PROPOSITION VI.

The concept of merely possible Being is partly negative, partly positive.

A simple declaration of what is meant by merely possible Being will suffice to render the truth of this position evident. For all men understand, by merely possible Being, something which is capable of existing, but does not actually exist. The former part of this description is positive; the latter, negative.

Now, as the object of the present inquiry is, to discover what a merely possible Essence is, ontologically and independently of the mode of conceiving it, that is, what is its objective basis, if there be one; the negative part of the concept may be laid aside. Wherefore,