Now I maintain that all attempts of reason to establish a theology by the aid of speculation alone are fruitless, that the principles of reason as applied to nature do not conduct us to any theological truths, and, consequently, that a rational theology can have no existence, unless it is founded upon the laws of morality.For all synthetical principles of the understanding are valid only as immanent in experience; while the cognition of a Supreme Being necessitates their being employed transcendentally, and of this the understanding is quite incapable.If the empirical law of causality is to conduct us to a Supreme Being, this being must belong to the chain of empirical objects- in which case it would be, like all phenomena, itself conditioned.If the possibility of passing the limits of experience be admitted, by means of the dynamical law of the relation of an effect to its cause, what kind of conception shall we obtain by this procedure? Certainly not the conception of a Supreme Being, because experience never presents us with the greatest of all possible effects, and it is only an effect of this character that could witness to the existence of a corresponding cause.If, for the purpose of fully satisfying the requirements of Reason, we recognize her right to assert the existence of a perfect and absolutely necessary being, this can be admitted only from favour, and cannot be regarded as the result or irresistible demonstration.The physico-theological proof may add weight to others- if other proofs there are- by connecting speculation with experience; but in itself it rather prepares the mind for theological cognition, and gives it a right and natural direction, than establishes a sure foundation for theology.
It is now perfectly evident that transcendental questions admit only of transcendental answers- those presented a priori by pure conceptions without the least empirical admixture.But the question in the present case is evidently synthetical- it aims at the extension of our cognition beyond the bounds of experience- it requires an assurance respecting the existence of a being corresponding with the idea in our minds, to which no experience can ever be adequate.Now it has been abundantly proved that all a priori synthetical cognition is possible only as the expression of the formal conditions of a possible experience; and that the validity of all principles depends upon their immanence in the field of experience, that is, their relation to objects of empirical cognition or phenomena.Thus all transcendental procedure in reference to speculative theology is without result.
If any one prefers doubting the conclusiveness of the proofs of our analytic to losing the persuasion of the validity of these old and time honoured arguments, he at least cannot decline answering the question- how he can pass the limits of all possible experience by the help of mere ideas.If he talks of new arguments, or of improvements upon old arguments, I request him to spare me.There is certainly no great choice in this sphere of discussion, as all speculative arguments must at last look for support to the ontological, and Ihave, therefore, very little to fear from the argumentative fecundity of the dogmatical defenders of a non-sensuous reason.
Without looking upon myself as a remarkably combative person, Ishall not decline the challenge to detect the fallacy and destroy the pretensions of every attempt of speculative theology.And yet the hope of better fortune never deserts those who are accustomed to the dogmatical mode of procedure.I shall, therefore, restrict myself to the simple and equitable demand that such reasoners will demonstrate, from the nature of the human mind as well as from that of the other sources of knowledge, how we are to proceed to extend our cognition completely a priori, and to carry it to that point where experience abandons us, and no means exist of guaranteeing the objective reality of our conceptions.In whatever way the understanding may have attained to a conception, the existence of the object of the conception cannot be discovered in it by analysis, because the cognition of the existence of the object depends upon the object's being posited and given in itself apart from the conception.But it is utterly impossible to go beyond our conception, without the aid of experience- which presents to the mind nothing but phenomena, or to attain by the help of mere conceptions to a conviction of the existence of new kinds of objects or supernatural beings.
But although pure speculative reason is far from sufficient to demonstrate the existence of a Supreme Being, it is of the highest utility in correcting our conception of this being- on the supposition that we can attain to the cognition of it by some other means- in making it consistent with itself and with all other conceptions of intelligible objects, clearing it from all that is incompatible with the conception of an ens summun, and eliminating from it all limitations or admixtures of empirical elements.
