System of Transcendental Idealism

XIII

Proofs, simply because they are idealistic, would not advance actual knowledge by a single step; for it is well known that a teleological explanation; an explanation based on an object's purpose or "end goal" rather than its physical causes (teleologische Erklärung) of an object can teach me absolutely nothing about its actual origin.

The truths of practical philosophy; the branch of philosophy dealing with ethics, will, and human action (practische Philosophie) can only appear as intermediate links: transitional stages or logical steps within a larger philosophical chain within a system of transcendental idealism; the theory that the mind provides the necessary structure for our experience of reality (transcendentaler Idealismus) itself. What truly falls under the domain of this system from practical philosophy is only its "objective" side—which, in its most general form, is History. In a system of idealism, history demands to be transcendentally deduced; logically proven to be a necessary condition of our consciousness (transscendental deducirt) just as much as the "objective of the first order," which is Nature. This deduction of history leads simultaneously to the proof that what we regard as the ultimate ground of the harmo— The text cuts off here and continues on the next page, likely referring to the "harmony" between nature and freedom.