Page:Philosophical Review Volume 11.djvu/117

101 into question, or even to deny the principles on which from time out of mind they had depended. But it is a different matter to find the source of his entire Lebens- und Weltanschauung in his interpretation of the fundamental ethical concepts, or in the development which he gave to them.

Once more, certain of the special interpretations are open to criticism. The account of Lotze's doctrine of the ultimate nature of reality (pp. 47 ff.) is very emphatic in view of his counter tendency toward subjective idealism; the appeal to the Grundzüge des Religionsphilosphie will hardly dispel the prevalent idea that there remains a gap between the Lotzean metaphysics of the Absolute and his ethico religious defense of theism. There are, also, one or two typographical errors or slips of the pen which need correction; the exact transposition of the important terms in the quotation from the conclusion of the larger Metaphysik, on page 1 and, again, on page 16, belongs in this class, as the writer's entire comprehension of the meaning is clear from the context.

In this book, Mr. Mark—who is an Englishman writing from Owen's College, Manchester—gives us in some thirteen chapters in schematized form the general purport and bearings of the replies he received to two questions put to educators in this country during a recent visit. The questions were these: "What is it that you personally are aiming at with regard to the children or students in this school or college?" and, "How are you seeking to accomplish it?" The questions were addressed chiefly to promoters of secondary education in the States; and the answers are concerned mainly with questions of school discipline; morality as an aim and factor in education; class proportionment and organization; such questions as arise out of the matters of individuality in scholar and teacher, and collective teaching; and the relations of home and school. What Mr. Mark contributes personally is mainly secondary in its nature, being little more than running comment, and such conjunctive remarks as are necessary to collocation of the matter presented. Nor is there much in the book that even savors of philosophic thought—it is pedagogic through and through.

The answers and comments of teachers where quoted verbatim are allowed to stand on their own merits; or at most with a few remarks that hardly add much to the discussion. The relation of school management to politics is treated in terms of what must seem to the American reader platitude. But in this connection, and, indeed, in all connections, it must not be forgotten that the book is intended primarily for English readers. As already said, the book may be admirable for the teacher, in that it collects