Page:Philosophical Review Volume 1.djvu/215

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
No. 2.]
REVIEWS OF BOOKS.
199

ulation among the Greeks and Hebrews, of whose naïf theorizings the work often reminds one. Of his lengthy criticism of the first principles of physics, this is not the place to speak, though I will venture to say it seems to me beside the mark. What Mr. Silberstein does see clearly — and here he is at one with current philosophy — is the absurdity of speaking of a material universe unrelated to an Intelligence. He makes the world "an emanation of the absolute Intellect, an act of its thought." But so far as the present pamphlet goes, this conception remains unfruitful.

J. G. S.
Ethics for Young People. By C. C. Everett, Bussey Professor of Theology in Harvard University. Boston, Ginn & Co., 1891. — pp. iv, 185.

The number of books on Practical Ethics grows apace. In Review No. 1, Ex-President Seelye's Duty was noticed, and here we have a similar volume for young people by Professor Everett. Both are excellent manuals. Dr. Seelye frankly bases his morality on religion; Professor Everett's morality is purely human. What he appeals to in his youthful readers is not their love or fear of God, but their own self-respect and their contempt for what is coarse, selfish, and wrong. In reading his volume, one seems to move in the æsthetic atmosphere of Greek morals. "Grand," "noble," "self-respecting"; "mean," "disgusting," "loathsome": these and similar terms are the ultimate categories of his ethical thinking. Perhaps for this very reason, his book will be better liked by young persons, whom in any event it can scarcely fail to interest and to elevate. It is a fine example of strenuous thinking on high subjects, expressing itself in a style which is almost captivating. The language in general is simple; the arrangement is orderly; the illustrations are drawn fresh from life, mostly from youthful life; and the chapters (forty-six in number) are so short that the youngest reader would scarcely read less than one at a single sitting.

The work falls into four parts: (1) Morality in General (pp. 1-32); (2) Duties towards One's Self (pp. 33-83); (3) Duties to Others (pp. 84-105); (4) Helps and Hindrances (106-185).

While the book as a whole can be heartily recommended to both young and old as a healthful tonic for every-day life, there are certain chapters which deserve special commendation. Nothing could be happier than the author's account of the breaking up of the ethics of custom in the life of the youthful individual and nation, and his exposition and criticism of the Epicurean and Stoical principles, which the Greeks adopted as a substitute for customary morality. His account of Courage is thoroughly Aristotelian, and that of Fortitude at once