Page:Philosophical Review Volume 13.djvu/397

383 two things. By studying the processes of repair it can prolong life, and by steady adherence to its own doctrine of ultimate dissolution it can restrain and ultimately remove the fear of death.

In criticism of the volume, little need be said. M. Metchnikoff has thrown a great light upon the origin of evil and the rational method of its treatment. It appears to the reviewer that Metchnikoff has found the nerve of the difficulty common to pessimism and optimism and their corresponding factors in religion and philosophy. That his treatment of religion and philosophy is one-sided and utterly inadequate, must be apparent to any one seriously acquainted with either. But this should not blind the reader to the fact that the author finds the origin and solution of the problem of evil within the life process itself. This in itself is a tremendous gain and puts the problem upon a firm and sure foundation. Agreement or dissent from M. MetchnikofFs positivism is entirely a secondary consideration.

The author of this able book first discusses the sources from which Schiller's theory of poetry springs, and finds them especially in the Kantian philosophy, in Winckelmann's conception of Greek art, in Herder's doctrine of the poetry of nature and the poetry of art, and in the artistic practice of Goethe. Then, after outlining the great poet's general theory of aesthetics, he makes a careful analysis of Schiller's theory of poetry as it is set forth in his treatise on naive and sentimental poetry, his works on dramatic poetry, and his correspondence with Körner, Wilhelm von Humboldt, and Goethe.

In conclusion, he subjects the principal theories of Schiller to a thorough criticism. Professor Basch shows first that the method employed is the a priori method, and rejects it. Poetics, like all the æsthetic sciences, is for him an explicative and not a normative science, and as such its method must be psychological, historical, comparative, classificatory, and genetic. Schiller bases his theory not on concepts derived inductively, but on logical concepts, concepts deduced from the concept of humanity, and his whole system consequently lacks reality. It is necessary, he declares, that poetry in general, as the perfect expression of humanity, be divided into naïve and sentimental poetry, and sentimental poetry into satirical, elegiac, and idyllic poetry. Schiller believes that sense and reason were originally in harmony in man, that the emotional, intellectual, and moral natures acted in unison, and that the naïve poet embodied this harmony. As civilization advances, he proceeds to tell us, a division occurs between the intellectual nature and the senses, the will becomes conscious of itself and rebels against the demands of the desires, opposing to them the imperative of duty. The