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La Conscience de Devoir dans L'introspection Provoquée by Pierre BovetReview by: James H. LeubaThe Journal of Philosophy, Psychology and Scientific Methods, Vol. 8, No. 13 (Jun. 22, 1911),pp. 361-362Published by: Journal of Philosophy, Inc.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2012886 .

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PSYCHOLOGY AND SCIENTIFIC METHODS 361

As to the truth of religion, the author rejects the idea of a demon- strable theism, and declares the difficulty in the past to have been that theism never has been put on the basis of religion. " St. Francis with his holy love is more of an argument for God than Anselm with his ontolog- ical proof." The real proof of religion is ethical in its nature, and is to be drawn primarily from the exalted types of the religious life.

The material furnished by the comparative study of religion has been drawn upon to a certain extent, but only in a scattering way. The author appears to hold that Christianity should be allowed to exercise a forma- tive influence upon the modern world-view, but he has done far too little by way of supporting such a thesis.

The important positions taken in this book might have been given considerably greater clearness and force by a better ordering of the ma- terial as a whole, by a more consistent and vigorous criticism of views opposed to those of the author, and by more real, consecutive reasoning in support of the views adopted.

The style of the book reveals a fondness for neologisms on the part of the writer, and on the whole it must be said to lack lucidity, though occasionally a gift for terse and epigrammatic statement is apparent.

EUGENE W. LYMAN. BANGOR THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY.

La conscience de devoir dans l'introspection provoque'e. PIERRE BOVET.

Archives de psychologie, 1910, Vol. IX., pp. 303-369.

In the five hundred introspections gathered for an earlier study in which the author repeated the experiments of Messer and Buihler on judg- ment and ideation, appeared a great many references to feelings and in particular to the feeling of oughtness. The present monograph is a de- tailed study of this feeling, and of feelings related to it, as far as they appear in the said introspections. It is offered as preliminary to a forth- coming study of the moral sentiments.

The chief topics with which the essay deals are: The directions given to the subject (la consigne) considered from the

point of view of the experimenter and from that of the subject; the in- structions considered as a mental state, as conscious, as unconscious, etc.

The varieties of the sense of oughtness (sense de devoir) under three heads: past, present, future.

TI2he affective coefficients of the sense of oughtness: the feelings present during the period of expectancy of the directions and during their apper- ception; during the periods of choice (when a choice is the task set), of search for the answer, of the discovery of the answer, and, finally, the feel- ings accompanying the giving of the answer.

In a concluding chapter, states nearly related to the consciousness of oughtness are analyzed and compared with each other and with the feel- ing of oughtness, namely, the feelings of vouloir, pouvoir, and avoir le droit.

Even though, in this study, problems are set rather than solved, the author deserves congratulation for having replaced the ordinary method

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362 THE JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHY

of the student of ethics-casual self-introspection and observation-by the analysis of a large number of introspections produced under determinate circumstances.

The great number of divisions and subdivisions, at times minute and subtle, and the remoteness of several of them from what seem material issues, may perplex and weary the reader. Yet, if he reads carefully enough, he also will become aware of that which forcibly impressed the author, i. e., that "there is hardly anything in the mind of the subject anxious to perform the assigned task which has not its exact counterpart in the mind of a person in the presence of precepts having for him moral significance." Professor Bovet has certainly cleared much of the ground surrounding one of the fundamental problems of the psychology of ethics.

JAMES H. LEUBA. BRYN MAWR COLLEGE.

JOURNALS AND NEW BOOKS

REVUE NEO-SCOLASTIQUE DE PHILOSOPHIE. February, 1911. Le concept de loi dans les re'gularite's statistiques (pp. 5-27): J. LOTTIN. -Statistical regularity allows us at most to conclude the ex- istence of common causes; and the principle of determinism allows us to infer the existence of a necessary connection between these causes and their effects. The most important thing to know, however, is the natuire of this connection, which is without the field of statistics. William James (pp. 28-57): L. NOEL. -A critical exposition of the philosophy of the celebrated American thinker. La crise du transformisme (pp. 58-89): HECTOR LEBRUN. - There is no crisis of true evolutionism. But some laws closely connected with the theory of evolution are now rejected because they are devoid of scientific foundation. Such are Darwin's natural se- lection and Haeckel's famous biogenetic law. Faculte' du divin ou faculte' de l'e^tre (pp. 90-100): A. GARDEIL, O.P. -Observations on a note of Rousselot's article entitled: " Metaphysique thomiste et critique de la connaissance." Deux guides dans l'e'tude du Thomisme (pp. 100-107): M. BALTHASAR.- Excellent guides in the study of Thomism are Sertil- langes's " Saint Thomas d'Aquin" and Garrigou-Lagrange's "Le sens commun." Le mouvement ne'o-scolastique (pp. 107-115): L. NOEL. - A review of the neo-scholastic mIvement in Europe during the last years. Bulletin de philosophie sociale (pp. 116-137): M. DEFOURNY. - A study of the recent contributions to sociology. Comptes rendus: Joseph Maus- bach, Die Ethik des hl. Augustinus: M. DE WULF. Spinoza's Short Treatise on God, Man and Human Welfare, translated by L. G. Robinson: A. W. CENTNER. L. P. Jacks, The Alchemy of Thought: E. B. BARRETT. A. Joussain, Romantisme et religion: G. WALLERAND. F. B. Severac, Vladimir Soloviev: C. MICHALSKI. J. Donat, S.J., Summa Philosophiw Christianc: G. WALLERAND. Fr. Gabryl, Filozofia przyrody: C. MICHALSKI. F. Gillet, L'education du coeur: L. NOEL. E. Seilliere, La philosophie de l'impe'rialisme: JEAN NEVEN. Correspondance de Renouvier et de Sec-

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