Chapter 30

The psychological laws of the rational principle
which correspond to the cosmological laws in general

1599. The action of the rational principle results from a combination of its activity with the lucidity of the object and the stimulus provided by the world. The former combination, we note, contains an element of ontological origin, an element of cosmological origin and an element of psychological origin. Determining which part is of psychological origin and which part of some other origin is difficult because every rational action has two terms, the object and the extrasubjective world, which are the cause of the action. No full discussion of the soul's ontological and cosmological laws therefore could take place without mention of the psychological laws. However, to avoid repetition in the necessary discussion about psychological laws which relate to the cosmic term, I will either omit what has been said or mention it briefly for the sake of continuity in reasoning.

The psychological laws corresponding to the cosmological laws divide into those governing speculative reason and those governing practical reason. I begin with the former.