Page:Philosophical Review Volume 9.djvu/696

680 no reference to current writers on ethics, unless one excepts some unimportant notes on T. H. Green, apparently the author's marginal comments on scattered passages, which are inserted as an appendix.

Dr. Kedney's ethical theory is, in brief, that the true end of moral action is the realization of "a commonwealth of loving spirits," and that the assumption of such an end postulates freedom, immortality, and the existence of a personal Deity. The problem of freedom is less adequately treated than the other two; but the ground for the whole system is, of course, that nothing else will fully satisfy the soul's cravings. In the later chapters the author enters further into the realm of theology, and endeavors to exhibit the doctrine of the Trinity as an implication of his ethical system. The best part of the book is perhaps the chapter on 'The Moral Idea.' It is odd to find, among the topics considered of sufficient importance to be mentioned in the Table of Contents, "Evidence against the assertion that the late Edgar A. Poe was without the consciousness of moral responsibility brought from his poem 'Ulalmus.'" It would be unfair, however, to cite this as in any way typical of the book, which, despite its defects, has a dignity of spirit and style that compels one to respect it as the work of a thoughtful and reverent mind.

Wille und Erkenntnis is the name given by its author to a collection of essays upon various subjects, all of which in one way or another throw light upon his general philosophical position. If one remembers that extreme condensation is nearly alway productive of inaccuracy, Schellwien's position may be described somewhat as follows: There is nothing more self-evident to me than that I will. The will is in itself both aspects of knowledge, for it is at once knower and known. It is the source of all human knowledge, and also of all action resulting therefrom. The will is the absolute side of man. If he were only will, he would be the cause of everything, and subject to no ignorance; but since he is also an individual, related to other individuals, upon that side he is limited and dependent upon something other than himself. The relation between these two, the absolute and the individual will, furnishes at once the problem and the explanation of the different questions raised by philosophy.

Of the nine essays, all save one, entitled Wille und Erkenntnis im gemeinen (gesunden} Menschenverstand (common sense), have been previously published. There is little to be said of them individually. If one accepts the general standpoint from which they are written, they form an interesting confirmation; while opponents will naturally choose Schellwien's more systematic publications as a basis for criticism.

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