康德在《萬物的終結》中明確區分了時間意義上的永恆和非時間意義上的永恆；這兩種永恆觀念對應於現象和物自身的區分。而在思考從時間向非時間意義上的永恆的過渡時，康德引出了自然萬物和人類歷史的終結問題。從神學目的論視角，他將人類歷史調節性地理解為由上帝策劃的有始有終的人間戲劇。歷史的終極目的就是至善的實現，而全部人類歷史就是合乎該道德目的的時間行程。按照這種道德秩序來設想的萬物的終結是合理的、自然的，並且不會阻滯時間的無限綿延。但超自然的終結論卻會截斷時間進程，反自然的終結論則將末日審判的獎懲與道德動機相顛倒，實則取消了人類理性的立法權威和道德法則的神聖性。

In The End of All Things, Kant clearly distinguishes eternity in the sense of noumenon, from eternity in the sense of time. The distinction between these two concepts corresponds to that between phenomenon and thing-in-itself. While thinking about the transition from time to noumenal eternity, Kant raises the question of the end of human history. He interprets human history in a regulatory way as a human drama with a beginning and an end planned by God. The final end of history is the realization of the highest good, and human history is the time journey going towards that end. According to this moral order, the end of history does not block the infinite extension of time, but it has a two-sided relationship with it. The supernatural end will cut off the process of time. The contranatural end will reverse the horrifying image of the Last Judgment and moral motive, and by so doing it will in fact cancel the authority of human reason's lawgiving.