New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-03-02
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
REMAINS RECOLLECTIONS.

find for none of his miscellaneous writings possess
a greater charm than those "reminiscences Oh
Brittany and Breton life and custom "hich ha'c
appeared in former volumes. This DOCK, lhdeeo'
contains nothing which may not I've rcad WIN
interest. but it must be said that some oil the
shorte: papers-littlc Academy addresses upon inc
reeeption OF a new member, etc.-are somewhat
in the nature of padding, and scarcely deserve
preservation in a relatively permanent form. Inc
preface and the Philosophical Examination OF
Conscience" which concludes the volume are eA-
positions Of tae authors philosophy, and written
with his characteristic bOldneSs, suavlty ana hghI
ness of touch: and they illustrate admirably tnat
peculiar admiXture of science, poetry ana shePu-
cism which makes NJ. Renan what he Is Ill
philosophy and literature. To accuse MN OF lrre'-
erence is merely to confess inability TO comprehend
the highest forms of reverence III IS much more
feasible to attack his philosophy on logical anu
practical grounds The explanation OF his apparent
inconsistencies is however, not hard to fnd' his
reason will not suffer him to stop short OF the
most advanced conclusions of science, the most
sweeping arguments Of modern criticism; but his
heart refuses to accept the inevitable deductions
from these positions, and so he Is at one ana the
same time sceptic and believer.
Here is a specimen of his discourse, which IL
Illustrates its general tone very fairly:
Nothing proves to us that there exists in the
world a central consciousness a soul Of the uni
verse; but nothing proves the contrary, either.
We do not remark in the universe any sign OF de-
liberate and thoughtful action. We may afhrm
that no action of this sort has existed for millions
of centuries But thousands of centuries are moth
ing in infnty What we call long is short In
comparison with another measure of size. When
the chemist arrangcs an experiment that is 10 last
for years everything which takes place in his re-
forts is regulated by the laws Of absolute uncon-
seriousness: which does not mean that a Will has
not interviewed at the beginning of the experiment.,
and that il will not intervene at the end Millions
of microbes may have been produced in the inter-
val: if these microbes had had sufficient intelli-
gence, they might, by reasoning on the brief pc
Rod permitted to their observations allow them
selves to 90 so far as to say: The world has no
room for special yolitions.' And they would be
mistaken. What we call time is perhaps, min
ute between two miracles. We do not know;
that is all one can say clearly about that which
lies beyond the finite Let us deny nothing, let
us assert nothing, let us hope. Our immense
moral and perhaps intellectual, decline will fol-
low the day when religion disappears from the
world. We can get along without religion, because
others have it for us. Even those who do not be-
leve are swept along by the more or less believing
masses; but woe to that day when the
masses TO longer have any enthusiasm. One can
do much less with humanity which does not be-
leve in the immortality of the soul than with
humanity which does believe in it. mans value
depends upon the proportion of religious senti-
gment which he has carried away with him from
his early education, and which perfumes his whole
life. The religious zones of humanity live
shadow. We live only upon the shadow Of
shadow. What will the people who after
us live upon?'
These problems are examined at greater length
in the Philosophical Examination of Conscience
in which the constitution Of the universe. its
causation and maintenance, considered 1t
is curious to compare Remains views with those
OF Schopenhauer the points. Starting
from practically identical bases the two phoso-
pliers reach Numerically opposite conclusions.
Renan is speaking of the imperfections in the
constitution Of man. He regards as superficial
the objections which some learned men ra;sc
against fnalty by calling attention to these de-
fects and imperfections. These objections. he
contends. ARE directed, at bottom. against the
system of wise and omnipeent Creator. They
do not bear upon our hypothesis of a profound
pressure eXerting itself in blind way In the
abysses of being urging all to existence, at every
point in space. This pressure is neither conscious
nor all-powerful; it puts the matter which is at
it's disposal TO the best possible proht
Hence it is quite natural that il should not have
made things which offer contradictory projections
II is natural, also that the part of the cosmos
which we behold should present limits and gaps,
arising from the insuflicency of the materias
which nature had under its control at a given
point II is the pressure acting upon the To-
fality of the universe which will perhaps SOM
dav be conscious omniscient, omnipotent. Ihcn
a degree Of consciousness can be realized OF winch
nothing at the present time can give us an laea'
The supreme resultant of the total universe. ac-
cordinc 70 Renan. =" is good. For. if il were not
good. the total universe, which has existed from
all eternity, would have been destroyed.
Scbonenbauer. arguing from the same premises,
reached the contrary conclusion; that the to'ii
universe was not good that it in fact bad;
that il was " ike tale told by an ldlot, 1uii OF
sound and fury signifying nothing" 80 futlc
nd essentially frivolous did he consider life that
all his ingenuity was devoted to enforcing the prop
ostion that the sole recourse for mankind was
self-oblitcration by general revolt against the
"will 10 live, Yet Schopenhauer, like Renan, had
his reserve. and from it might he constructed
platform upon which both philosophers might
stand II is true that in neither case s there any
solid ground upon which such a platform conld
rest for il resembles those potentialitics oil the
scientific Imagination which are occasionally put
forward as kind of consolation for those who feel
all their old supports failing beneath them, and
before whose bewildered eyes the abyss seems TO
open Renan-and here his originality deserts him
holds that, though believes nothing, he ought
IN live as though everything were true Now this
is almost precisely the position taken by skeptics
toward women. An undevout woman shocks such
people They prefer her 10 adhere firmly to views
which they themselves regard as superstitieus de-
lusiors Renan, with all his intellectual acuteness.
is not more consistent than these sceptcs. The
truth is that between his head and his heart ne is
ordn
preserve his equilibrium perfectly.
The present volume contains many things be-
eide philosophy. There is a charming Breton love-
in Renans deli xh1fll style.