第 49 节
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匆匆 更新:2021-02-27 02:11 字数:9322
determinatenesses and accepts only such cognition as a valid comprehension。 As end is the
Notion itself in its Existence; it may seem strange that the cognition of objects from their Notion
appears rather as an unjustified trespass into a heterogeneous element; whereas mechanism; for
which the determinateness of an object is a determinateness posited in it externally and by another
object; is held to be a more immanent point of view than teleology。 Of course mechanism; at
least the ordinary unfree mechanism; and also chemism。; must be regarded as an immanent
principle in so far as the external determinant is itself again just such another object; externally
determined and indifferent to such determining; or; in the case of chemism; the other object is one
likewise chemically determined; in general; an essential moment of the totality always lies in
something outside it。 These principles therefore remain confined within the same natural form of
finitude; yet though they do not seek to go beyond the finite and lead only to finite causes in their
explanation of phenomena; which themselves demand a further progress; at the same time they
expand themselves; partly into a formal totality in the concept of force; cause; and similar
determinations of reflection which are supposed to denote a primariness; and partly also through
the abstract universality of a sum total of forces; a whole of reciprocal causes。 Mechanism
shows itself to be a striving for totality in the fact that it seeks to grasp nature by itself as a whole
that for its Notion does not require any other…a totality that is not found in end and the
extra…mundane intelligence associated with it。
Now purposiveness shows itself in the first instance as a higher being in general; as an
intelligence that externally determines the multiplicity of objects by a unity that exists in and for
itself; so that the indifferent determinatenesses of the objects become essential through this
relation。 In mechanism they become so through the mere form of necessity; their content being
indifferent; for they are supposed to remain external; and it is only understanding as such that is
supposed to find satisfaction in cognising its own connective principle; abstract identity。 In
teleology; on the contrary; the content becomes important; for teleology presupposes a Notion;
something absolutely determined and therefore self…determining; and so has made a distinction
between the relation of the differences and their reciprocal determinedness; that is the form; and
the unity that is reflected into itself; a unity that is determined in and for itself and therefore
a content。 But when the content is otherwise a finite and insignificant one; it contradicts what it is
supposed to be; for end; according to its form; is a totality infinite within itself…especially when
the activity that operates in accordance with ends is assumed to be an absolute will and
intelligence。 The reason why teleology has incurred so much the reproach of triviality is that the
ends that it exhibited are more important or more trivial; as the case may be; and it was inevitable
that the end relation of objects should so often appear trifling; since it appears to be so external
and therefore contingent。 Mechanism; on the contrary; leaves to the determinatenesses of objects;
as regards their import; their contingent status; to which the object is indifferent; and these
determinatenesses are not supposed to have; either for the objects or for the subjective
intelligence; any higher validity。 This principle; therefore; in its context of external necessity gives
the consciousness of infinite freedom as compared with teleology; which sets up for something
absolute what is trivial and even contemptible in its content; in which the more universal thought
can only find itself infinitely cramped and even feel disgusted。
The formal disadvantage from which this teleology immediately suffers is that it only goes as far as
external purpositeness。 The Notion being thus posited as something formal; then for such
teleology the content is also something that for the Notion is given externally in the manifoldness of
the objective world…in those very determinatenesses which are also the content of mechanism; but
appearing there as something external and contingent。 On account of this community of content; it
is solely the form of purposiveness by itself that constitutes what is essential in this teleology。 In
this respect; without as yet attending to the difference of outer and inner purposiveness; the
end…relation in general has proved itself to be in and for itself the truth of mechanism。 Teleology
possesses in general the higher principle; the Notion in its Existence; which is in and for itself the
infinite and absolute…a principle of freedom that in the utter certainty of its self…determination is
absolutely liberated from the external determining of mechanism。
One of Kant's great services to philosophy consists in the distinction he has made between relative
or external; and internal purposiveness; in the latter he has opened up the Notion of life; the
Idea; and by so doing has done positively for philosophy what the Critique of Pure Reason did
but imperfectly; equivocally; and only negatively; namely; raised it above the determinations of
reflection and the relative world of metaphysics。 It has been remarked that the opposition of
teleology and mechanism is in the first instance the more general opposition of freedom and
necessity。 Kant has exhibited the opposition in this form among the antinomies of reason; namely;
as the third conflict of the transcendental ideas。 His exposition; which was referred to earlier; I
cite quite briefly; as the gist of it is so simple as to require no detailed analysis; and the peculiar
features of the Kantian antinomies have been elucidated in more detail elsewhere。
The thesis of the antinomy here to be considered runs thus: Causality according to natural laws is
not the sole causality from which the phenomena of the world can one and all be derived。 For their
explanation a causality through freedom must be assumed as well。
The antithesis is: There is no freedom; but everything in the world happens solely according to
natural laws。
As in the case of the other antinomies; the proof first sets to work apagogically; the opposite of
each thesis being assumed; secondly and conversely in order to show the contradictory nature of
this assumption; its opposite; which is accordingly the proposition to be proved; is assumed and
presupposed as valid。 The whole roundabout method of proof could therefore be spared; the
proof consists in nothing but the assertorical affirmation of the two opposed propositions。
Thus in order to prove the thesis we have first to assume that there is no other causality than that
according to natural laws; that is; according to the necessity of mechanism in general; including
chemism。 This proposition w e find to be selfcontradictory; because we take natural law to consist
just in this; that nothing happens without a cause sufficiently determined a priori; which cause
therefore must contain an absolute spontaneity within itself; that is; the assumption opposed to the
thesis is contradictory because it contradicts the thesis。
In order to prove the antithesis; we are to postulate that there exists a freedom; as a particular
kind of causality; that absolutely initiates a state of things and therefore also a series of
consequences of that state。 But now; since such a beginning presupposes a state that has no
causal connection whatever with its predecessor; it contradicts the law of causality which alone
makes unity of experience; and experience at all; possible; in other words the assumption of
freedom; which is opposed to the antithesis; cannot be made because it contradicts the antithesis。
What is essentially the same antinomy recurs in the Critique of Teleological judgment as the
opposition between the assertion that all production of material things takes place according
to merely mechanical laws and the assertion that some cases of production of material things
according to such laws are not possible。 The Kantian solution of this antinomy is the same as
the general solution of the others; namely that reason can prove neither the one proposition nor the
other; because we cannot have a priori any determining principle of the possibility of things
according to merely empirical natural laws; that further; therefore; both must be regarded not as
objective propositions but as subjective maxims; that on the one hand I am always to reflect
on all natural events according to the principle of natural mechanism alone; but that this does not
prevent me; when occasion demands it; from investigating certain natural forms in accordance
with another maxim; namely; on the principle of final causes; as though now these two maxims;
which moreover are supposed to be necessary only for human reason; did not stand in the same
opposition as the propositions in question。 As was remarked before; this whole standpoint fails to
examine the sole question to which philosophic interest demands an answer; namely; which of the
two p