Page:Mind (New Series) Volume 12.djvu/432

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X. PHILOSOPHICAL PEBIODICALS. PHILOSOPHICAL REVIEW. Vol. xi., No. 5. M. F. Washburn. ' Psycho- logical Analysis in System-Making.' [An examination of certain sys- tematic works of Wundt, Ebbinghaus and Miinsterberg, to determine (1) how they define the mental element, (2) upon what basis (if at all) they make the division between classes of elements, (3) how they define attribute, and (4) how they classify attributes. The differences in the three systems "are due to different conceptions of the nature of analysis, to different views about the relation of an attribute to that on which it depends, and to different conceptions of the relation between epistem- ology and psychology and the former's right to influence " a psychology. The first two points are mere matters of definition, and agreement upon them would constitute an important advance in psychological method.] P. C. French. ' The Philosophy of Religion : Its Aim and Scope.' [There are three main methods whereby philosophy has dealt with the religious problem. (1) The method of elimination (Xenophanes and Plato, the natural theology of the eighteenth century, Comte and Spencer) "proposes to rationalise religion by striking out all that is false in theory and pernicious in practice, thus leaving only what is good and true". (2) That of addition (Scholasticism) accepts the dogmas of a given religion as unquestionably true ; it seeks to furnish a rational basis for religion as it finds it. (3) The method of

  • philosophy of religion,' a nineteenth century growth, takes religion " as

a fact in human life to be interpreted " ; the positive religions are " steps in the historical development of the religious consciousness". To de- termine the aim and scope of this 'philosophy of religion,' we must consider the natural relations of religion and philosophy, (a) Intellect- ually, philosophy itself, to be complete, must contain an interpretation of religion as at any rate one of the important factors in human life. (6) Practically, religion for its own sake needs a philosophical interpre- tation.] H. EL Bawden. ' The Functional View of the Relation between the Psychical and the Physical.' [Explanations of the relation of mind to body are either ontological or teleological. The former are either theories of causality (interactionism, materialism, spiritualism), or theories of parallelism (pre-established harmony, agnosticism). The latter "regard the psychical and physical as functional distinctions within the one concrete knowable reality of experience ". " What was at first a purely practical distinction was gradually transformed into an ontological distinction. . . . The solution of the problem lies in getting back to the principle involved hi the practical attitude, though now ... in a reflective, conscious way." We begin with immediate experi- ence. Within this emerges the distinction of means (the physical world) and ends or values to be realised (psychical). Experience is thus psychi- cal only at critical or nodal points. The distinction in question is purely