Walter Francis Willcox

“ First of all, let him assimilate this, and only when he has gained a complete and sympathetic mastery of some one system will he "be entitled to criticise and compare and dissent, until gradually is own belief on the vital problems shall be evoked from the disintegrating fragments of the system he has learned. And it will be admitted by many that, in choosing a system into which the beginner shall be inducted, none better in its temper and general results is to be found than the one for which our author vigorously fights, "that of Lotze, or perhaps better, the Lotzian phase of Kant." ”

“ Notwithstanding what seems from this distance the somewhat disproportionate space given to German and to theological books, the chief value of the work seems to me to lie in these bibliographical references. As the author notes, in his preface, such references are a great desideratum in ethics; and thanks are due to one who has attempted the task of supplying them. They give evidence of wide, discriminating, and thoughtful reading, and I know of no other book by which one can be so well guided in studying any problem of concrete ethics. ”

“ On the analogy of the antipathy existing between different species of animals, the latter is explained as based on an instinctive recognition of the commonly increased sterility of hybrids, while the prohibition of marriage between near kin is believed to find its source in the fact that a certain amount of difference between male and female is beneficial to the offspring. Hence an instinctive antipathy to incest has been fostered by natural selection, but the basis on which the instinct works is not kinship by blood but living under the same roof. ”

“ Whether those who have worked over his field for themselves agree with his results or not, they will hardly deny that it is best for the beginner in philosophy to be brought face to face with some coherent system of thought. ”

“ The idea of the kingdom of God may be regarded, as by Pfleiderer, as the tie between dogmatics and ethics. But in the doctrine of the sumrnum bonum, which is essentially the same as that of the kingdom of God, the religious point of view is not so necessary as it is in the doctrine of regeneration. This latter doctrine Sigwart has recently emphasized, like Schopenhauer before him, as indispensable for ethics. — The ethical value of the concept of overcoming [Ueberwindung] depends on one's idea of the nature of this act of will. ”

“ It shows itself objectively in the actual improvement of the life, and subjectively in the knowledge not only that the oppressive burden of the former feeling of guilt has been rolled off, but also that the life is now guided by a practical law of progressive improvement. ”

“ The years of work that have gone into its preparation show their fruits on every page. Notwithstanding its excellence, however, one lays it down with a little question whether the reconstruction of the development of the prehistoric family even in its broad lines is possible in the present state of our knowledge or will become possible in the near future. ”

“ The proper method is, first, to find the causes of any phenomenon under consideration, and, secondly, to assume that the phenomenon extends beyond the range of our observation in time or space only when the causes are known so to have extended and there is no evidence of counteracting influences. ”

“ This definition is elaborately developed in the first chapter; the second states the problem with which Social Philosophy is confronted; the third analyzes the conception of an organism and shows the sense in which society may be called an organic unity; the fourth is devoted to the social aim and largely occupied with a criticism of hedonism; the fifth is an attempt to determine the ideal of society and includes an elaborate examination of socialism; the sixth is an effort to apply the ideal to the actual problems of society ”

“ In agreement with this tendency he supplements the two generally recognized sources of ideas, sensation and reflection, by a third, the intellect, and argues ably in support of this interpretation of the "Essay." The most definite quotation by which he seeks to uphold it is found in Locke's First Letter to Stillingfleet, "General ideas (e.g. of substance) come not into the mind by sensation or reflection, but are the creatures or inventions of the understanding, as I think I have shown" (p. 35) . ”

“ At least in Massachusetts with the exception of the Lenten months of March and April, when there are few marriages but many conceptions, there is apparently a close connection between the number of marriages and the number of conceptions. ”

“ Each of the eighty-six sections into which the volume is divided consists of three parts, — a few lines at the beginning in large print; two or three pages in smaller type elaborating the points, suggesting questions, or stating other views; and, finally, half a page or more of bibliographical references. The following fairly typical passage may serve to illustrate both the general position of the author and his method of treatment:
"19. . . . The concept of regeneration serves as a tie between dogmatics and ethics. ”

“ By their aid it becomes a representative and exponent of a large and able school. One who wishes to know the books, especially the English books of recent years, that are valuable in the lines of the theory of the social sciences might find much help and guidance in the frequent references in foot-notes to the literature of the subject. ”

“ Between these limits he travels over the familiar ground of elementary psychology and logic in addition to metaphysics, and even introduces chapters on aesthetics and ethics. Occasionally in his pages one meets with sweeping assertions that are somewhat surprising, e.g. "All philosophers are agreed that there is an important difference between conduct which we call prudent, agreeable, or sagacious, and conduct which is morally good" (p. 239) ”

“ It might have been better, had the author put over against the foregoing some one or more of the seemingly contradictory passages in the second book, e.g. "The understanding seems to me not to have the least glimmering of any ideas which it doth not receive from one of these two," i.e. sensation and reflection (Essay on Hum. Und. II, i, 5) , and either attempted to reconcile them, or admitted that the contradiction was irreconcilable. ”

“ If his authorities have led him into error there, a fortiori will they have done so where the observers are so few and the obstacles to accuracy so many as they are when a civilized man observes the family life of savages.
The author states on the authority of Wappæus (p. 31) that in Massachusetts the births show "an increase twice a year, the maxima falling in March and September." On the basis of the official figures for the last score of years, 1870-1889, the statement is entirely incorrect. In the number of births September ranks fourth and March seventh of the twelve months. ”

“ This interpretation differs widely from those of Professor Jodl, "Locke agrees with Hobbes in his fundamental idea" (Grundanschaung) (G.d. Ethik, I, p. 146) , and Professor Wundt, "Locke follows Hobbes in his fundamental ideas in that he opposes intellectualism" (Ethik, p. 275) as well as of Professor Paulsen, whose opinion the author cites and attempts to refute. Locke like Kant seems to have given rise to two lines of successors, each claiming to be the legitimate heirs of his intellectual estate. ”

“ Mediating ideas: to suffer evil is better than to do it [Plato, Gorgias; I Peter iv] ," etc., pp. 54 f.
Then follows half a page of bibliography.
Such bibliographical references throughout the book are mainly to the German literature, and to a considerable degree to the German theologians. Next to German, the author seems to be best read in English, while the French and Italian books are perhaps less adequately represented. ”