The explanation of "logical" unpleasantness on p. 160 is, pace the author, logical and not psychological. The point will need to be considered in detail, when we reach the chapter on the so-called "Emotions of Relation." In the meantime it may be noted that the unpleasant tone of the strain-sensation content has been left wholly out of account.
The second and third divisions of the work I hope to deal with in the next number of this Review.
The present volume, the first of two on the same subject, contains — besides an Introduction, describing the state of Socratic learning
at the present time and the purpose, criteria, and method of the
work — discussions of: (A) The Religious Views, genuine and
Xenophontic, of Socrates, including chapters on 'the (
Greek characters) and
divination,' 'piety and religious life,' 'nature and activity of the
gods'; (B) The Individual Ethics of Socrates, comprising chapters
on (i) 'the main features of Socraticism,' (ii) 'the Socratic individual
ethics in the Memorabilia,' with sub-divisions under (i) entitled,
'General Characterization and Explanation of the Socratic Principle,'
and 'The Socrates of Aristotle,' under (ii) entitled, 'The Socratic
Theory of Virtue,' and 'The Socratic Activity.'
Recent criticism, our author shows, has thrown doubt upon the traditional view of the sources of information regarding the genuine Socrates and his work, and necessitates a considerable revision of that view. The Protagoras of Plato, the notices of Socrates and of his doctrine and work by Aristotle, and the Memorabilia all become, in consequence of the attacks made upon the text of the Memorabilia, for the time being at least, uncertain authorities. Textual rejection has been carried too far, and the way out of the difficulties of the present situation appears to be to separate, on the basis of sound psychological as well as mere textual criticism, what in the Memorabilia came from Xenophon as a reporter or would-be historian from what he wrote as an apologist for Socrates, as a man of action rather than contemplation, a believer in and follower of traditional opinion and custom. It being shown that the personality of Xenophon forces itself into his account of Socrates and his doctrine and life, we may take as a criterion for the separation of the genuine and the
