e imagination is superior to
the reason or the reason rules the imagination. The differences between
these two types of mind, already clearly shown in the choice of the
hypothesis, are proven in its development.

(3) The fundamental principle, indeed, must come out of its state of
involution and justify its universal validity by explaining everything.
This is the third moment, when the scientific process of verification is
replaced by a process of construction.

All imaginative metaphysics have a dynamic basis, e.g., the Platonic
_Ideas_, Leibniz' _Monadology_, the _Nature-philosophy_ of Schelling,
Schopenhauer's _Will_, and Hartmann's _Unconscious_, the mystics, the
systems that assume a world-soul, etc. Semi-abstract, semi-poetic
constructions, they are permeated with imagination not only in the
general conception, but also in the numberless details of its
application. Such are the "fulgurations" of Leibniz, those very rich
digressions of Schopenhauer, etc. They have the fascination of a work of
art as much as that of science, and this is no longer questioned by
metaphysicians themselves;[118] they are living things.

Rational metaphysics, on the other hand, have a chilly aspect, which
brings them nearer the abstract sciences. Such are most of the
mechanical conceptions, the Hegelian _Dialectic_, Spinoza's construction
_more geometrico_, the _Summa_ of the Middle Ages. These are buildings
of concepts solidly cemented together with logical relations. But art is
not wholly absent; it is seen in the systematic concatenation, in the
beautiful ordering, in the symmetry of division, in the skill with which
the generative principle is constantly brought in, in showing it
ever-present, explaining everything. It has been possible to compare
these systems with the architecture of the Gothic cathedrals, in which
the dominant idea is incessantly repeated in the numberless details of
the construction, and in the branching multiplicity of ornamentation.

Further, whatever view we adopt as to its ultimate value, it must be
recognized that the imagination of the great metaphysicians, by the
originality and fearlessness of its conceptions, by its skill in
perfecting all parts of its work, is inferior to no other form. It is
equal to the highest, if it does not indeed surpass them.

FOOTNOTES:

[109] See Part I, chapter II.

[110] Cf. the Preface to Kant's _Critique of Pure Reason_. "Our
reason ... is always troubled with quest