The Star in the West

228 THE STAR IN THE WEST the object is unknowable per se , the subject is also unknowable per se , because they both vary , conse quently ontology is impossible . But the laws and forms of thoughts are universal and irrefragable , and form an unalterable standard of certainty whereby knowledge may be increased . A priori laws are not derived from experience , but belong to the inherent structure of the mind . Kant then sets himself to answer the question : How are synthetic judge ments à priori possible ? And his answer is :-Unless cognitions are synthetical they can add nothing to our previous knowledge, unless à priori they cannot be universal , unless universal they cannot be apodictic ally true . Kant's reasoning runs as follows : Firstly , there is a sensibility, a power of being affected by objects , a passive faculty ; secondly , an understanding, a faculty recognizing the affectations of the sensibility, this is active , and responds to stimulation . The sensi bility , however , has its laws , and to discover them , we must separate those which are multiple from those which are one . The objects are variable , the passive functions of the mind remain invariable , the multiple he calls the material , the invariable he christens form --- Space and Time . Space and Time are therefore the indispensable conditions of all sensation , and according to Kant are not deducible from experience , consequently they are à priori . The understanding , similarly as the sensi bility , possesses certain forms called judgements , of which there are four classes : “ quantity , quality , rela tion , and modality ." These are the à priori categories of the understanding , and they are synthetic . This à priori ( Crowleyanity affirms ) is no innate in tuition at all , in fact merely an abstraction from ex