrich Wilhelm's first marriage.
8
Friedrich Wilhelm Snell ( 1 7 6 1 - 1 8 2 7 ) , Darstellung and Erläuterung der
Kantischen Kritik, der ästhetischen Urtheilskrajt (Mannheim, 1791 and
1792).
9
Karl Spatzier ( 1 7 6 1 - 1 8 0 5 ) , Versuch einer kurzen und jasslichen Darstel-
lung der teleologischen Principien, ein Auszug aus Kants Kritik der teleolo-
gische Urtheilskraft (Neuwied, 1 7 9 1 ) .

174 • From Maria von Herbert, [August] 1791

all nonsense, all empty. Well, I have offended this person, because
o£ a protracted lie, which I have now disclosed to him though there
was nothing unfavorable to my character in it—I had no viciousness
in my life that needed hiding. The lie was enough, though, and
his love has vanished. He is an honorable man, and so he doesn't
refuse me friendship and loyalty. But that inner feeling that once
unbidden led us to each other, it is no more. O my heart splits into
a thousand pieces. If I hadn't read so much of your work I would
certainly have taken my own life by now. But the conclusion I had
to draw from your theory stops me—it is wrong for me to die be-
cause my life is tormented, and I am instead supposed to live be-
cause of my being. Now put yourself in my place and either damn
me or give me solace. I read the metaphysic of morals and the
categorical imperative, and it doesn't help a bit. My reason aban-
dons me just where I need it most. Answer me, I implore you, or
you yourself will not be acting according to your own imperative.
My address is Maria Herbert in Klagenfurt, Carinthia, care of
the white lead factory, or perhaps you would rather send it via
Reinhold because the mail is more reliable there.

From Salomon Mahn on, September 20, iygi

- 486 - VOL. XI, pp. 285-Sj

Dear sir,
Esteemed professor,
I know how unjust is any man who robs you of the least
bit of your time, so precious to the world. I know that nothing
could be more important to you than to complete your work. Yet I
cannot refrain from bothering you, with just this one letter.
I vowed some dme ago that I would henceforth read nothing
but your books. I am totally convinced by the skeptical part of
your Critique. As for the dogmatic part, it can be assumed
hypothetically and, even though I have constructed a psychological
deduction of the categories and ideas (which I attribute not to the
understanding and to reason but to the power of imagination), I
can nevertheless grant what you propound as at least problem-
atical. Thus I have made my peace with the Critique very nicely.

From Salomon Maimon, September 20, ijgi • 175

 Mr. Reinhold, however (a man whose sagacity I value second
only to your own), claims in his writings that he has given your
system formal completeness and also that he has found the only
universally valid principle (si diis placet) on which the system can
be founded. This claim attracted my total attention. After more
careful investigation, however, I found my expectation deceived. I
value every system that has formal completeness, but I can praise
its validity only insofar as it has objective reality and according to
its degree of fruitfulness.
Now as regards its systematic form, I find Mr. Reinhold's theory
of the faculty of representation unimprovable. But I cannot sub-
scribe to this highly lauded universally valid principle (the propo-
sition of consciousness), and still less can I bring myself to have
great expectations of its fruitfulness.
I question specifically whether in every consciousness (even in
an intuition or sensation, as Mr. Reinhoid maintains) the repre-
sentation is distinguished from both the subject and the object and
is at the same time related to both of these by the subject. An
intuition, in my opinion, is not related to anything other than
itself. It becomes a representation only by being united with other
intuitions in a synthetic unity, and it is as an element of the
synthesis that the intuition relates itself to the representation (that
is, to its object). The determined synthesis to which the repre-
sentation is related is the represented object; and any undeter-
mined synthesis to which the representation could be related is the
concept of an object in general. How, then, can Mr. Reinhoid
claim that the proposition of consciousness is a universally valid
principle? It can be valid, as I have shown, only in the con-
sciousness of a representation, that is, an intuition related to a
synthesis as part to whole. But, says Mr. Reinhoid, we are of
course not always conscious of this relating of the intuition to the
subject and object, though it always takes place. Just how does he
know that? Whatever is not represented [thought] in a repre-
sentation does not belong to the representation. How can he then
claim that this principle is a fact of consciousness that obtains
universally? Anyone can easily deny this, on the basis of his own
consciousness. It is a delusion of the transcendent imagination that
every intuition is referred to some substratum or other; we have
the habit of referring every intuition, as representation, to a real
object (a synthesis) and, finally, to no real object at all but to a
mere idea that has been foisted in place of a real object.

176 • From Salomon Maimon, September 20, ijgi

 The word "representation" (Vorstellung) has made much mis-
chief in philosophy, since it has encouraged people to invent an
objecdve substratum for each mental event {Seelenmodifikation).
Leibniz made matters worse with his theory of obscure [uncon-
scious] representations. I admit the supreme importance of his
theory for anthropology. But in a cridque of the cognidve faculty,
it is certainly worthless. "Obscure" representations are not states of
mind (which can only be conscious) but rather of the body.
Leibniz makes use of them only in order to fill in the gaps in the
substantiality of the soul. But I do not believe that any independ-
ent thinker will seriously think he can manage it that way.
"Obscure" representations are merely bridges with which to cross
from soul to body and back again (though Leibniz had good
reason to prohibit this passage).
I cannot be satisfied even with Mr. Reinhold's definition of phi-
losophy. He means by "philosophy" what you righdy placed under
the special tide of "transcendental philosophy" (the theory of the
conditions of knowledge of a real object in general).
I wish you would comment on this, arid on my dictionary
(which from all appearances will either be badly reviewed or not
at all). Awaiting this, I remain, most respectfully,

Your wholly devoted servant,

SALOMON M A I M O N
Berlin

To K. L. Reinhold, September.21,
- 487 - VOL. XI, pp. 28J-89

. . . Since about two years ago my health has undergone a drastic

change. Without any actual illness (other than a cold that lasted 3
weeks) or any visible cause, I have lost my accustomed appetite,
and although my physical strength and sensations have not dimin-
ished, my disposition for mental exertion and even for lecturing
have suffered greatly. I can only devote 2 or 3 uninterrupted hours
in the morning to intellectual work, for I am then overcome with
drowsiness (regardless of how much sleep I have had the night
before), and I am forced to work at intervals, which slows up my

To K.L. Reinhold, September 21,1791 • 177

work. I have to look forward impatiently to a good mood without
getting into one, being unable to exercise any control over my own
mind. I think it is nothing but old age, which brings everyone to a
standstill sooner or later, but it is all the more unwelcome to me
just now when I foresee the completion of my plan. I am sure you
will therefore understand, my kind friend, how this need to utilize
every favorable moment, in such circumstances, leads one to a fatal
postponement of many resolutions whose execution does not seem
pressing, and every postponement tends to. prolong itself.
I shall be happy to acknowledge that the further analysis of the
foundations of knowledge in [your] investigations of the faculty
of representation in general 1 (insofar as that faculty is the founda-
tion of knowledge) constitutes a great contribution to the critique
of reason. I plan to acknowledge this publicly one of these days, as
soon as I can get clear about those parts that are still obscure to
me. But I cannot conceal from you, at least not in a private
communication, that I think it would be possible to develop the
consequences of the principles [that I have] already laid down as
basic, so as to show their correctness, perhaps using your excellent
literary talents to make comments that would disclose just as much
of your profounder investigations as would be needed to clarify the
subject fully, without requiring the friends of the Critique to
struggle through such an abstract work and thereby risk having
many of them frightened off.
This is what I have been hoping for, but I am not now telling
you what to do, nor, still less, am I issuing a public verdict that
would put your meritorious efforts in an unfavorable light.
I shall have to postpone any public pronouncement a while
longer, for, leaving aside my university business, I am presently
working on a small but taxing job 3 and also on a revision of the
Critique of Judgment for the second edition, which is being
published next Easter, and what little strength I have is more than
consumed by these projects.
Do remain well disposed toward me, in friendship and candid
trust. I have never shown myself unworthy of it, nor ever shall.
May I be included in the company of you and your true, merry,

1
T h e reference is to Reinhold's Versuch einer neuen Theorie des menschli-
chen Vorstellungsvermögens (1789).
* Probably the first part of Religion innerhalb der Grenzen der blossen
Vernunft ("Religion within the Limits of Reason A l o n e " ) .

178 • To K. L. Reinhoid, September 21, J~gi

 and clever friend, Erhard,3 a company whose minds, I flatter
myself, will forever be in accord.
With fondest devotion and respect, I am. . . . .

To J. S. Bec\, September 27, 1791

- 488 - VOL. XI, p. 289

[Kant has recommended Beck to his publisher, Hartknoch, as a

likely person to compose an original summary of Kant's works.
He thinks Beck willfindthe project stimulating and entertaining
for the hours when Beck is relaxing from his mathemadcal studies.]
. . . For, partly from my experience, partly from the example of
the greatest mathematicians, I have become convinced that mere
mathematics cannot fulfil the soul of a thinking man, that some-
thing more must be added (even if it is only poetry, as in
Kästr.er's case to refresh the mind by exercizing its other talents
and also by providing it with a change of diet. Now what can
serve better for this and for a lifetime than investigating some-
thing that concerns the whole nature of man, especially if one has
the hope of making some progress fromtimeto time by a systematic
effort of thought. Besides, the history of the world and of philoso-
phy aretiedup with this enterprise, and I am hopeful that, even if
this investigation does not shed new light on mathematics, the
latter may, inversely, by considering its methods and heuristic
principles together with the entailed requirements and desiderata,
come upon new discoveries for the critique and survey of pure
reason. And the Critique's new way of presenting abstract con-
cepts may itself yield something analogous to Leibniz's universalis
3
J. B. Erhard ( 1 7 6 6 - 1 8 2 7 ) . See the letters of December 2 1 , 1792 [552]
and January 1 7 , 1793 [ 5 5 7 ] .
1
Abraham Gotthelf Kästner ( 1 7 1 9 - 1 8 0 0 ) , professor of mathematics and
physics in Göttingen, also wrote epigrams. Kant corresponded with him twice.
Kant addressed him as "the Nestor of all philosophical mathematicians in
Germany." Cf. letter 439, in Kant's Wer\c, XIII, 278. There Kant makes the
interesting remark that the critical philosophy does not aim to attack the "long
neglected" Leibniz-Wolffian philosophy but to reach the same objective by a
different path, "an intention that will become clearer when, if I live long
enough, the coherent system of metaphysics that I propose is completed."

To /. S. Bec\, September 2 7 , 7797 • 179

characteristica combinatorial For the table of categories and the
table of ideas (under which the cosmological ideas disclose some-
thing similar to impossible roots [in mathematics] *) are after all
enumerated and as well defined in regard to ail possible uses that
reason can make of them as mathematics could ask, so that we can
see to what extent they at least clarify if not extend our knowl-
edge.
[In the remainder of this letter, Kant advises Beck to check for
inaccuracies in the criticisms made of Kant and tells Beck how
much money to require of his publisher. He also advises gendeness
in the treatment of Reinhoid, "an otherwise nice man who has
attached himself too passionately to his theory." Kant says that
Reinhold's theory is incomprehensible to him.]

From J. S. Bec\, November u, 1791

- 499 - VOL. XI, pp. 31O-II

. . . Allow me to ask where I have understood you correctly. . . .

The Critique calls "intuition" a representation that relates im-
mediately to an object.1- But in fact, a representation does not
become objective until it is subsumed under the categories. Since
intuition similarly acquires its objective character only by means of
the application of categories to it, I am in favor of leaving out that
definition of "intuition" that refers to it as a representation relat-
ing to objects. Ifindin intuition nothing more than a manifold
accompanied by consciousness (or by the unique "7 thin/('), a
manifold determined by the latter, in which there is as such no
relation to an object. I would also like to reject the definition of
"concept" as a representation mediately related to an object.2
Rather, I distinguish concepts from intuitions by the fact that they
are thoroughly determinate whereas intuitions are not thoroughly
determinate. For both intuitions and concepts acquire objectivity
2
See notes to the letter to Johann Schultz of August 26, 1783 [ 2 1 0 ] .
* [Kant's footnote] When, in accordance with the principle "In the series of
appearances, everything is conditioned," I seek the unconditioned and the
highest ground of the totality of the series, it is as if I were looking for V - 2 .
1 Critique of Pure Reason A 19 = 3 33.
- Critique of Pure Reason A 50 = B 74.

180 • From J.S.Bec\, November 11, 779/

only after the activity of judgment subsumes them under the pure
concepts of the understanding.
[Kant's marginal comment: To make [Bestimmung] a concept,
by means of intuition, into a cognition of an object, is indeed the
work of judgment; but the reference of intuidon to an object in
general is not. For the latter is merely the logical use of repre-
sentation insofar as a representadon is thought as being a cogni-
tion.3 When, on the other hand, a single representation is referred
only to the subject, the use is aesthetic (feeling), in which case the
representation cannot become a piece of knowledge.]
I understand the words "to combine" [verbinden] in the Criti-
que to mean nothing more or less than to accompany the manifold
with the identical "I think" whereby a unitary representation
comes to exist. I believe that the Critique calls the original ap-
perception the unity of apperception just because this apperception
is what makes such a unitary representation possible. But am I
right in regarding original apperception and the unity of appercep-
tion as the same thing or, rather, in finding the only difference
between them to be that the pure "I think," though it can only be
discovered in the synthesis of the manifold, is nevertheless thought
as something independent of the manifold (since in itself it
contains nothing manifold) whereas the unity of consciousness in
its self-identity, on the other hand, is thought to be connected with
the parts of the manifold? This unity seems to me to acquire the
character of 'objective unity when the representation itself is sub-
sumed under the category. Mr. Reinhold speaks of a combination
[Verbindung] and a unity in the concept, a second combination
and a second unity (a unity "to the second power," as he expresses
it) in the judgment. Besides these, he has a third combination, in
inferences. I don't understand a word of this, since I take "combi-
nation" to mean nothing more than the being conscious of the
manifold. Still, his discussion makes me doubt myself.
[Beck then asks for Kant's advice.] . . . .
Halle
3
That is, relation to an object in general is part o£ the meaning o£
"representation" if we intend that word to stand for an item of knowledge.

From /. S. Beck,, November 11, 7797 • 181

To /. S. Bec\, January 20, IJ92
- 5OO - VOL. XI, pp. 3I3-l6

You have presented me with your thorough investigation o£

what is just the hardest thing in the Critique, viz., the analysis of
an experience in general and the principles of its possibility. I have
already planned a "System of Metaphysics" to overcome these
difficulties. I should begin with the categories, in their proper
order (afterfirstexpounding, without investigating their possibil-
ity, just the pure intuitions of space and time, in which alone
objects can be given to them). Then I should prove, at the conclu-
sion of the exposition of each category (for example, quantity, and
all predicables included under it, together with examples of their
use), that no experience of objects of sense is possible except
insofar as I presuppose a priori that every such object must be
thought as a magnitude; similarly with all the other categories,
and here it will always be remarked that such objects can be
represented by us only as given in space and dme. From this there
emerges a whole science of ontology as immanent thinking, that is,
a science of that thinking in which the objective reality of the
concepts employed can be established with certainty. Only after it
has been shown, in the second part, that in this same science all
conditions of the possibility of objects are always again conditioned
and that reason nevertheless strives unavoidably after the uncondi-
tioned—where our thinking becomes transcendent, that is, in-
volves concepts whose objective reality (since they are "ideas")
cannot be assured at all and by means of which, therefore, no
knowledge of objects can take place—I wanted to show in the
dialectic of pure reason (setting up its antinomies) that those
objects of possible experience must be viewed as objects of sense,
appearances only, not things-in-themselves. I want first of all to
present the deduction of the categories in relation to the sensuous
forms of space and time, as conditions of the uniting of these into
1
T h i s letter is an answer to Beck's letter (not extant) of December 9,
1791.

182 • To /. 5. Becl{, January 20, IJ92

a possible experience; I want to think of the categories themselves,
however, as concepts of objects in general (be the intuition of
whatever form it will) and then to determine their scope beyond
the boundaries of sense, where, however, no knowledge can be
had. Well, enough of this.
You put the matter quite precisely when you say, "The content
of a representation is itself the object; and the activity of the mind
whereby the content of a representation is presented is what is
meant by 'relating it to the object.' " But one may ask: How can a
complex content of representations be presented? Not simply
through the awareness that it is given to us; for a content requires
synthesis [Zusammensetzen] of the manifold. The content must
thus (as content) be created [gemacht werden] by an inner activity,
which is valid for a given manifold in general and which precedes
a priori the manner in which the manifold is given; that is, the
content can only be thought by means of the synthetic unity of
consciousness—thought in a concept (of objects in general) that is
undetermined as regards the manner in which anything may be
given in intuition. And this concept, applied to the object in
general, is the category.
The merely subjecdve state of the representing subject, insofar
as the manifold is given in a special manner (for its uniting and
its synthetic unity), is called "sensibility"; and this manner of
intuition, given a priori, is the sensible form of intuition. By means
of these forms and the categories, objects are known, but only as
things in the realm of appearance and not as they are in them-
selves; without any intuition they would not be known at all,
though they would nevertheless be thought; and if one not only
abstracts from all intuition, but actually excludes it, the objective
reality of the categories (that they in fact represent anything and
are not empty concepts) cannot be assured.
Perhaps right at the outset you can avoid defining "sensibility"
in terms of "receptivity," that is, the manner of representations in
the subject insofar as he is affected by objects; perhaps you can
locate it in that which, in a cognition, concerns merely the relation
of the representation to the subject, so that the form of sensibility,
in this relation to the object of intuition, makes knowable no more
than the appearance of this object. That this subjective thing
constitutes only the manner in which the subject is affected by
representations, and consequently nothing more than the receptiv-

To J. S. Beck, January 20,1792 • 183

icy of the subject, is already implied by its being merely the
determination of the subject.
In short, since this whole analysis is only intended to show that
experience is impossible without certain synthetic a priori prin-
ciples, and this thesis cannot be made truly comprehensible until
those principles are actually exhibited, I therefore think it prudent
to keep the work as brief as possible before they are presented.
Perhaps the way I proceed in my lectures, in which I have to be
brief, can be of some help to you.
I begin by defining "experience" in terms of empirical knowl-
edge. But knowledge is the representation through concepts of a
given object as such; it is empirical if the object is given in a
sensuous representation (which at the same time includes sensa-
tion and what connects this with consciousness, that is, percep-
tion); it is a priori knowledge if the object is given but not given
in a sensuous representation (which of course can never be any-
thing but sensible). For knowledge, two sorts of representations
are required: ( i ) intuidon, by means of which an object is given,
and ( 2 ) conception, by means of which an object is thought. T o
make a single cognition out of these two pieces, a further activity
is required: the combining [zusammensetzen] of the manifold
given in intuition in conformity with the synthetic unity of con-
sciousness that the concept expresses. Since combination cannot be
given either through the object or its representation in intuition
but has to be made, it must rest on the pure spontaneity of the
understanding in concepts of objects in general (of the combina-
tion of the given manifold). But since concepts to which no
corresponding objects could be given, being objectless, would not
even be concepts (thoughts through which I think nothing at ail),
just for that reason a manifold must be given a priori for those
a priori concepts. And because it is given a priori, it must be given
in an intuition without any thing as object, that is, given in the
mere form of intuition, which is merely subjective (space and
time). It is therefore in conformity with the merely sensuous
intuition, whose synthesis through the imagination, under the rules
of the synthetic unity of consciousness, the concept expresses; for
the rule of the schematism of concepts of the understanding is
then applied to perceptions (in which objects are given to the
senses by means of sensation).
I close herewith my hurriedly composed sketch and beg you not

184 • To J. S. Bec\, January 20, 2792

to let my delay, caused by accidental hindrances, keep you from
revealing your thoughts and any suggesuon of difficulties to me.

Your
I. KANT
Königsberg
P.S. Please mail the enclosed letters right away.

To J. H. Kant,1 January 26, IJ92

- 503 - VOL. XI, p. 320

Dear brother,

Mr. Reimer, the bearer of this letter, a relative [nephew]

of your wife's, my dear sister-in-law, 2 visited me, and I could not
refrain from putting aside my tremendous chores (which I seldom
do) in order to send you greetings. Despite my apparent indiffer-
ence, I have thought of you often and fraternally—not only for the
time we are both still living but also for after my death,3 which,
since I am 68, cannot be far off. Our two surviving sisters,4 both
widowed, the older of whom has 5 grown and (some of them)
married children, are provided for by me, either wholly or, in the
case of the younger sister, by my contribution to St. George
Hospital, where provision has been made for her. So the duty of
gratitude for our blessings that is demanded of us, as our parents
taught Us, will not be neglected. I would be pleased to receive
news of your own family and its situation.
Please greet my dear sister-in-law. I am, ever affectionately,

Your loyal brother,

I. KANT
1
Johann Heinrich Kant ( 1 7 3 5 - 1 8 0 0 ) , studied in Königsberg, served as
private tutor in Courland, then as rector of the municipal school in Mitau, and
later as pastor in Altrahden. Judging from this letter, Kant's feelings for his
siblings were not exceptionally warm.
2
Kant and his sister-in-law were unacquainted with one another, according
to J. H . Kant's letter of February 8, 1792.
3
Kant had made his will, August 29, 1 7 9 1 ; but his brother did not survive
him.
4
Marie Elizabeth Kröhnert ( 1 7 2 7 - 9 6 ) and Katharina Barbara Theyer
( 1 7 3 1 - 1 8 0 7 ) . Another sister, Anna Luise (b. 1 7 3 0 ) , died in 1 7 7 4 .

