The aim of the _Kritik der reinen Vernunft_ is essentially the same as
that of the _Treatise of Human Nature_, by which indeed Kant was led to
develop that "critical philosophy" with which his name and fame are
indissolubly bound up: and, if the details of Kant's criticism differ
from those of Hume, they coincide with them in their main result, which
is the limitation of all knowledge of reality to the world of phenomena
revealed to us by experience.
The philosopher of Koenigsberg epitomises the philosopher of Ninewells
when he thus sums up the uses of philosophy:--
"The greatest and perhaps the sole use of all philosophy of pure
reason is, after all, merely negative, since it serves, not as an
organon for the enlargement [of knowledge], but as a discipline for
its delimitation; and instead of discovering truth, has only the
modest merit of preventing error."[17]
FOOTNOTES:
[14] In a letter to Hutcheson (September 17th, 1739) Hume
remarks:--"There are different ways of examining the mind as well as the
body. One may consider it either as an anatomist or as a painter: either
to discover its most secret springs and principles, or to describe the
grace and beauty of its actions;" and he proceeds to justify his own
mode of looking at the moral sentiments from the anatomist's point of
view.
[15] The manner in which Hume constantly refers to the results of the
observation of the contents and the processes of his own mind clearly
shows that he has here inadvertently overstated the case.
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