Page:Philosophical Review Volume 2.djvu/262

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248
THE PHILOSOPHICAL REVIEW.
[Vol. II.

a philosophy of man, which is nothing but persistent thought on the nature, capabilities, purpose, and destiny of man. To this extent the author can justly claim that the present work is "a practical application of my books on metaphysics and ethics" (vi). This is especially true of Parts I and II (pp. 1-178), though in the remainder of the book there are notes of a philosophical character, and the Appendix (pp. 251-272) is in substance a statement of the author's fundamental positions in psychology and metaphysics. Part II (pp. 53-178) is an acute analysis of the nature of mind. And the author holds "spontaneity" or "pure will" to be "the differentia or idea of man as distinguished from other animals" (p. 85). Though the chapter is much condensed, it is probably the clearest exposition of his Philosophy of Intelligence which this acute and profound thinker has yet given.

J. G. S.


Theorie des Gefühls zur Begründung der Aesthetik. Von Prof. Dr. Max Diez, Docent der Philosophie an der techn. Hochschule in Stuttgart. Stuttgart, Friedrich Frohmann's Verlag, 1892. — pp. xii, 172.

The author believes that æsthetic enjoyment has a peculiar ideal significance. It is the most striking instance of the process which we see everywhere in the mental life, by which the mind rises superior to its content and attains the tranquil sense of its form, i.e., of its freedom. As might be expected, the book is metaphysical rather than psychological. The principal divisions are as follows: (1) Introduction, (2) The Different Possible Points of Departure, (3) Criticism of the Same, (4) An Attempt to Formulate a Theory of Feeling for the Foundation of Æsthetics as a Philosophical Science. The amount of space devoted to these divisions respectively is not such as the title of the book would lead one to expect. To (1) is devoted 52 pp.; to (2), 5 pp.; to (3), 85 pp.; and to (4), which gives the book its title, only 27 pp. As the writer explains in his preface, the fact that this work is his Habilitationsschrift for the position of Docent of Philosophy, led him to make the second section of the introduction, which treats of the problem of philosophy, somewhat disproportionately long and thorough. In spite of its lack of proportion, which is really quite noticeable, the book is interesting and suggestive, but it shares to a considerable degree in the vagueness of statement which unhappily characterizes so many works on Æsthetics.

E. A.


Die Suggestionstherapie bei krankhaften Erscheinungen des Geschlechtssinnes. Von Dr. A. F. von Schrenk-Notzing. Stuttgart, F. Enke, 1892. — pp. xvii, 314.

A better title for the book would be "Pathologische und suggestiv-therapeutische Studien ueber die krankhaften Erscheinungen des Geschlechtssinnes" (p. vi). It is divided into three sections, which deal respectively