Metaphysics: A Study in First Principles

Philosophy, as a special form of mental activity, seeks to answer these two questions: How is knowledge possible? What is the true nature of reality? The first question deals with the knowing subject and his relation to the object. The aim is to give an exposition and a theory of the knowing process and to unfold its implications. The second question deals with the nature of the object viewed as a thing in itself. The first question belongs to the theory of knowledge; the second belongs to metaphysics.

By metaphysics, then, we do not mean philosophy in gener^l, but an inquiry into the nature and laws of reality. But the task thus set needs further limitation; for all the objective sciences are trying to solve the same problem to a greater or less degree. To limit the problem, we offer the following exposition: Consciousness reveals two orders of mental action — an order of impressions and an order of reason. The former order is determined partly from without and partly by the laws of association^ The latter order is determined from within by the laws of thought itself. Now the constant effort of thought is to reduce the order of impressions to the order of thought, or to rationalize its sense-experiences. It reaches this result by building its sensations into a thought-system according to certain rational