244. Thus far we have encountered no difficulty, because we have treated only of evidence subjectively considered, that is, as relating to pure conceptions; but the intellect does not stop with the conception, but extends to the object, and says not only that it sees the thing, but that the thing is as it sees it. Thus the principle of contradiction, considered in the purely subjective order, means that the conception of being is opposed to that of not-being, which destroys it, just as the conception of being destroys that of not-being; it means, that in endeavoring to conceive jointly these two things, and to make them co-exist, a sort of struggle of thoughts, reciprocally annihilating each other, takes place in the depths of our soul,--a struggle which the understanding is condemned to witness without hope of establishing peace between the combatants. If we confine ourselves to this phenomenon, no objection can be made. We experience it, and there is no further question about it; but in announcing the principle, we would announce something more than the incompatibility of the conceptions; we would transfer this incompatibility to the things themselves, and assert that not only our own conceptions, but also all real and possible beings are subjected to this law. Whatever be the object of which we treat, whatever the conditions under which we suppose it existent or possible, we say that while it is, it cannot not be; and while it is not it cannot be. We affirm, then, the law of contradiction, not only for our own conceptions, but also for things themselves; the intellect applies to every thing the law which it finds necessary to itself. By what right? An incontestible right, for it is the law of necessity. With what reason? With none, for we are now at the foundation of reason; this is the _ne plus ultra_ of the human understanding; philosophy can go no farther. Let us not, however, be thought to abandon the field to skeptics, or to entrench ourselves in necessity, contented with pointing out a fact of our nature. The question is susceptible of different solutions, which may not, indeed, go beyond the _ne plus ultra_ of our mind, but which yet leaves the cause of skepticism in great straits. 245. To ask why the criterion of evidence is legitimate, is to ask why this proposition is true: "whatever is evident is true;" it is to raise the question of the objectiveness of ideas. The fundamental difference between dogmatists and skeptics, is not that the latter deny the facts of consciousness,--the most refined skepticism has not come to this, and both agree in recognizing the purely subjective appearance of phenomena; but it is that dogmatists found science on consciousness, and skeptics maintain that this is an illegitimate transition, and that we must despair of science, and confine ourselves to mere consciousness.