The Monist, Vol. 2, 1891-1892 : $b A quarterly magazineVarious
Philosophy
The Monist, Vol. 2, 1891-1892 : $b A quarterly magazine
Various
Philosophy -- Periodicals
One of the principal objects of the author’s journey was to see M.
Gabriel Tarde, “one of the most prolific and original publicists in
France, if not in Europe,” who resides at Sarlat. After quoting passages
from an article of M. Tarde on Social Darwinism, which appeared in the
_Revue Philosophique_, M. Delbœuf remarks that nothing is more attractive
and at the same time more fatiguing than the reading of his works. M.
Tarde is “the locomotive that carries you to the end of your journey
across countries by turns wild, agricultural, industrial, picturesque;
but without giving you time to regard and admire.” Referring to M.
Tarde’s acute criticisms of Lombroso and his theories, the author says,
“It is not that he strikes the pseudo-thinker with formidable blows, but
he makes him drop gently to the ground.” The French publicist sees in
_imitation_ the source of social life, and he has been long engaged in
developing the idea, to the great importance of which M. Delbœuf bears
witness; although he objects to the use which M. Tarde makes of terms
taken from mathematics, physics, and biology, to express his sociological
views. On the question of free-will there was no agreement. Although the
latter is a determinist, he believes in penal responsibility, on the
ground of personal identity; the diseased person or the madman is no
longer himself, in which they differ from the criminal.
We can say nothing of M. Delbœuf’s visit to the canons of the Tarn. Here
was captured a lizard which displayed, when compared with a Spanish
lizard in captivity with it, as much difference in character as could be
found between two men chosen at hazard. The author concludes an amusing
description of the habits of the two captives by recommending their
history to the politicians and the historians of France and Spain, as
likely to throw light on that of the peoples themselves. We leave M.
Delbœuf, whose book of seventy-five pages may be said to be as full of
interesting matter as an egg is of meat, with quoting his postscript:
“On the day that these lines appear (March 1891) the Spanish lizard has
finally cast off his savage character and follows in the footsteps of the
French. Effect of imitation.”
Ω.
DER POSITIVISMUS VOM TODE AUGUST COMTE’S BIS AUF UNSERE TAGE (1857-1891).
By _Hermann Gruber_, S. J. Freiburg im Breisgau: Herder’sche
Verlagshandlung. 1891.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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