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 296 NEW BOOKS. school of grammarians. The influence of arbitrary elements, such as con- scious imitation, is sufficient, he contends, to deprive these laws of their universality ; and if there is any phonetic law without exception, it is that every change of sound, in at least one of its phases, is sporadic. The assumption that phonetic laws have no exceptions, instead of being, as some have urged in its defence, a useful instrument of research, is really a hin- drance, as diverting attention from the investigation of causes ; for the laws of phonetic change in any case are only empirical laws. Die Platonisclie Philosophie nach ihrem IVesen und ihren Srfttckxali'ti fiir Hohcrgebildete oiler Stiinde dargestellt. Von Dr. G. P. WEY<;OLDT, Kreis- Schulrat in Lorrach. Leipzig : 0. Schulze, 1885. Pp. 256. This book is intended as a popular account of the Platonic philosophy and its fortunes. A short sketch is first given of what is known of Plato's life ; about a third of the book is devoted to the Platonic doctrine itself ; in the rest the doctrines of the Old, the Middle and the New Academy and of Neo-Platonism, and the struggle of Neo-Platonism with Christianity, are described. The last chapter (pp. 243-254) briefly indicates the nature of Plato's influence in mediaeval and modern times. The author contends that Neo-Platoniam did not succumb to Christianity because of its ethical and religious weakness, but because early Christianity derived strength from the idea of social reform, while Platonism, both early and late, was the most aristocratic of all the philosophical systems of antiquity. On its religious side, Platonism had much in common with Christianity, and the mediaeval hierarchy has considerable resemblance to the Platonic State. The fundamental weakness of Plato's doctrine is the separation of the ideal and sensible worlds. From this it derived a theological and anti-scientitic direction and a tendency to pass into religious fanaticism. Plato's strongest point, the author thinks, was the stress he laid on complete education of the citizen, and above all of the statesman. Aphorismen zur Lebensweisheit. Von ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUEH. Separat- ausgabe aus Parerya und Paralipomena. 2 Bandchen. Leipzig : F. A. Brockhaus, 1886. Pp. xi., 137 ; xii., 144. Ueber den Tod und sein Verkffltnut :.nr Un::rr*tiirl>url;i'it unvr* '' sich. Leben der Gattuny. Erblichlceit der Eiyenschaften. Von ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER. Separatausgal >e aus Die Wdt als Wille und l'or.^t>l- biiiy. Leipzig : F. A. Brockhaus, 1886. Pp. xiv., 119. The first of these reprints (in two small volumes, taken from the /' und Paralipomena} is put forth by the editor, Herr Wilhelm Gwinner, not as containing Schopenhauer's characteristic doctrine, but as written from a point of view intermediate between his genuine ethical view and the view of ordinary practical life, and therefore well adapted to prepare for the reception of his philosophy readers who are as yet unfamiliar with it. While Schopenhauer's ultimate aim is to persuade men to renounce entirely the search for happiness, this part of his work assumes happiness as the end ; the purpose being to show that at any rate it is not to In- attained by pursuing external objects, but 'an only be. found within. This position, once attained, makes accessible the higher point of view. The other volume is a reprint of chaps. 41-43 of Die W?H  l- lung. These chapters the editor has selected as the best introduction to Schopenhauer's real philosophy ; of which he conceives the most important idea to be that of " the immortality of the race," for the sake of which the death of the individual is necessary, but in which all the real being of all men is preserved. In this idea he sees the indication of a point of view beyond Schopenhauer's own.