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    weekly series . These volumes were an experiment , the success of which at the outset seemed very doubtful , the History of Philosophy being at that time a dru « - in the market . The only two works which had recently appeared on the subject had proved auspicious failures . Both were transla tions and each , for different reasons , almost equally repulsive to the English reader - the one , a version of Sitter ' s History , being heavy , voluminous / and expensive ; the other , a version of Tennemanris Manuel , doubly unintelligible , is the translator knew neither the lanaruage in which the work was written nor the vocabulary of the philosophical sect to which the writer belonged ^ These it is true , were importations , retaining in their laboured dulness and philosophical obscurity a strong smack of their foreign origin , and the history might still therefore be attempted from an English point ot view , . and in a decent English style . But however well done , it was a question whether the subject could be made sufficiently attractive to justify its introduction into a popular series like that of the shilling volumes Was it possible to interest the general reader in the history of thought , the growth and nrooress of ideasthe conflict of rival systems of speculation , the position

    , *^ , ° . _/» .. i . ; i ^_ . u .. o T ? mTT tirr-m M lmvo mio-iirpfl wf » ll sis to the result JindVospects of philosophy ? Few would have augured well as to the result ¦ of such an attempt . Mr . Lewes , however , believing that it would be useful , determined to make the experiment , and the event fully justified Ins confidence The work was welcomed by a large class , both amongst students . and Teneral readers ; it became widely popular , and soon attained a large circulation—larger , we believe , than any popular philosophic work during the present century , not excepting the most popular of all , Dr . I . -Brown s Lectures Many causes no doubt contributed to produce this result , lne mere circumstance of appearing in a popular series was of course an advantage in the way of introduction , many having thus an opportunity of seeing the work who mi "lit otherwise never have heard of its existence . 1 Ins was an advantage , too , in another way : the book was a small one , and at the worst a smlll book is but a small evil , while a big book must be very good indeed to avoid being a great evil . Mr . Lewes , in the preface to his first -volume expressed his decided antipathy to big books , and he certainly reaped the advantage of this very rational dislike . That the volumes , while well minted , were compact , portable , and cheap , was certainly a great retne size

    commendation . The price placed them within the reach ot all . ana could appal none . Many who had turned away in despair from larger works on such an abstruse and unknown subject willingly speculated on a shilling volume in the hope of adding to their stock of knowledge ; while students reioiced at the innovation which gave them a History of Philosophy digested into pocket volumes instead of being diffused in bulky and unreadable

    works of reference . , But the real causes of its permanent success are , of course , to be lound In the nature of the work itself : its peculiar and altogether novel character determined its unprecedented success . Mr . Lewes ' s History of Philosophy is thoroughly original ; a novelty in the exhibition of a subject where novelty seemed almost impossible . His treatment is new in its idea , its point of view , its method , and its style . The peculiarity which thus distinguishes it from every other history is summed up in the one characteristic epithet of the title—Biographical . This indicates the new ground he takes up , and sufficiently separates him from the crowd of labourers in the same field German scholars and thinkers had devoted themselves to the History of Philosophy for more than fifty years , and after their exhaustive labours it seemed hardly possible to impart any freshness to the subject , or look upon it from any point of view that had not already been fully occupied . The number and variety of these foreign histories is something overwhelmsizes

    an" the mere list of titles would fill a volume ; they are ot all ana an kinds—Systematic , Methodical , Critical , Rational , Empirical , Comparative , Literary , General , Special , &c . ; Compendiums , Institutions , Elements , Outlines , Sketches , Epitomes , Abstracts , Manuels , &c . ; but amongst them all there is no Biographical History—none that possesses the title or the character it indicates . In what , then , docs this special character consist ? lne term Bio « raphical is no mere fanciful addition to the title ; it expresses what is essential to the work , the conception that determines its plan and point of view , its method and style . What is the general p lan of the work ? It is as explained by the author at the outset , " To write the ^ iograp hy of Philosophy through the Biographies of Philosophers ; to trace the rise , crowth , and development of philosophy as exhibited in the philosophical tchools-in a word , the Life of Philosophy . " This is expressed in the title . Philosophy is there evidently regarded as an organic , as a living whole , or the attempt to write its life would be absurd . But the whole exuts and can be exhibited only through the parts ; and individual thinkers with their snecial philosophies being the-vital parts of the living whole , the lite ol phixnis muicut

    losophy must be traced through the lives of philosophers ™ what is peculiar in the plan of the work . Lives of individual p hilosophers already existed in abundance , but they did not trace the biography ol . philosophy ; and histories of philosophy were numerous , but in them all the lives of individual thinkers were neglected or distorted , according to the nature of the work , or the special views of the writer . Those who occupied themselves with the parts rarely attempted to seize the whole , and those who seized the whole were too preoccupied to truce with anything like fidelity the natural development of the parts . Mr . Lewes secures the advantages ol both plans , by allowing the spontaneous combination of the parts to constitute the whole . He reaches the whole through the parts , thus avoiding the easily besetting sin of biographers and historians respectively , that of attributing too much or too little to individual thinkers . He can allow for the full influence of peraonul character , temperament , « nd position in modify ing the development of thought ; and is under no necessity of reading into any system m

    order to satisfy the requirement of a logical evolution or the exigencies ol a preconceived idea . The advantages of this plan are manifest in every part . of the work , but especially in exhibiting the sovcral views and mutual relation of the earlier Greek philosophers , of whose lives and opinions wo have such confused and imperfect records . We may instance , as examples , the accounts of Anuxugoras and JDemocritus , of Parmenides and Zeno , winch are more natural and consistent than any wo remember to have aeon elsewhere .

