Page:Philosophical Review Volume 6.djvu/124

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THE PHILOSOPHICAL REVIEW.
[Vol. VI.

upon Mr. Bosanquet's presidential address on the relations of Time and the Absolute, a vexed question which he answers, as some may think some- what vexatiously, by a reference to the relation of Part and Whole. Seeing how hackneyed this reference has of late become, it would perhaps be better if Mr. Bosanquet were at length to take for granted the admission that in a sense the Whole may be said to be the explanation of anything and everything, and to devote himself to a much-needed critical examination of the relation which he alleges to be the universal solvent of all perplexities. Possibly his barren monistic formula might not in that case prove even logically satisfactory. The other argument which Mr. Bosanquet employs to silence our natural inquiry as to the ultimate significance of our temporal experience, consists in pointing out that science progressively emancipates itself from chronology. But Mr. Bosanquet ignores the fact that the timeless hypothetical ' law ' in Science is itself a methodological device whose function and validity depend on its use in calculating the course of events in Time. There follow two papers, one by Mr. E. C. Benecke on the a priori element in knowledge, and another by Mr. C. L. Davies on Kant's Teleology, which well illustrate the confusion in philosophic terminology wrought by Kant, and the arbitrariness of the hard and fast lines he delighted to draw. A learned paper by Mr. C. C. S. Webb on Anselm's statement of the ontological * proof ' will be found highly instructive by all who are interested in the history of philosophy. Certainly Mr. Webb very effectually disproves Schopenhauer's assertion that Anselm merely hinted at a proof which was only fully stated by Descartes. Mr. Blunt's paper on Philosophy and Naturalism is a little vague, but evinces a truly Oxonian desire to undo Spencer though the heavens fall. The Hon. B. Russell contributes a paper on the a priori in geometry, which exhibits a peaceful coexistence of Kantian views with those of the modern metageom- etry ; yet he seems inclined to concede to the- latter pretty nearly everything it claims. Mrs. Bryant discusses Professor James's theory of the emotions ; and two rather half-hearted " symposia " on the extension of psychical states, and on the relative importance of character and circumstance, conclude an instructive number. TT r- c c r . L.. o. b. Grundriss der Geschichte der Philosophic. Von Dr. JOHANNES REHMKE, Professor der Philosophic an der Universitat Greifswald. Berlin, Carl Duncker, 1896 ; New York Agent, G. E. Stechert. pp. viii, 308. This work will be found to be an excellent introduction to the history of philosophy, in brief outline and clear language, intelligible to every cul- tured mind. Its conciseness facilitates a general view of the whole subject, and gives the book a decided advantage, in the hands of the student or the general reader, over more ponderous volumes ; while its intrinsic value and (for a German work) very clear and simple style raise it above the smaller histories of philosophy now before the public.