Page:Mind (New Series) Volume 12.djvu/279

NEW BOOKS. 265 The Development of Modern Philosophy ; with Other Lectures and Essays, liy EGBERT ADAMSON, M.A., LL.D., sometime Professor of Logic and Rhetoric in the University of Glasgow. Edited by W. R. Sorley, M.A., LL.D., Professor of Moral Philosophy to the University of Cambridge. Black wood & Sons, Edinburgh and London, 1903. Vol. L, pp. xlviii., 858 ; vol. ii., pp. 330. The rich material contained in these volumes has been mainly collected from lecture notes by students. The first volume consists of a history of the " Development of Modern Philosophy " supplemented by " Sugges- tions towards a Theory of Knowledge Based on the Kantian ". The History has merits which seem to me to belong to no other work of the kind in an equal degree I need not refer to the accurate and extensive learning which it displays. What gives it its most distinctive value is the systematic unity and continuity of the exposition, which follows per- sistently the development of certain fundamental questions relating to Theory of Knowledge. The attentive student who follows the guidance of Prof. Adamson cannot fail to realise fully that "History of Philo- sophy " is Philosophy itself in the making. The treatment of Kant is especially remarkable for the skill shown in disentangling vital and essential points from what is relatively unimportant, and all readers must find Adamson's criticism and critical reconstruction of Kantian doctrine in the highest degree instructive and interesting. The second volume consists mainly of discussions bearing on the nature of mental development psychologically considered, on Theory of Knowledge, and especially on the relation of Theory of Knowledge to Psychology. Prof. Adamson's original, penetrating and thorough treat- ment of these topics is extremely stimulating and suggestive. In partic- ular, the connexion of Psychology with Epistemology has never, in my opinion, been handled with so much insight and thoroughness. Fuller notice of this important work will appear in another number of MIND. EDITOR, Kant's Prolegomena to any Future Metaphysic, edited by Dr. P. Cams, Chicago : Open Court Publishing Co. ; London : Kegan Paul, Trench, Triibner, 1902. Pp. v., 301. Leibnitz, Discourse on Metaphysics, Correspondence with Arnauld, and Monadology. Translated by Dr. G. R. Montgomery (same publishers). Pp. xxi., 272. These two additions to the series of philosophical classics issued at low prices by the Open Court Publishing Co. should meet with an extended sale. All who have to teach Kant's Philosophy to ordinary students must have felt the need of a translation of the Prolegomena sufficiently <jheap to be accessible to the reader with a slender purse. The Leibnitz volume will be exceptionally valuable as containing the first English version of the Discourse on Metaphysics and the correspondence with Arnauld, of which the supreme importance for a knowledge of Leibnitz has been so recently shown by Mr. Russell. As the editors decided to .annex the Monadology to these less-read treatises, it is almost a pity the;> did not see their way to include the Principle of Nature and Grace p.d well ; but it is, perhaps, ungraceful to complain of so useful a book for not being even better than it is. In both cases the work of transla- tion has been efficiently performed. The supplementary matter supplied