F. C. French

“ Whatever is real is finite. The extended world and space — the world-process and time — all are finite. Time, Becoming, and Evil are the corruptions of Eternity, Being, and Perfection. Eternity is not the negation of Time, but the ideal into which Time is ultimately to pass. Matter is a form of Force. Force implies a sense of effort, hence intelligence and will. An atom is a constant manifestation of divine Force or Will exercised at a definite point. ”

“ In the former the author reaches the conclusion that if the scientific theories of evolution are true, "the prothyle or pure potentiality of the whole phenomenal world implies a prior actuality, i.e. a non-phenomenal cause of its evolution and so a transcendent Deity becomes necessary, of whose purpose the world-process is the working out." The true significance of things lies in their end, and all explanation is ultimately teleological. A process is necessarily finite and so the world, if it is in process, must have a beginning and ending in time. ”

“ The question of our future life depends upon the relation of the self to the Ego. In so far as the self is spiritually developed, and has attained to its ideal, the Ego, it will persist in the future. ”

“ So completely have philosophers of this class sunk the individual in society, that many who are most alive to both the theoretical and the practical defects of the old individualism fear that a reaction may be excited against this new-found sense of solidarity by the very extravagances of its advocates. ”

“ We have before us in the present work a complete system of philosophy in outline. Its aim is to construct a modern metaphysic on the foundation of the latest results in science. With a firm faith in the possibility and practical value of philosophical investigations, our author nevertheless admits that it is only by its success in explaining the problems of life that philosophy can be justified. "We may claim that, if the scheme of things is rational at all, it should not mock our reason with puzzles that are insoluble. ”

“ A marked characteristic of the present time is the widespread and increasing dissatisfaction with the individualism of the last hundred years. While, on the practical side, this dissatisfaction manifests itself in efforts to centralize the power and enlarge the functions of the state, the same thing is seen even more clearly on the theoretical side in the growing influence of idealism in metaphysics, and in the ethical system of such writers as Wundt, Ihering, and Leslie Stephen. ”

“ It is in and through institutions that men are trained to unselfishness and to a recognition of the affinities and duties which bind them in fellowship to all mankind. Their sacredness lies in the invaluable education which they give to character. ”

“ Book II discusses the proper methods and data of philosophy in the light of modern science. The one indisputable fact and basis of philosophy is the reality of the Self. Rejecting epistemological and psychological methods because they fail to take account of the historical development of the mind, we find three methods left: (1) the physical or pseudo-metaphysical, which attempts to extend the method of the physical sciences to the solution of ultimate questions; (2) the abstract metaphysical, which attempts to state the whole truth of all reality in terms of thought abstractions ”

“ Particular attention is given to the inadequacy and inconsistencies of the conceptions forming the first principles of science: Time, Space, Motion, Matter, Force, Causation, Substance, Becoming, Being. ”

“ Happiness, Goodness, Beauty, and Knowledge are each presented as ideals of life and the pessimist's arguments for their impossibility given. Particularly interesting in contrast with the optimism of Spencer's Data of Ethics are the pessimistic conclusions here drawn from the doctrine of Evolution. ”

“ The distinction of mind and body is the result of sin. The Fall of Man was a fall from his true nature as a spiritual creation; it was a disruption of the unity of the spirit, a disintegration of spirit into differences of mind and body. ”

“ The aim of the present work is to show that in Christianity we have a solution of the problem which gives at once due value to social organizations and full weight to the intrinsic worth of individual personality. ”

“ The author's avowed contempt for epistemology and his uncritical acceptance of individualism seem to us sources of real weakness to the work as a whole. The polemic against Infinity deserves comparison with Locke's attack on Innate Ideas, and it is in this that the work makes its most important contribution to metaphysics. ”

“ We confess to some repugnance to a philosophical work which appears anonymously and with a fancy title, but we hope that students will not be led by this to neglect such an earnest and careful study of metaphysical problems. ”

“ It denies that anything can be made of life, because life is hopelessly irrational and its conflicting aspects are insuperable. "It takes the main activities of life, the main aims of life which are capable of being desired for their own sake, and shows how in each case: (1) their attainment is impossible ”

“ Of the book in general we should say that the ethical half is most admirable, and that the theological part may serve as a useful introduction for that class of minds who find it easier to reach the earth by first taking a preliminary flight through the upper ether. ”

“ The second chapter is entitled "The Nature of Man and the Work of Christ." As is the universe, so also is man, a concrete identity yielding differences of aspect. The different aspects of man's nature are body and the rational soul or mind. ”