T. HAEPEE'S METAPHYSICS OF THE SCHOOL, HI. i. 583 The Metaphysics of the School. By THOS. HAKPER, S.J. Vol. III., Part i. London : Macniillan, 1SS4. Pp. xix., 414. This third instalment of Father Harper's commentary on the Ontology of Aquinas as reproduced and reconstructed by him, carries on the discussion of Aristotle's " Causes of Being ". " Matter " and " Form. " having been disposed of in Vol. II., the doctrine of " Efficient Causes " falls to be considered here, and is in these 414 pages treated of in minute detail, with abundant fresh illustrations drawn from the natural sciences as well as from the facts of common life and from less customary experiences concerning angels, fascinations, evil eyes and the like. The only kind of " efficient cause " not dealt vrith in this part is " Free- will," which is left over to the first three or four hundred pages of Part ii., as the author wished to give " due prominence to a question of such paramount importance . . . more parti- cularly in view of the fact that the most strenuous efforts have been made by a certain class |of writers to erase the idea and term out of our modern 'philosophy'." It is needless to tell those who can read between the lines of this proposal, that F. Harper keeps true to his purpose, in presenting the philosophy of the School to the English-speaking world, of reconciling the forward-looking aspects and tendencies of to-day's life and thought with the past and present orthodoxies of the Church, the State and Society. From a long note on and against John Stuart Mill, it may be gathered that the war he wages is against those <; whose writings tend in any way towards the eventual subversion of those established principles of religion, morals, political and social order, on the ruins of which they confidently hope to build their new temple ". He is a thoroughly trust- worthy and fairly consistent appraiser of things past and exponent of the rationalistic compromise of mediaeval churchmen which is called " The Metaphysics of the School ". He is also quite consistent and thorough in his demand that the reconcilement and peace he warmly desires and so diligently and skilfully works for, shall come by what would be in substance and effect the unconditional surrender of the Future and Man to dogmas, that may in truth be dead and without help in them though in his pages so well-preserved and life-like. He seems to forget that, while the Future is child and suckling of the Past, there may be such a thing as superlactation, and that there is a time to wean as well as a tune to put to nurse. But all this has been virtually said in MIN~D twice over about the former volumes of F. Harper's work, and may now go without further saying. So, too, his axioms and method and, to some extent, even the particulars of scholastic exposition and argu- ment in this Part, have been touched upon in the two previous notices. What remains new and noticeable here, is a polemic against " The Atomic Theory," but chiefly where held in crudity