To J. H. Kant, January 26,1792 • 185

To J. G. Fichte, February 2, IJ92
- 504 - VOL. XI, pp. J 2 I - 2 2

You ask my advice on how your manuscript, rejected by the

current strict censor, might be salvaged. My answer is, it can't be
done! Although I have not read your book myself, I gather from
your letter that its main thesis is "that faith in a given revelation
cannot be rationally justified on the basis of a belief in miracles." 1
It follows necessarily that a religion may contain no article of
faith other than one that exists for pure reason as well. I think that
this proposition is completely innocent and denies neither the
subjective necessity of a revelation nor the fact of miracles (since
one can assume that, if it is possible at all, the actual occurrence of
such a thing could be rationally understood as well, without
revelation, even though reason would not have introduced these
articles of faith by itself. It is not necessary to base the belief in
those articles on miracles, once they are established, even if a
miracle was needed originally.) But by today's assumed maxims, it
seems that the censor would not allow you to say this. For
according to those maxims, certain texts in the confession of faith
are supposed to be taken so literally that the human understanding
can barely grasp their sense, much less see their rational truth,
with the result that they need perpetually to be supported by a

1
In his letter of January 23, 1792 [ 5 0 1 ] , Fichte explains his position on
faith and miracles. No miracle as such can be proved. There might be other
good grounds for believing a revelation, however; viz., the miracles it reports
may inspire awe in the mind of someone who needs this. But a revelation can
extend neither our dogmatic nor our moral knowledge, since it concerns
transcendent objects of which we may believe the "that" but cannot know the
" h o w . " It might be "subjectively true" for someone who wants to believe it;
but it is not knowledge. (Kant's Werke, XI, 3 1 7 . )
Fichte's manuscript, " A Critique of Revelation" ("Versuch einer Kritik aller
Offenbarung"), had been denied the Imprimatur by J. L. Schulze, dean of the
theological faculty in the University of Halle. Schulze's successor, G. C.
Knapp, however, allowed the book to be published without any changes. Since
the work appeared anonymously, and was published by the Königsberg
publisher Härtung (at Kant's suggestion), many people believed it to be by
Kant himself. This was the start of Fichte's career. As Kant indicates in the
present letter, he had not actually read the book before recommending it to
Härtung. See also a letter to Borowski [485], not included in this book.

186 • To J. G. Fichte, February 2, IJ<)2

miracle and could never become articles of faith prescribed by
reason alone. That the reveladon of such propositions was only
intended, as an accommodation to our weakness, to provide a visi-
ble cloak for them, and that this revelation can have merely sub-
jective truth, is not acknowledged by the censor. He demands that
they be taken as objective truths.
There is one way still open to bring your book into accord with
the (as yet not widely known) opinions of the censor: If you could
manage to make him understand and find attractive the distinc-
tion between a dogmatic faith, elevated above all doubt, and a
purely moral assumption that freely bases itself on moral grounds
(the imperfection of reason in its inability to satisfy its own
demands). For then the religious faith that the morally good
conscience has grafted onto the faith in miracles says in effect:
"Lord, I believe!" (that is, I gladly assume it, whether or not I or
anyone else can adequately prove it); "Help T h o u mine unbelief!"
(that is, I have moral faith in relation to everything that I can
extract from the historical miracle story for my inner improve-
ment, and I wish, too, that I might possess faith in those historical
events insofar as that would also contribute to my inner improve-
ment). My unintentional r.on-beliej is not an intentional un-beliej.
But you will have a hard time making this compromise attractive
to a censor who, it would seem, has made the historical credo into
an essential religious duty.
Y o u may do whatever you think best with these hurriedly
written but not unconsidered ideas of mine, as long as you do not
explicitly, or covertly indicate their author; I assume of course that
you would first have persuaded yourself sincerely of their truth.
1 wish you contentment in your present position, 2 and should
you wish to move, I hope I shall have some means of helping you
to improve your situation.

Respectfully and with friendship,

Your devoted servant,
I. K A N T

2
Kant, after refusing to lend Fichte some money for which he had asked,
had secured him a position as private tutor in the household of Count
Reinhold of Crackow.

To /. G. Fichte, February 2,1792 • 187

To Maria von Herberta Sjmng, IJQ2
(Kant's rough draft)

- 510 - VOL. XI, pp. 331-34

Your deeply felt letter is the product of a heart that must have
been created for the sake of virtue and honesty, since it is so
receptive to instruction in those qualities, instruction that will not
stoop to flattery. I am thus compelled to do as you asked, namely,
to put myself in your place and to reflect on the prescription for a
pure moral sedative (the only thorough kind) for you. The object
of your love must be just as sincere and respectful of virtue and
uprightness, the spirit of virtue, as you are, though I do not know
whether your relationship to him is one of marriage or merely
friendship. I take it as probable from what you say that it is the
latter, but it makes no significant difference for the problem that
disturbs you. For love, be it for one's spouse or for a friend,
presupposes the same mutual esteem for the other's character,
without which it is no more than a very perishable, sensual
delusion.
A love like that, the only virtuous love (for the other sort is only
a blind inciination), wants to communicate itself completely, and
it expects of its respondent a similar sharing of heart, unweakened
by any distrustful reticence. That is how it should be and that is
what the ideal of friendship demands. But there is in man an
element of improbity, which puts a limit on such candor, in some
men more than in others. Even the sages of old complained of this
obstacle to the mutual outpouring of the heart, this secret distrust
and reticence, which makes a man keep some part of his thoughts
locked within himself, even when he is most intimate with his
confidant: "My dear friends, there is no such thing as a friend!"
And yet the superior soul passionately desires friendship, regard-
ing it as the sweetest thing a human life may contain. Only with
candor can it prevail.
This reticence, however, this want of candor—a candor that,
taking mankind en masse, we cannot expect of people, since
everyone fears that to reveal himself completely would make him
despised by others—is still very different from that lack of sincerity
that consists in dishonesty in the actual expression of our thoughts.

188 • To Maria von Herbert, Spring, ijyz

T h e former flaw is one of the limitations of our nature and does
not actually spoil our character. It is only a wrong that hinders the
expression of all the possible good that is in us. The other flaw,
however, is a corruption of our thinking and a positive evil. What
the honest but reticent man says is true but not the whole truth.
What the dishonest man says is, in contrast, something he knows
to be false. Such an asserdon is called a lie, in the theory of virtue.
It may be entirely harmless, but it is not on that account innocent.
It is, rather, a serious violadon of duty to oneself and one for
which there can be no remission, since the transgression subverts
the dignity of man in our own person and attacks the roots of our
thinking. For deception casts doubt and suspicion on everything
and even removes all confidence from virtue, if one judges virtue
by its external character.
As you see, you have sought counsel from a physician who is no
flatterer and who does not seek to ingrauate himself. Were you
wanting a mediator between yourself and your beloved, you see
that my way of defining good conduct is not at all partial to the
fair sex, since I speak for your beloved and present him with
arguments that, as a man who honors virtue, are on his side and
that justify his having wavered in his affection for you.
As for your earlier expectation, I must advise you first to ask
yourself whether in your bitter self-reproach over a lie that as a
matter of fact was not intended to cloak any wicked act you are
reproaching yourself for a mere imprudence or are making an
inner accusation on account of the immorality that is intrinsic to
the lie. If the former, you are only rebuking yourself for the
candor of your disclosure of the lie, that is, you regret having done
your duty on this occasion (for that is doubtless what it is when
one has deceived someone, even harmlessly, and has after a time
set him straight again). And why do you regret this disclosure?
Because it has resulted in the loss, certainly a serious one, of your
friend's confidence. This regret is thus not mouvated by anything
moral, since it is produced by an awareness not of the act itself but
of its consequences. But if the rebuke that pains you is one that is
really grounded in a purely moral judgment of your behavior, it
would be a poor moral physician who would advise you to cast
this rebuke out of your mind, just because what is done cannot be
undone, and tell you merely to behave henceforth with whole-
hearted, conscientious sincerity. For conscience must focus on
every transgression, like a judge who does not dispose of the
documents, when a crime has been sentenced, but records them in

To Maria von Herbert, Spring, ij$2 • 189

the archives in order to sharpen the judgment of justice in new
cases of a similar or even dissimilar offense that may appear before
him. But to brood over one's remorse and then, when one has
already caught on to a different set of attitudes, to make one's
whole life useless by continuous self-reproach on account of some-
thing that happened once upon a time and cannot be anymore—
that would be a fantastic notion of deserved self-torture (assuming
that one is sure of having reformed). It would be like many so-
called religious remedies that are supposed to consist in seeking
the favor of higher powers without one's even having to become a
better human being. That sort of thing cannot be credited in any
way to one's moral account.
When your change in attitude has been revealed to your beloved
friend—and the sincerity of your words makes it impossible to
mistake this—only time will be needed to quench little by little the
traces of his indignation (a justified feeling and one that is even
based on the concepts of virtue) and to transform his indifference
into a more firmly grounded love. If this should fail to happen, the
earlier warmth of his affection was more physical than moral and,
in view of the transient nature of such a love, would have vanished
in time all by itself. That sort of misfortune we encounter often in
life, and when we do, we must meet it with composure, since the
value of life, insofar as it consists of the enjoyment we can get out
of people, is generally overestimated, whereas life, insofar as it is
cherished for the good that we can do, deserves the highest respect
and the greatest solicitude in preserving it and cheerfully using it
for good ends.
Here then, my friend, you find the customary divisions of a
sermon: instruction, penalty, and solace, of which I beg you to
devote yourself somewhat more to the first two, since the last, and
your lost contentment with life, will surely be found by themselves
when once these others have had their effect.

From J. S. Bec\, May 31, 1J92

-515- VOL. xi, pp. 338-4.0

I should like to know whether you agret: with the following

remarks. It seems to me that one ought not to define "intuition,"

190 • From /. S. Bec\, May 31, i-jgz

in the Transcendental Aesthetic, as "a representation immediately
related to an object" or as a representadon that arises when the
mind is affected by the object. For not until the Transcendental
Logic can it be shown how we arrive at objective representadons.
T h e fact that there are pure intuitions also rules out such a
definition. I really do not see where I err when I say: intuition is a
thoroughly determinate representation in relation to a given mani-
fold. In this way it also becomes clear to me that mathematics is a
science dependent on the construction of concepts. For even in
algebra we cannot prove theorems except by means of thoroughly
determinate representations. I think we must also take care to
distinguish the subjective and objective aspects of sensibility, in
order that we may afterward see all the more clearly the unique
function of the categories, which confer objectivity on our repre-
sentations.
Second, I understand quite well that the objects of the sense
world must be subjected to the principles of our transcendental
faculty of judgment. T o see this clearly, let someone try to sub-
sume empirical intuitions under the schemata of the categories; he
will see immediately that they only obtain objectivity because the
question " H o w does it happen that objects must conform to those
synthetic a priori propositions?" is terminated. For objects are
objects only to the extent that their intuition is thought as sub-
jected to the synthetic synthesis [Verknüpfung] of the schema.
For example, I see the validity of the analogy that something
permanent must underlie all appearances, just because the intui-
tion becomes objective when I relate the schema of substantiality
to that empirical intuition. Consequently the object itself must be
subjected to this synthetic synthesis of substance and accident. But
when I ascend to the principle of this whole matter, I find one
place where I would gladly have more clarification. I say that the
combination of representations in a concept differs from combina-
tion in a judgment in that the latter presupposes, in addition to the
first synthesis, the further activity of objective relation, that is, the
very activity through which one thinks an object. It is in fact quite
different if I say "the black m a n " or "the man is black," and I
think one is not incorrect if one says that the representations in a
concept are united into a subjective unity of consciousness, whereas
those in a judgment are united into an objective unity of con-
sciousness. But I would give a great deal to be able to penetrate
more deeply into this matter of the activity of objective relation

From J, S. Bec\, May 31,1792 • 191

and to form a clearer idea of it. In my last letter I mentioned this
point as one that seems to me obscure. Your silence, dearest sir,
made me fear that I had uttered some nonsense in connection with
this. Yet the more I turn the matter over in my mind, the more I
fail to find any error in asking you for instruction, and I beg you
for it once more. [Kant's marginal remark: The expression "the
black man" means "the man insofar as the concept of him is given
as determined in respect to the concept of blackness." But "the
man is black" indicates my activity of determining.]
Third, the procedure of the Critique of Practical Reason seems
extraordinarily illuminating and excellent. It takes its start from
the objective practical principle that pure reason, independently of
all the material of the will, must acknowledge as binding. This
originally problematical concept obtains irrefutable objective real-
ity by means of the fact of the moral lav/. But I confess that,
although the transition from synthetic principles of the tran-
scendental faculty of judgment to objects of the sense world (by
means of the schemata) is quite clear to me, the transition from
the moral law by means of its typus is not clear. I would feel
myself freed from a burden if you would kindly show me the
answer to this question: Can't one imagine the moral law com-
manding something that might contradict its typus? In other
words, can't there be activities that would be inconsistent with a
natural order but that nevertheless are prescribed by the morai
law? It is a merely problematical thought, but it has this truth as
its basis: the strict necessity of the categorical imperative is in no
way dependent on the possibility of the existence of a natural
order. Yet it would be a mistake to account for the agreement of
the two as accidental.

BECK

To /. S. Bec\, July 1792

- 520 - VOL. xi, pp. 347-48

The difference between a connection of representations in a

concept and one in a judgment, for example, "the black man" and
"the man is black" (in other words, "the man who is black" and

192 • To J. S. Beck., July 3, 7792

 "the man is black"), lies, I think, in this: in the first, one thinks of
a concept as determined; in the second, one thinks of the deter-
mining activity of this concept. But you are quite right to say that
in the synthesized concept, the unity of consciousness should be
subjectively given, whereas in the synthesizing of concepts the
unity of consciousness should be objectively made; that is, in the
first, the man is merely thought as black (problematically repre-
sented), and in the second, he is recognized as black. Therefore
the question arises whether I can say without contradiction: the
black man (who is black at a certain dme) is white (that is, he is
white, has paled, at another time). I answer no; for in this
judgment I carry over the concept of black along with the concept
of non-black, since the subject is thought as determined through
the first. Consequently, since the subject would be both black and
non-black at once, we would have an unavoidable contradiction.
On the other hand, I can say of the same man, "He is blackK," and
also, "Just this man is not block" (namely, at some other dme,
when he is bleached), since in both judgments only the activity of
determination, which here depends on experiendal and temporal
conditions, is indicated. You will find more of this in the discus-
sion of the principle of contradiction, in my Critique of Pure
Reason}
As for your definition of intuition as a thoroughly determinate
representation in respect to a given manifold, I would have noth-
ing further to add except this: the thorough determination here
must be understood as objective, not merely as existing in the
subject (since it is impossible for us to know all determinations of
the object of an empirical intuition). For then the definition would
only say that an intuition is the representation of a given unit.
Now nothing composite can as such be given to us—we always
have to perform the synthesis of a given manifold ourselves—and
the synthesis, in order to be in accord with the object, cannot be
arbitrary. Consequendy, if the composite must have the only form
according to which the given manifold can be synthesized, it
follows that this form is the merely subjective (sensuous) aspect of
the intuition. The form must be a priori, but it is not thought (for
only the synthesizing as activity is a product of thought); it must
rather be given in us (space and time) and must therefore be a
single representation and not a concept (repraesentatio
1
' T h e Highest Principle of All Analytic Judgments" and "The Tran-
scendental Ideal," Critique of Pure Reason, B 189 fi. and B 599 S.

To J. S. Beck, July 3' T792 ' *93

communis).—It seems to me sound not to spend too much time on
the most subde dissecting of elementary representations, for they
become sufficiently clear in the following discussion.
As for the question, Can't there be actions that are incompatible
with the existence of a natural order and that yet are prescribed by
the moral law? I answer, Certainly! If you mean, a definite order
of nature, for example, that of the present world. A courtier, for
instance, must recognize it as a duty always to be truthful, though
he would not remain a courtier for long if he were. But there is in
that typus only the form of a natural order in general, that is, the
compatibility of actions as events in accord with moral laws, and
as [events] in accord with natural laws, too, but merely in terms
of their generality, for this in no way concerns the special laws of
any particular nature.

To /. S. Bec\, October 16 [or ij], 1792

VOL
• 537 " - xi, p. 376

[Kant returns Beck's manuscript.]

. . . In my judgment ever/thing depends on the following: Since

in the empirical concept of a composite the synthesis cannot be
given or represented in intuition by means of the mere intuition
and its apprehension but only through the spontaneous connection
of the manifold—that is, it can be presented in a consciousness in
general (which is not empirical)—this connection, and its func-
tioning, must stand a priori in the mind, under rules that consti-
tute the pure thought of an object in general (the pure concept of
the understanding). The apprehension of the manifold must be
subject to this pure concept of the understanding, insofar as the
apprehension constitutes an intuition and also insofar as it [the
pure concept] constitutes the condition of all possible experiential
knowledge of the composite or of what belongs to that knowledge
—that is, there is a synthesis contained in it—and this experiential
knowledge is expressed by these principles. The representation of
the composite as such proceeds according to the general concepts
under the representations of the manifold that is apprehended as

194 • To J. S. Bec\, October 16 [or 77], 7792

given, and consequendy it does not endrely belong, as must be the
case, to spontaneity, and so on. . . .

From J. S. Bec\, November io, 1792

- 545 - VOL. XI, pp. 384-85

[. . . Beck sends back the part of his manuscript dealing with the
deduction of the categories. He reports on conversations between
Garve and Eberhard. As much as Garve defended the Critique of
Pure Reason, he was forced to admit that critical idealism was
identical to Berkeleian idealism. Beck cannot agree.]
Even if we assume that the Critique should not even have
mentioned the distinction between things-in-themselves and ap-
pearances, we would still have to recall that one must pay attention
to the conditions under which something is an object. If we ignore
these, we fall into error. Appearances are the objects of intuition,
and they are what everybody means when he speaks of objects that
surround us. But it is the reality of just these objects that Berkeley
denies and that the Critique, on the other hand, defends. If one
once sees that space and time are the conditions of the intuiting of
objects and then considers what the conditions of the thinking of
objects are, one sees easily that the dignity that representations
achieve in referring to objects consists in the fact that the synthesis
of the manifold is thus thought as necessary. This determination
of thought is, however, the same as the function in a judgment. In
this way the contribution of the categories to our knowledge has
become clear to me, in that the investigation has made me see that
they are the concepts through which the manifold of a sensuous
intuition is presented as necessarily (valid for everyone) grasped
together. Certain summarizers, as I see it, have expressed them-
selves incorrecdy on this matter. They say, T o judge means to
grasp objective representations together. It is quite another thing
when the Critique tells us: T o judge is to bring representations to
an objective unity of consciousness, through which the activity of
synthesis, represented as necessary, is expressed. . . .

From J. S. Bec\, November io, 1792 ' 195

From Salomon Maimon, November 30, 1792
- 548 - VOL. X I , pp.

. . . You maintain that the representations of space and time are

forms of sensibility, that is, necessary conditions of the manner in
which objects of sense are represented in us.
I maintain on the contrary (on psychological grounds) that this
is not universally true. Homogeneous objects of sense are repre-
sented by us neither in space nor in time. We can represent them
in space and time only mediately, by means of a comparison with
heterogeneous objects with which those homogeneous objects are
bound up spatio-temporaily. Time and space are thus forms of the
diversity of [things represented by] sensibility, not forms of sensi-
bility as suck. The appearance of red or green is not represented in
time or space any more than a concept of the understanding as
such is thus represented. But we can represent a comparison of red
with green and we can imagine the coexistence or succession of
red and green only in space and time.
Time and space are therefore not representations of the proper-
ties and relations of things-in-themselves—as the critical philoso-
phy has already demonstrated against the dogmatic philosophy.
But neither are they conditions of the way in which objects-of-
sense-in-themselves, prior to their comparison with each other, are
represented in us. What are they then ? They are conditions of the
possibility of a comparison between objects of sense, that is, of the
. possibility of a judgment as to their relation to each other. Let me
explain:
1. Different representations cannot coexist in the same subject at
the same dme (at exactly the same instant).
2. Every judgment concerning the relation of objects to each
other presupposes the existence of a representation of each of them
in the mind. The question therefore arises, How is a judgment
regarding the relation of objects to each other possible—for ex-
ample, the highly evident judgment that red differs from green?
The representations of red and green would have to precede this
judgment in the mind. But since they cannot be in the mind of a

196 • From Salomon Maimon, November ]o, IJ92

subject simultaneously, and the judgment nevertheless relates to
both of them, uniung them in consciousness, there is only one
possible explanation. Certain psychologists appeal to "traces" at
this point, but to no avail. For the "traces" of different repre-
sentations can no more occur simultaneously in the mind than the
representations themselves, if they are to retain their distinctness.
Only by means of the idea of a temporal succession [Zeitfolge] is
this judgment possible. Even if we ignore what objects are repre-
sented in it, a temporal succession is a unity in diversity [Einheit
im Mannigfaltigen], The earlier point of time is as such distin-
guished from the succeeding one. They are therefore not analyti-
cally unified, and yet neither one can be represented without the
other. Thus they constitute a synthetic unity. The idea of a
temporal succession is thus a necessary condition not of the possi-
bility of objects in themselves (even of sensible objects) but rather
of the possibility of judgments concerning their diversity. Without
[the idea of] temporal succession, such diversity could not be an
object of our knowledge.
On the other hand, objective diversity is a condition of the
possibility of temporal succession, not only as object of our knowl-
edge, but also as object of intuition as such (since temporal order
is imaginable only if this 1 becomes an object of our knowledge).
The form of diversity (also objective diversity itself) and the idea
of temporal order are thus mutually related. If red were not, as an
appearance in itself, different from green, we could not place them
in a temporal order. But had we no idea of such an order, we
could never recognize them [as diverse] even though they were
objectively distinct objects of intuition.
This same relationship exists also between the form of diversity
and the representation of spatial separation [Aussereinanderseyns
im Raum], The latter cannot be without the former. The former
cannot be recognized by us without the latter.
The diversity of outer appearances is represented in time only if
it is not represented in space, and vice versa. One and the same
sensible substance (for example, this tree) is represented as differ-
ent from itself (changed) in time, not in space. Distinct sensible
substances are represented as distinct in space, not in time (in that
the judgment of their distinctness embraces them in one and the
same moment of time).
1
T h e reference of "this" [sie] is not clear; it could refer to either objective
diversity or temporal order.

