| Following this, Kant argued we were only capable of perceiving phenomenon, or appearances, while the noumena, or spiritual essence, lay eternally beyond our reach. |
| We may not therefore assert the existence of noumena, but we must none the less form to ourselves the concept of them. |
| Kant insisted that we can never know the noumena, for we can never get beyond phenomena. |
| For the skeptics, Kant's distinction between phenomena and noumena was redolent of earlier metaphysics. |
| The noumena are the external sources of experience that are not themselves knowable and can only be inferred from experience of specific moments, of deep spiritual phenomena. |
| In other words, it attempts to form a positive conception of noumena. |
