Philosophical Review

Histoire de la Science Politique dans ses Rapport Avec la Morale by Paul JanetReview by: Frank ThillyThe Philosophical Review, Vol. 24, No. 1 (Jan., 1915), pp. 111-112Published by: Duke University Press on behalf of Philosophical ReviewStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2178540 .

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No. I.] NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. III

pathetic study, even if over subtle, is always suggestive. On the other hand, this skilful defense succeeds partly by ignoring those questions which are now most vital, aiz.-were Spinoza's assumptions and method sound. The book con- tains valuable summaries of the Spinozistic literature on particular points, e. g., that of the various interpretations of the mathematical method in the footnote on page 3I. Thirty-one pages are occupied with a Spinozistic bibliography.

KATHERINE EVERETT GILBERT.

Spinoza's Stellung zur Religion. Von GEORGE BOHRMANN. Giessen, Alfred T6pelmann, I9I4.-PP. 8i.

The gist of this book is the contention that in the Theologico-Political Treatise Spinoza misrepresents his real attitude toward revealed religion. Although Spinoza's task is merely the exegesis of a material which he takes as given, he nevertheless seems to accept the point of view of revelation as valid. But Spinoza's real opinion, the author asserts, was that supernatural- ism is inconceivable. His least convincing argument is that this misrepre- sentation was due to timorousness and diplomacy on Spinoza's part. The key to the whole treatise is 'accommodation at any price." Of course, any

such assignment of motive must be in the last resort conjecture. But the

interpretation of Spinoza as timid and artful, while made plausible by isolated instances and statements, seems more like an interesting reaction from the traditional extreme admiration for Spinoza's fearlessness than an appreciation of his utterances in the complete context of his life and writings. Moreover,

this solution of the problem of the Theological Treatise only creates a new problem in regard to Spinoza's personality, for with his recognized courage

and sincerity must be harmonized these opposing qualities. It is more prob- able that the inconsistency of his concessions to revealed religion sprang from an intellectual rather than a moral short-coming; that is, he did not

always think out adequately the implications of his position. The Appendix, on " Spinoza in England " (i670-1750), the most exhaustive

study yet made of that subject, shows that English philosophers either ignored or wholly misunderstood Spinoza until the time of Coleridge.

KATHERINE EVERETT GILBERT.

Histoire de la Science Politique dans ses Rapports avec la Morale. Par PAUL

JANET. Ouvrage couronne par l'Academie des sciences morales et politiques

et par 1'Academie frangaise. Quatrieme edition revue d'apres les notes laissees par l'auteur et pr&cedee d'une notice sur la vie et les travaux de

Paul Janet par G. Picot, secretaire perpetual de l'Academie des sciences

morales et politiques. Deux tomes. Paris, Felix Alcan, 19I3.-PP. Ci, 6o8, 779.

The fourth edition of the classical History of Politics first published by Paul

Janet in I858 under the title, History of Moral and Political Philosophy, has

been revised on the basis of the notes left by the author and contains a preface with extracts from Georges Picot's excellent account of Janet's life and works

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112 THE PHILOSOPHICAL REVIEW. [VOL. XXIV.

which appeared in 1903. The work practically stops at the year 1789, with a short chapter on the publicists of the American and French Revolutions (vol. II, pp. 693-727); but there is a good analysis and resumng of the Declara- lions of the Rights of Man in France and America (Introduction to the third edition, vol. I, pp. v-lxxiii), and a brief Conclusion (vol. II, pp. 727-743) giving a meagre outline of French political thought in the nineteenth century and a scant note on the political literature of England and Germany of the same period. It is a pity that the author did not carry out his intention of publishing a third volume, during the years which intervened between the appearance of the third edition (1887) and the date of his death (i899), and bring his history down -to the end of the nineteenth century. We have, however, a number of preliminary studies from his pen covering phases of the period in question, among them the following: La philosophic de la revolution franfaise, i875, Histoire de la revolution franCaise, i889, Les origines du social- isme contemporain, I883, Saint-Simon et le Saint-Simonisme, 1878, Babeuf, the article Tocqueville in Problames du xix siacle, and two articles in Revue des Deux Mondes: Charles Fournier, i879, and Introduction & Ia science morale d'Herbert Spencer, 1875.

FRANK THILLY. CORNELL UNIVERSITY.

The following books also have been received: Greek Philosophy. Part I. Thales to Plato. By JOHN BURNET. London,

Macmillan and Company, Limited, I914.-PP. x, 360. Our Knowledge of the External World As a Field for Scientific Method in

Philosophy. By BERTRAND RUSSELL. Chicago and London, The Open Court Publishing Co., I9I4.-PP. Vi, 245. $2.00.

Henri Bergson. An Account of His Life and Philosophy. By ALGOT RUHE

and NANCY MARGARET PAUL. London, Macmillan and Co., 1914.-PP. Vii, 245. $i.5o net.

The Philosophy of Change. By H. WILDON CARR. London, Macmillan and CO., 1914.-PP. Xi, 2i6. $1.75 net.

William James and Henri Bergson. By HORACE MEYER KALLEN. Chicago, The Univ. of Chicago Press, I914.-PP. X, 242. $i.50 net.

The Idealistic Reaction Against Science. By PROFESSOR ALIOTTA. Trans- lated by AGNES MCCASKILL. London, Macmillan and Co., 1914.-PP. Xiii, 483. $3.00.

Problems of Conduct. By DURANT DRAKE. Cambridge, The Riverside Press, 1914.-pp. Xiii, 455. $1.75.

Friedrich Nietzsche. By GEORGE BRANDES. New York, The Macmillan Company, I914.-PP. II7. $.75.

Essays on the Life and Work of Newton. By AUGUSTUS DE MORGAN. Chicago, The Open Court Publishing Co., I9I4.-PP. xi, I98.

The Analysis of Sensations. By DR. ERNST MACH. Revised and Supple- mented from the fifth German edition by SYDNEY WATERLOW. Chicago and London, The Open Court Publishing Co., I9I4.-PP. xiv, 379. $I.50 net.

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