8
INSTITUTES OF METAPHYSIC.
First, it is explained (§§ 14-31) by philosophy not being reasoned.stance, namely, that philosophy is not reasoned. What is meant by "reasoned" can scarcely be well explained except by the thing itself being done. The body of this work, therefore, is referred to for a practical and detailed exemplification of the term. Any general observations would probably teach the reader nothing but what he already knows, and would only retard, without enlightening his progress. Strict reasoning, like everything else, is best explained, not by being explained, but by being done. The unsatisfactory state, then, of philosophy is to be accounted for generally by the circumstance that philosophy is not reasoned.
No good can be expected so long as philosophy is not reasoned.§ 15. So long as philosophy is not strictly reasoned out from the very beginning, no cessation of controversy can be expected; and not only can no armistice be expected—nothing but misunderstandings can prevail. All the captains are sailing on different tacks, under different orders, and under different winds; and each is railing at the others, because they will not keep the same course with himself. More than that,—there is not a single controversy in philosophy in which the antagonists are playing at the same game. The one man is playing at chess, his adversary is playing against him at billiards; and whenever a victory is achieved, or a defeat sustained, it is always such a victory as a billiard-player might be supposed to gain over a chess-