Ernest Albee

“ A unitary life of Hellenic, more than Hellenic, freedom and beauty will first begin for man, when he shall have attained a knowledge of his own nature. This is the part of the book which is least original, and also that which is least calculated to excite opposition, though of course only those will sympathize with the views expressed whose ethics are founded upon absolute idealism, and even of this class there are many who will vigorously deny that Christianity is hopelessly dualistic in the sense that the author claims. ”

“ It will be thought unfortunate by many that, in all cases except the one just indicated, the translator has neglected the Latin text. It was certainly proper to translate the Discours from the French, since that was the original text, but the Latin translation is somewhat important, since it was revised by Descartes himself and in some passages changed from the original. But whatever reasons there might have been for using only the French text of the Discours would seem to hold for using only the Latin text of the Meditationes, in the case of which work the conditions were exactly reversed. ”

“ In the section entitled "Association," in the short chapter on "Laws of Mind," association by contiguity alone is described. In the chapter on "Memory," however, section on "Suggestion," association by similarity and association by contrast are also described, and described first, though the author regards association by contiguity as the fundamental form.
Professor James has well said that when psychology approaches metaphysics "one must be impartially naïf or impartially critical." ”

“ The extract from De l’Homme and that from a letter to Mersenne on the automatism of brutes together occupy only twelve pages, most of the remainder of the volume being devoted to the Traité. The last fifteen pages are taken up with extracts from letters by Descartes on the happy life and the highest good.
If one were to criticise the principle upon which the selections have been made, he would probably suggest that it would have been better to cover rather less ground somewhat more thoroughly. ”

“ The author's fundamental assumption is that modern thought is essentially individualistic. The first two chapters of the book are on Max Stirner and on Friedrich Nietzsche respectively, two notable exponents of absolute individualism, whose views are presented as being the best, because the most consequent, examples of this individualistic tendency, which the author finds so alarmingly prevalent. ”

“ The author has wisely decided to be the former in the present little book, but one is inclined to object to language like that used on page 15, where he says, "All cases ... in which a mental effect follows upon a physical cause are instances of physical laws." ”

“ If man recognized himself as both subject and object, if he knew that there was really nothing external to him as conscious, morality would cease to be regarded as a thing imposed by external authority, whether human or divine ”