Page:Philosophical Review Volume 3.djvu/654

638 It seems as though he should be allowed to do, in his Introduction to a very important science, what every investigator ought to do: to study the ethical notions already formed, to subject the theories advanced to the severest criticism, to analyze that which is, before adding anything new to the large stock of notions in existence. We have had dogmatism enough to satisfy the most extravagant. Let us heartily welcome such careful and pains-taking criticism as is here presented to us.

As Dr. Simmel himself declares, "the various chapters do not form a graduated scale, in which each part is articulated with the results of the other, and ultimately leads to a materially determined thema probandum. They are independent aggregates, standing side by side. The only principle which binds them together is the methodical aim which inspires them all, and the formal similarity of the results attained by the subject-matter of each chapter independently. The discussion of the essential ethical ground-concepts intends to show that each one of them is a collection of the most manifold and often contradictory tendencies and motives," etc. And this explains, the author goes on to say, "how a moral science, operating with concepts such as these, was able to reduce the most diverse phenomena to the same principle, and the same phenomena to the most diverse principles. It also explains how logical deduction and aptly selected experience succeeded in proving as either true or false any combination whatever between those concepts. And finally it explains the origin of the belief that all the contents of Obligation (des Sollens) can be embraced under a single principle."

Dr. Simmel remains true to the ideal which governs his undertaking. His study of the categorical imperative, freedom, and the unity and conflict of ends, which concepts form the subject-matter of the second volume, is careful, acute, and exhaustive. Nothing seems to escape his observant eye. The various themes are thoroughly thought out, durchdacht, as the Germans would say. One is really surprised at the possibilities of the subject, at the many aspects which those apparently simple concepts present, at the serious contradictions involved in them, at the manner in which they conflict with the facts. His powers of discrimination are wonderful; he dissects his subject-matter as beautifully as the skilled surgeon handles his. He is truly German in his patience and thoroughness, in his ceaseless efforts to get at the real meaning of the notions under consideration. Of course, the character of his aim is such as to make it no easy matter to study his book. There are breaks between the parts, breaks that are unavoidable under the circumstances. The logical reader who likes to follow the thread running through a discourse, uneasily gropes around in the dark, for there is no thread. In a work that aims to dissect rather than to construct, a thoroughly consecutive order of argument or continuity of thought is out of the question. When once the reader has become convinced of this, he will no longer be overcome by the obstacles which he is apt to throw in his own way. Perhaps, however, there might be an