From Salomon Maimon, November j o , 7792 • 197

 The form of time thus does not belong to all objects of outer
intuition without distinction but only to those that are not repre-
sented in space; and vice versa, the form of space belongs only to
those outer objects that are not represented in time (in a temporal
succession, for the property of being simultaneous is not, I main-
tain, a positive determination but merely the negation of the idea
of temporal succession). . . . [Maimon then pleads for a reply
from Kant. Kant did not answer either this letter or Maimon's
earlier ones.]

To J. S. Bec\, December, 4, 1792

- 549 - VOL. xi, p. J 9 5

. . . Messrs. Eberhard's and Garve's opinion that Berkeley's ideal-

ism is the same as that of the critical philosophy (which I could
better call "the principle of the ideality of space and time") does
not deserve the slightest attention. For I speak of ideality in
reference to the form of representations; but they interpret this to
mean ideality with respect to the matter, that is, the ideality of the
object and its very existence. Under the assumed name "Aenesi-
demus," however, an even wider skepticism has been advanced,
viz., that we cannot know at all whether our representations
correspond to anything else (as object), which is as much as to
say: whether a representation is a representation (stands for any-
thing). For "representation" means a determination in us that we
relate to something else (whose place the representation takes in
us). . . .

1
Gottlob Ernst Schulze ( 1 7 6 1 - 1 8 3 3 ) , known as "Aenesidemus-Schulze"
because of his book Aenesidemus, which appeared anonymously in 1792. The
full ride of the work is Aenesidemus; or, On the Foundations of Professor
Reinhoid of fena's Elementarphilosophie, together with a Defense of Skepti-
cism against the Presumptions of the Critique of Reason. Schulze, who was
later Schopenhauer's teacher, was one of the sharpest critics of Kant and
Reinhoid. Like Jacobi, he argued that it was inconsistent to make an
unknowable thing in itself the cause of the "material" of experience, since
causality is supposed to be a mere form of the subject's thinking. Schulze
maintained further that Kant had refuted neither the skepticism of Hume nor
the idealism of Berkeley and that Kant's position was in fact "dogmatic."

198 • To /. S. Bec\, December 4, 7792

To J. B. Erhard/ December 21, 1792
- 552 - VO.L. XI, pp. 398-99

. . . Allow me to make a few remarks about Mr. Klein's discus-

sion of criminal right [Criminalrecht].2 Most of what he says is
excellent and quite in accord with my own views. I assume that
you have a numbered copy of the points on your letter.
Concerning No. 5: 3 The scholastic theologians used to talk of
the actual punishment (poena vindicatiua) ["avenging penalty"]
as being imposed not ne peccetur [so that there be no offense] but
quia peccatum est ["because there is an offense"]. Therefore they
defined punishment as malum pkysicum ob malum morale illatum
["physical evil inflicted because of moral evil"]. In a world of
moral principles governed by God, punishments would be categor-
ically necessary (insofar as transgressions occur). But in a world
governed by men, the necessity of punishments is only hypothet-
ical, and that direct union of the concept of transgression with the
idea of deserving punishment serves the ruler o n l y as a prescrip-
tion for what to do. So you are right in saying that the poena
meremoralis ["ethical penalty"] (which perhaps came to be called
vindicativa ["avenging punishment"] for the reason that it pre-
serves the divine justice), even if its goal is merely medicinal for
the criminal and the setting of an example for others, is indeed a
symbol of something deserving punishment, as far as the condition
of its authorization is concerned.
No. 9 and No. 1 0 : 4 Both propositions are true, though entirely
1
Johann Benjamin Erhard ( 1 7 6 6 - 1 8 2 7 ) , physician, traveler, and friend of
Kant, Reinhold, Schiller, and the von Herberts. Erhard was one of Kant's
main disciples in southern Germany (Nürnberg).
2
Ernst Ferdinand Klein, a friend of Erhard's, whose views Erhard summa-
rized in a letter to Kant [497].
3
"Since the aim of punishment is not compensation for damages, or
improvement, or example, we cannot say that it is the suffering of a physical
evil as such on account of a moral transgression. Rather, punishment is the
symbol of an action's deserving punishment, by means of a mortification of
the criminal that corresponds to the crime committed."
4
"9. The moral law prescribes to me not only how I should treat others but
also how I should allow myself to be treated by others; it forbids not only that
I misuse others but also that I allow them to misuse me, that is, destroy

To J. B. Erhard, December 21,1792 • 199

misunderstood in ordinary moral treatises. They belong under the
heading of "Duties to Oneself," which I shall discuss in my
"Metaphysics of Morals" in an unusual way.
N o . 1 2 : 5 Well said. It is often claimed that, according to natural
right, civil society is based on the desirability of pactum sociale
["social contract"]. But we can prove that the status naturalis is a
state of injustice and, consequently, that it is a duty of right to
change over to the condition of civil society. . . .
I would like to hear from you, especially as to whether Miss
Herbert 3 was encouraged by my letter. I am ever your respectful
and devoted

I. KANT

From Maria von Herbert, [January] 1793

- 554 - VOL. XI, pp. 4OO-4O2

Dear and revered sir,

T h e reason I delayed so long in telling you of the
pleasure your letter gave me was that I value your time too highly,
so that I allow myself to pilfer some of it only when it will serve to
relieve my heart and not merely to satisfy an impulse. And this
you have already done for me once, when my spirit was most
turbulent and I appealed to you for help. You understood me so
perfectly that I am encouraged, both by your kindness and by your
precise comprehension of the human heart, to describe to you
without embarrassment the further progress of my soul. The lie on
account of which I appealed to you was no cloaking of a vice but

myself. 10. Therefore I am just as much commanded not to suffer an injustice

as not to commit injustice, but this is only possible for me (unaided) as far as
the intention goes, not in its realization. Therefore I and all men have the task
of finding a means of making my physical powers equal to my moral
obligations. From this there derives the moral drive {Trieb} and the need for
society."
5
" N o . 1 2 . Insofar as society's main purpose is to protect the right and to
punish crime, it is called civil society. As such, it is not only useful but
holy."
8
Maria von Herbert. See letters of August, 1 7 9 1 [ 4 7 8 ] , Spring, 1792
[ 5 1 0 ] , January, 1793 [ 5 5 4 ] , January 1 7 , 1793 [ 5 5 7 ] , and February 1 1 , 1793
[559]-

200 • From Maria von Herbert, [ January ] 7793

 only a sin of keeping something back out of consideration for the
friendship (sdll veiled by love) that existed then. The conflict I
felt, foreseeing the terribly painful consequences and knowing the
honesty one owes to a friend, was what made me disclose the lie to
my friend after all, but so late. Finally I had the strength, and with
the disclosure I got rid of the stone in my heart at the price of the
tearing away of his love. I enjoyed as little peace before, when I
begrudged myself the pleasure I possessed, as afterward, when my
heart was torn apart by the suffering and anguish that plagued me
and that I wouldn't wish on anyone, even someone who would
want to prove his wickedness in a court of law. Meanwhile my
friend hardened in his coldness, just as you said in your letter, but
later he changed, babbled like a brook, and offered me his sincerest
friendship. It pleases me for his sake, but I am still dissatisfied,
because it is only pleasant and pointless. My vision is clear and I
have the sense of constantly reproaching myself and I get an
•empty feeling that extends inside me and all around me, so that I
am almost superfluous to myseif. Nothing attracts me, and even
getting every possible wish I might have would not give me any
pleasure, nor is there a single thing that seems worth the trouble of
doing. I feel this way not out of maicontentment but from weigh-
ing the amount of sordidness that accompanies ever/thing good. I
wish I were able to increase the amount of purposeful activity and
diminish the purposeless; the latter seems to be all that the world
is concerned with. I feel as if the urge to really do something only
arises in me in order to be smothered. Even when I am not
frustrated by any external circumstances and have nothing to do
all day, I'm tormented by a boredom that makes my life unbear-
able, though I should want to live a thousand years if I could
believe that God might be pleased with me in such a useless
existence. Don't think me arrogant for saying this, but the com-
mandments of morality are too trifling for me; for I should gladly
do twice as much as they command, since they get their authority
only because of a temptation to sin and it costs me hardly any
effort to resist that. It makes me think that if someone has become
really clear about the commandments of duty he is not at all free
to transgress them any more. For I would have to insult my sinful
feeling itself if I had to act contrary to duty. It seems so instinctive
to me that my being moral could not possibly have the slightest
merit.

Just as little I think, can one hold those people responsible who

From Maria von Herbert, [January] IJ93 • 201

In all their lives do not reach a real self-awareness. Always
surprised by their own sensuality, they can never account to
themselves for their action or inaction; and if morality were not
the most advantageous thing for nature, these people would proba-
bly challenge her to further duels.
I console myself often with the thought that since the practice of
morality is so bound up with sensuality, it can only count for this
world, and with that thought I could sull hope not to have to live
another life of empty vegetadng and of so few and easy moral
demands after this life. Experience wants to take me to task for
this bad temper I have against life by showing me that almost
everyonefindshis life ending too soon and everyone is so glad to
be alive. So as not to be a queer excepdon to the rule, I shall tell
you a remote cause of my deviation, namely, my chronic poor
health. I have not been well at all since the dme 1firstwrote you.
This sometimes causes a frenzy of mind that reason alone cannot
cure. So I forego being healthy. What I could otherwise sull enjoy
doesn't interest me. I can't study any of the natural sciences or the
arts of the world, for I feel I have no talent for extending them.
Ajid for myself alone I have no need to know them. Whatever
bears no relation to the categorical imperative and to my tran-
scendental consciousness is indifferent to me, though I am all
finished with thoughts on those topics, too. Taking all these things
together, you can perhaps see why I want only one tiling, namely,
to shorten this so useless life of mine, a life in which I am
convinced I shall become neither better nor worse. If you consider
that I am still young and that each day interests me only to the
extent that it brings me closer to death, you can then estimate
what a benefactor you would be to me and how much it would
cheer you if you would examine this question in detail. I can ask it
of you because my concept of morality is silent on this point,
whereas it speaks very decisively on ail other issues. But if you are
unable to give me the negative good I seek, I appeal to your
feeling of benevolence and ask you to give me something with
which to end this unbearable emptiness of soul. If I become a
useful part of nature and if my health will permit, I hope to take a
trip to Königsberg in a few years, for which I beg permission in
advance to visit you. You will have to tell me your life's story then,
and whether it never seemed worth the trouble to you to take a
wife or to give yourself to someone with all your heart or to
reproduce your likeness. I have an engraved portrait of you by

202 • From Maria von Herbert, [ January ] 7793

Bause from Leibpzig [sic], in which I see a calm moral depth
although I cannot discover there the penetration of which the
Critique of Pure Reason above all else is proof and I am also
dissatisfied not to be able to look you right in the face.
Will you guess what my sole sensuous wish is, and fulfil it, if it
is not too inconvenient. Please do not become indignant if I
implore you for an answer, which my jabbering will have discour-
aged. But I must ask you that, if you should trouble to reply and
do me this greatest favor, you focus your answer on specific
matters and not on general points that I have already encountered
in your writings when my friend and I happily experienced them
together—you would certainly be pleased with him, for his charac-
ter is upright, his heart is good and his mind deep and besides that
fortunate enough tofitinto this world. And he is self-sufficient and
strong enough to abstain from everything, and that is why I am
confident I can tear myself away from him. Do guard your health,
for you still have much to give to the world. Would that I were
God and could reward you for what you have done for us. I am
with deepest respect and truly, reverendy,
MARIA HERBERT

From J. B. Erhard, January ij, 1793

V0L XI
- 557 - - > PP- 4°7-8

[Erhard responds to Kant's inquiry as to how his letter affected

Maria von Herbert.]
. . . I can say little of Miss Herbert. I had expressed my opinion
of her actions to a few of her friends in Vienna, thereby spoiling
our friendship so that she won't even speak to me. She takes me to
be a man of no moral scruples, who judges only according to
prudential rules. I do not know whether she is better off now. She
has capsized on the reef of romantic love, which I have managed
to escape (more by luck than by desert). In order to realize an
idealistic love, she gave herself to a man who misused her trust;
and then, to achieve such a love with a second person, she told her
new lover about the other one. That is the key to her letter. If my
friend Herbert had more delicatesse, she could still be saved. Her

From J.B.Erhard, January 17, • 203

present state of mind is briefly this: her moral feeling is totally
severed from prudence and therefore is united with the finer
sensibility of fantasy. I find something moving about this state of
mind, and I pity people of that sort more than actual maniacs.
Unfortunately this state of mind appears to be common among
people who escape fanaticism and superstition. They escape only
by embracing oversensitivity, private deceptions, and dreams (the
steadfast determination to realize one's own chimeras, which
one takes for ideas), and they think they do truth a service
thereby. . . .

ERHARD

To Elisabeth Mother by/ February u, 7793

- 559 - VOL. XI, pp. 411-12

I have numbered the letters" which I have the honor of passing

on to you, my dear mademoiselle, according to the dates I received
them. T h e ecstatical young lady did not remember to date them.
T h e third letter, from another source,3 is included because part of
it provides an explanation of the lady's curious mental derange-
ments. A number of expressions, especially in the first letter, refer
to writings of mine that she read and are difficult to understand
without an explanation.
Y o u have been so fortunate in the upbringing you have received
that I do not need to commend these letters to you as an example
of warning, to guard you against the errors of a sublimated
fantasy. Nevertheless they may serve to make your perception of
that good fortune all the more lively.
With the greatest respect, I am

My honored lady's obedient servant,

I. K A N T

1
Daughter of Kant's friend Robert Motherby, an English merchant in
Königsberg.
2
From Maria von Herbert.
3
B. Erhard to Kant, January 1 7 , 1793 [ 5 3 7 ] .

204 • T0 Elisabeth Motherbv, February 11, ijyj

To C. F. Stäudlin/ May 1793
• 574 - VOL. XI, pp. 429-30

. . . The plan I prescribed for myself a long dme ago calls for an
examination of the field of pure philosophy with a view to solving
three problems: ( i ) What can I know? (metaphysics). (2) What
ought I to do? (moral philosophy). (3) What may I hope?
(philosophy of religion). A fourth question ought to follow,
finally: What is man? (anthropology, a subject on which I have
lectured for over twenty years). With the enclosed work, Religion
within the Limits [of Reason Alone], I have tried to complete the
third part of my plan. In this book I have proceeded conscien-
tiously and with genuine respect for the Christian religion but also
with a befitting candor, concealing nothing but rather presenting
openly the way in which I believe that a possible union of
Christianity with the purest practical reason is possible.
The biblical theologican can oppose reason only with another
reason or with force, and if he intends to avoid the criticism that
attends the latter move (in the current crisis, when freedom of
public expression is universally restricted, the appeal to force is
much to be feared), he must show our rational grounds to be
weak, if he thinks ours are wrong, by offering other rational
grounds. He must not attack us with anathemas launched from
out of the clouds over officialdom. This is what I meant to say in
my Preface on page xix. The complete education of a biblical
theologian should unite into one system the products of his own
powers and whatever contrary lessons he can learn from philoso-
phy. (My book is that sort of combination.) By assessing his
doctrines from the point of view of rational grounds, he shall be
armed against any future attack.
Perhaps you will be alienated by my Preface, which is in a way
rather violent. What occasioned it was this: the whole book was
supposed to appear in four issues of the Berliner Monatsschrift,

1
Carl Friedrick Stäudlin 1761—1826), professor of theology in Göttingen.
Kant dedicated his Der Streit der jakultäten ("Strife of the Faculties" [ 1 7 9 8 ] )
to Stäudlin.

To C. F. "Stäudlin, May 4, 7795 • 205

with the approval of the censor there. The first part, "On the
Radical Evil in Human Nature," went all right; the censor of
philosophy, Mr. Privy Counselor Hillmer, took it as falling under
his department's jurisdiction. The second part was not so fortu-
nate, since Mr. Hillmer thought that it ventured into the area of
biblical theology (for some unknown reason he thought the first
part did not), and he therefore thought it advisable to confer with
the biblical censor, Oberconsistorialrath Hermes, who then of
course took it as falling under his own jurisdiction (when did a
mere priest ever decline any power?), and so he expropriated it
and refused to approve it. The Preface therefore tries to argue that
if a censorship commission is in doubt over which sort of censor
should judge a book, the author ought not to let the outcome
depend on the commission's coming to an agreement but should
rather submit the question to a domestic university. For while each
individual faculty is bound to maintain its own authority, there LS
an academic senate that can decide disputes of this kind. To sausfy
all the demands of justice, therefore, I presented this book in
advance to the theological faculty, asking them to decide whether
the book invaded the domain of biblical theology or whether it
belonged rather to the jurisdiction of the philosophical faculty,
which is how it turned out.
I am moved to disclose this incident to you, sir, so that you will
be able to judge whether my actions are justified in case a public
quarrel should arise over the case. I am, with genuine respect,

Your most obedient servant,

I. KANT

From J. G. C. C. Kiesewetter, June 15, 1793

- 580 - VOL. XI, pp. 436-37

[Kiesewetter thanks Kant for sending a copy of Kant's Religion

within the Limits of Reason Alone. It can bring endless benefits, if
properly understood, at least by putting an end to the current
intolerance of dissent. Kiesewetter is eager to hear what the
theologians and especially the inquisitors will say to it, since they
have been unable to prevent its publication.]

206 • From /. G. C. C. Kiesewetter, June 15, 1793

 Mr. T i l l i n g 1 of Courland, who brought me regards from you,
gave me great pleasure with the news that you are feeling quite
well. So now we can hope that your [metaphysics of] moral[s]
will soon appear—no book is awaited more eagerly by so many
people. The majority of thinking people have been persuaded of
the correctness of the formal principle of morality, as could easily
have been predicted; but the deduction of a system of dudes and
of various rights (for example, the right of property) is so frought
with difficulties, not successfully solved by any previous system,
that everyone is truly anxious to see your system of morality
appear, and all the more so just now since the French Revolution
has stimulated a mass of such quesdons anew. I believe that there
are many interesting things to be said about the rationality of the
basic principles on which the French Republic bases itself, if only
it were prudent to write about such things. It is the topic of every
conversadon around here and the subject of every argument,
though the disputes all tend to stray from the point at issue, either
because people confuse the question [of republicanism] with ques-
tions about the merits of the current representatives of the institu-
tion or else because they try to establish and refute the validity of
the ideas by appeal to experience or they demand the impossible.
[Kiesewetter tells of his career as tutor to the royal children. He
teaches 15 hours a week and receives 600 thalers a year. He gives
public lectures, without pay, on logic; the king has promised him a
salary. The war (first coalition war, 1792-95, ended by the Peace
of Basel) makes it unlikely that he will receive any more money,
but Kiesewetter hears from a reliable source that the king is
inclined to make peace before the year is over.]

To J. S. Bec\, August 18, 1J93

- 584 - VOL. XI, p. 44I

I am sending you the essay I promised you, dearest sir. It was

supposed to be a preface to the Critique of Judgment, but I
discarded it because it was too long. You may use it as you see fit,

1
Nicholaus Tilling, theology student in Mitau and Jena (1769—1823).

T o J. S. Beck, August 18,1793 • 207

in your summary of that book. I am also enclosing the proof sheets
sent to me by Mr. Court Preacher Schultz.
The essential theme of this preface (which might cover half the
manuscript) concerns a unique and unusual presupposidon of our
reason: [it is almost] as if nature, in the diversity of its products,
were inclined to make some accommodation to the limitations of
our power of judgment, in the simplicity and noticeable unity of
her laws and the presentation of the infinite diversity of her species
in accordance with a certain law of continuity that makes it
possible for us to organize them under a few basic concepts; . . .
as if nature acted arbitrarily and for the sake of our comprehen-
sion, sensing that we do not recognize this purposiveness as
necessary but that we need it and hence are justified in assuming it
a priori and in using the assumption as far as we can.
You will be kind enough to forgive me, at my age and with all
my work, for not having had time to look at the proof sheets so as
to give you any sound judgment about them. I can trust your own
examination to do this

.Your servant,
I. KANT

From J. E. Biester/ October 5, 7795

- 596 - VOL. xi, pp. 456-57

Finally I am able to send you the new issue of the Berliner

Monatsschrift, most worthy friend. I do so with the deepest
gratitude for your excellent September essay.2 As you wished, it
has been printed all in one piece, in a single issue. How abun-
dantly full of significant lessons it is! The second section was
especially pleasing to me, on account of its new, masterful way of
representing and developing the concepts. To speak quite openly,
it pleased me all the more since it refuted the rumor (which I
1
Johann Erich Biester ( 1 7 4 9 - 1 S 1 6 ) , secretary to Minister von Zedlitz (to
whom Kant dedicated the Critique of Pure Reason), librarian of the Royal
Berliner Monatsschrift.
Library in Berlin, publisher of the
2 Über den Gemeinspruch: "Das mag in der Theorie richtig sein, taugt aber
nicht fur die Praxis" ("On the Common Saying: 'That May Be True in
Theory but Not in Practice' " [1793]).

