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BOSTON MONDAY LECTURES.*—A poem dedicated to the genius of medley and a prelude on the popular taste of our age for the miscellaneous is recommended to the Boston Monday Lectureship as fit introduction to its next course of lectures. One valuable feature of such introduction would be that it would not be obliged to go far for the material of its illustrations. The volume before us may be called a masterpiece in the art of miscellany. Here we have poems, prayers, preludes, lectures, addresses, questions and answers, letters, essays, and, as if the genius of medley were making fun of us, we are informed in the table of contents that still another portion of the volume may properly be called "Miscellaneous," and to crown the whole we have an appendix. In addition also to the knowledge obtainable from such vast storehouse of miscellaneous wisdom we have the felicity of learning just how often the audience applauded, and such choice bits of information as that the "hall was crowded to the roof," that "large numbers were standing at several doors of both balconies," and "that it was estimated that from two to three thousand preachers were present with many students, ladies, and other educated men," are thrown in without doubt to enlarge still further the miscellaneous character of the book. It is a hardship to be obliged to deal soberly with such a volume. The most satisfactory result will probably be attained by not trying it. There are many good things said here. But the whole enterprise is on too vast a scale for the average mortal.

TURNING POINTS OF THOUGHT AND CONDUCT.--This is a volume of sermons preached by Dr. Whiton in the pulpit of Dr. Dole's church in Birmingham, England, in 1887. They are published at the request of members of the congregation who heard them. No one who reads them even will fail to detect the sources of the impression which they evidently made upon that intelligent congregation. The volume is small and unpretentious. The sermons are twelve in number and are short. But they are compact with fresh, suggestive, and substantial thoughts, put in a very clear and graceful style. The themes are weighty and are discussed with the dignity befitting them, but they are also

*Boston Monday Lectures. Current Religious Perils, etc. By JOSEPH COOK. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin, and Company. The Riverside Press Cambridge. 1888.

+ Turning Points of Thought and Conduct. By JAMES MORRIS WHITON, Ph.D. New York: Thomas Whittaker, 2 and 3 Bible House. 1888.

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handled with incisiveness and with a disregard of conventional opinion which leave no doubt of the preacher's independence and critical acuteness. One of the most interesting features of the sermons is the tone of downright reality, and of strong common sense that pervades them. In this and in many other respects they bear the marks of the best modern preaching.

RECENT BOOKS ON PHILOSOPHY AND PSYCHOLOGY.

INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF PHILOSOPHY.*-This book has the great merit of being the first serious attempt to fill a distinct gap in English philosophical literature. As its author, when defining its aim in the Preface (p. iii.), assures us: "It is not an encyclopædia; nor is it intended as an introduction to any particular philosophical system, or to the history of the various systems, but to the study of philosophy itself." Accordingly, after a chapter upon the "Definition of Philosophy," we find discussed in three succeeding chapters, the relations of philosophy toward Religion, toward Natural Science, and toward Empirical Psychology. All Philosophy is thereupon divided by Dr. Stuckenberg into Theory of Knowledge (Noetics), Metaphysics, Aesthetics, and Ethics; each of these divisions is treated in a separate chapter; and the book closes with remarks upon "the Spirit and the Method in the Study of Philosophy."

On the whole, the most satisfactory chapter of the book is that entitled, "Definition of Philosophy." Here Dr. Stuckenberg sketches the slow and late development of the conception of philosophy as a discipline which, in any intelligible way, can be distinguished from the particular sciences. As a result of this survey, and "looking solely at the idea of philosophy, not at the actual attainments," we are told that "philosophy is the rational system of fundamental principles." (p. 46.) This definition expresses the more important elements of the true conception in tolerably succinct and exact language. We should prefer, however, to have the word "ultimate" substituted for the word "fundamental," as applied to philosophical principles, and to have the whole definition somewhat expanded so as to cover, or at least suggest, the relation in which philosophy stands to the highest generalizations of the particular sciences.

The succeeding discussion of the relations in which philosophy

* Introduction to the Study of Philosophy. By J. H. W. STUCKENBERG, D.D. New York: A. C. Armstrong & Son. 1888.

stands to religion, to natural science, and to empirical psychology, seems to us unsatisfactory. Many excellent remarks are indeed found in these chapters. But they are lacking in a clear, strong, presentation of the important points brought forward. The distinction between theology and religion is not always sufficiently kept in mind; nor is it satisfactorily shown how theology and philosophy are, of necessity, most closely allied, and yet neither must be suffered to dominate the other, since they seek the same ultimate principle, though with differing means and materials at their disposal and from differing points of view.

It is well worth while to note in passing that Dr. Stuckenberg's position as to the limits and tests of philosophical truth is that of thorough-going Rationalism; it is, however, a rationalism of that reasonable sort which secures and evinces the chastened and cautious freedom characteristic of the genuine philosophical spirit.

