Page:Mind (Old Series) Volume 11.djvu/136

 NEW BOOKS. 125 The Springs of Conduct. An Essay in Evolution. By C. LLOYD MORGAN. London : Kegan Paul, Trench, 1885. Pp. 317. The author's object has been " to provide such of the general public as have the appetite and digestion for this kind of mental food-stuff with some account of the teachings of the modern philosophy of evolution in the matter of science and conduct ". Of the representatives of " science and the philosophy that is based upon science whose teaching he has himself assimilated, probably Clifford has influenced him most. In Part i. (on " Knowledge"), for example, he follows Clifford in his exposition of the social origin of the conception of objects, and in his distinction of know- ledge of objects from knowledge of 'ejects' ; in Part ii. ("The Study of Nature ") he adopts the position that the only Uniformity of Nature we can know is "a practical uniformity" ; and in Part iii. (" Through Feeling to Conduct") he contends that there is no knowledge that has not some bearing on action. The test of truth is " prevision ". " Practically our object is to be able to guide our actions aright in the future. Any theory which enables us to do this is practically a true theory." This is applied to knowledge of the past. When, for example, we say that the theory of evolution is true, we mean that from a knowledge of this theory the existing facts of biology could have been predicted. Among incidental positions may be mentioned one that has already been maintained by the author in Nature (against Mr. Romanes), viz., that " no science of comparative psy- chology from the ejective standpoint is possible " (p. 164). Consciousness the author (here following Mr. Romanes) holds to be the accompaniment of delay in response to stimuli, and at the same time of " diffusion " (in accordance with Prof. Bain's " law of diffusion "), which seems to him a, still more important circumstance. The positions as to conduct in general by which he leads up to ethics are that, " in aiming at efficiency we are taking our best course to obtain pleasure," while ultimately choice is " determined by considerations of happiness ". He insists on the social origin of all morality properly so-called. From Mr. Spencer he takes the principle that " knowledge has to be converted into feeling before it deeply influences our actions ". The end of conduct is finally stated thus : " That which, under its purely rational aspect, is greatest perfection, is, under its emotional aspect, greatest happiness " (p. 309). Scientific Meliorism and the Evolution of Happiness. By JANE HUME CLAPPERTON. London : Kegan Paul, Trench, 1885. Pp. xii., 443. This is a book of ' pragmatic philosophy,' written mainly for social edifi- cation. It is at once inspired by great warmth of feeling and marked by bold and plain handling of practical questions now pressing. Some few chapters touch on matters of principle as on " Happiness," " Development in Morals," " Evolution of Modern Sentiments ". The author, while taking George Eliot's coinage for her title, also gives to George Eliot the foremost place among her teachers. Anthropoid Apes. By ROBERT HARTMANN, Professor in the University of Berlin. With 63 Illustrations. ("International Scientific Series.") London : Kegan Paul, Trench, 1885. Pp. 326. This book deals chiefly with the morphology and distribution of the anthropoid apes (the gorilla, chimpanzee, orang and gibbon) ; but much material is also to be found for the study of their intelligence and their emotional characters, both in captivity and in a state of nature, especially in cc. v. and vi., the last of which (pp. 259-284) is entirely devoted to "Life in Captivity". The last section of c. iii. (pp. 192-209) contains a