534 



NA TURE 



[September 27, 1906 



(3) Herr Zschimmer here discusses some of the 

 fundamental conceptions of philosophy from the stand- 

 point of positivism, the principle of which is " first 

 facts, then words." There is nothing very novel in 

 the statement or argument of the volume, much of 

 which is occupied with criticism of isolated points in 

 Kant, Schopenhauer, and others. Time and space, it 

 appears, are severely actual, and when a clock strikes 

 the hour of four, and we remember the strokes as 

 distinct though they are identical in tone, what causes 

 this " ist eben das mit ihnen verschmolzene, Mit- 

 gegebene Zeittatsachliche. " Consequently "pure," 

 " a priori" " forms of perception," and many other 

 beloved formulas become unnecessary nonsense. 



Towards the end of the book there is a somewhat 

 elaborate account of the formation of concepts 

 (Begriffe). The author defines Begriff as " die im 

 Vergleich von Vorstellungen hervorgebrachte Verk- 

 niipfung eines Gemeinsamen Bestandteiles mit 

 anderen Elementen (Merkmalen des Individuums) zu 

 verschiedenen individuellen Systemen." The relation 

 between the triangle before me and the concept of 

 triangle is not badly discussed, the question, e.g., as 

 to what prevents me from regarding the essential and 

 conceptual elements in my perception of the triangle 

 before me as the concept of triangle generally. 

 Causality and similar problems are rather hastily dealt 

 with, and no part of the book displays remarkable 

 depth or insight. 



(4) Prof. Eucken's writings are all so excellent and 

 stimulating that to commend him is needless and 

 gratuitous. The present volume is a second and 

 enlarged edition of " Beitrage zur Geschichte der 

 neuern Philosophic," which appeared in 1886. In its 

 newer form it contains, unaltered, some essays on old 

 German philosophy, e.^. on Paracelsus and Kepler, 

 and one " Uber Bilder und Gleichnisse bei Kant." 

 Two other essays, one in commemoration of Adolf 

 Trendelenburg, and another on the various schools 

 of philosophy, have been considerably changed ; 

 altogether new are those entitled " Bayle and Kant " 

 and " Gedanken und Anregungen zur Geschichte der 

 Philosophic." Bayle (of dictionary fame) and Kant 

 seem to our author very similar in their outlook on 

 life; according to Bayle, he writes, "a great contra- 

 diction has been set up in human nature : truth and 

 virtue are demanded of us, and the demand finds an 

 expression in the laws of conscience and of thought, 

 but it cannot have its own way and produce a corre- 

 sponding reality : knowledge entangles itself in irre- 

 soluble contradictions : moral judgment, it is true, is 

 saved from these, but in man it cannot overcome the 

 natural force of the instincts and the passions." How 

 very similar this is to much Kantian doctrine will be 

 at once apparent. 



(5) Three of the six essays in this volume are 

 historical, and deal with Apollonius of Tyana, Celsus 

 and Origen, and John Scotus Erigena. They consist 

 for the most part of a running analysis of some 

 works, not too widely known, of patristic and 

 scholastic times, and as their author has studied the 

 neo-Platonists to some purpose, his account is not 

 lacking in subtlety. 



NO. 1926, VOL. 74] 



The other three essays are constructive. One of 

 them, entitled "Animism, Religion and Philosophy," 

 seems cast in a Comtean mould, and elaborates the 

 thesis that man's thinking on the causes behind or 

 immanent in the visible order of things goes through 

 three stages, the animistic, the religious, and the 

 philosophical. The author has apparently no faith in 

 religion as the satisfaction of a permanent and legiti- 

 mate craving of human nature. He confidently 

 believes that philosophy has transcended the historic 

 religions, and that, though it is the height of rash- 

 ness to forecast the future of religion, whatever form 

 religion may take, it will be the right and duty of 

 philosophy to maintain its independence. Another 

 essay, on the classification of the sciences, reprinted 

 from the pages of Mind, amends Comte's well-known 

 list of positive sciences, e.g. by omitting astronomy, 

 by inserting animal psychology and human psycho- 

 logy, and by offering, as preferable to Comte's linear 

 series, a circular scheme, in which one may, proceed- 

 ing according to the didactic order, start with formal 

 logic, go round the objective sciences, come back to 

 the subjective sciences, and end with metaphysics. 



The last essay, "Teleology and the Individual," 

 is the most suggestive in the book. The author con- 

 cludes that " the strength of the ancient and modern 

 philosophies derived from Plato and Aristotle lies in 

 their having- retained the teleological point of view, 

 conceived in a scientific sense, within a highly specu- 

 lative system, but not at the summit "; that we may 

 conceive the possibility that permanent individual sub- 

 jects may have successive lives through which ma}- 

 be seen a teleological order ; and that, though there 

 are systems of ends, mutually adapted so as to form 

 one system, this system has no end, and there is, 

 therefore, no evolution of the universe as a whole. 



There is a great deal of strenuous thinking in this 

 book. Its merits will, we trust, not be obscured b) 

 its strong anti-theological bias. 



(6) This work professes to be no more than an 

 introduction or an overture to a music which has still 

 to be composed. Its author writes in an excellent 

 style, and is very well informed on a great variety 

 of subjects, from modern views of matter and elec- 

 tricity to the aesthetic ideas of William Blake and 

 Mr. Walter Pater. The philosophies that have chiefly 

 influenced him are those of Plato, Kant, and Mr. 

 Houston S. Chamberlain (the author of a German 

 work on Kant), whose name is probably not so 

 familiar in this country as those of the other two ; 

 but this fidus Achates lauds him on almost every 

 page. That the book is laid down with no distaste 

 for the author or for Mr. Chamberlain is creditable 

 to both. 



An analysis of the first two chapters will show the 

 point of view. The author discusses some of the vain 

 attempts to introduce unity into our view of the 

 universe; the relations of different forms of force to 

 one another, e.g. the impossibility of bringing 

 gravitation into relation with electricity ; the difficulty 

 of arriving at consistent views of aether. In the end 

 he comes to the conclusion that matter, force, and 

 life are three ultimate and distinct categories for 



