A Palingenesis and Its Consequences 161tures that this was the very name that was used by Sextus Empiricus to re¬
fer to the "skeptic discipline.^66 Though Kant did not seem to want to deny
that philosophy can become dogmatic, he did not suggest that it had be¬
come so to any large extent. He was already fairly certain as to why meta¬
physics was "still so imperfect and insecure." Philosophers misunderstood
its characteristic method. It is not synthetic, as commonly supposed, but
analytic.^67 This is as true of metaphysics as it is of ethics. Indeed, Kant
argued that though ethics has a better reputation than metaphysics, it was
just as imperfect. It may appear more thorough because the human heart,
or sentiment, tells us what is right and wrong before we have thought about
it. However, these distinctions have not been drawn very clearly. Therefore,
we should be just as skeptical about ethics as we are about metaphysics.
His lectures in metaphysics began with a short introduction into "em¬
pirical psychology," followed by a discussion of material nature. He then
went on to present ontology as the "science of the universal attributes of
objects," and the difference between immaterial and material being, pay¬
ing special attention to rational psychology. Finally, he considered the cause
of all things or the "science of God and the world." The order was dic¬
tated by Kant's pedagogic concerns. The young students were to be intro¬
duced first into particular matters of interest to anyone, and only afterwards
into the more difficult abstract metaphysical theories. Kant thought that
this had the added benefit that a student who lost interest after empirical
psychology would at least have learned something that would be useful in
life.^68 Logic, according to the "Announcement," can be treated in two ways -
either as a critique and law of common sense, or as a critique and law of
science. Kant claimed he would treat it in the first way, so that it would be
useful in the daily life of his students. Moral philosophy deals not only
with what should be done, but also with what actually takes place. It has an
anthropological basis, which deals with the nature of man "that always
remains." Physical geography is meant to give the students knowledge of
geography in the widest sense of the word, and thus to help them under¬
stand their place in the world. All the lectures had a clear practical peda¬
gogical objective. Kant claimed that he wanted to make a difference in the
lives of his students, to teach them something useful. For this reason, he
wanted to make himself understood.
One of the most important of his students during the period between
1764 and 1769 was Marcus Herz (1747-1803). He was born in Berlin as the
son of a synagogue scribe. After studying the Talmud, he went to Königs¬
berg in 1762 to become an apprentice at the house of Joachim Moses
Friedländer, a banker and merchant of some standing. Königsberg had one