208 • From }. E. Biester, October 5, 17g3

suspected from the start) that you had come out in favor of the
ever increasingly repulsive French Revolution, in which the actual
freedom of reason and morality and all wisdom in statecraft and
legislation are being most shamefully trampled under foot—a revo-
lution that even shatters and annuls the universal principles of
constitutional law and the concept of a civil constitution, as I now
learn from your essay. Surely it is easier to decapitate people
(especially if one lets others do it) than courageously to discuss the
rational and legal grounds of opposition with a despot, be he
sultan or despotic rabble. Till now, however, I see only that the
French have mastered those easier operations, performed with
bloody hands; I do not see that they have the power of rational
examination.
In view of the purpose of yourfirstsection, I wish you would
look at Schiller's essay,3 Über Anmutk und Würde ["On Grace
and Dignity"],4 and notice what he says, quite speciously, about
your moral system, viz., that the hard voice of duty sounds too
strongly therein (duty being a law prescribed by reason itself but
nevertheless in a way a foreign law) and that there is too litde
attention to inclination.
BIESTER
Berlin

From J. G. C. C. Kiesewetter, November 23, IJ93

- 605 - VOL. XI, pp. 46&-JO

Esteemed professor,
I took the liberty of sending you a litde tub of Teltow
turnips1 about two weeks ago and I would have informed you
sooner had I not wished to include thefirstissue of the Philoso-
3
In a footnote to Religion within the Limits of Reason Alone Kant calls
Schiller's essay a "masterful treatise" and explains how he agrees and
disagrees with Schiller. See Kant's Werke, VI, 23 f., or the translation by T .
M. Greene and H. H. Hudson (New York: Harper & Bros., i960), 18 f.
4
In Thalia ( 1 7 9 3 ) , second issue, published separately.
1
Kant was enormously fond of these turnips. Kiesewetter kept him regu-
larly supplied for a number of years. Some of Kant's last letters deal with
Teltow turnips, requesting more and discussing the proper way to cook them.

From J. G. C. C. Kiesewetter, November 23, / 7 9 J • 209

phische Bibliothek' which Professor Fischer and I are publishing
joindy. But since it is being printed outside Prussia and this will
take a while longer, I decided to send it to you later on, so that the
turnips will not arrive unannounced. I do hope they meet with
your approval. I made sure that they really did come from Teltow.
You may wonder why the Philosophische Bibliothek is being
published abroad. Mr. Hermes 3 thought it dangerous to publish
an extract from Heidenreich's Natürliche Religion.4' On the first
page of it Hermes made so many corrections that I was forced to
decide in favor of foreign publication. His corrections are master-
pieces; they would deserve to be printed as an official document of
the Berlin Censorship Commission if I were not so lazy. He will
not allow that God is an individual, and he says that one does not
become worthy of blessedness through virtue but rather capable of
blessedness, and other such stuff. I am waiting to see whether he
wiil condemn the book. If so, I am determined to fight him. H e
has still been treating me with indulgence, but Professor Grillo, 5 a
man of 60, wanted to publish a summary of your Religion within
the Limits of Reason and Hermes treated him like a schoolboy,
writing doggerel in the margins of his manuscript, if only Grillo
were not so peace-loving.
You see, we have hard taskmasters. Hermes himself said to my
publisher that he is only waiting for the war 8 to be over before
issuing more cabinet orders, which he has in his desk. These
gentlemen are now visiting schools and investigating the children.
Among other things, people are talking about an examination that
von Woltersdorf 7 gave in the school of the Grey Convent. It was
really remarkable. It would be a waste of time to tell you the
whole story, but here are the first two questions—WOLTERSDORF:
H o w old are you, my son? CHILD: Nine years old. W : And where
were you ten years ago, then?—! The story is absolutely true and
not something somebody made up.
The new law code 5 is now being introduced, but with four
changes, one of which I forget. First, in the preface, the commen-

2 .Vtue philosophische Bibliothek., first (and last) issue, Berlin, 1794.

3
Hermann Daniel Hermes ( 1 7 3 1 - 1 8 0 7 ) , member of the Censorship Com-
mission on Spiritual Affairs in Berlin.
* Karl Heinrich Heydenreich's Betrachtung über die Philosophie der natürli-
chen Religion (2 vols.; Leipzig, 1 7 9 0 / 9 1 ) fallowed Kant's moral theology.
'Friedrich Grillo ( 1 7 3 9 - 1 8 0 2 ) .
8
The first coalition war (French Revolutionary Wars), 1792-95.
7
Woltersdorf was another member of the Censorship Commission.
3 Allgemeine Landrecht, in effect July 1, 1794.

210 • Prom J. G. C. C. Kiesewetter, November 23, /79J

dation of monarchy as the best form of government is omitted, for
the reason that it is supposed to be self-evident. Second, the article
on legally recognized concubinage [Ehe an der linken Hand] is
taken out, and third, the article on the punishment of exorcists is
removed.
Nobody knows how the war will go. I heard yesterday that we
are demanding 45 million from Austria, in exchange for which we
would prosecute the war by ourselves. It is certain that at the
beginning of the war we made many loans to Austria, because
they are not as efficient as we are. A special envoy from Austria is
awaited. The princes are expected in a week and so is the king,
who is now in Potsdam. Lucchesini, 9 Bischoffwerders' 1 0 brother-in-
law, is going to Vienna as ambassador. Everyone longs for
peace. . . .

Your grateful pupil,

J . G . C . KIESEWETTER

To K. L. Reinhold, March 28,7794

- 620 - VOL. xi, pp. 494-95

Esteemed sir, dearest friend,

[Kant extends his best wishes on Reinhold's decision to
accept another position, in Kiel. He apologizes for not writing to
offer his opinion of Reinhold's book on natural right, but says he
was unable to do so.]
. . . For the past three years or so, age has effected my thinking
—not that I have suffered any dramatic change in the mechanics of
health, or even a great decline (though a noticeable one) in my
mental powers, as I strive to continue my reflections in accordance
with my plan. It is rather that I feel an inexplicable difficulty when
I try to project myself into other people's ideas, so that I seem un-
able really to grasp anyone else's system and to form a mature
judgment of it. (Merely general praise or blame does no one any
good.) This is the reason why I can turn out essays of my own, but,
for example, as regards the "improvement" of the critical philoso-
9
Girolamo Lucchesini ( 1 7 5 2 - 1 8 2 5 ) , an Italian in the Prussian diplomatic
service.
10
Johann Rudolf von Bischoffswerder ( 1 7 4 1 - 1 8 0 3 ) , a favorite of Friedrich
Wilhelm II's.

To K. L. Reinhold, March 28,1794 • 211

phy by Maimon 1 (Jews always like to do that sort of thing, to
gain an air of importance for themselves at someone else's expense),
I have never really understood what he is after and must leave the
reproof to others.
I infer that this problem is attributable to physical causes, since
it dates from the dme, three years ago, when I had a cold that
lasted a week. A mucus made its appearance then, and after the
cold was better, this material seems to have moved into the sinuses.
It clears up momentarily when I am fortunate enough to sneeze
but returns soon after, fogging my brain. Otherwise I am quite
healthy, for a man of 70.
I hope that this explanadon, which would be pointless to relate
to a doctor, since they can do nothing about the consequences of
ageing, will serve to assure you of my friendship and devodon.
Now as to cur friends—(Kant inquires about J. B. Erhard, 2 who
was duped by a confidence man into cashing a large check and
accepting a non-existent position as surgeon with the American
army.] . . .

To J. E. Biester, April 10, 1794

- SIL - VOL. XI, pp. 49Ö-97

Here is something 1 for your [Berliner Monatsschrift, dearest

friend, which may serve, like Swift's Tale of a Tab, to create a
momentary diversion from the constant uproar over the same
problem. Mr. Rehberg's essay "On the Relation of Theory to
Practice" 2 arrived only yesterday. In reading it, I found that, as
regards the infinite disparity between rationalist and empiricist
1
Solomon Maimon. See letters April 7, 1789 [ 3 5 2 ] , May 26, 1789 [ 3 6 2 ] ,
and September 20, 1 7 9 1 [486].
2
See the letter to J. B. Erhard of December 2 1 , 1792 [ 5 5 2 ] , n. 1 .
1
"Etwas über den Einfluss des Mondes auf die Witterung" ( 1 7 9 4 ) .
2
"Ueber das Verhältnis der Theorie zur Praxis," in the Berliner Monats-
schrift( 1 7 9 4 ) , by August Wilhelm Rehberg ( 1 7 5 7 - 1 8 3 6 ) , author and states-
man. Rehberg claimed that Kant's proof of the highest principle of morality
was valid but that it was impossible to derive any specific moral knowledge
from it, since the formal law has no content and does not indicate any specific
purpose at which man's activity should aim. The principle needs to be
supplemented with empirical knowledge. See also Kant's letter to him of
around September 25, 1790 [448].

212 • To ]. E. Biester, April to, 7794

interpretations of the concept of right, the answering of his objec-
tions would take too long; with regard to his principle of right
grounded on power as the highest source of legisladon, the an-
swering would be too dangerous; and in view of his already
having decided in favor of the powers that be (as on page 122), 3
the answering would be in vain. It can hardly be expected that a
man of 70 would occupy himself with tasks that are burdensome,
dangerous, and in vain.
Mr. Rehberg wants to unite the actual lawyer [Juristen] (who
puts a sword onto the balance scales of justice on the side of
rational grounds) with the philosopher of right, and the inevitable
result is that the application [Praxis] extolled as so necessary in
order to render the theory adequate (so they pretend, though
actually they want to substitute application for theory) will turn
out to be trickery [Praktiken]. As a matter of fact, an essay of that
sort forbids one at the outset to say anything against it. That
injunction presumably will soon be felt with its full force, since
Mr. Hermes 4 and Mr. Hillmer 5 have taken their positions as
overseers of secondary schools and have thereby acquired influence
on the universities with respect to how and what is supposed to be
taught there.
The essay I will send you soon is entitled "The End of All
Things." It will be partly doleful and partly jolly to read.

Your devoted servant and friend,

I. K A N T

From J. S. Bec\, June 17, 1794

- 630 - VOL. xi, pp. 509-u

[Beck asks Kant's opinion of the proposed third volume, Beck's

"On the Cridcal Philosophy." It is the work that appeared in 1796,
3
Rehoerg claimed that the principle that man must be treated as an end in
himself is invalid. It holds only for man qua rational being, but in fact man is
also a natural being, not governed by reason, and can therefore be treated as
an object.
4
Hermann Daniel Hermes ( 1 7 3 1 - 1 8 0 7 ) , member of the Censorship Com-
mission on Spiritual Afiairs from 1 7 9 1 .
5
Gottiob Friedrich Hillmer (1756—1835), Oberconsistorialrath and member
of the same censorshio commission.

From J. S. Becl{, June I J , 7794 • 213

entitled Einsig möglicher Standpunkt, aus welchem die critische
Philosophie beurtheilt werden muss ("Only Possible Standpoint
from Which the Critical Philosophy Must Be Judged.") ]
In your Critique of Pure Reason you lead your reader gradually
to the highest point of the transcendental philosophy, viz., to the
synthetic unity. First, you draw his attention to the consciousness
of a given, then make him attentive of concepts by means of which
something is thought; you present the categories initially also as
concepts, in the ordinary sense, andfinallybring him to the insight
that these categories are actually the activity of the understanding
through which it originally creates for itself the concept of an
object and produces the "I think, an object." I have become used to
calling this production of the synthetic unity of consciousness "the
original activity" (Ursprüngliche Beylegung.) It is this activity,
among others, that the geometer postulates when he starts his
geometry from the proposition "Conceive of space"; and no discur-
sive representation whatsoever could take its place for this purpose.
As I see the matter, the postulate "To conceive of an object by
means of the original activity" is also the highest principle of
philosophy as a whole, the principle on which both general pure
logic and the • whole of transcendental pniiosophy rests. I am
therefore strongiy convinced that this synthetic unity is just the
standpoint from which, if one has once mastered it, one can truly
understand not only the meaning of "analytic" and "synthetic"
judgment but what is actually meant by "a priori" 3nd "a poster-
iori," what the Critique means when it attributes the possibility of
geometric axioms to the purity of the intuition on which the
axioms are based, what it really is that affects us—whether it is the
thing-in-itself (or whether this expression only means a tran-
scendental Idea) or, instead, the object of empirical intuition itself,
that is, appearance—and whether the Critique argues circularly
when it makes the possibility of experience into the principle of
synthetic a priori judgments and yet conceals the principle of
causality in the concept of this possibility. I say that one can only
have a full understanding of all these things, and even of the
discursive concept "possibility of experience" itself, when one has
fully mastered this standpoint. So long as one still thinks of this
"possibility of experience" purely discursively and does not follow
up the original activity in just such an activity as this, one has
insight into virtually nothing, having merely substituted one in-

2x4 • From J. S. BecJ{, June 17,

comprehensible thing for another. Your Critique, however, leads
your reader only gradually, as I say, to this standpoint, and thus,
according to its method, it cannot clear up the matter right at the
beginning, that is, in the Introduction. The difficulties that reveal
themselves along the way ought to encourage the thoughtful
reader to be persistent and patient. But since only a very few
readers know how to master this highest standpoint, they attribute
the difficulties to the style of the work and doubt that they can
stick to it. Their difficulties would certainly be overcome, if they
were once in a position to consider the challenge: produce the
synthetic unity of consciousness. But a proof that even the friends
of the Critique don't know what they are about is that they don't
know where they ought to locate the object that produces sensa-
tion.
I have decided therefore to pursue this subject, truly the most
important in the whole Critique, and am working on an essay in
which the method of the Critique is reversed. I begin with the
postulate of the original activity, locate this activity in the catego-
ries, try to get the reader right into this activity itself, as it discloses
itself originally in the material of time representation. —Once I
think I have the reader completely in the framework in which I
want him, I shall then lead him to the review of the Critique of
Pure Reason, through the Introduction, Aesthetic, and Analytic.
Then I shall let him evaluate the most important criticisms of it,
especially those of the author of Aenesidemus}
What do you think of this ? Your age oppresses you, and I shall
not ask you to answer me, though I must confess that your letters
are most treasured gifts to me. But I do beg you to be kind enough
to give your true opinion about this work to my publisher, for he
shall base his decision on that. Of course I desire only that you tell
him exactly what you think of the project, whether such a work of
mine would be useful to the public.
Please excuse me if I seem too assertive. I must send this letter to
Hartknoch, and the mail is leaving; so I have had to write
somewhat glibly. May you remain well disposed toward

Your most respectful

BECK

1
See letter of December 4, 1792 [549], n. 1, for further details about
Aenesidemus.

From J. S. Bec\, June IJ, IJ94 • 2.15

To J. S. Bec\July i, 7794
- 634 - VOL. XI, pp. 514-16

Aside from remarking on the pleasure that your letters always

give me, I have only the following little remarks to make concern-
ing your proposed book on the "original activity" [Ursprüngliche
Beylegung] (the relating of a representation, qua determination of
the subject, to an object distinguished from it, by which means it
becomes a cognition and is not merely a feeling):
1. Could you also make clear what you mean by the word
Beylegung in Latin? Furthermore, one cannot actually say that a
representation befits another thing but only that, if it is to be a
cognition, a relation to something else (something other than the
subjecc in which the representation inheres) befits the representa-
tion, whereby it becomes communicable to other people; for other-
wise it would belong merely to feeling (of pleasure or displeas-
ure), which in itself cannot be communicated. But we can only
understand and communicate to others what we ourselves can
make, granted that the manner in which we incuit something, in
representing this or that, can be assumed to be the same for
everybody. That alone is the representation of a composite. For—
2. The synthesizing itself is not given; on the contrary, it must
be done by us: we must synthesize if we are to represent anything
as synthesized (even space and time). We are able to communicate
with one another because of this synthesis. The grasping (appre-
hensio) of the given manifold and its reception in the unity of con-
sciousness (apperceptio) is the same sort of thing as the repre-
sentation of a composite (that is, it is only possible through
synthesis), if the synthesis of my representation in the grasping,
and its analysis insofar as it is a concept, yield one and the same
representation (reciprocally bring forth one another). This agree-
ment is applied to something that is valid for everyone, something
distinguished from the subject, that is, an object, since it lies
exclusively neither in the representation nor in consciousness but
nevertheless is valid (communicable) for everyone.
I notice, as I am writing this down, that I do not even entirely
understand myself and I shall wish you luck if you can put this
simple, thin thread of our cognitive faculty under a sufEciendy

216 • To J. S. Beck., July 1,1794

bright light. Such overly refined hair-splitting is no longer for me;
I cannot even make Professor Reinhold's work clear to me. I need
not remind a mathematician like you, dear friend, to stay within
the boundaries of clarity, both by using the most ordinary expres-
sions and by furnishing easily grasped examples. —Mr. Hartknoch
will be very pleased with your projected book. Hold me dear as

Your respectful friend and servant,

I. KANT

To Friedrich Wilhelm IV [after October 12, 1794]

- 642 - VOL. XI, pp. 52J-3O

Your Royal Majesty's order of October 12 enjoins me as fol-

lows.2 First, on account of my misuse of philosophy in distorting
and depreciating many of the basic teachings of Holy Scripture
and or Christianity, namely, in my book Religion within the
Limits of Reason Alone 3 and in other smaller essays, and because
I am guilty of overstepping my duty as an educator of the youth
and guilty of opposing the very highest intentions of our sover-
eign, intentions that are supposedly well known to me, I am
therefore duty-bound to bring forward my conscientious vindica-
tion of my conduct. Second, I am not to repeat this sort of offense
in the future. In regard to both of these obligations and with
profound submissiveness I hope to show Your Royal Majesty
sufficient proof of my previously demonstrated and further to be
demonstrated obedience.
As for the complaint against me, that I have misused my
philosophy to depreciate Christianity, my conscientious self-vindi-
cation is as follows:
1. As an educator of the youth, in academic lectures, I have
never been guilty of this sort of thing. Aside from the testimony of
my listeners, to which I appeal, this is sufficiently demonstrated by
1
Strife of the Faculties
This letter appears as well in the Preface to Kant's
{Streit der Facultäten [1798]).
2
The Cabinetsordre was signed by Woellner and dated October 1, 1794. It
Strife of the Faculties.
also appears in the Preface of
3
On October 14, 1795, the King, or rather his ministers Woellner and
Hillmer, issued an order to the academic senate in Königsberg forbidding all
professors to iecture on Kant's book. (Schultz had announced a course of
lectures.)Werke, XIII, 3 7 1 .

To Friedrich Wilhelm II [after October 12, 1794} • 217

che fact that my pure and merely philosophical instruction has
conformed to A. G. Baumgarten's textbooks, in which the subject
of Christianity does noc even occur, nor can it occur. It is impos-
sible to accuse me of overstepping the limits of a philosophical
investigation of religion in my teaching.
2. Nor have I, as an author, for example, in my Religion within
the Limits . . . , opposed the highest purposes of the sovereign
that were known to me. For since those purposes concern the state
religion, I would have had to write as a teacher of the general
public, a task for which this book along with my other little essays
is ill-suited. They were only written as scholarly discussions for
specialists in theology and philosophy, in order to determine how
religion may be inculcated most clearly and forcefully into the
hearts of men. The theory is one of which the general public takes
no notice and which requires the sanction of the government only
if it is to be taught to schoolteachers and teachers of religion. But
it is not against the wisdom and authority of the government to
allow academic freedom. For the official religious doctrines were
not thought up by the government itself but were supplied to it
from these scholarly sources. The government would rather be
justified in demanding of the faculty an examination and justifica-
tion of religious doctrines, without prescribing what it is to be.
3. I am not guilty of depreciating Christianity in that book,
since it contains no assessment of any actual revealed religion. It is
intended merely as an examination of rational religion [Vernunft-
religion], an assessment of its priority as the highest condition of
all true religion, of its completeness and of its practical aim
(namely, to show us what we are obligated to do) as well as of its
incompleteness from the standpoint of the theoretical [reason] (an
incompleteness that is the source of evil, just as the latter is the
source of our transition to the good or the reason the certainty that
we are evil is possible, and so on). Consequently the need for a
revealed doctrine is not obscured, and rational religion is related to
revealed religion in general, without specifying which one it is
(where Christianity, for example, is regarded as the mere idea of a
conceivable revelation). It was, I maintain, my duty to make clear
the status of rational religion. It should have been incumbent on
my accusers to point out a single case in which I depreciated
Christianity either by arguing against its acceptance as a revelation
or by showing it to be unnecessary. For I do not regard it as a
depreciation of a revealed doctrine to say that, in relation to its

To Friedrich Wilhelm II [after October 12,1794}•218

practical use (which constitutes the essential part of all religion), it
must be interpreted in accordance with the principles of pure
rational faith [Vernunftglaubens] and must be urged on us
openly. I take this rather as a recognition of its morally fruitful
content, which would be deformed by the supposedly superior
importance of merely theoretical propositions that are to be taken
on faith.
4. My true respect for Christianity is demonstrated by my
extolling the Bible as the best available guide for the grounding
and support of a truly moral state religion, perennially suitable for
public instruction in religion. Therefore I have not allowed myself
any attacks or criticisms of the Bible based on merely theoretical
beliefs (though the faculties must be allowed to do this). I have
insisted on the holy, practical content of the Bible, which, with all
the changes in theoretical articles of faith that will take place in
regard to merely revealed doctrines, because of their coincidental
nature, will always remain as the inner and essential part of
religion. The essential, practical essence of religion can always be
recovered in its purity, as it was after Christianity had degenerated
in the dark ages of clericalism.
5. Finally, I have always insisted that anyone who confesses a
revealed faith must be conscientious, viz., he must assert no more
than he really knows, and he must urge others to believe only in
that of which he himseif is fully certain. My conscience is clear: I
have never let the Divine-Judge out of my sight, in writing my
works on religion, and I have tried voluntarily to withdraw not
only every error that might destroy a soul but even every possibly
offensive expression. I have done this especially because, in my 71st
year, the thought necessarily arises that I may soon have to give an
accounting of myself before a judge of the world who knows
men's hearts. Therefore I have no misgivings in offering this
vindication now to the highest authority in our land, with full
conscientiousness, as my unchangeable, candid confession.
6. Regarding the second charge, that I am not to be guilty of
such distortion and depreciation of Christianity (as has been
claimed) in the future, I find that, as Your Majesty's loyal subject,4
in order not to fall under suspicion, it will be the surest course for

* Kant later interpreted this phrase as committing him to silence only

insofar as he was a subject of Friedrich Wilhelm II. He therefore felt himself
not in violation of his promise when he published on religious topics after the
death of that monarch.

