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IX. CKITICAL NOTICES. Kinfiihnniij in die Philosophic der lieiuen Er/ahruny. Von JOSEPH PETZOLDT. Erster Band. Die Bestimmtheit der See.le. Leipzig : B. G. Teubner. 1900. Pp. 354. IT is always a matter for congratulation when a new and inter- esting movement in Philosophy finds an adequate interpreter. The philosophy of Avenarius has found a most admirable inter- preter in Mr. Petzoldt. He has succeeded in disengaging what is really vital in that philosophy from all that is merely accessory, and in setting it before his readers in the clearest possible light. Not that we are spared the terminology that makes the master- work the Critique of Pure Experience at first sight so for- bidding, but we are introduced to it and led through it in the kindest possible way. It would be a mistake, however, to suppose that the present volume is a mere introduction to the philosophy of Avenarius, or a mere exposition of the principles of the Critique. It consists of two parts, the first of which is devoted to developing the main idea which gives unity to the work of Avenarius, and the second to a critical exposition and extension of Avenarius's philosophy as embodied in the Kritik der fleinen Erf ah/rung. Other parts, more- over, are to follow in a second volume, which we are to expect in two or three years' time. They will be concerned primarily with the exposition and application of ' a principle of very great gener- ality and fruitfulness dominating all the processes of nature and spirit ' ; whilst the last part will' be devoted to the statement of the fundamental view of the world which is characteristic of the Philosophy of pure Experience. It is impossible not to take a genuine interest in such a pro- gramme, and the interest with which one starts the reading of this first volume is heightened from the very outset by the lucidity of the writer's style. Mr. Petzoldt is essentially a con- scientious thinker, and as he is never slovenly in his ideas he is always clear in his expression. It was with much regret that I discovered I was at complete variance with the fundamental principle upon which this whole new philosophy is built the principle which concerns the scien- tific explanation of psychical processes, and the conditions of their intelligibility ; and yet this did not in any way diminish the interest with which I read the remainder of the book. It is a