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CONTENTS OF NO. III.

JULY, 1862.

ART. I.-Dr. Hickok's Philosophy....

PAGE

369

ART. II. Vindications of Dr. Hickok's Philosophy.............

388

ART. III.-Augustine.......

406

ART. IV.-Diversity of Species in the Human Race....

435

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THE

PRINCETON REVIEW.

JULY, 186 2.

No. III.

ART. I.-Rational Psychology; or the Subjective Idea and Objective Law of All Intelligence. By LAURENS P. HICKOK, D. D., Union College. A new and revised edition. New York: Ivison, Phinney & Co. 1861.

A System of Moral Science. By the same. Third edition. Same publishers.

Empirical Psychology; or the Human Mind as given in Consciousness. By the same. Third edition. Same publishers. Rational Cosmology; or the Eternal Principles and the Necessary Laws of the Universe. By the same. A new edition, New York: D. Appleton & Co.

with revisions and Notes. 1859.

[The object of the following article is to present a brief outline of Dr. Hickok's philosophy. It has been prepared by one of his personal friends, who is a decided advocate of his system. To this its value, to the readers of this journal, is largely due. They must be glad to receive, from an able and accomplished writer, a view of this philosophy which is not liable to the charge either of misapprehension or perversion. The article, therefore, is not to be regarded as presenting the estimate of the Princeton Review of Dr. Hickok's system, but the light in which it is viewed by its adherents.]

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CONTENTS OF NO. III.

JULY, 1862.

ART. I.-Dr. Hickok's Philosophy...

PAGE

369

ART. II. Vindications of Dr. Hickok's Philosophy...........

388

ART. III.-Augustine.........

406

ART. IV. Diversity of Species in the Human Race........

435

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THE

PRINCETON REVIEW.

JULY, 18 6 2.

No. III.

ART. I.-Rational Psychology; or the Subjective Idea and Objective Law of All Intelligence. By LAURENS P. HICKOK, D. D., Union College. A new and revised edition. New York: Ivison, Phinney & Co. 1861.

A System of Moral Science. By the same. Third edition. Same publishers.

Empirical Psychology; or the Human Mind as given in Consciousness. By the same. Third edition. Same publishers. Rational Cosmology; or the Eternal Principles and the Necessary Laws of the Universe. By the same. A new edition, with revisions and Notes. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1859.

[The object of the following article is to present a brief outline of Dr. Hickok's philosophy. It has been prepared by one of his personal friends, who is a decided advocate of his system. To this its value, to the readers of this journal, is largely due. They must be glad to receive, from an able and accomplished writer, a view of this philosophy which is not liable to the charge either of misapprehension or perversion. The article, therefore, is not to be regarded as presenting the estimate of the Princeton Review of Dr. Hickok's system, but the light in which it is viewed by its adherents.]

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DR. HICKOK, though profoundly acquainted with German speculations, and constantly resorting to terms which they have made common, differs vitally from every German thinker, both as respects the starting-point and the termination of his philosophy. Though he is evidently in closer sympathy with Kant than with any other great leader of modern thought, yet the grand results of their thinking are diametrically opposite. It is the whole purpose of the Rational Psychology to establish what it is equally the aim of the Critick of Pure Reason to overthrow. With Kant, the being of a God, the freedom and immortality of the soul, and the substantial existence of an objective world, are all incapable of speculative proof. But we should not greatly err in saying, that the most noticeable feature in all Dr. Hickok's thinking, is the confidence with which he affirms, and the persistence with which he maintains, the doctrine exactly opposite to this. If, aside from the simple presentation of his philosophical views, there is one aim which has evidently controlled him in what he has written, it is to attain a foundation upon which philosophical scepticism may be utterly overthrown. Each of his works is penetrated by the deep conviction of its author, that such a position can be reached, and that the method he has adopted is the certain way to secure it. This fact gives us the point of view from which his philosophy should be contemplated, in order to a comprehensive acquaintance with its scope and meaning.

Scepticism, according to Dr. Hickok, is the necessary result of every system of thought which confines the work of the intellect to its judgments and inferences. These are, indeed, operations properly within its sphere, but if it can do nothing more, he argues, no judgment can ever be affirmed beyond a contradiction, nor the ground of any inference be established beyond a doubt. If, e. g., the judgment: there is an external world, be denied by one who affirms that there is only a seeming phantasm, and that our belief in its reality is a dream, obviously the first judgment cannot escape this denial by a mere re-affirmation of itself, but only as it is grounded in another judgment, higher or more simple. Take then this higher judgment, e. g., there is an external world, because we are so made that we must believe it, and immediately we meet

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