To Friedrich Wilhelm II [after October 12, 1794} • 219

me to abstain entirely from ail public lectures on religious topics,
whether on natural or revealed religion, and not only from lectures
but also from publications. I hereby promise this.
I am eternally Your Royal Majesty's most submissive and obe-
dient subject.

From f . E. Biester, December i j , 1794

- 646 - VOL. XI, pp. 535S6

. . . If your muse should permit it, you know how grateful all
your readers would be for another essay.
I have had the opportunity of reading your defense submitted to
the Department of Spiritual Affairs, concerning the accusation
against your Religion within the Limits of Reason.1 It is noble,
manly, meritorious, thorough. But everyone will regret your vol-
untary promise not to discuss positive and natural religion any
more. You thereby prepare a great triumph for the enemies of the
Enlightenment, and the good cause suffers a great loss. It seems to
me that you did not need to make this promise. You could have
continued to write on the topics in question, in the philosophical
and respectable way you always have, which you justify so excel-
lently. Granted, you would then perhaps have had to defend
yourself again on specific points. Or you could even have remained
silent for the rest of your life but without giving these people the
satisfaction of being released from the fear of your words. I say,
for the rest of your life; for people will in any event continue to
work on the great philosophical and theological enlightenment
that you have so happily begun, and we may hope that at least our
descendants may someday (perhaps it will be soon) read these
works and use them—of that we are all convinced, out of our love
for reason and morality.
Be well, excellent man, and be for us ever an example of how a
wise and noble person can maintain his calm and inner peace, even
when reason is threatened by storms.

BIESTER
1
See Kant's letter of sometime after October 1 2 , 1 7 9 4 [642], to Friedrich
Wilhelm II.

220 • From /. E. Biester, December 17,1794

To Friedrich Schiller/ March 30, 7795
- 656 - VOL. XII, pp. IO-I1

Esteemed sir,
I am always delighted to know and engage in literary
discussions with such a talented and learned man as you, my
dearest friend. I received the plan for a periodical that you sent me
last summer and also the twofirstmonthly issues. I found your Let-
ters on the Aesthetic Education of Mankind splendid, and I shall
study them so as to be able to give you my thoughts about them-
The paper on sexual differences in organic nature, in the second
issue, is impossible for me to decipher, even though the author
seems to be an intelligent fellow.2 There was once a severely
critical discussion in the Allgemeine Ltteraturzeitung about the
ideas expressed in the letters of Mr. Hube of Thorn 3 concerning a
similar relationship extending throughout nature. The ideas were
attacked as romantic twaddle [Schwärmerei]. To be sure, we
somedmes find something like that running through our heads,
without knowing 0
what to make of it. The organization
o
of nature
has always struck me as amazing and as a sort of chasm of
thought; I mean, the idea that fertilization, in both realms of
nature, always needs two sexes in order for the species to be
propagated. After all, we don't want to believe that providence has
chosen this arrangement, almost playfully, for the sake of variety.
On the contrary, we have reason to believe that propagation is not
possible in any other way. This opens a prospect on what lies
beyond thefieldof vision, out of which, however, we can unfortu-
1
Friedrich Schiller ( 1 7 5 9 - 1 8 0 5 ) , the great poet and essayist, wrote to Kant,
June 1 3 , 1794, asking Kant to contribute an essay to a new literary magazine,
Die Horen (12 vols., 1 7 9 5 - 9 7 ) . He assures Kant of his devotion to Kant's
moral system and expresses profuse gratitude to K a n t for illuminating his
spirit. On March j , 1 7 9 5 , Schiller wrote again, repeating his request and
sending two issues of Die Horen. He confesses that he is the author of the
Letters on the Aesthetic Education of the Human Race, a work he believes
to be an application of Kant's philosophy and hopes that Kant will like it.
2
The article was by Wilhelm von Humboldt: "Ueber den Geschlechts
unterschied und dessen Einfluss auf die organirche N a t u r . "
3
Johann Michael Hube ( 1 7 3 7 - 1 8 0 7 ) , director and professor at the military
academy in Warsaw, author or a book on natural science (Naturlehre).

221
To Friedrich Schüler, March 30,1795 '
nately make nothing, as little as out of what Milton's angel told
Adam about the creation: "Male light of distant suns mixes itself
with female, for purposes unknown." 4 I feel that it may harm
your magazine not to have the authors sign their names, to make
themselves thus responsible for their considered opinions; the
reading public is very eager to know who they are.
For your gift, then, I offer my most respectful thanks; with
regard to my small contribution to this journal, your present to the
public, I must however beg a somewhat lengthy postponement.
Since discussions of political and religious topics are currently
subject to certain restrictions and there are hardly any other
matters, at least at this time, that interest the general reading
public, one must keep one's eye on this change of the weather, so
as to conform prudently to the times.
Please greec Professor Fichte and give him my thanks for
sending me his various works. I would have done this myself but-
for the discomfort of ageing that oppresses me, with ail the mani-
fold tasks I still have before me, which, however, excuses nothing
but my postponement. Please give my regards also to Messrs. Schütz
and Hufeland.
And so, dearest sir, I wish your talents and your worthy objec-
tives the strength, health, and long life they deserve, and also the
friendship, with which you wish to honor one who is ever
Your most devoted, loyal servant,
I. K A N T

From Maternus Reuss,1 April I, 1796

- 699 - VOL. xn, p p . 68-69

[Reuss writes from Würzburg to tell Kant of the progress of

Kant's philosophy in Catholic, that is, southern Germany. . . .]
* T h e correct quotation is as follows:
and other suns perhaps
With their attendent moons thou wilt descry
Communicating male and female iight,
Which two great sexes animate the world,
Stor'd in each orb perhaps with some that live.
[Paradise Lost, Book VIII, vss. 1 4 8 - 5 2 ]
1
Maternus Reuss ( 1 7 5 1 - 9 8 ) , Benedictine, professor of philosophy in
Würzburg, a disciple of Kant's.

222 • From Maternus Reuss, April 1,1796

 I continue to expound both theoretical and practical philosophy
according to your principles, without any opposition. Professor
Andres 2 is teaching your aesthetics. Almost all the professors of
theology and jurisprudence are modeling at least their approaches
if not the content of their teachings on your principles, and even in
religious instruction these principles are used to teach catechism
and sermons. Many foreigners come here just to hear my lectures
on the Kantian philosophy, and my prince 3 relieved me of all my
other duties so that I could devote myself to philosophy.
The prospects are not quite so bright in colleges in Bamberg,
Heidelberg, and other Catholic schools, and the situation is even
more bleak in Bavaria, Swabia, and the Catholic part of Switzer-
land. I traveled through these three countries, and I hope I did
some good. Since their schools are largely run by monks who are
strictly forbidden to use a German textbook and certainly not a
Protestant one, I wrote a textbook of theoretical philosophy in
Latin for the sake of these schools. However, it has not been
printed yet. In the Italian and French parts of Switzerland, they
also want a Latin exposition of Kant's philosophy. Professor Ith 4
in Bern asked me to give him one.
I cannot convey to you the enthusiasm for your ideas, even
among people who used to oppose them, and even the ladies here
are taken with you, since we read in a number of newspapers that
you have been called to France to act as lawgiver and patron of
peace and that your king has given you his consent. I myself am
receiving many a friendly glance from the ladies now, more than
before.
1 asked Court Preacher Schultze to tell me whether the news is
correct, since I know you have no time to write.
Your devoted servant,
REUSS, Professor
Mr. Stang sends his best regards.5
2
Johann Bonaventura Andres ( 1 7 4 3 - 1 8 2 2 ) , professor of philosophy in
Würzburg.
3
Georg Carl, Freiherr von Fechenbach.
4
Johann Samuel Ith ( 1 7 4 7 - 1 8 1 3 ) , professor of philosophy in Bern.
5
Conrad Stang. See the letter of October 2, 1796 [ 7 1 5 ] .

From Maternus Reuss, April 1,1796 • 213

From Conrad Stange October 2, I
- 715 - VOL. XIX, pp. 97-IOO

. . . For a while I studied law, but I found it unbearably dry. I

returned to philosophy, a more rewarding subject, which I had
always loved. Granted, it is an unusual thing in a Catholic coun-
try, where people are used to leaving this auxiliary science to the
clerics and no one really appreciates it as valuable in itself. But I
also had to become a Mason (a synonym for. Jacobin in this
country as in other Cathoiic lands), and many people have busied
themselves with warning me, pitying me, or even viewing me as
dangerous. But I can laugh at them all, for I am wholly at peace,
pursuing my philosophical studies of your works andfindingtruth
in them and the feeling that you are with me as I read them. I
enjoy practical philosophy most. And why not? For your tone here
is so stirring, so moving, and this subject concerns the most
important part of our lives.
Your system has been totally triumphant here, and no one dares
to attack it. You know already how they used to intrigue against
it, as Prof. Reuss wrote you earlier.2 Last year I made a trip to
Vienna, returning by way of Salzburg and Munich. The many
people I met enabled me to get an adequate picture of the
condition of philosophy. The critical philosophy is regarded as an
enemy in the Austrian monarchy, and woe to him who wants to
teach it. The Emperor3 is totally against it. When Mr. von
Birkenstock, the director of education in Vienna, told him about
the critical system, the Emperor turned and said, "Once and for
all, I don't want to hear any more of this dangerous system." In
Vienna I heard about a Mr. von Delling, who lost his professor-
ship in Fünfkirchen, because he lectured on the principles of the
critical philosophy. For three years they intrigued against him but
he remainedfirm,but last summer the entire clergy of Hungary
attacked him and he lost his position. The decree firing him
1
Conrad Stang, Benedictine from Würzburg. Nothing further is known of
him.
2
See the letter of April i, 1796 [699].
3
Joseph IT.

224 • From Conrad Stang, October 2 , 1 7 9 6

charged him, among other things "propter perniciosum Sistema ad
Scepticism ducens." Other accusations were that he had tried to
answer the charge (and they had actually asked him to defend
himself) and had published a defense of the critical philosophy.
Finally they said he had to be removed since, as his defense made
clear, it was impossible to cure him of his allegiance to the critical
principles. Nevertheless, the cause of the critical philosophy grows
secretly as the Hungarian Protestants who study in Jena and Halle
bring the new principles home with them. Also in Vienna I met
the rector of philosophy from Grätz, Mr. von Albertini, 4 who had
lost his position for defending the critical philosophy. People
assure me that there are many in the Austrian monarchy who
favor the new system. But nothing much can happen in Vienna,
where there is a total lack of community among scholars, and the
professors at the university do not know each other. Only by
accident do they ever meet. The situation is better in Salzburg,
where the worthy regent 5 of the seminary favors the critical
philosophy. But many are still opposed, and not till Würzburg
does one find a decent intellectual climate. The prince 6 has a
hobbyhorse there; he wants to be known abroad as enlightened.
That provides the aegis of the critical philosophy in Salzburg,
which it will lose, however, when he dies. Munich is impossible
for critical philosophy, since Stattler ' lives and reigns there. Nev-
ertheless there are individuals who study and try to make use of
the Critical philosophy in secret. Your books are contraband there
as in Austria, but especially your work on religion. Alas, why must
truth have to battle against so many enemies before its voice is half
heard! But if the men are struggling so vigorously against the
critical Philosophy, its fortunes are somewhat better among the
women. You can't guess how enthusiastically young ladies and
women are taken with your system and how eager they all are to
learn about it. There are many women's groups here in Würz-
burg, where each one is eager to outdo the others in showing a
knowledge of your system: it is the favorite topic of conversation.
Yes, remarkable as it seems, they do not restrict themselves to
practical philosophy but even venture into the theoretical
part. . . .
4
Johann Baptist Albertini ( 1 7 4 2 - 1 8 2 0 ) . He had actually been rector of
philosophy in Innsbruck, not Grätz.
5
Matthäus Fingerlos ( 1 7 4 8 - 1 8 x 7 ) .
® Hieronymous Joseph Franz de Paula, Count of Colloredo ( 1 7 3 2 - 1 8 1 2 ) .
" Benedikt Stattler ( 1 7 2 8 - 9 7 ) , author of Anti\ant (2 vols.; Munich, 1788)

From Conrad Siang, October 2,1796 • 225

To J. A. Schlettwein/ May 29, 7797
V0L XII
- 7S2 - - > J67-65

In a letter dated Greifswald, May 1 1 , 1797, a letter recently

made public, which is distinguished by its singular tone, Mr.
Johann August Schlettwein demands that I engage in an exchange
of letters with him on the critical philosophy. He indicates that he
already has various letters prepared on the subject and adds that he
believes himself to be in a position to overthrow completely my
whole philosophical system, both its theoretical and its practical
parts, an event that should be pleasing to every friend of philoso-
phy. But as for the proposed method whereby this refutation is to
be carried out, namely, in an exchange of letters, either handwrit-
ten or printed, I must answer curtly: Absolutely not. For it is
absurd to ask a man in his seventy-fourth year (when the sarcinas
colligert ["packing one's bags"] is really of the highest impor-
tance) to engage in a project that would cake many years, just to
make even tolerable progress with the criticisms and rejoinders.
But the reason why I am making this declaration (which I have
already sent to him) public is that his letter clearly had publicity as

1
Johann August Schlettwein ( 1 7 3 1 - 1 8 0 2 ) , prominent German physiocrat.
This letter is a reply to an open letter to Kant, published by Schlettwein in the
Berlinische Blätter, September, 1797 ( 7 5 1 , in Kant's Werke, XII, 362-66.)
Schlettwein's letter is incredibly insulting, accusing Kant of contempt for his
great predecessors and contemporaries, of pride, self-love, and self-seeking, the
arrogant claim of infallibility and originality, and so on. He calls it a scandal
that so-called critical philosophers dispute the sense and spirit of Kant's works
and asks Kant to say which one of his disciples has understood him correctly.
Schlettwein claims to have a refutation of Kant ready but does not in fact state
any arguments. A hint of his own position is given in the assertion that "true
philosophy teaches the incontrovertible doctrine of the reality of an infinite
power, the forces of nature, and the marvelous and sublime properties and
capacities of physical and spiritual man." He states that philosophy, in its
practical part, should seek to bring people ever closer to God, "not by means
of a loveless, despotic categorical imperative, contrary to the very nature of
reason, but through the gende, all-powerful tie of love that animates ail
things" (p. 366).
Kant's answer appeared in the Allgemeine Literaturzettung on June 14,
1797. Schlettwein responded with another open letter (753, Werke, XII,
368-70), which is uninteresting. A lost letter of Kant's, May 19, 1797, is
alluded to in it.

226 • To J. A. Schlettwein, May 29, 7797

its object, and since his attack may be broadcast by word of mouth,
those people who are interested in such a controversy would
otherwise be left waiting empty-handed. Since Mr. Schlettwein
will not let this difficulty halt his projected overthrow of my
system (probably with a massive assault, since he appears to rely
on allies as well), and my declaradon will make him regard me as
his archenemy, he wisely has the foresight to ask "which one of
the disputants 2 has really interpreted at least the main points of
my system in the way I want them to be interpreted." My answer
is, Unquestionably the worthy court preacher and professor of
mathematics here, Mr. Schultz, whose book on the cridcal system,
endtled Prüfung [der Kantischen Kritik der reinen Vernunft
(1789/92) ], should be examined by Mr. Schlettwein.
I would only add the qualification that Mr. Schuhz's words are
to be taken literally and not according to some spirit ostensibly
expressed in them (which would enable anyone to add any in-
terpretation he pleases). Whatever ideas anyone else might have
associated with the same expressions are of no interest to me or to
the learned man to whom I commit myself. The sense that he
attaches to those expressions is unmistakable in the context of the
book as a whole. So now the feud may continue forever, with
never a shortage of opponents for every disputant.
I. KANT

From J. S. BeefJune 20, ijgj

- 754 - VOL. XII, pp. l62-6g

[Beck is replying to the charge made by Johann Schultz, Kant's

favorite expositor, that Beck had totally misrepresented the Kan-
tian philosophy. Beck is convinced that Kant will see his account
of the critical philosophy to be correct.]
. . . I remark concerning the categories, first, that their logical
employment consists in their use as predicates of objects. For
instance, we say that a thing has size, has factuality, that substan-
tiality, causality, and so on, befit it. I give evidence of this logical
employment of the understanding also in a priori judgments: for
- Schlettwein had asked whether Reinhold, Fichte, Beck, or someone else
was the correct interpreter.

From J. S. Beck, June 20, 7797 • 227

example, "In all change of appearance, substance persists," "What
happens has a cause," and so on. How then is the explanation of
this synthesis of concepts to be approached? I notice the original
procedure of the understanding in the category; this activity is
precisely what produces the synthetic objective unity that deter-
mines the sense and meaning of my concept. What is it, I ask, that
requires the chemist, in his experiment of burning phosphorous in
atmospheric air, to say that that weight by which the phosphorus
has become heavier is just that by which the air has become
lighter? I answer: His very own understanding, the experiencing
in him. He becomes aware of this original understanding-experi-
ence when I ask him to suspend all the objects in space and, after
the passing of 50 years, set up a world again. He will assert that
both worlds go together and that no empty time has passed, that
is, thac he can only conceive of time in connection with something
persisting. Attention must be paid to this, in order to lay the ghost
of Berkeleian idealism. Just so, if I focus attention on the experi-
encing in me, whereby I arrive at the claim that something has
happened, I notice that the cause that I connect with this is simpiy
the determination of the synthesis of perceptions as a succession
(the original positing of a something through which the event
follows according to a rule). By means of this, the experience of an
event is created. In fact the explanation of all a priori synthetic
judgments consists in this: the predicate that I connect with the
subject, in such judgments, is the original activity of the under-
standing through which I arrive at the concept of an object. By
recognizing this principle, I think I become clearer about the
judgment "My representation of the table before me conforms to
the table; and this object affects me—it brings forth sensation in
me." Everyone else is conscious of this original activity of the
understanding, though only in its application, not abstracdy. Thus
I am certainly convinced that the division of the cognitive faculties
—viz., into sensibility, as the subjective faculty (the capacity of
being affected by objects) and understanding, the power of think-
ing objects (of relating the subjective element to an object)—can
only be seen with requisite clarity after one has a proper perspec-
tive of the categories, as an original activity of the understanding.
Jacobi of Düsseldorf says in his lecture "David Hume," "I must
admit that this claim (namely, that objects produce sense impres-
sions) made me hesitate more than a little in my studies of the
Kantian philosophy, so that year after year I had to begin the

228 • From J. S. Bec/{, June 20, ijyj

Critique of Pure Reason once more from the beginning. For I was
continuously confused, since without that assumption I could not
enter the system, and with it I could not remain in it." If I were to
give my judgment concerning this problem, which is so important
to a great many people, and if I were to say what your Critique
actually means, when, on the first page of the Introduction, it
speaks of objects that affect the senses—whether it means by that
things-in-themselves or appearances—I should answer that since
the object of my representation is appearance, and since it is this
representation in which determinations of the object are thought,
and since I achieve the representation by means of the original
activity of the understanding (for example, by means of the
original fixation of my synthesis of perceptions as a successive one,
whereby experience of an event becomes possible), the object that
affects me must therefore be appearance and not thing-in-itself.
But if someone should believe it possible to have an absolute
employment of the categories, to regard them absolutely as predi-
cates of things, disregarding the original activity of the under-
standing that lies in them (as you would say: to believe possible an
application of them to objects without the condition of intuition),
he would believe himself capable of cognizing things-in-them-
selves. If I wanted to get a litde bit angry with Mr. Schultz, I
would say that I have more right to accuse him of thinking he has
an intellectual intuition than he has to make this accusation
against me. In my view, the only thing of which man is capable is
the awareness of the relation of nature in general to a substratum.
We are conscious of this in connection with morality, when we
recognize that our desires are determinable by means of the mere
representation of conformity to law. For in this awareness—it is
exactly here that the synthetic practical principles arise, just as
those synthetic a priori theoretical judgments arise out of the
original activity of the understanding—we lift ourselves above
nature and place ourselves outside her mechanism. This is true
even if, as men, we are also natural objects and our morality itself
is something that begins and thus presupposes natural causes. The
mechanism of nature, which is continuous with a corresponding
unity of purposes, adjusts us to this condition even more and
encourages and strengthens the soul of a morally good man, even
though he only knows how to represent this substratum symboli-
cally. The course of human events itseif, of such natural events as,
for example, the appearance of the Christian religion, concerning

From J.S.Beci{, June 20, 1797 • 229

which one can say that it carries in itself the principle of its own
dissolution, natural events whose ostensible goal is to bring forth
the pure moral faith in our species—all of these things lead the
understanding to such a relation.
But I sound as if I wanted to tell you something new! . . . I
have pointed out to the commentators of your Critique who make
much of your words that in their mouths it seems to me entirely
senseless to speak of a priori concepts. For they, do not wane to
regard such concepts as innate, the way Leibniz did. I point this
out solely to make conspicuous the important distinction between
your claim, that the categories are a priori concepts, and the
contention that they are innate, and in order to show that these
categories are actually the activity of the understanding whereby
one arrives at the concept of an object, arrives at the point at
which one can say at all, "Here is an object distinct from me." No
one can be more convinced of the correctness of his insights than I
at this moment. What Mr. Schultz blames me for never occurred
to me. It never occurred to me to try to construct an exegesis that
would explain away sensibility. As I said, I could not close my eyes
to the light I glimpsed when the idea came to me, to start from the
standpoint of the categories and to connect what you are especially
concerned with in your transcendental aesthetic (space and time)
with the categories. Mr. Reinhoid had corrected you, when you
said: Space is an a priori intuition; his expert opinion was that you
ought rather to have said, "The representation of space is an
intuition." But I show him that space itself is a pure intuition, that
is, the original synthesis of the understanding on which objective
connecting (an object has this or that magnitude) rests. It never
entered my mind to say that the understanding creates the object:
a piece of naked nonsense! How can Mr. Schultz be so unfriendly
as to charge me with this. As I said, I wanted not a whit more than
to lead people to this point: that we cannot objectively synthesize
anything (or judge it—for example, assert "a thing has this or that
size, this or that reality, substantiality, and so on) that the under-
standing has not previously bound together and that herein lies the
objective relation. I want to lead everyone to this by the nose. How
can one fail to see by this light! The object that here affects my
senses is called appearance and not thing-in-itself; of the latter I can
only construct the negative concept, a thing to which predicates be-
long absolutely (entirely apart from this original activity of the
understanding)—an Idea, and also the idea of an intuitive under-
standing, which we get by negating the characteristic of our own

230 • From J. S. Becl{, June 20, 1797

understanding. My intendon was to bar the concept of the thing-
in-itself from theoretical philosophy. Only in the moral conscious-
ness am I led to that unique mode of reality. . . . No one, of all
the friends of the critical philosophy, has stressed the distincdon
between sensibility and understanding more than I have. I do it
under the expression: a concept has sense and meaning only to the
extent that the original activity of the understanding in the catego-
ries lies at its basis—which in fact is the same as your contendon
that the categories have application only to what is directly experi-
enced. . . .
[The remainder of Beck's letter tries to explain how the phrase
"On the advice of Kant" came to appear on the title page of
Beck's book. It was supposed to appear only on Beck's summary of
Kant, not on his original interpretation in the Standpoint. Beck
offers to set the matter straight by informing the public that only
the summary has Kant's approval. He fears, however, that the
"enemies of the critical philosophy" will seize on his announce-
ment, "smelling quarrel and dissention" among Kant's followers.
Beck says that he has asked his friend Professor Tieftrunk to write
to Kant on his behalf, in order to corroborate his contention that
he is loyal to Kant's position.]

