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SCIENCE. 



[N.S. Vol. XVII. No. 421. 



was discussed by Drs. Millei' and Royce, 

 of Harvard; President Patton, of Prince- 

 ton, and Dr. William T. Harris, of Wash- 

 ington, and to that of Wednesday morn- 

 ing, when the association met with the 

 American Psychological Association and 

 listened to important papei's by Professors 

 Miinsterberg, Dewey, Ladd, Hibben and 

 Jastrow. For both of these sessions largei 

 rooms had to be secured than those origin- 

 ally assigned to either association. These 

 sessions brought out some interesting dif- 

 ferences of view. In the discussion, for 

 instance. Dr. Miller contended that religion 

 and philosophy were entirely independent. 

 Dr. Patton, on the other hand, maintained 

 that religion, if worth anything, is a ra- 

 tional thing and must be rationalized. 

 Professor Royce, in a felicitously worded 

 paper, defined the function of the philos- 

 opher in respect to religion as preemi- 

 nently that of a sympathetic but clear and 

 judicial intellect. The conflicting posi- 

 tions assumed by Professors Miinsterberg 

 and Dewey in their papers at the joint 

 session, the conflict having to do with cer- 

 tain aspects of the fundamental question 

 of the relation of knowledge and reality, 

 led to an animated debate in which, be- 

 sides the principals, Professors Baldwin 

 and Creighton also took part, while Pro- 

 fessor Ladd's criticism of psycho-physical 

 parallelism called out a sharp counter- 

 criticism from President G. Stanley Hall. 

 Such discussions are among the most in- 

 structive events in a meeting of this sort 

 and exert a decidedly clarifying tendency, 

 even though no very positive result is 

 reached at the time. Without them, 

 papers frequently seem wanting in point, 

 unless they be of such a rarely clear and 

 convincing character as the paper by Pro- 

 fessor Hibben, of Princeton, on the philo- 

 sophical bearings of Ostwald's theory of 

 energetics, or like the address of the presi- 



dent. Professor Ormond, of Princeton, on 

 ' PhilosoiDliy and its Correlations, ' of which 

 there can be no critici.sm, but only praise. 

 Of the other papers read at the meeting, 

 it is enough to say that one, by Professor 

 Sneath, of Yale, was on an ethical subject ; 

 one, by Professor Home, of Dartmouth, 

 on the metaphysical aspects of education; 

 two on subjects connected with the philos- 

 ophy of religion (by Professor French, of 

 Colgate, and Professor Ladd, of Tale), 

 and one a lively criticism of a recent work 

 on personal idealism, the final paper of 

 the sessions, by Professor Caldwell, of 

 Northwestern University. The papers 

 were thus of a very varied character, con- 

 ducive to the maintenance of interest dur- 

 ing the packed four sessions of the meet- 

 ing, and yet perhaps leaving a somewhat 

 bewildering impression, if there were any 

 one besides the president forced to listen 

 to them all. 



One of the most enjoyable features of 

 the meeting was the smoker at the Riggs 

 House immediately following the address 

 of the president on Tuesday ef^ening. The 

 garden of Epicurus could scarcely have 

 afforded a happier combination of philo- 

 sophical and simply human and friendly 

 social intercourse. 



The association elected the following 

 officers for the ensuing year: 



President — Professor Josiah Eoyce (Harvard). 



Vice-President — Dr. Edgar A. Singer, Jr. (Penn- 

 sylvania ) . 



Secretary-Treasurer — Professor H. N. Gardiner 

 (Smith). 



Members of the Executive Committee — Pro- 

 fessors William A. Hammond (Cornell) and F. 

 J. E. Woodbridge (Columbia). 



The time and place of the next meeting 

 were left with the executive committee. 



H. N. Gardiner, 



Secretary. 



