REVIEWS OF BOOKS.
Every teacher of philosophy must have hailed with satisfaction the announcement that a "Series of Modern Philosophers," consisting of selections from their works, was to be issued under the editorial supervision of Dr. Sneath of Yale University. As I ventured to say in the Preface to my Selections from Kant (which, by the way, I am surprised and pleased to find included in the Series), "The teacher of philosophy soon finds that a very powerful irritant is needed to awaken his pupils from their 'dogmatic slumber.'" Nor is this process of awakening likely to succeed if the only means employed are general statements of philosophical systems. No doubt the teacher who has a firm grasp of the history of philosophy may do much even in that way to stimulate thought in his pupils; but the method of encouraging men to trust to lectures, or histories of philosophy, for their knowledge of the masters of thought, seems to me fatal to all real philosophical insight. What is wanted is that the student should get his knowledge at first hand. Direct contact with the mind of an original thinker like Spinoza has a stimulating influence and a suggestiveness that can never come from merely hearing what another man has to say about him. And as it is impossible to go over the whole of an author in the class-room, the next best thing is to study the characteristic passages in which he has set forth his system of thought. No doubt even this method is not ideally perfect, — for an author is best understood when he is read as a whole, — but it seems the best that is practically available. Now, if the books of this series are to be genuine instruments of philosophical culture, obviously three things are necessary: great care and judgment must be exercised in the selection of appropriate passages; if these are in a foreign tongue, there must be accuracy and finish in the translations; and the notes, if there are any, must be real aids to the comprehension of the author.
