ABSTRACT
Values are not only independent of the things that are valuable, but are actually their prerequisite. They are that whereby things—and in the wider sense real entities and relations of every kind—possess the character of "goods"; that is, they are that through which things are valuable. The absoluteness of values and the apriority of the knowledge of them are two entirely different propositions and require separate proofs. The living values of all moral systems find their most effective, most satisfactory embodiment in concrete ideals, whether these be only free creations of the phantasy or be borrowed from living examples. The empirical ego takes upon itself the responsibility which the other lays upon it, and whatever in itself does not agree with the other it charges against itself as a failure. There is no aprioristic consciousness of them alongside of conscience, at least not in relation to one's own self.