From J. S. Bec\, June 24, IJ9J

- 756 - VOL. XII, pp. 173-76

Esteemed sir,
. . . You say that the purpose of your letter 1 is the swift
and public removal of a disagreement over the fundamental prin-
ciples of the critical philosophy. And Court Preacher [Schultz]
attributes to me the claim that "reality is the original synthesis of
the homogeneous in sensation, which proceeds from the whole to
its parts."2 (The question must be yours, sir, when he asks, quite
1
Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi ( 1 7 4 3 - 1 8 1 9 ) , the well-known "philosopher of
faith" who fought Mendelssohn. David Hume über den Glauben was
published in 17S7.
1
Sometime before June 20, 1797; the letter is not extant.
2
Beck in fact wrote that the category of reality is the original synthesis of
the homogeneous, proceeding from the whole to its part. See Kant's Werlte,
XIII, 452, and Beck's explanation in the next paragraph of the present letter.

From J.S.Beck_, June 24,1797 • 231

justifiably, in this connection, "What 'sensation' can mean, if there
is no such thing as sensibility, I fail to understand." Surely,
excellent sir, if such a thing had ever occurred to me, this nonsense
would have made me repulsive to myself) •, and Schultz also quotes
me as saying that "the understanding creates [erzeugt] objects." 3
I infer from this that you and Mr. Schultz have been discussing
Mr. Fichte's strange invention, since these expressions I quoted
sound completely Fichtean to me. All I can do is to remind you of
the following things and to offer a proposal that I have in mind.
I assure you, as I am an honest man, that my views are infinitely
removed from this Fichtean nonsense. I only thought it essential to
focus the attention of philosophers on the categories, as being an
original activity of the understanding, to which your entire deduc-
tion is directed, since the deduction is an attempt to answer the
question of how the categories are applicable to appearances. For I
felt sure that disagreements would vanish when people cime to see
that the understanding cannot combine objectively [objectiv
verknüpfen] anything that it has not already originally bound
together [verbunden].* When I say that the category of reality is
the synthesis of sensation, proceeding from whole to parts
(through remission), the only rational interpretation of my claim is
this: the objectivity [Sachheit] of a thing (the objective aspect
[das Reale] of the appearance that affects me and that produces
this sensation in me) is necessarily an intensive magnitude, and
therefore an absolutely objective thing [Sachheit] such as Des-
cartes supposes 5—a thing with no magnitude but nevertheless a
material substance,fillingspace just by its mere existence—would
be meaningless. This original activity of the understanding, in the
category of reality, converges with the activity in the category of
existence, whereby I get beyond my own self and say, "Here is an
object that affects me." But a proponent of the transcendental
philosophy must distinguish these two aspects of the original
activity. I thought it necessary to guide the reader's eye to each
particular category. When someone asks me, "Suppose you think
yourself away, do you then also remove everything existing outside
you?" I will not be so stupid as to say yes to this silly idea. If I

3
Possibly an interpretation of Beck's claim that "the understanding origi-
nally posits a something [Etwas]."
* Cf. Critique of Pure Reason B 130.
5Principles of Philosophy, I, 53: "We can conceive extension without figure
or action."

232 • From }. S. Beck, June 24, 7797

chink myself away, I am still considering myself under temporal
conditions, and I can conceive of this passage of time only in
relation to something enduring. To neglect this original activity of
the understanding is not the same as to abolish myself. Indeed, I
shall say, if I ignore the original synthesis of which I am conscious
when I draw a line, I lose all sense of the extensive magnitude that
I attribute to an object, and just for that reason the object of my
representations is called appearance and not thing-in-itself. Assur-
edly, excellent sir, if you would only honor me by examining my
method, in which I descend from the standpoint of the categories,
just as you proceed by ascending to them in your immortal book,
you would see the feasibility of what I do. What is required is only
that one get to feel at home with the whole system; then it is easy
to show anyone who has interest and a bit of talent how to arrive
at the true critical principles. I think my method is especially
helpful for lectures. Court Preacher Schultz, of whom I am ever
fond and whose knowledge and sincerity I respect, has really been
unfair to me, and I am depressed that thisfineman could believe
that I hold such absurd views as that the understanding creates the
object. He would not have been able to think such things of me
before, when I was his attentive pupil in mathematics.
But I know that Mr. Ficnte, who apparently wants disciples, has
claimed that I agree with him, even though I strongly denied this
in a review I published in Mr. Jakob's Annalen 6 and also in my
Standpoint. When I visited him in Jena last Easter, he really did
try to ensnare me. He actually started one conversation by saying,
"I know it, you agree with me that the understanding creates the
object." He said a number of foolish things, and since I saw
through him immediately, he must have been highly perplexed by
my friendly answers. I also wanted to say to you that Fichte told
me that his new journal 7 will contain a revised version of his
Wissenschaftslehre ["Theory of Science"] and will, among other
things, treat philosophy as a single discipline, without assuming

8 Annalen der Philosophie und des philosophischen Geistes von einer

Gesellschaft gelehrter Männer (Halle, 1 7 9 5 ) .
7 Philosophisches Journal einer Gesellschaft Teutscher Gelehrten, published
by Fichte and F. J. Niethammer (Jena and Leipzig, 1797). Fichte praises Beck
for "having independently liberated himself from the confusions of the age, in
that he has come to see that the Kantian philosophy is a transcendental
idealism and not dogmatism, since it maintains that the object is neither
wholly nor partly given but rather made. . . ." See Kant's Wer^e, XIII.
452 f., for a slightly fuller quotation.

From J. S. Bec\, June 24, ijgj • 233.

any distinction between theoretical and moral philosophy, since
the understanding, through its absolute freedom, posits every
object (A stupid idea! Anyone who talks like that must never have
mastered the critical principles); and he says he discusses my
Standpoint at length there. I have not seen it yet, but I feel sure in
advance that it will provide me with an occasion to explain myself,
perhaps in Jakob's Annalen, so that I can point out,first,that I do
not at all agree with him; second, that I believe I have given an
accurate exposition of the Critique and therefore do not regard
myself as deviating from it—for nothing concerns me more than
to distinguish sensibility (the faculty of being affected by objects)
from the understanding (the faculty of thinking objects, relating
this subjective material of sensibility to objects); third, that never-
theless I do not at ail intend to compromise the founder of the
critical philosophy in the slightest way, since the Standpoint is
entirely my own idea, which anyone is free to compare with your
published works and make his cwn judgment. I don't want to
antagonize Fichte personally, and I shall therefore be completely
pleasant in discussing him. But in connection with the second
point above, I want to express myself in detail and make clear
what was badly stated in the Standpoint. Do you concur with me?
I don't want to start anything until I have your approval. But
please den't be vexed with me. I am dedicated to philosophy and
would be pained indeed by the thought that I have fallen from
your favor.
Your
BECK

To C. G. Schütz, July io, 7797

- 761 - VOL. XIX, pp. 181-83

I am inspired by your letter to our mutual friend, the excellent

Court Preacher Schultz, to take this opportunity to tell you,
dearest sir, how happy I am about your improved health, the
rumor of which has been spreading recently. A man of such
universal talents deserves a long and joyful life!
I am not offended by your criticism, in the aforementioned
letter, of my recendy advanced concept of "a person's rights in

234 • To C. G. Schütz, July 10, i'jg'j

 rem over other persons" [auf dingliche Art persönlichen Rechts].
For jurisprudence [Rechtslehre] based on pure reason accepts
the maxim "Endues are not to be multiplied beyond necessity"
even more than do the other branches of philosophy. Your suspi-
cion might rather be aroused that I have deceived myself with
verbal trickery, begging the question by surreptitiously assuming
that what is practicable is also permitted. But no one can be
blamed for mistaking a teacher's meaning if a new theory is
alluded to without its grounds' being explained in detail. One can
easily imagine that one sees errors then, when actually the com-
plaint should only be that there is a lack of clarity.
I only want to touch on the criticisms in your letter and shall
develop my comments more explicitly on another occasion.1
First: "You cannot really believe that a man makes an object out
of a woman just by engaging in marital cohabitation with her, and
vice versa. You seem to think marriage no more than a mutuum
adiutorium ["mutual aid"]." Surely, if the cohabitation is as-
sumed to be marital, that is, lawful, even if only according to the
right of nature [dem Rechte der Natur], the authorization is
already contained in the concept [of marriage]. But here the
question is whether a marital cohabitation is possible, and how. So
the discussion should center only on the matter of physical cohabi-
tation (intercourse) and the conditions of its Tightness. For the
mutuum adiutorium is merely the necessary legal consequence of
marriage, whose possibility and condition must first be investi-
gated.
Second, you say: "Kant's theory seems to rest simply on a
fallacious interpretation of the word, 'enjoyment.' Granted, the
actual enjoyment of another human being, such as in cannibalism,
would reduce a human being to an object; but married people do
not become res fungibiles ["merely functional objects"] just by
sleeping together." It would have been very weak of me to make
my argument depend on the word "enjoyment." The word may be
replaced by the notion of using someone directly (that is, sen-
suously—a word that has a different meaning here than else-
where); I mean rendering him or her an immediately enjoyable
thing. An enjoyment of this sort involves at once the thought of
this person as merely functional [res fungibilis], and that in fact is
what the reciprocal use of each other's sexual organs by two people
1
See Kant's Anhang erläuternder Bemerkungen zu den metaphysichen
Anfangsgründen der Rechtslehre ("Supplement to the Metaphysical Principles
of Right"), in Werke, VI, 357 fi.

To C. G. Schütz, July 10, 7797 • 235

is. One or the other parties may be destroyed, through infection,
exhaustion, or impregnation (a delivery can be fatal), and so the
appetite of a cannibal differs only insignificantly from that of a
sexual libertine.
So much for the relationship of man to woman. The relation of
father (or mother) to child has not been criticized.
Third, you ask, "Does it seem to you a petitio principii when
Kant tries to show the right of master to servant or domestic to be
a person-thing right (it should read, a legal [dingliche] right, that
is, a formal right) 2 just because one is allowed to catch the
runaway domestic servant again? But that is just the question at
issue. How can it be shown that this is in fact allowed by the
natural law?"
Certainly, this license is only the consequence and the mark of
legal possession, when one man holds another as his own, even
though the latter is a person. But one man's holding another as his
own (that is, as part of his household) signifies a right to posses-
sion that may be exercised against any subsequent possessor (jus in
re contra quemlibet hujus rei possessorem). The right to use a
man for domestic purposes is analogous to a right to an object, for
the servant is not free to terminate his connections with the
household and he may therefore be caught and returned by force,
which cannot be done to a hired man paid by the day who quits
when his job is only half completed (assuming he takes nothing
away with him that belongs to his employer). Such a man cannot
be caught and brought back, for he does not belong to the master
the way a maid and a servant [Knecht] do, since the latter are
integral parts of the household. . . .

To /. A. Lindblom/ October 13, 7797

- 783 - VOL. XII, pp. 2O5-J

Your Reverence,
Esteemed sir,
Your efforts in the investigation of my genealogy, rever-
end sir, and your kindness in informing me of your results,
2
Kant's parenthetical remark.
1
J a k o b Axelson Lindblom ( 1 7 4 6 - 1 S 1 9 ) , Swedish bishop.

236 • To /. A. Lindblom, October 13, 1797

deserve the highest thanks, even though there may be no uulity in
this work either for myself or for anyone else.
I have known for quite some dme that my grandfather, who
lived in the Prussian-Lithuanian city of Tilsit, came originally
from Scotland, that he was one of the many people who emigrated
from there, for some reason that I do not know, toward the end of
the last century and the beginning of this one. A large portion of
them went to Sweden, and the rest were scattered through Prussia,
especially around Memel. The families Simpson, Maclean, Doug-
las, Hamilton, and others still living there can attest to this. My
grandfather was among that group and he died in Tilsit.* I have
no living relatives on my father's side (other than the descendants
of my brother and sisters). So much for my origin, which your
genealogical chart traces back to honest peasants in the land of the
Ostrogoths (for which I feel honored) down to my father (I think
you must mean my grandfather). Your humanitarian desire to stir
me to support my alleged relatives does not escape me, reverend
sir.
For it happens that another letter came to me at the same dme
as yours, from Larum, dated July io, 1797, with a similar account
of my genealogy, but accompanied by a request from one who
calls himself my "cousin," a request that I lend him eight or ten
thousand thalers for a few years, which would enable him to
achieve happiness.
But Your Reverence will acknowledge this and similar demands
to be inadmissible when I tell you that my estate will be so diluted
by legacies to my nearest relatives—I have one living sister; my
late sister left six children; I have a brother, Pastor Kant of
Altrahden in Courland, who has four children, one of them a
grown son who recently married—that there could hardly be
anything left over for a remote relation whose relationship is itself
problematic.
With greatest respect I am ever
* [Kant's footote] My father died in Königsberg, with me.

Your Reverence's
KANT

To /. A.Undblom, October /J, 7797 • 237

To /. H. Tieftrunki October /j, ijgj
- 784 - VOLS, xiii, p. 463, and VOL. XII, pp. 20J-8

Treasured friend,
I am content with Mr. Beck's decision to announce that
his Standpoint2 is not my own position but his. Let me only
remark on this point that when he proposes to start out with the
categories he is busying himself with the mere form of thinking,
that is, concepts without objects, concepts that as yet are without
any meaning.3 It is more natural to begin with the given, that is,
with intuitions insofar as these are possible a priori, furnishing us
with synthetic a priori propositions that disclose only the appear-
ances of objects. For then the claim that objects are intuited only
in accordance with the form in which the subject is affected by
them is seen to be certain and necessary.
It gave me pleasure to hear of your discussions with Mr. Beck
(please convey my respects to him). I hope they may bring about a
unanimity of purpose. I am also pleased to learn of your pians for
an explanatory summary of my critical writings, and I appre-
ciate your offering to let me collaborate on this work. May I take
the opportunity to ask you to keep my hypercritical friends Fichte
and Reinhoid in mind and to treat them with the circumspection
that their philosophical achievements fully merit.4
I am not surprised that my Doctrine of Right [Rechtslehre] has
found many enemies, in view of its attack on a number of principles

1
T h e first paragraph translated here is taken from a draft of this letter,
which Kant did not send.
~ The reference is to J.S. Beck's Only Possible Standpoint from Which the
Critical Philosophy May Be Judged.
3
Cf. Critique of Pure Reason 8 1 7 8 = A 139: ". . . Concepts are al-
together impossible, and can have no meaning, if no object is given for
them. . . . " Kant altered this to "are for us without meaning." See N. Kemp-
Smith's translation of the Critique (New York: Humanities Press, 1950), p.
181 n.
4
This often quoted remark, indicative of Kant's disappointment with his
erstwhile disciples, seems ironic in tone, but the corresponding lines in Kant's
unsent draft do not. There he writes, "I hope your explanatory summary may
lead my hypercritical friends back onto the path they once trod; but please do
it in a friendly w a y . " Werke, XIII. 463.

238 • To }. H. Tieftrunk., October i], i~j<)j

commonly held to be established. It is all the more pleasant
therefore to learn that you approve of it. The Göttingen review (in
issue No. 28) taken as a whole is not unfavorable to my system.0 It
induces me to publish a supplement, so as to clear up a number of
misunderstandings, and perhaps eventually to complete the system.
Please treat my friend Professor Pörschke 6 kindly, if you should
have the opportunity. His manner of speaking is somewhat fierce,
but he is really a gende person. I suppose his fundamental law,
"Man, be man!" must mean, "Man, insofar as you are an animal,
develop yourself into a moral being, and so on." But he knows
nothing about your judgment or anything about my apology for
him. . . .
I agree to your proposal to publish a collection of my minor
writings, but I would not want you to start the collection with
anything before 1770, that is, my dissertation on the sensible world
and the intelligible world, and so on. I make no demands with
regard to the publisher and I do not want any emolument that
might be coming to me. My only request is that I may see ail the
pieces to be printed before they come out. . . .
It is possible that death will overtake me before these matters are
settled. If so, our Professor Gensichen has two of my essays" in his
bureau; one of them is complete, the other almost so, and they
have lain there for more than two years. Professor Gensichen will
then tell you how to make use of them. But keep this matter
confidential, for possibly I shall still publish them myself while I
live. . . .
Your most devoted servant,
I. KANT

5
See Kant's Werkte, VI, 356 ft. and 5 1 9 . The review, which was published
in the Gättingische Anzeigen, February 18, 1797, was by Friedrich Bouterwek
( 1 7 6 6 - 1 8 2 8 ) , a philosopher who also corresponded with Kant.
6
K . L . Pörschke ( 1 7 5 1 - 1 8 1 2 ) , professor of poetry in Königsberg, wrote
Vorbereitungen zu einem populären Naturrechte ( 1 7 9 5 ) . He asks, " H o w is
natural right possible ' " and answers, "Man ought to be, and has to be no more
than, man; he is an animal and a rational being, and that he should remain."
The principle, "Man, be m a n ! " is the rational foundation of all duties,
according to Pörschke.
7 Der Streit der Fakultäten ("Strife of the Faculties"), Pts. I and II; the
work was in fact published in 1798. Johann Friedrich Gensichen ( 1 7 5 9 - 1 8 0 7 )
was one of Kant's dinner companions. He was professor (extraordinarius) of
mathematics.

To J. H Ttejtrun\, October 13, 7797 • 239

From J. H. Tieftrunk,November y, 7797
- 787 - VOL. XIX, pp. 212-ig

. . . But it is possible to become aware of the fact that the

original, pure apperception exists of itself and exists independendy
of all that is sensible, a unique function of the mind, indeed its
highest function, from which ail our knowledge begins, though it
does not produce out of itself everything that belongs to our
knowledge. The specific feature of the category of magnitude1
(the feature that distinguishes it from space and time, the form of
sensibility) is the activity of unifying [Actus der Einheit] (synthe-
sis intellectuaiis) that which is manifold but homogeneous. The
fundamental condition of this activity of unification is synthesis
into unity; thereby the synthesis of what is a unity into a unity
becomes possible, that is, the synthesis of the many [des Vielen]
and again of binding the many into a unity is totality [Alles], So
far there is no reference to space and time or any actual quantum.
We have merely noted the rule or condition under which alone a
quantum could be apperceived, viz., it must be possible to synthe-
size a homogeneous manifold into a unity, plurality [Vielem], or
totality.
The greatest difficulty appears in connection with the category
of quality, for it takes the most subtle thinking to distinguish the
pure from the empirical here. Some people suppose that sensation
and reality are the same thing and therefore believe that all
[objects of] sensation, for example, even air and light, could be
deduced a priori. Fichte does that. Other people hold these things
to be wholly empirical, so that the category of reality is just the
same thing as the production of the empirical. Mr. Beck is an
example. My view differs from both of these, and I think the
Critique of Pure Reason must be interpreted otherwise as well.
Here is my statement; I wish you would tell me whether it satisfies
you and the problem and whether it is sufficiently clear.
Every sensation as such (as empirical consciousness) has two
parts, one subjective, the other objective. The subjective part
1
Tieftrunk may be thinking of the axioms of intuition, since magnitude is
not one of Kant's categories. See Critique of Pure Reason A 162 = B 202 S.

