Page:Philosophical Review Volume 3.djvu/270

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THE PHILOSOPHICAL REVIEW.
[Vol. III.

of this nature are due partly, no doubt, to desire for brevity, but it is an expensive brevity that requires such sacrifice. A very clear anti-Grotian characterization of the Sophists gives the reader a good picture of this period of enlightenment, and of the relation of these teachers to the spirit of the age. Without increasing the compass of the work, more might well have been said of Protagoras and the influence of his fundamental principle of homo mensura on subsequent thought. When the author says that Socrates' sole legacy to posterity was his life (p. 26), one hardly understands what is meant. It is probably true that Socrates' greatest influence on humanity has been exercised through Plato's exposition of his life, but his influence on subsequent philosophy was in the main through his method. This is his chief bequest to the philosophers who followed him; and unless one regards his method as part of his life, or his way of living philosophy, the statement is incomplete and misleading. The description of the principle of Anaximander as an abstraction (p. 4) is not in agreement with the latest criticism, according to which this άπειρον is an adjective, and Anaximander's Boundless or Infinite is an infinite body (sc. σῶμα), to which no attributes are ascribed other than infinity. Xenocrates (p. 9) is, of course, a misprint. It is not easy to make diagrams illustrative of metaphysical systems, and it cannot be said that Mr. Scott by his diagrammatic schemes has added essentially to the elucidation of his subject. W. H.

The following books have also been received:—

De la classification objective et subjective des arts de la literature et des sciences. Par Raoul de la Grasserie. Paris, Félix Alcan, 1893.—pp. 304.

Le marveilleux scientifique. Par J. P. Durand (de Gros). Paris, Félix Alcan, 1894.—pp. 343.

La philosophie en France. (Première moitié du XIX^e siècle.) Par Ch. Adam. [Bibliothèque de philosophie contemporaine.] Paris, Félix Alcan, 1894.—pp. 444.

La vie et la pensée. Essai de conception experimentale. Par le docteur Julian Pioger. [Bibliothèque de philosophie contemporaine.] Paris, Félix Alcan, 1893.—pp. 262.

Les caractères. Par Fr. Paulhan. [Bibliothèque de philosophie contemporaine.] Paris, Félix Alcan, 1894.—pp. 237.

The Diseases of Personality. By Th. Ribot. [The Religion of Science Library.] Chicago, The Open Court Publishing Company, 1894—pp. 157.

Die moderne Weltanschauung und der Mensch. Sechs öffentliche Vorträge von Benjamin Vetter. Jena, Gustav Fischer, 1894—pp. xii, 157.

Der mechanische Monismus. Eine Kritik der modernen Weltanschauung. Von Dr. C. Gutberlet. Paderborn, Ferdinand Schöningh, 1893.—pp. iv, 306.