Page:Mind (Old Series) Volume 9.djvu/480

 468 NEW BOOKS. titudes philosophiques. Par F. DURAND DESORMEAUX. 2 vols. Paris : Alcan, 1884. Pp. xi., 461 ; 396. Reflexions et Pensees. Par F. DURAND DESORMEAUX. Precedees d'une Notice sur la Vie, le Caractere et les Travaux de 1' Auteur, par CHARLES YRIARTE. Paris : Alcan, 1884. Pp. 125. Fernatid Durand Desormeaux died of pulmonary disease in 1881 at the age of 41. Since 1867 he had been a legal functionary in the public service of his country, and in the last year or two, before his compulsory retire- ment through illness was speedily followed by a premature death, he had been advanced to a position in the ministry of justice which brought within his grasp the highest prizes of political ambition. But though he had all the qualities fitting and marking him out for political distinction, his heart from youth had been given to philosophical speculation and his highest aim was always to make his mark as a thinker. During all the years of his public employment he was sedulously, even feverishly, occu- pied in working out into clearness and setting down his ideas in view of the comprehensive theory of knowledge and conduct which he aimed at constructing. In the years 1877-8 he procured the leisure in which he could give himself more uninterruptedly to the work, and had he not again been drawn into the political current he might, even before his early fate, have gone far to accomplishing his design. To the last, at every spare moment, his mind continued to be given to his philosophic task, and it is in pursuance of his own wish or hope that his friends M. Yriarte and M. A. Espinas (who edits the two volumes of the Etudes) have now from the mass of his papers selected what they think will best show forth the manner of man he was and the scope of his thought. M. Yriarte's personal sketch, introductory to the Reflexions, is excellently traced ; and M. Espinas, confining himself mainly to the pieces written in the maturer years (from 1877), has with great pains and tact put together out of what seem mere fragments a fairly coherent philosophical view. Desormeaux was thoroughly imbued with the scientific spirit and in the pieces grouped together in Vol. i., under the general title of " Theory of Knowledge," is mainly con- cerned to re-lay the psychological basis for philosophical conclusions. In Vol. ii., "Theory of Action," he advances beyond psychological prin- ciples to moral and social applications. His psychology is throughout marked by originality and freshness of view ; in particular, he has a firm hold of the import of movement for the phenomena of intellect as well as volition. Had he lived to complete his work, it might have proved of lasting value. As they are, it is impossible to dip into these fragmentary discussions, so well arranged and furnished with titles by the editor, with- out pausing over their suggestiveness. Les Problemes de VEsthe'tique contemporaine. Par M. GUYAU. Paris : Alcan, 1884. Pp. viii., 260. " L'auteur, apres avoir publie un volume sur la Morale d' Epicure et un autre sur la Morale anglaise contemporaine (dont il a ete rendu compte ici meme aborde aujourd'hui 1'esthetique. Partisan de 1'evolution, il n'admet ponrtant pas la theorie par laquelle M.M. Herbert Spencer et Grant Allen ramenent le plaisir du beau au plaisir du jeu ; selon lui, le plaisir esthetique est li directement au developpement meme de la vie physique et mentale et n'exclut ni le sentiment de I'utile ni le desir ni meme le besoin. Le principe de 1'art, selon 1'auteur, est dans la vie meme ; 1'art a done le se"rieux de la vie. ' L'objet de notre livre tout entier (dit- il), c'est d'etablir ce caractere serieux de 1'art et de la poesie (1) das son