LITERARY NOTICES. 



5 6 3 



right as we can in the natural region, 

 before we look for intellectual results 

 or the peaceable fruits of righteousness. 

 We seem already to see Science, the 

 despised Cinderella, as Huxley says, 

 scoring another triumph, and showing 

 that, even for moral reform, its meth- 

 ods are worth more than all other 

 modes of activity put together. 



LITERARY NOTICES. 



The Problem of Evil. An Introduction 

 to the Practical Sciences. By Dan- 

 iel Greenleaf Thompson, author of " A 

 System of Psychology." London : Long- 

 mans, Green & Co. 1887. Cloth. 8vo. 

 Pp. 281. 



" The Problem of Evil," though modest- 

 ly heralded by its author as " An Introduc- 

 tion to the Practical Sciences," and not as- 

 suming to present a complete exposition of 

 ethical science, is in reality a noteworthy 

 contribution to that department of philo- 

 sophical inquiry. Aiming to clear the way 

 for a popular understanding of the scien- 

 entific method as applied to moral and so- 

 cial problems, Mr. Thompson's treatment 

 of his topic is less technical and systematic 

 than readers of " A System of Psychology " 

 would naturally be led to expect. The pres- 

 ent work, however, loses little, if anything, 

 in value to the philosophical student on this 

 account, while its more popular style, and 

 the practical nature of many of the ques- 

 tions herein discussed, will doubtless render 

 it more attractive to the general reader, and 

 introduce its author to many new acquaint- 

 ances among thinking people. 



The question presented in the earlier 

 chapters of this book, and ably discussed in 

 all its various phases throughout the suc- 

 ceeding pages, is none other than the great 

 problem of all the theologies and moral 

 philosophies : How shall we interpret the 

 startling but undeniable fact of moral evil ? 

 How may we most wisely strive for its 

 abatement and cure? 



After briefly and fairly stating the chief 

 theological explanations of evil " those 

 which look to a supernatural source and 

 cause" and expressing his dissent from 

 this method of approaching the subject, our 

 author proceeds to define moral evil as 



"pain caused by human volition" (p. 17); 

 and to investigate briefly its causes and 

 offices in the human economy. " Pain," he 

 concludes, "is a universal concomitant of 

 mind, so far as we are able to make mind 

 a subject of science." As we are unable to 

 trace, scientifically, the origin of mind or 

 life, we are therefore baffled in our attempt 

 to disclose the ultimate origin of evil. The 

 practical problem, accordingly, to which we 

 should turn our attention is, How may we 

 seek for its elimination by the most effect- 

 ual means ? In other words, How may we 

 best strive for the advancement of human 

 happiness ? 



Readers of " A System of Psychology " 

 will be prepared to find our author in ac- 

 cord with utilitarian theories of ethics. The 

 psychological and philosophical elements in- 

 volved in the problem of evil, however, are 

 assumed, or briefly sketched, rather than 

 presented in the form of a complete argu- 

 mentative exposition, in the present work 

 the philosophical foundations of this study 

 having been laid by the author in the work 

 before mentioned. From the standpoint of 

 a rational utilitarianism, he criticises with 

 great acuteness and force what he terms the 

 " yEstho-Egoistic " philosophy of Thomas 

 Hill Green, and other representatives of the 

 intuitional school. In the " subjective feel- 

 ing or consciousness of self-satisfaction," 

 which expresses the summum bonum of in- 

 tuitional ethics, he discovers an ideal which 

 is essentially egoistic. His own interpreta- 

 tion of utilitarian ethics, on the other hand, 

 issues in an altruism which is widely re- 

 moved from the alleged " selfishness " of 

 the hedonistic philosophers. The " Chief 

 Ideal Good " being " the existence of all in- 

 dividuals without pain, presentative or rep- 

 resentative, during this period of existence," 

 right conduct is that which tends toward 

 this ideal, and right volition is the will to 

 act according to its requirements (p. 71). 



The four chief methods of reducing evil 

 are found to be 1. " The Control of Material 

 Forces," through industrial effort and sci- 

 entific discovery and investigation ; 2. " Se- 

 curity and Justice," through political action ; 

 3. " Direct Altruistic Effort " ; and, 4. " The 

 Development of Individual Character," 

 through education and moral training. The 

 chief hindrances to this work are 1. The 



