Page:Philosophical Review Volume 1.djvu/670

654 history the realization of a certain principle and Hegel's desire das historische Geschehen zu begreifen are examples of this tendency. But philosophy has not to explain history. Its task lies a step behind this business; to it belongs the work of showing what historical knowledge is, and how it is possible. In emphasizing this as the problem to be solved, Dr. Simmel removes the standpoint of the Philosophy of History from the dogmatic to the critical stage, and herein lies the fundamental merit of his book. The science becomes epistemological and justifies its right to exist as a separate discipline. To describe as its object the discovery of the general tendencies and evolution of occurrences, the unification of certain phenomena, would be to appropriate for it a territory which is the rightful property of the science of history itself. A theory of historical knowing, on the other hand, will be found to be a necessary and useful part of the general theory of knowledge, especially since history has been furnishing the raw material for a large number of unwarranted metaphysical speculations. Dr. Simmel deserves credit for introducing us to a study which should claim the attention of historians as well as philosophers.

In the first chapter the author shows that this science has to determine the psychological a priori, which enables us to hypostasize as the background of historical events certain psychical processes, and to lay down the rules according to which this procedure takes place. We must know all the a priori conditions of historical knowledge and test their claims.

The second chapter examines the notion of law. A law declares that the appearance of certain phenomena has for its unconditional effect the appearance of certain other phenomena; it gives the cause acting in particular phenomena. Hence there can be no special laws for complicated phenomena like historical events; these must be reduced to their simplest terms. The so-called historical laws are in reality no laws at all, but mere statements as to the apparently regular succession of certain phenomena, these phenomena themselves being the effects of a multitude of forces concealed from us. Such laws are, however, useful in that they serve as points of orientation (Orientirungspunkte), enabling us to arrive at the knowledge of the real laws. But philosophy is not concerned with the discovery of laws; it examines and attests their epistemological value.

In the last chapter, which might be termed in Kantian language a transcendental Dialectic of the Philosophy of History, Dr. Simmel discusses the application of certain metaphysical categories, such as teleology, value, etc., to the given facts of history. While denying their title to exact knowledge, he nevertheless reveals in how far their use is justifiable. They are forms of reflection superadded to the facts, wholly subjective factors, surmises. Thus, when we speak of the progress of