NATURE 



141 



' THURSDAY, APRIL 25, 1918. 



SOME "INTELLECTUAL ADVENTURES." 



(i) The Self and Nature. By DeWitt H. Parker. 



Pp. ix + 316. (Cambridg^e, .Mass. : Harvard 



University Press; London: Humphrey Milford, 



191 7.) Price 85. 6d. net. 



(2) Locke's Theory of Knowledge and its 

 Historical Relations. By Prof. J. Gibson. 

 Pp. xiv + 338. (Cambridge: At the University 

 Press, 1917.) Price 105. 6d. net. 



(3) The Problem of Creation: An Attempt to 

 Define the Character and Trend of the Cosmic 

 Process. By the Rig^ht Rev. Dr. J. E. Mercer. 

 Pp. xiii + 325. (London: S.P.C.K., 1917.) 

 Price 75. 6d. net. 



{/^) Originality : A Popular Study of the Creative 

 Mind. By T. Sharper Knowlson ("Thomas 

 Sharnol "). Pp. xvi + 304. (London: T. 

 Werner Laurie, Ltd., 1917.) Price 155. net. 

 (i) TN readings Prof. Parker's book we breathe 

 A that delightful and invigorating- atmo- 

 sphere of the New World which seems the vital 

 condition of American philosophy. We are not 

 startled with new doctrines or confronted with 

 strikingly original theories. The problems are all 

 familiar enough, whether they are old or new, yet 

 the author makes us feel that we are out on " an 

 intellectual adventure," and though we are 

 I journeying through a well-charted country we are 

 bent on discovery. The book is pervaded through- 

 out with the spirit of William James, the father 

 of all such as dwell in philosophical tents and go 

 forth on philosophical pilgrimages. James pro- 

 duced no system, introduced no new method, 

 stereotyped no principle, had none of those quali- 

 ties we associate with the founders of schools, and 

 yet no philosopher of our generation lives on in his 

 influence so definitely and so directly as he. The 

 joy of living is in every word he has written. 

 Few philosophers contradicted themselves more 

 often or set forth with the full confidence of con- 

 viction so many inconsistent theories, yet few 

 have had so many and so varied a following. 



Prof. Parker's book is a general treatment of 

 metaphysical problems, especially of the central 

 problem of the nature and unity of mind, and Ihe 

 method is described as "radical empiricism ex- 

 tended through the imagination." To summarise 

 the author's views on the problems would serve 

 no purpose, and would destroy the main charm, 

 which is the personal freshness of the treatment. 



(2) By way of contrast there is something of 

 the stolid British nature, as well as sound and 

 original philosophy, in Prof. Gibson's study of 

 Locke's theory of knowledge. It is a work of 

 deep and penetrating scholarship, which must 

 have occupied many years of the author's life, and 

 yet it is written with a lucidity and charm which 

 make the reader unconscious of the erudition. 



The "Essay" of the great English philosopher 

 jStill suffers, we are told, "from the twin 

 assumptions that it can be understood without 

 NO. 2530, VOL. lOl] 



being studied, and that its full significance can be 

 summed up in a small number of simple proposi- 

 tions." This is true, no doubt; but of what great 

 classic could not the same be said? Prof. Gibson 

 means, we suppose, that he would like to see 

 Locke's "Essay" more regularly included among 

 the set books of Philosophy Honours Courses. 

 There are only two ways of approaching the 

 study of the great philosophies. One is to study 

 a special work as a compendium of precise know- 

 ledge. In this way the Catholic seminaries teach the 

 philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas. The other is to 

 study a philosophy as the historical expression of 

 an ever-changing problem, ever-changing because, 

 like life itself, it never attains finality. If Locke's 

 "Essay" suffers peculiar injustice because it is 

 generally taken as read, on the other hand, when 

 it is closely studied for its own sake, we have to 

 be constantly on guard lest we read into it con- 

 cepts and developments of concepts which did not 

 become explicit until long after. To understand 

 the philosophy of a bygone age we must recognise 

 that for that age it was fully concrete. We must 

 install ourselves within the historical conditions, 

 and not merely know the historical relations. 

 Then we shall cease to lament the absence of our 

 cherished concepts, and not continually bewail 

 the "unfortunate" orientation of the author's 

 mind. 



Prof. Gibson has brought out with great clear- 

 ness the predominant concept which determined 

 the form and direction of Locke's philosophy — the 

 idea of composition. To the philosophers of his 

 age the main task of philosophy seemed to be the 

 discovery of the simple ideas out of which the 

 complex and complicated ideas had arisen, and to 

 reveal the nature of the aggregation and agglu- 

 tination. This notion of composition dominated 

 the intellectual outlook as completely as the notion 

 of evolution dominates the thought of our time. 



What we seem to miss in this thoroughly scho- 

 larly and most useful introduction to the study of 

 the father of English philosophy is the true note of 

 the historical concept. The chapters on the his- 

 torical* relations, excellent as they are, are not 

 historical judgments in the full philosophical mean- 

 ing; they are comparisons with systems which 

 preceded and systems which have followed. 



(3) The "intellectual adventure" to which the 

 Bishop of Tasmania invites us in his " Problem of 

 Creation " is of another order. We have the feel- 

 ing of being on a personally conducted tour rather 

 than on a voyage of discovery. W^e are shown 

 the wonders of Nature, taken into perilous 

 places, made to look into volcanoes, and cross 

 torrents ; we get thrills, and yet all the time we 

 feel we know that there is no real danger. Dr. 

 Mercer, nevertheless, propounds a serious argu- 

 ment, and very ably sustains it. He holds firmly 

 the 'principle ex nihilo nihil fit, and his purpose 

 is to reconcile it with the orthodox view of 

 creation, with the concept of God, and with the 

 ethical principle of freedom. He alsO discusses its 

 bearing on the problem of evil. Dr. Mercer is 

 not, however^ always a guide to be depended 



