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312 THE WILL IN NATURE.
in them, i.e. the higher they stand on the scale of beings ;
whereas, they become more and more comprehensible
the smaller the amount of their empirical content, be
cause they remain more and more within the sphere of
mere representation, the forms of which, known to us a.
priori, are the principle of comprehensibility. Accordingly,
it is only so long as we limit ourselves to this sphere
that is to say, only when we have before us mere repre
sentation, mere form without empirical content that our
comprehension is complete and thorough : that is, in the
a priori sciences, Arithmetic, Geometry, Phoronorny and
Logic.
Here everything is in the highest degree compre
hensible; our insight is quite clear and satisfactory: it
leaves nothing to be desired, since we are even unable to
conceive that anything could be otherwise than it is. This
comes from our having here exclusively to do with the
forms of our own intellect. Thus the more we are able to
comprehend in a relation, the more it consists of mere
phenomenon and the less it has to do with the thing in
itself. Applied Mathematics, Mechanics, Hydraulics, &c.
&c., deal with the lowest degrees of objectification of the
will, in which the largest part still remains within the
sphere of mere representation ;
nevertheless even here there
is already an empirical element which stands in the way of
entire comprehension, which makes the transparency less
complete, and in which the inexplicable shows itself. For
the same reason, only few departments of Physics and of
Chemistry continue to admit of a mathematical treat
ment ; whereas higher up in the scale of beings this has to
be entirely done away with, precisely because of the pre
ponderance of content over form in these phenomena. This
content is will, the a posteriori, the thing in itself, the free,
the causeless. Under the heading
have shown how in beings that live and have knowledge
"
Physiology of Plants," I
motive and act of will, representation and volition, separate