Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 8.djvu/684

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KARINTHIA


006


KARINTHIA


cannot clearly demonstrate that purpose. The teleolog- ical concept is, therefore, like the "ideas" (the soul, the world, God) not constitutive of our experience but regulative of it. The highest use of the a;sthetic fac- ulty is the realization of the beautiful and the pur- posive as symbols of moral good. What speculative reason fails to find in nature, namely, a beautiful, purposive order, is suggested by the esthetic judgment and fully attained by religion, which rests on the prac- tical reason.

Kant, as is well known, reduces religion to a system of conduct. He defines religion as " the acknowledg- ment that our duties are God's commandments ". He describes the essence of religion as consisting in moral- ity. Christianity is a religion and is true only in so far as it conforms to this definition. The ideal Church should be an "ethical republic "; it should discard all dogmatic definitions, accept "rational faith" as its guide in all intellectual matters, and establish the kingdom of God on earth by bringing about the reign of duty. Even the Christian law of charity must take second place to the supreme exigencies of duty. In fact, it has been remarked that Kant's idea of religion, in so far as it is at all Scriptural, is inspired more by the Old than by the New 'Testament. He maintains that those dogmas which Christianity holds sacred, such as the mystery of the Trinity, should be given an ethical interpretation, should, so to speak, be regarded as symbols of moral concepts and values. Thus "his- torical faith", he says, is the "vehicle of rational faith". For the person and character of Christ he professes the greatest admiration. Christ, he de- clares, was the exemplification of the highest moral perfection.

Critics and historians are not all agreed as to Kant's rank among philosophers. Some rate his contribu- tions to philosophy so highly that they consider his doctrines to be the culmination of all that went before him. Others, on the contrary, consider that he made a false start when he assumed in his criticism of specu- lative reason that whatever is universal and necessary in our knowledge must come from the mind itself, and not from the world of reality outside us. These oppo- nents of Kant consider, moreover, that while he pos- sessed the synthetic talent which enabled him to build up a system of thought, he was lacking in the analytic quality by which the philosopher is able to observe what actually takes place in the mind. And in a thinker who reduced all philosophy to an examination of knowledge the lack of the ability to observe what actually takes place in the mind is a serious defect. But, whatever may be our estimate of Kant as a phi- lospher, we should not undervalue his importance. Within the limits of the philosophical sciences them- selves, his thought was the starting-point for Fichte, Schelling, Hegel, and Schopenhauer; and, so far as contemporary philosophic thought in Germany is con- cerned, whatever of it is not Kantian takes for its dis- tinguishing characteristic its opposition to some point of Kantian doctrine. In England the Agnostic School from Hamilton to Spencer drew its inspiration from the negative teaching of the "Critique of Pure Rea- son ". In France the Positivism of Comte and the neo- Criticism of Renouvier had a similar origin. Kant's influence reached out beyond philosophy into various other departments of thought. In the history of the natural sciences his name is associated with that of Laplace, in the theory which accounts for the origin of the universe by a natural evolution from primitive cosmic nebula. In theology his non-dogmatic notion of religion influenced Ritschl, and his method of trans- forming doginat ic trut h into moral inspiration finds an i-clio, to s:iv the least, in the exegetical experiments of Kenan and his followers.

Some philosophers and theologians have held that the objective data on which the Catholic religion is based are incapable of proof from speculative reason,


but are demonstrable from practical reason, will, senti- ment, or vital action. That this position is, however, dangerous, is proved by recent events. The Imma- nentist movement, the Vitalism of Blondel, the anti-Scholasticism of the "Annales de philosophie chretienne", and other recent tendencies towards a non-intellectual apologetic of the Faith, have their roots in Kantism, and the condemnation they have received from ecclesiastical authority shows plainly that they have no clear title to be considered a substi- tute for the intellectualistic apologetic which has for its ground the realism of the Scholastics.

^ Kants sammiliche Werke, ed. Hartenstein (10 vols., Leip- zig, 1838-39; new ed., 1867-8); Rosenkranz and Schubert (12 vols., Leipzig, 1838-42); Kirchmann (8 vols., Berlin, 1868 — ); Prussian Academy of Science.^ (Berlin, 1902 — ).

Translations: Max Muller, Kant's Critique of Pure Reason (New York, 1896); Meiklejobn, same title (London, 1854); Prolegomena, paraphrased and translated by Mahafft and Bernard (London, 1874; 2nd ed., 1889); Abbott, Crititjue of Practical Reason (London, 1879; 4th ed., 1SS9); Watson, Selec- tions (London, 1888; new ed., 1901).

The literature on Kant is abundant. Out of the many exposi- tory works, the following are to be named: Caird, Critical Philosophy of Kant (2 vols.. London. 1889); Wallace, Kant in Blackwood's Philosophical Classics (Edinburgh, 1892); Green, Lectures on the Philosophy of Kant (London, 1893) in Works, ed. Nettleship, II, 2-155; Watson, Kant and His English Critics (London. 1888); Idem, The Philosophy of Kant Explained (Glas- gow, 1908). In German: Paulsen, Immanuel Kant sein Leben u. seine Lehre (3rd ed., 1899). In French: Ruyssen, Kant in Grand Philosophes (Paris, 1900).

Leclere, Le mouvement catholique kantien en France in Kant Studien, HI, ii and iii (reprinted, Paris, 1902); and Fontaine, Les infiltrations kantiennes, etc. (Paris, 1902), give an account of the influence of Kant on contemporary Catholic thought.

William Turner.

Karinthia (Carantanum; Slovene, Korosko; Germ. K.\rnten), a crownland in the Austrian Em- pire, bounded on the east by Styria (Stajersko), on the north by Styria and Salzburg, on the west by the Tyrol, and on the south by Italy, Gorz, and Krain; area, 40,006 sq. miles; population, .370,000, of whom 65 per cent are Germans or germanized Slovenes, the remaining 35 per cent being true Slovenes. In re- ligion 95 per cent of the inhabitants are Catholics. The country divides itself naturally into Upper and Lower Karinthia ; to the former belongs the beautiful mountain and lake region west of Beljak or Villach; to the latter, the valley of Celovec bordered by the wooded uplands of the Noric and Carnic Alps, or Karavanken (Grintavci). The climate is cold and raw owing to the glacier-capped mountains which hem it in to the south; in the summer, the temperature rises as high as 79°, and in the winter varies from 27° above to 22° below zero. In the summer, fogs cover the northern and southern valleys; storms and hail are prevalent in the interior. The highest moun- tains are Veliki Zvon or Gross Glockner, 12,444 feet high, with its glacier Pasterica; and Mali Zvon, 12,236 feet. The principal river is the Drave, which flows through the length of the crownland from w'est to east, and receives the waters of many streams. The Bela, with its magnificent falls, flows into the Tagliamento. In the watershed of the Bela there is a famed place of pilgrimage, known as Holy Blood. There are also many lakes which play an important part in the economy of the province as waterways; and the picturesqueness of those in the north-east especially, is a continual attraction to tourists. There are mineral and hot springs in Prebela, St. Lenart, Do- brava, Bela, and 'Teplitz near Beljak. In the valley of Levant or "Koro^ki vrt", grain is cultivated in abundance; cattle raising is important; oats, rye, wheat, barley, potatoes and flax are grown, and there is some trade in vines and silkworms. Mines of lead, zinc, iron, and coal are actively worked; wood-carving and weaving are carried on extensively. Silver and gold are found in the vicinily of Beljak, copper at Lo.'Sanah, sulphur at Sehiittlnirli. The coimtry is in- tersected by railways and highways along the Drave