Abstract

At first glance, Kant’s philosophy seems to be the most important component of the system presented in Tertium Organum: both ontology and epistemology presented in this book are derived by P. Ouspensky from Kant’s doctrine of space and time and related ideas. However, a closer look reveals that Kant’s philosophy is critical only for the presentation of the system that Ouspensky constructs in Tertium Organum, primarily to make this system appear rational, based not on revelation or mystical insight, but on a consistently constructed system of rational, logically consistent arguments. As for the content of this system, it is possible to state it without referring to Kant’s ideas and terminology. Ouspensky himself recognizes this, claiming that this system had already been outlined many times before him in antiquity. This does not mean that Kant’s philosophy for Ouspensky is only a means of presenting his views. Rather, such a place for Kant’s philosophy is not so much the result of Ouspensky’s own conscious position as an objective consequence of the characteristics of the system he constructs in Tertium Organum.