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 PHILOSOPHICAL PERIODICALS. 285 fied notices of recent works and a classified Index of recent publications and articles. L'ANN^E PHILOSOPHIQUE (1897). Paris : Felix Alcan, 1898. Pp. 316. The first article, by M. Renouvier, is entitled ' De 1'ide'e de Dieu '. The author criticises the first principles of various religious and philosophical systems, and his conclusion is that the principal doctrines of the theology of Thomas Aquinas " have exercised an influence over modern Phil- osophy, down to the time of Kant, upon the a priori school, in all that relates to the Divine Nature. This Philosophy (i.e., that of Aquinas), essentially infinite and predeterministic, has overwhelmed the positive idea of God by definitions of attributes and powers which are peculiarly appropriate to the realistic idea of the Universal." The same neglect of the " positive idea of God " continues after Kant, and M. Renouvier has some caustic criticism of Hegel, Schopenhauer, and Spencer. With rd to the latter, M. Renouvier forcibly contends that "the proof of the Relativity of Knowledge is, in precise terms, consecrated to the establishment of a certain number of Absolutes " (p. 27). Therefore, the dominant note of Philosophy during the present century is, either ex- plicitly or implicitly, the maintenance of the Absolute, which is declared to be mere "latent Atheism". In reference to this, M. Renouvier speaks in no measured terms of Hegel. " What an infirmity of outlook, compared to the teaching of the Ancients ! For God to reach His accomplishment in man, in the person of a philosopher in that of Hegel, perhaps ! Truly this is to give the idea of God a beggarly real- isation ! " (une realisation trop pauvre). Passing the many historical difficulties in M. Renouvier's criticism, one, not unnaturally, expects some remarkable excellence in " the positive idea of God," which is described as the supreme realisation of the ideal of personality intelli- gence, will, design, and moral perfection. But how is the objectivity of this idea to be demonstrated ? Partly, it would appear, as being not repugnant either to reason or to experience ; partly, again, by remaining the only possible supposition after the disproof of rival hypotheses. M. Renouvier has not left himself sufficient space to do justice to his demonstration, and therefore he is scarcely justified in claiming that it is "rigorously logical". He gives us an ideal of personality or of a higher self, but this is a far different result from that promised by the title of his article. It is by no means easy to write, within brief limits, a review of a review, for, nominally, this is the nature of the second article that entitled ' La Philosophic de M. Paul Janet,' by M. L. Dauriac indeed, it would be impossible, in this instance, were it not that the writer uses the recent appearance of a work by M. Paul Janet as a text for an interesting discussion of the present position of the followers of Cousin, or, as he calls them, the ecclectics. Modern Ecclec- ticism does not merely hold that "all systems are right in what they affirm and wrong in what they deny," but also, owing to its historical connexion with Reid, it acknowledges the primacy of Psychological introspection, and it is therefore met by the consolidated opposition of all systems. Further, in admitting Belief, thinkers of this school, as M. Dauriac forcibly puts it, turn their backs upon Ecclecticism, while if, on the other hand, they hold fast to their Psychology, they must abandon the hope of establishing a Metaphysic proper. In discussing the ecclectic position with regard to the relation of Philosophy to other branches of knowledge, M. Dauriac introduces an important digression as to whether Philosophy is "a kind of abstract literature," remarkable for the prominence given to style, and the assertion that a comprehensive philosophical system is, in a peculiar degree, affected by great waves of emotion, which accelerate