Philosophy as Thinking the World According to the Principle of Least Effort

To state immediately at this point in a few words what grounds this opposition has proven to be difficult; however, there is no space here for a lengthy discussion. Such a more detailed illumination of the relationship to Kant developed hereafter, and to the problem of knowledge in general in the way it is handed down in philosophy, as well as a finally supplementary reference to the theories of being and development of post-Kantian philosophy and natural science—all these and similar comparisons and classifications, however instructive and stimulating they may be, must be left to a later and more extensive work, which will then also have to treat the problems of self-consciousness, space, and time specifically. The more practiced eye will, however, already find significant hints regarding the direction that the discussion of all these questions will take within what is given. For the initial introduction of the view set down here into that universal, never-ending discussion which one calls "science"—for these Prolegomena—the desire was decisive to present the highly interrelated material with the greatest possible limitation to the main thoughts and, in form, at the same time to do as much justice as possible to the demands which arose from the principle itself. Thus, not only was the restraint exercised to avoid all polemics, even the most immediate ones, which—as a stretchable addition, combined with a much-beloved scholarly ornamentation—could easily have allowed the modest booklet to grow into a tolerably imposing volume; but everything was also conscientiously considered which, although grounding and confirming, was not required as directly and urgently, and could therefore be dealt with in a short remark or omitted entirely.