The Methodist Review (Volume 47 )

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1865. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... compound, but that it is an individual force, having a consciousness of itself. Upon this psychology he founds a stoic morality, admitting with Kant and Jouffroy an absolute and universal moral law, which forces itself upon every conscience with an irresistible authority. He believes in moral responsibility, in justice distinct from interest, in right and duty established upon absolute relations. So far he goes hand in hand with the spiritualistic philosophy. But in the definition of God he separates from his old friends, supplanting the theodicy of Hegel by that of Leibnitz, and German idealism for French spiritualism. The spiritualistic philosophy of the present day and the Cartesian school of old have never called in doubt the doctrine that in God infinity and perfection are one and the same thing. Vacherot separates the bond which unites these two ideas. According to his view they are entirely distinct and belong to different orders. The former is the product of pure reason, as we cannot think the finite without the infinite, the contingent without the necessary, the relative without the absolute. But we may perceive the imperfect without necessarily affirming the perfect being. The latter is a type, an ideal, which our thoughts need as a rule, but the reality of which we cannot affirm. The denial of the perfect being is, of course, the denial of a personal God. Vacherot, it is true, strongly protests against being classed with the pantheists or atheists; but Janet justly remarks of this illusion: Your divine ideal is a dream; it is a phantom which has no body; an abstraction, the reality of which is not guaranteed by anything. Each of the four systems above enumerated is ably analyzed and answered by Prof. Janet. In conclusion, a few remarks are made on t...