Page:Philosophical Review Volume 3.djvu/133

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No. I.]
NOTICES OF BOOKS.
117

seldom obtainable and never read by him. A short, but useful, glossary of philosophical terms, followed by an index of authors, completes the volume.

Although Professor Falckenberg modestly refuses to claim for his History a place by the side of Zeller's Outlines, I cannot help regarding it as a worthy mate of that masterpiece. (Indeed, in so far as Falckenberg's expositions are less condensed, hence more readily intelligible to students than Zeller's, the former really surpass the latter.) Our author is strictly objective in his method, and carefully refrains from imposing upon his readers his own personal views and criticisms. He displays sound judgment in checking the tendency, common to younger historians, to group systems differently from his predecessors, to be original at all hazards; he profits by the labors of others. In short, Dr. Falckenberg has satisfactorily performed a difficult task, he has written a good text-book, a book that is universally recognized as such by competent authorities.

In rendering such a work accessible to English readers, Professor Armstrong has done philosophy a great service. His translation is a better one than that of Zeller's Grundriss (which appeared in 1886 and which is not free from errors). It is made from Falckenberg's second German edition, "with still later additions and corrections communicated by the author in manuscript." The translation reproduces the original clearly, faithfully, and smoothly; it does not bear upon its face the impress of artificiality. The transference of the bibliography from the text to footnotes is, in my opinion, an improvement which the German edition ought to adopt. The same may be said of the addition of titles of important American and English treatises and translations. The translator also renders the book more serviceable to the readers for whom it is intended by rearranging and enlarging the section on the nineteenth century philosophy of Great Britain and America (pp. 563-583). A little space is given to the exposition of Hamilton's fundamental conceptions, passing mention is made of the influence of the Scottish school in the United States, the part treating of Bentham is transferred from the section on English moralists of the eighteenth century to this place, brief but valuable additions are made to the passages presenting the views of J. S. Mill and Spencer respectively, the English logicians of to-day are named, and a page or so is devoted to setting forth the fortunes of philosophy in America from Jonathan Edwards to the present time. "The glossary of terms has been replaced by a revision and expansion of the index, with the analyses of the glossary as a basis."

The publishers are to be congratulated on the excellence of the typography, paper, and binding. The book may be safely recommended to teachers and students.

Frank Thilly.