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NEW BOOKS. 558 true ethical ideal is to be found in the Liberum Veto of the defunct Polish Republic (loc. cit., p. 47). It is obvious that some of these deductions are more original than prudent, while the proof of others hardly seems sufficient. Thus the argument (loc. cit., p. 48) that there must be a God, because there must be some highest being in the universe, hardly seems sound, and indeed no deity of any sort would seem to be really needed in a scheme which doubts the supreme wisdom of Providence. Again, the postulate of unanimity, irrefragable though it be metaphysically, and safe though it may conceivably be to whisper it in the sanctuaries of the seventh heaven, is hardly one to be rashly applied to the practical exigencies of our terrestrial universe. The practical corollaries which M. Lutoslawski draws from his doctrines may be passed over lightly. They are greatly affected by his personal equation, very visionary and extravagant, and evidently inspired by the political paradoxes of Plato's Republic. One is a little surprised to find that a subject of the Tsar should have been permitted to utter them with impunity, but there is not perhaps any great danger of their having any practical effect on any existing society. Still their greater prominence in Seelenrnacht, together with the greater length of this work, renders the Grandvoraussetzungen decidedly preferable reading for the student of M. Lutoslawski's philosophy. F. C. S. SCHILLER. Geschichte der neueren Deutschen Philosophie seit Hegel. Ein Hand- buck zur Einfuhrung in das philosophische Studium der neuesten Zeit. Yon Dr. Phil. OTTO SIEBERT. Gottingen : Vandenhoeck und Kuprecht ; London : Williams & Norgate, 1898. Pp. 496. The description of this work given on the title-page is somewhat mis- leading. Whatever may be the value of the work as a book of reference, it is hardly fitted to serve as an introduction to the study of the period with which it deals. In the Preface the author seems to give two rather different explanations of the aim and scope of the work. After speaking of the importance of a study of the past achievements of philosophy, he goes on to say, " Die Geschichte der Philosophie will dazu behiltiich sein, sie sorgt, dass die Miihe und Arbeit friiherer Geschlechter den lebenden nicht verloren geht, sie will die Meister vor Augen fuhren, damit die Jiinger selbststandig weiterarbeiten ". But a little farther on he ex- plains his work as being " eine Bearbeitung der Geschichte der neueren Philosophie seit Hegel, welche moglichst alle irgendwie erwahnenswerten philosophischen Erscheinungen beriicksichtigt ". Now these two ac- counts do not seem to agree very well. The " Meister " of the first can hardly be identified with the irgendwie erwahnenswerten Erschein- ungen " of the second. And in any case the scope assigned to the work in the second account seems quite inconsistent with the purpose of the work as set forth on the title-page. Certainly it is in the spirit of the second account that the work itself is written. It deals with a very large number of philosophers of all grades of importance (the index of mere names runs to six pages), and to any one philosopher the author devotes as a rule (there are comparatively few ex- ceptions) not more than three pages, very often a page or less. Within this compass he gives an abstract, apparently as nearly as possible in the phraseology of the philosopher himself, of the latter's more important doctrines or works. In many cases it is not easy to see what useful purpose is served by such a method. Thus in the case of several of the