The Star in the West

THE NEW WINE 225 nature .” On this despairing position of Hume , Kant bases his à priori. BERKELEY AND HUME Thus Hume arrives at the conclusion that all rela tionships between cause and effect are based on ex perience , and behind experience there is , “ a certain unknown and inexplicable something ." ? So also does Berkeley in the “ Three Dialogues " end in a similar quandary which he calls “ God." Starting out on his quest by stating : “ Can any doctrine be true that necessarily leads a man into an absurdity ? " ; he promptly proceeds to travel along that road which he has warned others not to follow , and , having com pletely lost his way , and overloaded his thoughts with the darkness of night , finding it impossible to continue his journey , knocks at the creaky door of a miserable tavern , and regaling himself on the common wine of that strange country in which he has wandered , pro claims the hour of noon as the clock strikes midnight . “ I conclude,” states Philonous , “ not that they sensible things have no real existence , but that , see ing they depend not on my thought , and have an ex istence distinct from being perceived by me, there must be some other mind wherein they exist. As sure , there fore, as the sensible world really exists , so sure is there an infinite omnipresent Spirit who contains and supports it . " ' Midnight is striking, and we once again begin the eternal ( and infernal ) chain A , B , A , B , A , B. | Three Dialogues , p. 29. 3 Ibid . p. 18. Q ? Ibid . p. 165. 4 Ibid . p. 65.