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turned him against sensationalism. It was also what enabled him to see that no
general description of existence is possible, which is perhaps the most valuable
proposition that the Critic contains.
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A thing may be said to be wherever it acts; but the notion that a particle is
absolutely present in one part of space and absolutely absent from all the rest
of space is devoid of all foundation. In like manner, the idea that we can
immediately perceive only what is present seems to be founded on our
ordinary experience that we cannot recall and reexamine the events of
yesterday nor know otherwise than by inference what is to happen tomorrow.
Obviously, then, the first move toward beating idealism at its own game is to
remark that we apprehend our own ideas only as flowing in time, and since
neither the future nor the past, however near they may be, is present, there is
as much difficulty in conceiving our perception of what passes within us as in
conceiving external perception. If so, replies the idealist, instead of giving up
idealism we must go still further to nihilism.
If we endeavor to form our conceptions upon history and life, we remark three
classes of men. The first consists of those for whom the chief thing is the
qualities of feelings. These men create art. The second consists of the practical
men, who carry on the business of the world. They respect nothing but power,
and respect power only so far as it [is] exercized. The third class consists of
men to whom nothing seems great but reason. If force interests them, it is not
in its exertion, but in that it has a reason and a law. For men of the first class,
nature is a picture; for men of the second class, it is an opportunity; for men of
the third class, it is a cosmos, so admirable, that to penetrate to its ways
seems to them the only thing that makes life worth living.