    The epithet Biographical also explains Mr . Lewes * s point of view , which is certainly a peculiar one for the historian of philosophy to take . How does he regard the subject ? Very much as a sceptic , it must be confessed , in relation to the present and the future . Looking on philosophy as ' practically extinct , he accepts no system , ho believes in none . His work may'be described as a detailed illustration . of the impossibility of philosophy so far ' as its highest aims are concerned—as a proof that it has accomp lished all it can accomplish . It lived a vigorous life , and had an important function once . { Speculation was the schoolmaster to bring the world to science , but , having inaugurated the era of positive philosophy its work is done and it departs in peace . This view , is , as we intimated , expresssed in

    the title . We do not write a biography till the subject of it is no more , till the living presenee has passed away , and we can look ou the iiuished history in the sculptured stillness of the past . By the very title he has chosen , Mr . Lewes thus indicates that in his view the time for writing the biography of philosophy is come . It is dead , so he writes its life and character . It must not , however , be supposed from this that he is really hostile to philosophy , or regards it in any sense as a delusion or imposture . Some have spoken of his work as though this were the ease , but a glance into the volume is quite sufficient to correct such a misconception . His evident sympathy with its difficulties and struggles , its failures and aspirations , is sufficient to show that he looks upon philosophy as having run not

    only a sincere , but a most noble and useful course . In his pages we trace its progress from vigorous youth , through fervent manhood , to serene age , and see it in the very moment of dissolution leaving a priceless legacy to the world . Though falling short of its highest aims , Mr . Lewes regards philosophy as the guide and benefactor of mankind , well entitled to be held in everlasting remembrance and honour . Were it otherwise , had its life really been vain and useless , this biography would never have been written . The title also explains the method and style of the work . As it is a biogra phy , the writer chronicles only those leading movements wliicli contributed to the life and progress , the growth and development of philosophy . A Vast mass of the tedious and barren detail that encumbers the ordinary histories is thus thrown aside . The representative thinkers of an era , its new ideas and germinant principles are alone considered ; to the

    exclusion of the small sects and weak disciples , who often maintain a principle in a kind of galvanized activity , long after its real life has vanished . This , of course , adds much to the unity , concentration , and power of the work . The special plan of the biography , too , determines the leading characteristic of its style . As the history is the Life of Philosophy , through the Lives of Philosophers , the writer is not only enabled but impelled to combine a rare amount of graphic detail with the highest , generalizations . Throughout the volume the individual life illustrates the working of the universal law ; the thinkers selected being generally at once the most individual and the most representative , living a life of their own , but cherishing immense sympathy for their fellow-men , and summing up in their efforts and teaching the best hopes and aspirations of the race . The personal sketches of these men are dramatic in their force and vividness , as their lives were often tragic from their

    tierce struggles and fatal end . More than one of these martyrs ot progress are canonized in noble words in the volume before us . We need seek no further for the cause of its success . The proper study of mankind is man . If you can show that philosophy really has a profoundly human , interest , if you can exhibit its progress as a biography , you are sure of readers . Mr . Lewes ' s claim must be allowed . He was thu first , as he still remains the only , biographer of philosophy . of the worlcit

    Having suid so much about the general aim and character , only remains to add a word or two as to the improvements th . vl render this handsome edition more worthy to retain the place the LSiogiMphical History had already secured of a standard work . The most important feature of the library edition is the new mutter , which , on a rmigU calculation , must extend to a hundred and fifty pages , and is proiiaUly a fourth of the whole . The introduction has been rewritten , and is , to a great extent , new . In particular , the description of Metaphysics , which was widely objected to as narrow and exclusive , applying only to an almost obsoand truer The distinc

    lete pursuit , is removed , and replaced by another one . - tion between Metaphysics and science is no longer conlined to the Jj / 'rU , but extends also to the methods of pursuit . The chapters on the Suj ^ isls ana Socrates , which anticipated Mr . Grote's view of that disputed hiil-Kct , ami Avcre , perhaps , the most original and remarkable sections of Mr . Lt ' " History , have received considerable additions , and are a lull ami valuable , though condensed account of the epoch . The most considerable u-nlition , however , is mude under the first section of the second part , eiitiLlcu ' Transition Period . ' The fresh mutter here extends to lilty pagusi , including sketches of the lives and philosophy of Abelurd , Al ^ az / ah , an Giordano Bruno . The greatest deliciency of the original work , in wiiilu tho scholastic period was passed over in a few pages , is thus "" i'i ' " *' while the new lives , in interest and significance are ainong . it tliu » " > .

    striking in the volume . . ; ,,, i ; fir But the most important additions to tho history , m a strictly acium . t point of view , arc those iu which Mr . Lowes traces the failure ot liiu o Butionul School through its confusion of thought with ieclmg , ' » a J : , gradual rise on its ruins of the Physiological Method m d ^ « . " , nl psychological questions . Under tho former head—that ol the * c" ; uai "{ School—two new niitnes arc introduced , Hartley and Darwin , tho dwcii *» oi of Condilluo ' d celebrated syaU-m being also greatly enlarged iimi »» l »¦« Tho latter subject , that of Physiological Method , forms im enure v »™ tion , headed ' ' Psychology seeking its . basis in Physiology , wl " ° " : , nioiicing with Cubiuiis and passing on to Gall , terminates with aii . ^ of the historical position and scientilio value of p hrenology . % > . , ; *¦; tho stance as-good examples of tho now scientific discussion , thus V " , ' « j 8 library edition , the refutation of Condilhiu ' s system on physiolo g . eui j , ^ and the acute explanation , in the chapter devoted to Vaymu ^ oi i « ^ mooted question , ' How with two eyua wo ecu objects single . » ft is a physiological refutation of n psychological error , unu m " psychological refutation of a physiological error .

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    474 , THE LEADER . [ No . 373 , Saturday ,

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), May 16, 1857, page 474, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2193/page/18/