Page:Mind (Old Series) Volume 12.djvu/487

474 NEW BOOKS. La Filosofia Monistica in Italia. Per E. MORSELLI, Direttore della Rivista di Filosofia Scientifica. Milano-Torino : Fratelli Dumolard, 1887. Pp. 42. Prof. Morselli here sets forth his view of the true nature of philosophy, as distinguished from "metaphysics" on the one hand and the special sciences on the other. It is essentially, as the Positivists contend, a syn- thesis of the sciences ; but not only has it the unity of method conceived by Positivism, but also the unity of doctrine of " evolutionism ". Further, the evolutionism of scientific philosophy is monistic ; for while it makes no metaphysical affirmation as to the nature of reality, it regards the series of phenomena as unbroken, and holds that all knowledge is continuous from the first empirical observation of facts to the highest generalisations attainable. This conception the author defends both against scientific specialists, who will not hear of philosophy at all, and against those who, in succession to Rosmini, Gioberti and Mamiani, oppose to Positivism a "metaphysical" doctrine which they claim is the "national philosophy of Italy ". First he protests against the idea of maintaining special national philosophies ; but if there is any Italian " national philosophy," this, he contends, is not the spiritualism of the first half of the 19th century. Far better than the philosophical ideas, neither original nor fruitful, of that period, Italy may claim the initiation of the modern experimental method by Galileo, and of the historical sciences by Vico, and the concep- tion of a monistic theory of the universe by Giordano Bruno. To such thinkers as these, if it wishes to be truly national, Italian philosophy must return. Briefe von und an Hegel. Herausgegeben von KARL HEGEL. In zwei Theilen. Erster Theil : Mit einem Portrait Hegel's. Zweiter Theil : Mit einem Facsimile Hegel's. (G. W. F. Hegel's Werke, Vollstandige Ausgabe, 19. Bd.) Leipzig : Duncker & Humblot, 1887. Pp. xii., 430 ; 399. This collection of letters from and to Hegel makes the nineteenth volume of the " Complete Edition " of the Works. The editor (Hegel's son) had long since proposed to republish the correspondence contained in vol. xvii., with additional letters of Hegel himself and a selection from the letters of his correspondents ; but it has only recently become possible, through the necessity for the republication of the volumes of the Works that were out of print, to undertake this enlarged edition. The correspondence not pre- viously published is larger in quantity than all the rest, and of no le,ss interest ; including early letters to Schelling, an important part of the correspondence with Niethammer, and letters from Hegel to Cousin. All the correspondence is arranged in chronological order and illustrated with sufficient biographical notes and introductions. The orthography of the original letters has been preserved as marking the period. Geschichte der christlichen Ethik. Von Dr. W. GASS. Erster Band : Bis zur Reformation. Zweiten Bandes erste Abtheilung : Sechszehntes und siebzehntes Jahrhundert ; Die vorherrschend kirchliche Ethik. Zweiten Bandes zweite Abtheilung : Achtzehntes und neunzehntes Jahrhun- dert ; Die philosophische und die theologische Ethik. Berlin : G. Reimer, 1881, 1886, 1887. Pp. xviii., 457 ; xvi., 372 ; xvi., 386. The first part of the second volume of Dr. Gass's history of Christian Ethics, mentioned in the last number of MIND, has been quickly followed by the second part, which completes the whole work. The first volume (the title of which is also given above) had already appeared in 1881. The author is known bv histories of Protestant Dogmatics and of the Symbolism