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 NEW BOOKS. 271 history and geography of Greece; and how at every stage of that evolu- tion it was influenced by the political, religious, and scientific culture of the Greek people ; in a word, to consider philosophy by which I under- stand a study of the most general relations between the world and human life as a product not only of certain pre-eminent intellects, but also and above all as a product of the nation whence they sprang " (Preface). Mr. Benn is specially fitted for the task he has undertaken, and the philosophy of the Greeks lends itself to such treatment in a peculiar v;iy. Fuller notice will follow. We need here only say that the book is very able and very readable. Les Origines de la Psychologic Contemporaine. Par D. MERCIKR. Paris : F. Alcan ; Brussels : O. Schepens, 1897. Pp. xii., 486. (5 fr.) Prof. Mercier is Director of the Ecole Saint Thomas d'Aquin and of the Institut Supe*rieur de Philosophic at the Catholic University of Louvain ; and his book is naturally a contribution to Catholic philosophy. His main contention is that true philosophy consists in adhering to the fundamental principles of Aristotle and St. Thomas, and that the dis- coveries of modern science, and of experimental psychology in particular, vill be found, if rightlj" interpreted, to contribute to the development of Neo-Thomism. The errors of modern psychology are traced back to 1 >i --cartes and his conflicting doctrines of spiritualism and mechanism. From Descartes' spiritualism sprang an idealism which, under the influence of mechanism and sensualism, has resulted in the idealism characterised by agnosticism which prevails at the present day. As Descartes reduced psychology to the study of thought, so modern psy- chologists restrict their investigations to facts of consciousness. The study of metaphysics has been almost abandoned, and psychology is moving towards an idealistic monism. On the other hand, experimental psychology has begun to make rapid progress, and in this fact M. Mercier finds some hope for the future. After discussing the genesis of idealism and of the positive character which idealism assumed at the beginning of the nineteenth century, the author explains its inadequacy to solve the fundamental psychological problems, and proceeds to deal with the leaders of contemporary psychology. These are, in his opinion, Herbert Spencer in England, Fouillee in France, and Wundt in Germany. A long discus- sion of Mr. Spencer's views ends with the following remarks : " Spencer's metaphysics and his rational psychology in particular are characterised by this amalgamation of the various philosophical doctrines which ema- nated from Descartes and are diffused in the atmosphere of our century. . . . Spencer is a collector of ideas rather than the creator of a philosophy. . . . As for his doctrine of evolution, it is merely an analogy audaciously grafted on a hypothesis. . . . Every one will agree that in this vast conception tin -re is neither science properly so called, nor true philosophy." Having thus disposed of English contemporary psychology, M. Mercier turns to France and to Fouillee's theory of idees -forces. In FouilleVs appetit he finds an attempt at psychological unity and a vague apprehen- sion of Aristotle's (vTf(fia ; but here again idealism and positivism are uninant. For Wundt there is more to be said. He is still enveloped in idealism ; he has not been able to break his Kantian fetters or to free himself from metaphysical agnosticism ; but he has the merit of declaring the reality of the data of experience, and in his doctrine of the will, though it is carried too far, he has made a stand against arbitrary intellectualism. "If dt could free himself from his idealistic and positivistic prejudices,