240 • From J. H. Heftrun\, November 5, 2797

belongs to sense [Sinne] and is the empirical aspect of the sensa-
tion (in the strongest sense of "empirical"); the objective part
belongs to apperception and is the pure aspect of the sensation (in
the stronger sense of "pure"). Now, then, what precisely is it that
apperception as such contributes to every sensation? I answer that
it is that whereby the sensation is a quale at all. [At this point in
Tieftrunk's letter, Kant wrote in, "sensation not mere intuition"
(Empfindung nicht bios Anschauung).] The function of self-
consciousness referred to under the title "Quality" consists in
positing [setzen]. The act of positing is the a priori condition of
apperception and consequently the condition of the possibility of
all empirical consciousness. Positing, as a function of mind, is
spontaneity and, like all functions of self-consciousness, is a sponta-
neous synthesis [Zusammensetzen, literally, "positing-together"]
and therefore a function of unity. The unity in positing is only
possible because apperception may determine its positing. The
determination of positing is [a?] condition of the possibility of the
unity of positing. The function of determination of positing con-
sists, however, in the uniting [Verknüpfung] of positing and non-
positing [Nichtsetzens] into a single concept (as act of spontane-
ity), that is, the determination of a degree [Gradesbestimmung]
(gradation). The determined positing is thus the same as the
determination of degree, and just as positing is [anr] original
function of apperception, so the determination of degree (grada-
tion, limitation, uniting of positing and non-positing into a single
concept) is the a priori condition of the unity of positing. The
function of unity of this positing is called "determination of
degree" (intension), and its product is a determined real (inten-
sive magnitude). The unity produced in this manner is not the
unity of a collection [Menge], by means of the synthesis of parts
into a whole, but rather an absolute unity, achieved by the self-
determining apperception in its act of positing. But this unity
springs from the unification of positing ( = i) and non-positing
(=o) into a single concept. Since there are an infinite number of
determinations of positing and non-positing into unity, between o
and i, so there are an infinite number of degrees between o and I,
each of which must be, and must depend on being, a unity, and
each of these is determined by apperception in accord with its
positing, which conforms to an a priori necessary rule (of grada-
tion). All existence [Dasein] is therefore based on this original
positing, and existence is actually nothing else than this being-

From J. H. Tieftrunk, November 5, 7797 • 241

posited [Gesetztsein], Without the original, pure act of spontane-
ity (of apperception), nothing is or exists. The determination of
degree in apperception is thus the principle of all experience, and
so on. . . .
But whence comes the manifold of sensation, the merely empiri-
cal aspect of sensation? Apperception yields nothing but the de-
gree, that is, the unity in the synthesis of perception, which
therefore rests on spontaneity and which is the determination of
the material of sensibility, according to a rule of apperception.
Whence the material? Out of sensibility. But whence did sensibil-
ity obtain it? From the objects that affect it? But what arc these
objects that affect sensibility? Are they things in themselves or—?
One wrestles with endless questions here, and some of the
answers are highly absurd. For me, there is no perplexity, since
once the question becomes understood, the answer is obvious.
However, it matters greatly how one understands the question, for
ambiguities tend to creep in. Let me tell you briefly how I meet the
difficulties.
The central thesis of the Critique, of which one must noc lose
sight, is this: a regression to discover the nature and conditions of
our cognitive faculty is not a search for anything outside that
faculty; it is not a playing with mere concepts but a presentation of
how those elements of our cognitive faculty, as grasped in the act
of cognizing [Er\ennens], can inform us about the essential
problems of reason. It is a fact of consciousness that there are two
distinct sources of knowledge: receptivity and spontaneity. It is
absurd to prove their reality, since they are fundamental
[ ursprünglich ]. One can only become aware of them and make
them evident to oneself. Though they are two distinct, basic
sources, nevertheless they belong to one and the same mind, and
therefore they correspond to each other. Just as we assert that the
representations of the understanding come into existence through
spontaneity, so we assert that the representations of sensibility
come to be through receptivity.
Sensibility gives representations, because it (or the mind whose
faculty it is) is a-ffected. When I say that the mind is affected, I
subsume the existence [das 5«'»] (that is, the fact that certain
representations are posited) under the category of causality; I
assert a relationship of the mind to itself, viz., receptivity, which
relationship is distinct from others that the mind has to itself, for
example, those in which the mind regards itself as spontaneous. If

242 • From J. H. Tieftrunf{, November 5, 7797

I ask further, What is it that affects the mind? I must answer, It
affects itself since it is both receptivity and spontaneity.
The mind's spontaneity, however, imposes its condidons of
synthesis (the categories) on the mind's receptivity, and the sense-
representations as such thereby acquire determination by the unity
of apperception, that is, they acquire intellectual form, quandty,
quality, relauon, and so on. But whence does sensibility receive
that which it gives out of itself? Whence the material and the
empirical as such, if I abstract from that into which it has been
transformed as a result of the influence of spontaneity and the
forms of sensibility? Does sensibility produce this material out of
its own stock, or is it perhaps produced by things in themselves,
distinct and separate from sensibility? I answer: "Everything given
by sensibility (matter and form) is determined by its nature tc be
for us nothing but what it is for us. The properties of being within
us or external to us are themselves only ways in which sensible
representing takes place, just as identity [das Einerlei] and differ-
ence are only manners of intellectual representing. If sensibility
and the understanding were ignored, there would be no "internal"
and "external," no "same" and "different." But since one cannot
help but ask which of all the conditions of our sensibility (as to
form and matter) is the ultimate condition, the ground of repre-
sentations that is independent of apperception, the answer is this:
that ultimate ground is, for our understanding, nothing more
than a thought with negative meaning, that is, a thought without
any corresponding object, though, as a mere thought, it is permis-
sible and even necessary, since theoretical reason is not absolutely
restricted, in its thinking, to that which is a possible experience for
us and practical reason can offer grounds for admitting the reality
(though only from the practical point of view) of such ideas. We
cannot say of things in themselves (of which we have only a
negative idea) that they affect us, since the concept of affection
asserts a real relation between knowable entities, and therefore this
concept can only be used when the related things are given and
positively determined. Therefore it is also impossible to say that
tilings in themselves transfer representations from themselves into
the mind, since the problematic concept of "things-in-themselves"
is itself only a point of reference for representations in the mind, a
figment of thought [Gedankending]. Our knowledge is thus
exclusively of appearances; yet while we realize this, we posit in
thought a something that is not appearance and thus leave open a

From ]. H. Tieftrunk, November 5, 7797 • 243

space (by means of mere logical supposition) for practical knowl-
edge. The chapter in the Critique, pages 294 £f., makes the true
view unmistakable.2. . .
How is intuition distinguished from thinking? "The former is
the representation that can be given prior to all thinking," says the
Critique. . . . Thinking (as transcendental function) is the activ-
ity of bringing given representations under a consciousness in
general, and it is prior to all intuition, a fact that accounts for the
dignity of cognition.
One would like intuition and thinking to be one and the same
thing, transcendentally speaking. Indirectly, it can be said that if
intuition and thinking were one, there would be no such thing as
transcendental logic and aesthetic; all concepts would be absolutely
restricted to experience. But this is contradicted by apperception. I
can at least form the negative concept of an experience that is not
human experience, that is, form the concept of an intuitive under-
standing. But even this merely problematic concept would be
impossible if the categories in and of themselves constituted experi-
ence. I could not transcend experience by means of experience; yet
I do this in fact by means of the concept of unity of synthesis in
general (in relation to the experiences that are possible and impos-
sible for us to have.) Moreover, if the understanding (in its
categories) were of itself capable of experiencing, the transition to
the practical realm would be impossible, for there it is by means of
mere thought, without intuition, that laws, concepts, and objects
are determined by the will.
One tends to confuse the sphere of application of the categories
with the sphere of their functions as pure forms of apperception in
general. People suppose that because we become aware of the
categories only by applying them in experience (where they are
first put to use, which is possible only in experience, in empirical
consciousness) that therefore they cannot be elevated beyond the
sphere of their application.
Your friend and servant,
J. H . TIEFTRUNK

2
" T h e Ground of the Distinction of All Objects in General into Phenomena
and Noumena," Bk. n , Chap. III. B 294 S. = A 235 ft.

344 • From J. H. "TieftrunkNovember 7797

To J. H. Tiejtrun\, December n, ijgj
- 790 - VOL. X I I , p p . 222-25

Treasured friend,
Though I am distracted by a multitude of tasks that
interrupt one another while I think constantly of-myfinalgoal, the
completion of my project before it is too late, I am anxious to
clarify the sentence in the Critique of Pure Reason that you
mendoned in your kind letter of November 5, the sentence that
occurs on page 177 [A 138 = B 177, "The Schematism of the Pure
Concepts of Understanding"] and deals with the application of the
categories to experiences or appearances. I believe I now know
how to satisfy your worry and at the sametimehow to make this
part of the system of the Critique more clear. My remarks here,
however, must be taken as mere raw suggestions. We can make
the discussion more elegant after we have exchanged ideas on it
again.
The concept of the synthesized in general [des Zusammen-
gesetzten überhaupt] is not itself a particular category. Rather, it is
included in every category (as synthetic unity of apperception).
For that which is synthesized [that is, complex] cannot as such be
intuited; rather, the concept or consciousness of synthesizing (a
function that, as synthetic unity of apperception, is the foundation
of all the categories) must be presupposed in order to think the
manifold of intuition (that is, of what is given) as unified in one
consciousness. In other words, in order to think the object as
something that has been synthesized, I must presuppose the func-
tion of synthesizing; and this is accomplished by means of the
schematism of the faculty of judgment, whereby synthesizing is
related to inner sense, in conformity with the representation of
time, on the one hand, but also in conformity wjth the manifold of
intuition (the given), on the other hand. All the categories are
directed upon some material synthesized a priori; if this material is
homogeneous, they express mathematical functions, [and] if it is
not homogeneous, they express dynamic functions.1 Extensive
1
Sec Critique of Pure Reason B no.

To /. H. Tieftrunk, December 11,1797 • 245

magnitude 2 is a function of thefirstsort, for example, a one in
many [Eines in Vielen], Another example of a mathematical
function is the category of quality or intensive magnitude, a many
in one [Vieles In Einem], An example of extensive magnitude
would be a collection [Menge] of similar things (for example, the
number of square inches in a plane); an example of intensive
magnitude, the notion of degree [Grad] 3 (for example, of illumi-
nation of a room). As for the dynamic functions, an example
would be the synthesis of the manifold insofar as one thing's
existence [Dasein] is subordinate to another (the category of
causality) or one thing is coordinated with another to make a
unity of experience (modality as the necessary determination of
the existence of appearances in time).
Mr. Beck (to whom I beg you to send my regards) could thus
also quite correctly develop his "standpoint" on this basis, passing
from the categories to appearances (as a priori intuitions). Syn-
thesis [die Synthesis der Zusammensetzung] of the manifold re-
quires a priori intuitions, in order that the pure concepts of the
understanding may have an object, and these intuitions are space
and time.4 But in thus changing his standpoint, the concept of the
synthesized, which is the foundation of all the categories, is in
itself an empty concept [Sinnleer], that is, we do not know
whether any object corresponds to it. (So, too, are the categories:]
For example, is there anything that is an extensive magnitude
while also having intensive magnitude, that is, reality; or in the
dynamic categories, is there anything corresponding to the concept
of causality (a thing so situated as to be the ground of the
existence of another thing) or anything corresponding to the
category of modality, that is, any object of possible experience that
could be given? For the categories are mere forms of synthesis
[Formen der Zusammensetzung] (of the synthetic unity of the
manifold in general) and they belong to thinking rather than to
intuition.
Now there are in fact synthetic a priori propositions, and it is a
priori intuition (space and time) that make these propositions
possible) and therefore they have an object, the object of a non-

- See "Axioms of Intuition," Critique of Pure Reason A 162 = B 202 ff.

3
See Critique of Pure Reason A 166 = B 206 ft. and tiie section on anticipa-
tions of perception that follows.
4
In another draft, Kant writes "in space and time" here rather than "space
and time."

246 • To /. H. Tieftrunl^, December ti, rjq

empirical representation, corresponding to them. (Forms of intui-
tion can be supplied for the forms of thought, thus giving sense
and meaning to the lacter.) But how are such propositions pos-
sible? The answer is not that these forms of the synthesized
present the object in intuition as that object is in itself. For I
cannot use my concept of an object to reach out a priori beyond
the concept of that object. So the [synthetic a priori] proposition is
only possible in the following way: The forms of intuition are
merely subjective, not immediate or objective, that is, they do not
represent the object as it is in itself but only express the manner in
which the subject is affected by the object, in accordance with his
particular constitution, and so the object is presented only as it
appears to us, that is, indirectly. For if representations are limited
by the condition of conformity to the manner in which the
subject's faculty of representation operates on intuitions, it is easy
to see how synthetic (transcending a given concept) a priori
judgments are possible. And it is easy to see that such a priori
ampliative judgments are absolutely impossible in any other way.
This is the foundation of that profound proposition: We can
never know objects of sense (of outer sense and of inner sense)
except as they appear to us, not as they are in themselves. Simi-
larly, supersensible objects are not objects of theoretical knowledge
for us. But since it is unavoidable that we regard the idea of such
supersensible objects as at least problematic, an open question
(since otherwise the sensible would lack a non-sensible counter-
part, and this would evidence a logical defect in our classification),
the idea belongs to pure practical knowledge [practischen
Erkenntniss], which is detached from all empirical conditions.
The sphere of non-sensible objects is thus not quite empty, though
from the point of view of theoretical knowledge such objects must
be viewed as transcendent.
As for the difficult passage on pages 177 ff. in the Critique, the
explanation is this: The logical subsumption of a concept under a
higher concept occurs in accordance with the rule of identity—the
subsumed concept must be thought as homogeneous with the
higher concept. In the case of transcendental subsumption, on the
other hand, since we subsume an empirical concept under a pure
concept of the understanding by means of a mediating concept
(the latter being that of the synthesized material derived from the
representations of inner sense), this subsumption of an empirical
concept under a category would seem to be the subsumption of

T o /. H. Tieftrunk, December 11, ijy] • 247

something heterogeneous in content; that would be contrary to
logic, were it to occur without any mediation. It is, however,
possible to subsume an empirical concept under a pure concept of
the understanding if there is a mediating concept, and that is what
the concept of something synthesized out of the representations of
the subject's inner sense is, insofar as such representations, in
conformity with time conditions, present something synthesized a
priori according to a universal rule. What they present is homoge-
neous with the concept of the synthesized-in-general (as every
category is) and thus makes possible the subsumption of appear-
ances under the pure concept of the understanding according to its
synthetic unity (of synthesizing). We call this subsumption a
schema. The examples of schematism that follow [in the Critique]
make this concept quite clear.*
And so, estimable sir, I close now, so as not to miss the post. I
enclose a few remarks on your projected collection of my minor
writings. . . .
I. K A N T

From Marcus Herz, December 25, ijg7

- 791 VOL. XII, pp. 225-26

Esteemed teacher,
The great and well-known Meckel asks to be commended
to the great, all-knowing Kant, via me, so little known, so little
knowing. I would hesitate greatly to satisfy this superfluous desire,
were it not an opportunity, long coveted, to call up in the mind of
my unforgettable mentor and friend the name of Herz and to tell
him once more how much the memory of those early years of my
education under his guidance still spreads joy over my whole
being and tell him how burning is my desire to see him again and
to embrace him again while there is still time. Why am I not a
great obstetrician, a cataract specialist, or healer of cancer, that I
might be summoned to Königsberg by some Russian aristocrat?
Alas, I have learned absolutely nothing! The little skill I possess
can be found tenfold in any village in Kamchatka, and thus I must
* [Kant's footnote] You will notice ray haste and brevity here, which might
be remedied in another essay.

248 • From Marcus Herz, December 25, 7797

stay in Berlin, moidering, and abandon forever the thought of
seeing you again before one or the other of us leaves this earth.
All the more consoling, therefore, is every litde bit of news I get
of you from travelers, every greeting passed on to me from letters
to a friend. Revive me often, therefore, with this refreshment and
preserve your health and your friendship for me.
Your devoted,
MARCUS HERZ

To f . H. Tieftrun\, April 5, 1798

- 805 - VOL. XII, pp. 24O-4I

I read your letter with pleasure, dearest friend, and I am

especially pleased at your determination to support the cause of the
Critique in its purity, to explain it and to defend it resolutely, a
decision that, as your success will show, you will never have
occasion to regret. I would be happy to write a preface to my
minor essays [kleine Schriften], one that would express my ap-
proval not only of your bringing the book out but also of any
commentary you might be adding. I could do this if it were
possible for me to see the book before it is put together or
published. . . .
Several years ago I planned to publish a work under the tide
"The Strife of the Faculties, by I. Kant." However, it fell under
the censorship of Hermes and Hillmer and had to be abandoned.
But now the way lies open for it. Alas, another unpleasantness has
come in the way of the birth of my genius, namely, a recent book
entitled "A New Inquiry as to Whether the Human Race Is Capa-
ble of Continual Progress" ["Erneuerte Frage, ob das menschliche
Geschlecht im beständigen Fortschreiten zum Bessern sey"],
which I sent to the librarian Biester to be published in his Berliner
Blätter, has been presented to Stadtpräsident Eisenberg for censor-
ship. This was done on October 23, 1797, that is, while the late
king was still alive, and the book was denied the censor's imprima-
tur. It is incomprehensible to me that Mr. Biester waited until
February 28, 1798, to report this incident to me. Everyone knows
how conscientiously I have kept my writings within the limits of
the law; but I am not willing to have the products of my careful

T o }. H. Tieftrunk, April 5, iyg8 • 249

efforts thrown away for no reason at ail. Therefore I have decided,
after inquiring of a lawyer, to send this work, together with the
one censored by Eisenberg, to Halle, via my publisher Nicolovius,
and to ask you to be so kind as to have it submitted to the censor
there. I am sure it will not be condemned, and I shall try to write
the Introduction to it in such a way that the two parts will
compose one book. If you like, you may then publish the latter in
your collection of my minor essays.
What do you think of Mr. Fichte's Wissenschaftslehre? He sent
it to me long ago, but I put it aside,findingthe book too long
winded and not wanting to interrupt my own work with it. All I
know of it is what the review in the Allgemeine Literaturzeitung
said. At present I have no inclination to take it up, but the review
(which shows the reviewer's great partiality for Fichte) makes it
look to me like a sort of ghost that, when you think you've
grasped it, youfindthat you haven't got hold of any object at all
but have only caught yourself and in fact only grasped the hand
that tried to grasp the ghost. The "mere self-consciousness," in-
deed, the mere form of thinking, void of content, therefore, of
such a nature that reflection upon it has nothing to reflect about,
nothing to which it could be applied, and this is even supposed to
transcend logic—what a marvelous impression this idea makes on
the reader! The title itself arouses little expectation of anything
valuable—Theory of Science—since every systematic inquiry is
science, and "theory of science" suggests a science of science,
which leads to an infinite regress. I would like to hear your
opinion of it and alsofindout what effect it is having on other
people in your territory.
Fare you well, dearest friend.
I. K A N T

To Christian Garve, September 21, 1798

- 820 - VOL. XII, pp. 256-58

I hasten to report my receipt, on September 19th, of your book 1

and letter,2 so full of kindness and fortitude. . . . The description
1Uebersicht der vornehmsten Principien der Sittenlehre ( 1 7 9 8 ) .
2
In his letter to Kant, September 1798 { 8 1 9 ] , Garve movingly depicts his
agonizing illness, a malignant tumor of the face, and expresses his astonish-

250 • To Christian Garve, September 21,17g

 of your physical suffering affected me deeply, and your strength of
mind in ignoring that pain and continuing cheerfully to work for
the good of mankind arouses the highest admiration in me. I
wonder though whether my own fate, involving a similar striving,
would not seem to you even more painful, if you were to put
yourself in my place. For I am as it were mentally paralyzed even
though physically I am reasonably well. I see before me the unpaid
bill of my uncompleted philosophy, even while I am aware that
philosophy, both as regards its means and its ends, is capable of
completion. It is a pain like that of Tantalus3 though not a
hopeless pain. The project on which I am now working concerns
the "Transition from the metaphysical foundations of natural
science to physics." It must be completed, or else a gap will remain
in the critical philosophy. Reason will not give up her demands for
this; neither can the awareness of the possibility be extinguished;
but the satisfaction of this demand is maddeningly postponed, if
not by the total paralysis of my vital powers then by their ever
increasing limitation.
My healthiness, as others will have informed you, is not that of a
scholar but of a vegetable—eating, seeing, sleeping. And this so-
called health, now that I am in my 75th year, is not enough for me
to be able to follow your kind suggestion that I compare my
present philosophical insights with those ideas of yours that we
once disputed in a friendly fashion, unless my health should
improve somewhat. I have not abandoned all hope of that since
my present state of disorganization began, about a year and a half
ago, with a head cold.
If there should be an improvement, it will be one of my
pleasantest tasks to try such a unification—-I won't say of our
intentions, for those I take to be unanimous, but of our ap-
proaches, where perhaps we only misunderstood each other. I have
made a start by carefully reading your book.
mem that he is still living and thinking. Indeed, his thoughts are exalted.
"Never have I perceived the beauty of a poem, the validity of an argument,
and the charm of a story more clearly and pleasurably. Yet how little all this
compensates for the pain I feel from time to time, and I •ask myself how long
this battle must yet be fought."
Earlier Garve asks Kant for his opinion of Garve's book, and wonders why
Kant refuses to speak out his opinion of his pupils, especially Fichte.
3
In Greek mythology, Tantalus was a wealthy king who, for revealing the
secrets of Zeus, was punished by being made to stand in water that receded
when he tried to drink and under branches laden with fruit too far away for
him to reach.

T o Christian Garve, September 21,17&9 • 251

 On skimming it, I came upon a note, page 339, to which I must
protest. It was not the investigation of the existence of God,
immortality, and so on, but rather the antinomy of pure reason—
"the world has a beginning; it has no beginning, and so on," right
up to the 4th [.«£•]: "There is freedom in man, versus there is no
freedom, only the necessity of nature"—that is what first aroused
me from my dogmatic slumber and drove me to the critique of
reason itself, in order to resolve the scandal of ostensible contradic-
tion of reason with itself.
With greatest affection and respect, I am
Your loyal, most devoted servant,
I. K A N T

To J. G. C. C. Kiesewetter, October 19, IJ<)8

- S2I - VOL. XII, pp. 251S-59

Your informative letters certainly occasion many pleasant mem-

ories of our lasting friendship, dearest friend. Allow me to men-
tion now my periodic recollection of Teltow turnips, a winter's
supply of which you will, I hope, be kind enough to secure for me,
though I would be happy to take care of any expenses you will
incur.
The state of my health is that of an old man, free from illness,
but nevertheless an invalid, a man above all who is superannuated
for the performance of any official or public service, who neverthe-
less feels a litde bit of strength still within him to complete the
work at hand; with that work the task of the critical philosophy
will be completed and a gap that now stands open will be filled. I
want to make the transition from the metaphysical foundations of
natural science to physics into an actual branch of natural philoso-
phy, one that must not be left out of the system.
You have steadfastly remained loyal to the critical philosophy,
and you will not regret it. Although others who had also once
dedicated themselves to it, motivated in part by a ridiculous
fondness for innovation and originality, now seek to lay a trap out
of sand and raise a cloud of dust all about them, like Hudibras,1 it
will all subside in a little while.
1
Samuel Butler, Hudibras, Pt. I, Canto I, v. 157 3.

