PHILOSOPHICAL STITDIFIS.*
Tars volume by the author of Principia Ethica is the first of " The International Library of Psychology, Philosophy and Scientific Method," a new series published by Messrs. Kegan Paul. Though they will doubtless be intelligible to many who have little or no knowledge of philosophy, these studies will appeal, we think, only to two varieties of reader—those who are interested in philosophy for its own sake and those who are mathematically minded. By no means all readers of philosophy belong to either of these two classes ; indeed, we believe that the majority read philosophy largely for its emotional and imaginative stimulus. Such subjects, for instance, as the philosophy of Bergson and the Einstein Theory in many of its aspects provide such stimulus to a high degree. But from such a book as the present volume this element is almost entirely absent. Perhaps the most striking quality in Dr. Moore is • Philosophical Studies. By G. B. Moose, Litt.D. Loudon : Kogan Paul. L15e. net.]
his passion for accuracy, for clear definition, and many of these studies consist of little more than a scrupulous tidying-up, a gradual removal of all incrustations, a precise limitation and clarification of the words and phrases involved ; and when this is finished, lo and behold, the essay, too, is finished.
But it would be a great injustice to imply that such a method is merely negative, for in philosophical argument destruction of this kind is always• simultaneously constructive—constructive in the sense that the skilful hand which chisels the marble block and reveals the statue hidden within it is constructive. And this is the method which Dr. Moore pursues, whether he is dealing with an abstract and, so to speak, technical subject such as " The Conception of Intrinsic Value," or a more personal one such as " Hume's Philosophy." In each case, when he has peeled off the irrelevancies and the fallacies, he departs, leaving the truth exposed ; he has led the horse to the water, but whether the horse drinks or not he leaves for the horse to choose. It is owing to this method that, as we have said, Dr. Moore's studies will appeal only to certain classes of readers ; to others they will seem excessively dry ; and, paradoxical though the statement may sound, the better, the more accurate, he is, the drier he becomes.
It is typical of Dr. Moore's love of accuracy that his Intro- duction should deal so frankly and so modestly with the studies in this volume. He states quite candidly that the first in the book, published so far back as 1903, appears to him now to be " very confused, as well as to embody a good many down- right mistakes," and he includes it simply for the reason that he has been assured that it will be a convenience to some readers to have it accessible because " it is a paper to which a good many allusions have been made by contemporary writers on philosophy." Of some, too, he says that they contain views which will be found " inconsistent with views expressed in others " ; but again his reasons for publishing them are even more justifiable than in the case of the first, and there can be no question that, collected into a volume, they make a valuable contribution to contemporary philosophy.
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