The division of philosophy is no easy task. We doubt whether it can be successfully accomplished with any strict regard for system. "A preliminary division of philosophy," says Lotze, "may be attempted simply with the design of separating the different groups of problems. . . . . We attribute little value to the reciprocal arrangement of these single groups under each other." In his attempt at division Dr. Stuckenberg has not been more successful than most of his predecessors,-not so successful, in our judgment, as he might have been if he had earlier introduced and steadfastly adhered to a principle of division which he lays down only some time after his division has already been made. The opening sentence of the chapter on Metaphysics (p. 242), affirms: "By generalizing the various objects of profitable thought, we can comprehend all of them under the real, the possible (thinkable ?), and the desirable" (or as Lotze would say that which has "worth.")

Were it our purpose to criticize in detail the positions of the book we should be inclined to ask why ethics is made one main division of philosophy, when, as a science, it is only a department of psychology, and as metaphysics, may be considered as provided for under another division of philosophy; why, on the other hand, we have psychology as empirical considered in relation to philosophy, and as rational made a subdivision of philosophy under metaphysics; whether the theory of knowledge can be so separated from rational psychology, and from metaphysics, as to be constituted into the first great division of philosophy,

and whether it is not introductory to philosophy rather than a part of philosophy; and why so important divisions as the philosophy of nature, the philosophy of religion, the philosophy of history, and the philosophy of the State, are either passed by without notice or relegated to altogether subordinate places.

Furthermore, it seems to us that a work introductory to philosophical study should show the reader what are the great classes of answers which the chief schools of philosophy have given to its problems, and how they have felt themselves impelled toward, or justified in, their characteristic answers. Surely such a work should at least characterize Idealism, Realism, Scepticism, and Agnosticism.

We heartily welcome, however, this earnest and helpful attempt of Dr. Stuckenberg to stimulate and guide the English student in beginning philosophy. It is likely that the book will be useful to a goodly number of readers; especially since there is just now in this country a widening and deepening interest in philosophical study.

A SYSTEM OF PSYCHOLOGY.*-There have been few more productive writers in the general field of mental and moral philosophy, during the last four years, than the author of this treatise. Besides the two works now to be noticed, another on "The Problem of Evil" has been put forth by him during this brief period. This treatise on Psychology is among the most voluminous on the subject,-the two volumes containing almost exactly twelve hundred pages (it might be said, "exclusive of the Index," although this valuable help to the study of so large a book is wanting). The range of particular topics presented, and the detailed character of their presentation, account for its size. Many of these topics are not treated of at all in the customary works on psychology; or, if treated at all, are not treated at length. For example, some twenty-five pages of the first volume are given to Language as the "expression of science," and about one hundred and thirty to the general facts of "Vegetal and Animal Life;" the second volume presents in some detail the subject of "Development in the Lower Animals," and under the heading of "Secondary Pleasures and Pains," brings in remarks on clothing, opium, books, cities, sunset, temperance, etc. This diversified mass of discussion and information is by no means all of it alike

*A System of Psychology. By DANIEL GREENLEAF THOMPSON. 2 vols. London: Longmans, Green, and Co.

pertinent to psychology; much of it could, in our judgment, have been omitted without loss, and even with a distinct gain, to the total scientific impression and value of the work. It cannot be denied, however, that the author deals with all his material honestly and faithfully; he has made it the possession of himself, the adjunct of the central theme, as regarded from his points of view.

Mr. Thompson considers psychology to be the science of "the states of consciousness." This definition suggests the division of subject; it also controls its treatment. Hence we have, in Part II. "States of Consciousness considered generally;" in Part III. "the Material Conditions of States of Consciousness;" in Part IV. "the Genesis of States of Consciousness;" in Part V. “the Factors of the Development," and in Part VI. "the General Development," of States of Consciousness. The several remaining Parts of the work deal with "integrations," and with the "disintegration," of states of consciousness.

The spirit and method of Mr. Thompson's treatise may be conjectured with an approximation to certainty from the tribute which he pays in the Preface to Herbert Spencer and to Alexander Bain, who, with John Stuart Mill-says he-" have shown me the paths of true knowledge in the department of Psychology." This frank acknowledgment of indebtedness is borne out by the fact that almost entire chapters consist either of the presentation, in his own manner and with his own resources of illustration, of the views of these favorite authors, or else of a polemical examination of the views of other writers on psychology most opposed to these authors.

This book is, however, a very conscientious and elaborate treatment of the subject from the points of view held by the "school" (if it be granted that the use of this term is appropriate) to which its author belongs. To those who wish to see what can be done with psychological problems, by a skillful use of the appropriate method, from these points of view, it will well repay careful perusal. There are few readers so widely informed that they will not also pick up much valuable collateral information, and be helped to side views upon various interesting questions, while following the main path of the treatise. Many of its principal defects are due to the fact that, although so voluminous, it shows little acquaintance with the important discoveries of modern experimental psychology, and almost no acquaintance with the contributions of the Herbartian school of inquirers.

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