Page:Mind (New Series) Volume 6.djvu/448

 432 NEW BOOKS. with great accuracy, and forgetting that both quality and quantity of intellectual, as well as material, food should depend upon circumstances. Dr. Hofler, who is not only a schoolmaster but a distinguished philo- sopher as well, takes a line of his own. An elementary text-book of any science may pursue two very different aims : either it is intended to be a real introduction, the perusal of which is to be followed by the study of larger hand-books and monographs, or it is meant to give such information as is valuable in itself as an es- sential element in the education of the higher mental faculties. In the first case, the author has to ask himself : What knowledge of notions, facts, and methods is generally presupposed in scientific literature '? In the second case, he has to answer the much more subtle question : What can the study of this science contribute to the general culture of the mind ? Dr. Hofler, writing for readers who. for the most part, do not intend to study psychology for its own sake, has deliberately chosen the second way. He has given us a book, which, neglecting a detailed ex- position of the facts and methods of current psychology, is extremely well adapted to foster those habits of careful self-observation and self- analysis which even among our cultivated classes are still greatty neglected. The main import of Dr. Hofler's psychology lies on the descriptive side. In treating of a class of mental phenomena, he generally begins by ascertaining the precise meaning of the terms used for them in current language, proceeding from extension to intension, and distinguishing carefully between terms denoting slightly different objects, or different meanings of one term. The phenomena themselves are then scrupu- lously analysed and classified, their hidden elements brought to light, and their inner relations expounded. In all these directions Dr. Hofler's work is simply excellent. The space to which I must confine myself forbids ample illustration : so I only refer to the analysis of our ideas of Space (284-304), Time (353-356), and the Ego (378-384) ; to the discussion of the question, whether a judgment factor be present in the processes of observation and recollection (211-214, 252-257) ; to the demonstration of " form-qualities " as essential elements of many ideas (152-154) ; and to such distinctions as that between feelings from ideas and feelings from judgments (390), or that between egoism in the sense of taking one's own future pleasure as an end, and egoism in the sense of being guided by one's own judgment of worth (483). By these, as well as by many similar investigations, Dr. Hofler shows himself a thinker of great acuteness, and opens interesting perspectives in what may be called the logic of psychology. In the exposition of psychical laws the author limits himself as nearly as possible to the data of scrupulous self-obser- vation, quoting the results of laboratory researches only for the sake of giving greater clearness and precision. Though this method necessarily fails to give an adequate impression of the importance of quantitative work for the solution of psychological problems, it has the direct advan- tage, that the reality of the facts, upon which the argumentation rests, is always under the reader's control, and the indirect one, that the habit of looking at the data of common mental experience as materials for scientific interpretation is strongly cultivated. In regard to explanatory theories, Dr. Hofler observes the utmost caution ; never asserting more than his probable readers are prepared to judge of, and often limiting himself to the bare statement of conflicting opinions. So far as I can see, this is the right way. A high degree of mental culture involves not only a certain amount of knowledge and intellectual training, but also a deep' impression of the dignity of science, and a disposition to abstain from