SchellingandCousinhadtakenupKant’schallenge，notbyinferringthesimplebeingfromthecomplexofexperiences，butbyprofessingtoshowhowmultiplicitymightbeevolvedoutofabsolutesimplicity。Thisfeat，asHamiltonheld，andasMillofcourseheldwithhim，couldonlybeaccomplishedbyapalpablejuggle。Clearlyyoucannotcount，ifyouarerestrictedtotheuseofanabsolute’one。’Thegermfromwhichanorganicsystemisdevelopedcannotbeitselfabsolutelysimple。Knowledgecanonlybemadeoutofrules；andasimple’is’givesnorule。
Hamiltontriestoexpresstheprincipleimpliedinsuchinstancesintheproperpompofmetaphysicallanguage。Cousinstartsbyadmittingthatknowledgesupposes’plurality，’thatis，anobjectandasubject。Now，saysHamilton，82*the’absolute’mustbeidentifiedwiththesubjectorwiththeobject，orwiththe’indifferencyofboth’whateverthatmaybe。Onthefirstorsecondhypothesis，theabsoluteisnot，asitoughttobe，aunit，foritisoneofapair；ontheotherhypothesis，yousupposethatconsciousnessdoesnotimplyplurality。Aman，letussayinhumblerlanguage，ifhethinks，mustthinkaboutsomething。Ifso，westartfromamanandasomething。Butsupposehimtothinkabouthimself。Thentheremustbesomethingtosayabouthimself；andhewillhavenothingtosayifheisabsolutelysimple。Thatseemstobetrueenough。Everypropositionassertsarelationofsomekind，andapropositioncannotbegotatallifnorelationbegiven。This，therefore，isonemeaningofthe’relativity’ofthought。’Tothinkisthecondition’；thatis，youcannotaffirmordenyunlessyoudenyoraffirmsomething。Ifyoutrythentogettotheabsolutebystrippingoffallrelations，youreallygettozero。Wethinkonlybytheattributionofcertainqualities，andthenegationofthesequalitiesandofthisattributionissofaranegationofthinkingatall。Kant’sargumentsdulycarriedoutprove’theunconditioned，’saysHamilton，tobeamere’fasciculusofnegations。’83*Clearly，wereply，iftheunconditionedisreachedbyunsayingallthatwehavesaid。Aplainpersonis，indeed，chieflyastonishedthatsuchargumentsshouldberequired。Schelling’ssystem，saysHamiltonhimself，isonlyfitfor’LaputaontheEmpire，’84*butSchellingatleastinventedasupernaturalfacultytoperceivean’incogitable’hypothesis。
Cousin’shypothesis，whichtriedtoomitthisfaculty，isworse，foritisself-contradictory。85*ThespectacleofthreeofthemostdistinguishedmeninGermany，France，andEnglandjoininginthisgame，andevenofHamiltonwinninga’Europeanreputation’
bydeclaringthatwecannotbelievetwocontradictorypropositionsatonce，ormakesomethingoutofnothing，isnotedifyingtoabelieverinphilosophy。
V。ANTINOMIES