New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-11-04

ton he found the chief aim of man to be TO DO
without happiness. This only "can raise a per-
son above the chances Of life, by making him
feel that. let fate and fortune do their worst
they have not power to subdue him. This Is as
thoroughly pessimistic the worst Of us could
wish But Professor Seth rescues Mil by point
ing 10 the fact that he thought the world was
improving ethically. and that the course OF
virtue must run smooth in the end. THIS has
nothing to do with the case. Pessmsm Is essen
TALLY philosophy OF this world and Ii Is foolish
ness 70 expect one 10 be satisfied with what Is
likely 70 happen after one is dead. To put IT In
the phraseology that Aristippus might have
used. the world would be peasanter to future
generations. but what did that matter 70 Aris-
tippus when he was gone? Even a living
Aristippus nigh; have severe views on TINS
point, Many disciple Of his with a twinge OF
the gou; has had trouble in conceiving a world
getting better and better al. the time. II is no
wonder therefore, that while Mil began. with
Protestant difference. at the same place where
Aristippus began that later IIedonis,s Pro
fessor Seth observes IN footnote. have realized
the pessjmism inherent In their theory Of life
The case Is not much better with the men Of
reason the Rigorsts Of Professor Seth's nomon-
clature. Tho first Of these in Greek philosophy
were the Cynics. one could tell stories about
some Of these gentry that would make the hair
Of a respectable person in modern times stand on
end AS Hume remarked of pogenes: the PM
osophcr INDUCED himself in the most beastiy
pleasures in public" and by contrast.
speaking Of Pascal, the saint refused himself
the most innocent. even in private But the
Cynics meant well. They saw in Socrates an
extraordinary character sufficient to Itself under
every condition. and they inferred that happi-
ness consisted simply in the possibility Of SO or
derjng ones life as to want nothing. neither
vein, webb gasang. Tn" most compete
statement Of the theory was that of the physi-
clan Ausonius father of famous poet. VINO
seems TO have borrowed the idea but perfected
the expression. His notion was that the rch
man was not he who had much. but he who
wanted little 1t is easy To imagine how theory
OF that sort would drive youthful poet from
the meagreness Of Bordeaux to the plentiful
abundance Of Rome. The poetry OF Ausonins
does not preach Rigorism But Professor Seth
saws the Greeks do not appear to have taken
the Cynics seriously" Tho fact was that life
had been too easy with them. and II was not
until they learned the unhappiness OF subJection
10 p foreign Power that they understood what
was meant BY the studied indifference OF the
canine philosophers TO the happenings OF NE
The trouble with the Cynics was that reason
with them as senslbiliy with AristppuS. only "N-
tended to their material environment They
sought 10 live according to nature. and they
vera even less refined than Rousseau In their
return to the habits Of primitive man Their
insistence on the validity Of reason as guide or
conduct was weakened by their contempt for
the conventions Of civilized life. and II was only
with the rise Of the Stoics that the world learned
how TO reflect on life The traditions Of mankind
now took their place in the concatenaiion called
the nature Of things one did no, have to run
naked and sleep in 4 tub to be philosopher; IT
was the part of wisdom to live other people
did and 10 reason from the conventions OF de-
ccncy as facts in that universe 10 which the good
man appt alcd almost as the modern Posiivist
does to his ideal humanity. The point which the
Cvnic insisted on that brings him closer 20 mod
ern life than any Of his antique rivals and sue
cessors was the individuality Of man. This was
illustrated in the familiar story Of Diogenes apd
his lantern. But individuality was beyond the
ken Of the ancient politician. Even the Stoic
had to ina CINE himself citizen Of some greater
state than any in existence; he could not ria
himself Of the idea Of subsection 70 a political
organism This Stocial notion fitted easily into
Roman Imperialism and equally well into the
Christian idea Of state above the limitations Of
humanity. 1t reproduced In the ncrce
ascetlcism Of the Middle Ages. The supremacy
Of reason over feeling was also well suited 20 the
regularity OF modern life Yet, as exemplifed IN
Kant. feeling had to be admitted even into the
most rigdly rational system.
The author Of this book distinguishes between
Hedonsm and Eudaemonsm. and calls himself
a E,idaemonist. Whereas the two classes of men
whom he has described as Hedonists and RigVr-
lists assert on the one hand the supremacy Of
feeling on the other that IF reason he would
blend the two in the all-embracing fact OF
human personality: and he holds The ideal Of
conduct 10 be a realization Of self. He inter-
prets this to mean that mar must. ont Of an in
dividuali;y which ne has in common with all
animals. create personality In which feeling
shall be organize under The guidance u reason
1t is hard to see how this scheme Of lie differs
in It's results from that Of the Rigoriss. still
more difficult is il to see her" way OF escape
from the duasm Of human naiu Professor
Seth condemns the well-worn antithesis between
matter and the spirit that Is corrupted by con
tact with matter. But II, is only another way
Of saying the same thing to speak OF higher i'm
pulses and lower impulses. For these must
spring respectively out OF different parts Of mans
nature and the self tina, has divergent parts
cannot be "A unity On the Other hand, every
man feels that he Is one. and not more than
one and that whenever he acts. he acts alto
gether. Ike Hudibras's horse which could not
stand still on one side when spurred on the
other If man is not a unity, If he is merely a
congomeration of live cells, If his consciousness
Is merely an accident Of his makeup. where Is
his moral responsibility? If he is a unity how can
there be lower and a higher In conscious
ness which has none Of the properties OF matter?
Professor Seth really only sets forth the prob
lem It Is an old one. and none Of the answers
that have been given satisfactory.
DEFOE AND HIS UIIGHTER.
PATHETIC LETTER TO HIS SOPii.
The new life OF Defoe by Thomas Wright does