INDIVIDUAL AND INTELLECTUAL PHENOMENA EXPLAINED BY THE UNIVERSAL
SUBSISTING REASON.
172. Starting from the phenomena observable in individual reason,
we have arrived at universal reason. Let us, so to speak, make the
counterproof; taking this universal subsisting reason, let us see if
individual reason in itself and in its phenomena can be explained by it.
I. What are necessary truths? They are the relations of beings, such
as they are represented in the being which contains the plenitude of
being. These necessary truths, then, stand in need of no individual
finite reason; their reason is found in an infinite being.
II. The essence of all beings, abstracted from all particular beings,
is something real, not in itself, and separately, but in the being
which contains the plenitude of every thing.
III. On this supposition science is not full of empty words, nor of
mere creations of our reason, but of necessary relations represented in
a necessary being, and known by it from all eternity.
IV. Science is possible; there is some necessity in contingent objects;
their destruction does not destroy the eternal types of all being, the
only object of science.
V. All individual reason, sprung from the same source, participates in
one same light, lives one same life, has one and the same patrimony, is
indivisible in the creative principle, but divisible in creatures. The
unity, then, or rather the uniformity or community of human reason is
possible, is necessary.
VI. The reason, then, of all men is united by the infinite
intelligence: God then is in us; and the most profound philosophical
truth is contained in these words of the Apostle: "In ipso vivimus,
movemur, et sumus."
VII. All philosophy, therefore, which seeks to explain reason, by
isolating it, considers only particular phenomena unconnected by a
general bond, pretends to construct the magnificent fabric of our
reason upon particular facts alone, but does not appeal to a common
origin, to one source of light whence all lights have sprung, is
a false philosophy, is superficial, at war with theory, and in
contradiction with facts. When we reflect upon this, we can but pity
Locke, and still more Condillac, and their explanations of human reason
by sensations alone.
VIII. Thus we understand why we cannot give the reason of many things;
we see them; they are thus: they are necessary; more we cannot say. A
triangle is not a circle: what reason can we assign for this? None!
It is so; this is all. But why? Because there does actually exist an
immediate necessity in the relation represented in the infinite being,
which is truth by essence. The same infinite intelligence sees no
greater reason of itself, than in itself. It finds every thing, and
the relations of all things in the plenitude of its being; but beyond
them is nothing. He gave to individual reason, when creating it, an
intuition of these relations: no discursion proves them; we see them;
this is all.
IX. Some even who admit the subjective value of ideas, either doubting
or denying their objectivity, lose sight of this fact. They seek an
argument, where there is need only of a vision; they demand degrees
where there are none. When human reason sees certain truths, it
cannot go farther and doubt of them. It is subject to a primitive
law of its nature, which it cannot abstract without ceasing to be
what it is. By the very act of seeing the object it is sure of it;
the difference between subjectivity and objectivity falls within the
space of inferences, but not within that of immediate reason, or the
understanding of necessary truths.
173. We leave it to the reader's judgment whether the preceding
explanation is more satisfactory than that by _impersonal reason_;
the theory we have attempted to expound has been held by all the most
eminent metaphysicians. With God, all is clear; without God, all is
a chaos. This is true in the order of facts, and not less so in the
order of ideas. Our perception is also a fact; our ideas likewise are
facts; over all presides an admirable order; a chain which cannot be
destroyed unites all; but neither this order nor this chain depends
upon this. The word _reason_ has a profound meaning, for it refers
to the infinite intelligence. What is true for the reason of one man
cannot be false for the reason of another; there are, independently
of all communication among human minds, and of all intuition, truths
necessary for all. We must, if we would explain this unity, rise above
ourselves, must elevate ourselves to that great unity in which every
thing originates, and to which every thing tends.
174. This point of view is high, but it is the only one; if we depart
from it we can see nothing, but are forced to use unmeaning words.
Sublime and consoling thought! Although man disputes upon God, and
perhaps denies him, he has God in his understanding, in his ideas,
in all that he is, in all that he thinks; the power of perception
communicates God to him; objective truth is founded on God; he cannot
affirm a single truth without affirming a thing represented in God.
This intimate communication of the finite with the infinite, is one
of the most certain truths of metaphysics. Although ideological
investigations should produce no other result than the discovery of
so important a truth, we ought to consider the time spent in them well
improved.