252 • To J. G. C. C. Kiesewetter, October ig, 1798

 I have just received the news (though not yet sufficiently authen-
ticated) that Reinhold has recently changed his mind again, aban-
doned Fichte's principles and been reconverted.2 I shall remain a
silent spectator to this game and leave the scoring to younger more
vigorous minds who are not taken in by ephemeral productions of
this sort.
It would delight me to be regaled with news from your city,
especially on literary matters. I am, with greatest friendship, re-
spect and devotion,
Your
I. KANT

Open letter on Fichte's Wissenschaftslehre,

August 7, ij99
Public Declarations, No. 6; VOL. XII, pp. 3JO-ji

. . . I hereby declare that I regard Fichte's Theory of Science

[ Wissenschaftslehre] as a totally indefensible system. For the pure
theory of science is nothing more or less than mere logic, and die
principles of logic cannot lead to any material knowledge. Since
logic, that is to say, pure logic, abstracts from the content of
knowledge, the attempt to cull a real object out of logic is a vain
effort and therefore a thing that no one has ever done. If the
transcendental philosophy is correct, such a task would involve
metaphysics rather than logic. But I am so opposed to metaphysics,
as defined according to Fichtean principles, that I have advised
him, in a letter, to turn his fine literary gifts to the problem of
applying the Critique of Pure Reason rather than squander them
in cultivating fruitless sophistries. He, however, has replied po-
litely by explaining that "he would not make light of scholasticism
after all." Thus the question whether I take the Fichtean philoso-
phy to be a genuinely critical philosophy is already answered by
Fichte himself, and it is unnecessary for me to express my opinion
of its value or lack of value. For the issue here does not concern an
object that is being appraised but concerns rather the appraiser or

2
In £act, the rumor was incorrect.

On Pichte's Wissenschaftslehre, August J, 7799 • 253

subject, and so it is enough that I renounce any connection with
that philosophy.
I must remark here that die assumption that I have intended to
publish only a propaedeutic to transcendental philosophy and not
the actual system of this philosophy is incomprehensible to me.
Such an intention could never have occurred to me, since I took
the completeness of pure philosophy within the Critique of Pure
Reason to be the best indication of the truth of my work.
Since some reviewers maintain that the Critique is not to be
taken literally in what it says about sensibility and that anyone
who wants to understand the Critique must first master the
requisite "standpoint" (of Beck or of Fichte), because Kant's
precise words, like Aristode's, will kill the mind, I therefore
declare again that the Critique is to be understood by considering
exactly what it says and that it requires only the common stand-
point that any cultivated mind will bring to such abstract investi-
gations.
There is an Italian proverb: May God protect us from our
friends, and we shall watch out for our enemies ourselves. There
are friends who mean well by us but who are doltish in choosing
the means for promoting our ends. But there are also treacherous
friends, deceitful, bent on our destruction while speaking the
language of good will (aliud linqua promptum, aliud pectore
tnclusum genere, "who think one thing and say another"), and
one cannot be too cautious about such men and the snares they
have set. Nevertheless the critical philosophy must remain con-
fident of its irresistible propensity to satisfy the theoretical as well
as the moral, practical purposes of reason, confident that no change
of opinions, no touching up or reconstruction into some other form,
is in store for it; the system of the Critique rests on a fully secured
foundation, established forever; it will be indispensable too for the
noblest ends of mankind in all future ages.
IMMANUEL KANT

254 • On Fichte's Wissensckaftslehre, August 7, 7799

 Index
A priori: concepts, 60, 71-73, 143; Bode, J. E., 86
intuitions, 152; judgments, 13, Borowski, L. E., 159(11.1), 159ff.
106, 135, 136-42, 153. See also
Space and time Campe, J. H., 27 n.
Allgemeine Naturgeschichte und Candor, 188 f.
Theorie des Himmels. See Gen- Categories, 12, 13, 30, 73, 108-12,
eral Natural History and 141 f., 183, 214 f. See also Con-
Theory of the Heavens cepts.
Analytic-synthetic distinction, 18, Causality: vs. logical ground, 147;
106, 129-31, 137 f., 169 n.; and outer vs. inner, 170 f.
analytic attributes, 138 Christianity, 6
Antinomies, 99 n. Civil law, 132
Appearance, 103 n., 141, 153, 195. Combination (Zusammensetz-
See also Thing-in-itself ung), 184. See also Synthesis
Apperception, unity of, 181, 242 Combine (Verbinden), 181
Architectonic, 44, 86 Composite (synthesized), 193 f.,
Aristotle, 73, 143 216, 245-48. See also Synthesis
Art of combination (Artem char- Concepts: empirical, 13; objective
acteristicam combinatoriam), reality of, 145, 181; pure, 60,
109, 109(^4), hi, 179 f. 71-73, 78, 143 f.: simple, 6, 44 f.,
Astronomy, 46, 65, 171 f. 51 f.; spontaneous, 13, 71, 184;
Atlas, Samuel, 28 n. vs. judgments, 191 ff.
Conservation of motion, 170
Basedow, }. B., 15 Contents. See Representations
Baumgarten, A. G., 75, 125, 154
Contradiction, law of, 19, 70, 147
Beck, J. S„ 16 f., 28-31, 31 (n.35),
Copernican revolution, 18
179-85, 190-96, 207 f., 213-17, Copleston, F., 31 (n.35)
227-34, 238 Critique of Judgment, 29, 125,
Beck, Lewis White, i2(n.i3),
49 a. 127 f., 142
Belles-lettres, 45 Critique of Practical Reason, 125,
Berens, J. C., 19, 35 n., 36, 38, 126 127 f., 192
Bering, J., 6, 19 n., 122 f. Critique of Pure Reason, 5, 10, 11,
Berkeley, George, 195 f., 228 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 28, 29,
Bernoulli, }., 3 n., 6, 96-98 29(n-34)> 30» 58 f-, 73. 77» 86,
Biester, J. E., 4(0.3), 7, 8, 91, 126, 89, 93-113, 122 f., 124 f., 126,
208, 212 f., 220 127, 129(^2), 131, 132. 133,
Bischoffswerder, J. R. von, 134, 135, 144-50, 161, 175, 178.
H4(n.4)» 173 See also correspondence with

Index • 255
 Beck and Tieftrunk and partic- Fichte, J. G., 8, i8(n.2o), 26,
ular topics 26(11.30), 27, 28, 29, 30,
Crusius, Christian August, 72, 31(^35), 186 f., 232 ff., 238,
144 250, 253 ff.
Form and matter o£ knowledge,
Deduction of pure concepts, 13, 51ff.,141 f.
175 Form and Principles of the Sen-
Definitions, 8, 9, 155 sible and Intelligible World,
Der einzig mögliche Beweisgrund The. See Inaugural dissertation
zu einer Demonstration des Formal science, 86, 102. See also
Daseins Gottes. See Only Pos- Form and matter of knowledge
sible Proof of the Existence of Foundations of the Metaphysics
God of Morals, 4(n.2), I07(n.i)
Dialectic of pure reason, 107 Frederick the Great, 19, 164(0.4)
Dönhoff, Sophie Juliane Frieder- Frederick William (Friedrich
ike Wilheimine Dönhoff, Count- Wilhelm) II, 19, 114(0.4),
ess of, marriage of, to Fried- 163ff.,173 f., 2x7-20
rich Wilhelm II, 163(0.2), 173 Freedom, 99 n., i6r f.
Dogmatic, 29(0.34), 196(11.1) French Revolution, 207, 209
Dogmatism, 145, 158 Friedländer, David, 107, 121 (n.x)
Dreams of a. Ghost-Seer Explained
by Dreams of Metaphysics, 9, Garve, Christian, 7, 7 n., 15, 16,
10, 12, 54(0.1) 28, 9Ö(n.i), 98-104, 107, 110.
195, 250 ff.
Eberhard, J. A., 18, 19, 126(0.7), General Natural History and
136-50, 195 Theory of the Heavens, 4(11.3),
Education, Kant's views on, 14 f., 46(0.6)
83-85 Gensichen, J. F., 4(0.3), 171 f.,
Encyclopedic ou Dictionnaire Rai- 239
sonee des Sciences, des Arts, et God, 40ff.,79-82, 84 f.
des Metiers, 36 Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von,
End of All Things, The (Das 8(n.8), 14, 23
Ground aod consequent, 138 f.,
Ende aller Dinge), 213
146 f.
Enge!, J. r„ 7. 86, i2o(n.r)
Grundlegung zur Metaphysi\ der
Enlightenment, 7, 8, rS(n.i9)
Sitten. See Foundations of the
Epicurus, 10 n. Metaphysics of Morals
Erhard, J. B., 24, 199 f., 203, 2x2
Erxleben, J. C. P., 171 Hamann, J. G., 4, 6, 13, 14,
Essence, logical vs. real, 139 i8(n.i8), 35-43, 99 t2t(n.i)
Hartkooch, J. F., 47, 94
Faith, 79-82, 186 f. Hartley, David, 135(0.1)
Feder, J. G. H., 7, 19, 31, 99, Hammg, G. L., 26(0.30)
122 (n.x) Herbert, Franz Paul von, 24

256 Index
Herbert, Maria von, 14 n., 24 ff., Josef II, emperor of Austria,
174 f., 188-90, 200-204 i8(n.i9), n4> 224
Herder, J. G. von, 41, 7, 18, Judgments, types of, 14S. See also
i8(n.i8), 90 n., 158 A priori; Analytic synthetic dis-
Hermes, H. D., 210, 213(3.4) tinction; Synthetic a priori judg-
Herz, Marcus, 3n., 5, ii(n.n), ments
12, 13, 26, 31, 31(21.40), 58. 60, Jung-Srilling, Heinrich, 131 f.
67. 70-79, 86-96, 120fi.,123 L,
248 f.; letter of 1772 to, 12 t. Kästner, A. G., 179(11.1)
Hillmer, G. F., 213 Kant, J. H., 31, 185
Hume, David, 13, 2S, 41 f., Kanter, J. J., 47, 50
I22(n.i), 135, 196(^1) Kant's family and genealogy, 31,
Hutcheson, Francis, 36, 36(^4) 185, 236 f.
Kant's health, 77, 88, 177, 211,
Ideality, 196. See also Space and 251 £
time Kierkegaard, S., 6(11.5)
Ideas of reason, 134, 142, 149, 180, Kiesewettcr, J. G. C. C., 31, :6i-
230 65, 172ff.,206 f., 209 5., 252 f.
Inaugural dissertation: Jh: Form Knobloch, Charlotte von, 4 (n.2)
and Principles of the Sensible Kraus, C. I. 90, 91. 93
and Intelligible World, 5. 10, Kritik der praktischer, Vernunft.
58-76.. 94, 109 See Critique of Practica Reason
Inner sense, 75, 130 Kriti\ der reinen Vernunft. See
inquiry into the Distinctness of Critique of Pure Reason
the Fundamental Principles of Kritik der Urteilskraft. See Cri-
Natural Theology and Morals, tique of Judgment
An, 8 Kroner, Richard, 28 a. :
Intuition, 52, 141 ff., 180 f., 184,
190 f.; intellectual, 19; pure, Lambert, J. K.. 4, 4(^3), 5, 10,
125, 141, 184, 246. See also 43-53. 58-67, 76. 86, 96-98,
Space and dme 3 ; . 17
Intuitive reason or understanding, Laplace, Marquis Pierre Simon
7, 156, 230 de, 4Ö(n.6)
Lavater, J. C., 14, 79-82
Jachmann,}. B., 134 ff. Lehmann, J. H. I., 31
Jacobi, F. H., 2:, 22, 22(11.23), Leibniz, Baron Gottfried Wilhelm
i2o(n.i), 123, X24(a-3)> 157^ von, 7, 11, 12, 13, 17, 19, 28, 51,
228 64, 109(11-4), 124(11.3), 148 t,
Jacobi, Maria Charlotte, 4(11.2) 152, 154, 177
Jakob, L. H., 29, 124! Lessing, G. E., 7, 22, 23, 86, 120
Jesuits, 17, 114 (n.i)
Jews, 27 n., 107 f., 136, 212. For Lichtenberg, G. C., 172
Kant's usual attitude, see his Lindbiom, J. A., 236 f.
letters to Herz and Mendelssohn Lindner, J. G.. 4(n.a)

Index • 257
Locke, John, 52,143 Nicolai, C. F., 7, 8
Love, 24 ff, 188 ff. NIcolovius, F., 31
Noumea a, 13
Maimon, Salomon, 26,133 t , 151-
56, 175 ff., 196 ff., 212 Objects, 16, 30, 7t, 103 a., 106,183
Malebranche, Nicolas, 72. On a Discovery according to
Marburg, University of, 122 (n.i) Which All Critique of Pure Rea-
Marital and extramarital relations, son Is Supposed to Be Obviated
Kant's views on, 23f., 115-18, by an Earlier One, 19, 142 n.
235 £. On the Common Saying, "That
Mathematics, 8, 11, 52£., 62-66, May Be True in Theory but Not
128-31, 135, 140,145 f., 148,155, in Practice," 208 (n.2)
166-69, 179 On the First Ground of the Dis-
Meiners, Christoph, 7, 122(0.1) tinction of Regions in Space, 11
Mendelssohn, Moses, 3 a. 4, 7, 3, (n.12)
9, 1 0 , 1 5 , IÖ, 2 1 , 2 2 , 5 4 - 5 7 , 6 7 - Only Possible Proof of the Exist-
70, 76, 86, 87, 96, 103, i o 5-8, ence af Gad, 5, 44, 46
i2o(n.i), 123 f., 124(0.3) Ontology, 125, 182
Metaphysical Foundations of Nat- Opus postumum, 31, 99 n., 252
ural Philosophy, 49, 49 n., 119,
170 Pantheismusstreit, 21 ff.
Metaphysics, 8, 9, ro, n , 29, 31,44, Paton, H. J.. 12(0.13)
48 ff-, 55» 57,59> 62, 64 £, 71, 95- Phenomena, 65; and noumeru, 61
97, 106, 125, 139, 144, 179, 182 Phenomenology, 59, 66
Metaphysics of Morals, 4(0.2), 59, Philanthropin, 15, 83-85
119, 132, 200, 207, 238 Platner (or Plattner), Ernst, 78,
Metaphysik, der Sitten. See Meta- 126
physics of Morals
Plato, 72, 143
Metaphysische Anfangsgründe der
Pleasure, 60, 68, 78,127
Naturwissenschaft. See Meta-
Plessing, F. V. L., IJ, 23 f., 1 1 3 -
physical Foundations of Natural
18
Philosophy
Mind and body, relation of, 56 f., Positing (Setzen), 241 ff.
79. See also Spiritual sub- Pre-established harmony, 39, 73,
stances 154

Montesquieu, Baron de la Brede et Prolegomena to Any Future Meta-

de, 38 £., 39 n. physics (Prolegomena zu einer
Moral law, 192, 194, 199(0.4) jeden künftigen Metaphysik), 7,
Motherby, Elizabeth, 25, 204 13, lot
Motherby, Robert, 83 t Propaedentic discipline: Critique
of Pure Reason as a, 60, 144;
Necessity, subjective us. objective, Critique as not a, 254
144. See also A priori Punishment, 199
Newton, Isaac, 11 Pure concepts. See Categories

258 Index
 Reecard, G. C-, 44, 86 Seile (Sell), C. G., 94, 162 £.
Receptivity, 183 Sensibility, 27, 29, 59, 97, 183, 297;
Rehberg, A. W., 166-69, 212(1^2), a priori, 109. See also Space and
2I N
3( -3) time
Reichardt, J. F., 94, 121 n. 123 Servants, Kant's attitude toward,
Reid, Thomas, 135
Reinhold, Karl Leonhard, 17, 18, Setzen. See Positing
10, 27 n., 28, 29, 126(11.4), I27 Shaftesbury, Anthony Ashley
136-50, 176 £., 177 ff., 1S0, Cooper, 3d Ear! of, :or.., 68
211 f., 217, 238, 253 Smith, Norman Kemp, I2(n.i3)
Religion, 6, 14, 15, 20, 21, 26 Snow, C. P., 5
(n.30), 79-82, 107 f., 131 f., 158, Soul, 9, 56 f.
186 f., 205, 217-20 Space and dme, 6, n, 52, 61-67,
Religion innerhalb der Grenzen 74-76, 125. 141. 163* 184, 193,
der blossen Vernunft. See Reli- 195, 196 ff.
gion within the Limits of Rea- Spinoza, Baruch, 21, 40, izß(n.i),
son Alone 15S
P.eiigior. within the Limits of Rea- Spiritual substances, 9 £., 55 ff.
son Alor.e, 14, 20, 178(0.2), Stäudlin, C. F., 205 £.
205 £., 200 n., 220. Stang, Conrad, 24,224 f.
Religious reacdon to Kant's phi- Streit der Faeultäten, Der. See
losophy, 17, 19, 20, 21, 1x3-14, Strife of the Faculties
i22(n.i), 163(11.4), 186 f., 206, Strife of the Faculties, I2(n.i4),
210 £., 217-20 2:7(n.i), 239(11.7), 249!
Representations, 30, 71, 151, 176 £.; Sufficient reason, principle of, 19,
content of, 183; objectivity of, 139-42,146 £.
191, 216, 228 Sulzer, J. G., 44, 57, 97
Reuss, Maternus, 24, 222 £. Swedenborg, Emanuel, 4(11.2), xo,
Richardson, J., 31 54, 57.160
Swift, Jonathan, 107
Scheiling, F. W. J., 29 Syncretism, 158
Schiller, Friedrich, 8, 31, 209, Synthesis (Zusammensetzung,
221 f. Verknüpfung), 26, 30, 44, 51,
Schlettwein, J. A., 226 n. 112, 129, 151, 169, r8i, 183, 191,
Schmid, C. F., 17,18 195, 214, 216, 232ff.,245-48
Schrepfer, J. G., 114 Synthetic a priori judgments, 13,
Schütz, C. G., 17,18, 26 E., 119 f., 106, 141 ff., 184. See also Ana-
234 ft. lytic-synthetic distinction; Math-
Schultz, Johann, 74, 99 a., 108-13, ematics
128-31, 208, 223, 227, 229-32 Synthetic unity, 198, 215. See also
Schulze, G. E. ("Aenesidemus"), Apperception
196,215
Schwärmerei (fanaticism, enthu- Teleology, 128, 208, 22X
siasm), 159/5., 221 Tetens, J. N., 96, 103, 107

Index • 259
Thing-in-itself, t6, 26, 27, 29, 30, Vleesehauwer, Herman J. de, 31
103 n., 195,2=3 =43 (n.35)
Tieftrunk, J, H., 26, 30, 238-50. Von dem ersten Grunde des Un-
Time, 62-65, 69 t., 75, 148, 198. terschiedes der Gegenden in
See also Intuition, pure; Space Raum. See On the First Ground
and rime of the Distinction of Regions in
Todes, Samuel J., 9 n. Space
Träume eines Geistersekers, erläu- Vorländer, Karl, 24, 24 a., 32
tert durch Träume der Meta- (11.42), 163(11.4)
physik- See Dreams of a Ghost-
Seer "Explained by Dreams of
Was heisst: Sich im Denken
Metaphysics
Truth, 144 onentiren? See What Is Orien-
Turnips, 31, 252 tation in Thinking?
Wasianski, E. A. C., 32
über den Gemeinspruch: "Das Weldon, T. D., 12(0.13)
mag in der Theorie richtig sein, What Is Orientation in Thinking?,
taugt aber nicht für die 21, 121 n., 123(0.2), 158 n.
Praxis." See On the Common Wieiand, C. M., iS(n.i9), 119
Saying, "That May Be True in (n.z), 120
Theory but Not in Practice" Will, 192
über die Buchmacherei (1798), 8 Windisch-Graetz, Joseph NIcolaus
über eine Entdeckung, nach der von, X5~(n.i)
alle neue Kritik der reinen WöUner, J. C., 103(0.4), 173
Vernunft durch eine ältere ent- Wolff (or Wolf), Christian, 17, 47,
behrlich gemacht u/erden soll.
51,62(0.3), 149.132, 179(0.:)
See On a Discovery According
Wolff, Robert Paul, 12 (n.:?), 64
to Which All Critique of Pure
(n-5)
Reason Is Supposed To Be Ob-
viated by an Earlier One Wolke, C. H., 14 f„ 33-85
Ulrich, J. A. H„ 18, i26(n.3) Woltersdorf, T. C. G., 173(3.:),
Understanding, spontaneity of, 210
71, 214 t, 228 t., 240-44 Women, Kant's attitude toward,
Untersuchung über die Deutlich- 25 f., 204. See also Kant's letters
keit der Grundsätze der na- to Maria von Herbert
türlichen Theologie und Moral. Wright, Thomas, 46(11.8)
See Inquiry into the Distinctness
of the Fundamental Principles Zedlitz, K. A. von, 8, 12, 91, 92,
of Natural Theology ar.d Mords 94
Zöllner, J. F., 163(0.3)
Verbinden. See Combine Zusammensetzung. See Combina-
Verknüpfung. See Synthesis ion; Synthesis

260 Index