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BOOK REVIEWS ~67 words of jargon instead of idiom; and the fact is eloquent of the behaviorist 's well-grounded suspicion that in an honest semantic theory he will meet his Waterloo. But he is going strong in. America as of •today; the first thing that strikes the eye in the present ·work is the notice on the cover, which is repeated in the author's Preface, that Mr. Morris received Fellowships from both the Gruggenheim and the Rockefeller Foundations, enabling him to write this book amplifying his theory of signs; and he was given an additional money grant for aid in preparing the manuscript for the printer by that effete organization of organizations, the American Council of Learned Societies. All of which is " sign " enough of the poverty of our modem culture, in which the philosopher is classified by the Morris system as "an engine of symbolic synthesis." (p. ~34) But this is apparently the ideal of the Age of Technocracy. Ohio University, Athena, Ohio. M. WHITCOMB HESS Religion of A Scientist. Selections from Gustav Th. Fechner, ed. and trans!. by WALTER LoWRIE. Pantheon Books, New York, 1946. Pp. ~81. Gustav T. Fechner, 1801-1887, is known today mainly as the originator of quantifying psychology, the science he himself named " psychophysics." Even though Fechner's ideas and his approach have been partly abandoned, partly thoroughly transformed, he is nevertheless recognized as the father of experimental psychology. His mind, however, was a very broad one and his interests were manifold. He started as a physicist, but was always, in the depths of his soul, a speculative thinker, endeavoring to make clear to himself and to exhibit to others the structure of the universe, the meaning of existence, the nature of ultimate problems as he conceived them. He was not a man to build a system; perhaps there is no such thing as a system of Fechner's philosophy. He was, in a way, deeply religious and fundamentally an optimist. The editor of the present volume, known for his many translations of and writings on Kierkegaard, believes that Fechner's ideas might be of interest and become helpful also today. The selected passages he has included in his book are chosen exclusively from the viewpoil).t of religious significance. He views Fechner as basically Christian, although it is generally assumed that Fechner's religious principles were of a pantheistic nature. To make the reader acquainted with his hero, Mr. Lowrie has supplied a preface and an introduction. He believes that Fechner's ideas may be presented without taking account of his scientific, especially his psycho- 268 BOOK REVIEWS logical work. It might, however, have been advisable to consider these latter investigations to some extent, since the views underlying tn'em are linked very closely to Fechner's philosophy, particularly as concerns the mind-body problem. The introduction surveys Fechner's life and philosophical evolution. There is one amazing mistake; the author speaks of Feuchtersleben's little treatise which was in fact the first to deal systematically with "mental hygiene." It was published in 1838. Dr. Lowrie remarks that this book had a definite influence on Kant's views; but, Kant died in 1801. Selections and anthologies are always of dubious value in presenting an author's ideas. There is, further, the danger that the editor, unconsciously, limits his choice to such passages as serve to confirm his personal interpretation of the man he presents, and that he omits other parts that would expose even those chosen in a quite different light. Moreover, to select passages from an author whose scope was rather wide so that only parts, are reproduced dealing with one particular, albeit important, aspect is equally a source of possible misunderstanding. Apart from these general objections, little can be said against the procedure of the editor. If one wishes to look at Fechner mainly as a religious thinker, the passages here reproduced are rather representative. It is another question whether Fechner deserves to be represented to the reader. It is, indeed, interesting to see a man living in the age of triumphant and promising scientific development, himself a scientist and surrounded by an atmosphere of predominant materi

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