CAUSE IN HISTORY

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21139, 14 April 1934, Page 15

CAUSE IN HISTORY

PERSONALITY AND CONTINGENCY History and the Self. By Hilda D. Oakeley. Williams and Norgatc. 286 pp. (10/6 net.) Dr. Oakeley has already produced enough philosophical writing to arouse great interest in those concerned with such studies, when she publishes a new book. The present work is an investigation into the roots of history and the relations of history and ethics. A philosophical understanding of the nature of history'is an intellectual problem of the first order. Is history a science or an art? Must not the historian always select his facts, and thus make his synthesis largely subjective? Has he really any facts at his disposal? There are no facts of history, says more than one philosopher, but only interpretations of them. Dr. Oakeley finds that her work involves an attempt to consider, if not to answer, such questions as these. She finds that history is made up of two constant factors, the reality and activity of selves, and the unfailing intrusion of contingency, of the accidental, which the Greeks called Fortune. Even such knowledge as we possess of the past is a matter of chance. Both the events of history and our acquaintance with them are matters of luck, good or bad. The author fully recognises the part played by geography and economics in the development of mankind; but, unlike the Marxians, she refuses to believe that these are the only conditions of such development. Personality, though ultimately unfathomable, is the source of all the great creative processes in history. Freedom is essential to personality and, therefore, to history, if that is, in any sense, intelligible. Can freedom be compatible with universal causation? The question then arises, What is the causal in history? Can we there equate causes and effects as we do in physics? The truth is that in history we can never produce such equations. The historian has to do with psychological causation as well as with physical; and who is sufficient for these things? I\~Vs Oakeley raises, as a good philosopher should, more questions than she answers. But readers of her book will find it a worth-while task. She maintains with great knowledge and much cogency the reality of the temporal process, the potency of personality in history, and the staunch rejection of those philosophies, which, deaf to the voices of the individuals of the past, see exclusive value in some far-off goal.

EV ERYMAN'S LEI BNIZ The > , hi!osophi' > al Writings of Leibniz. Transi'iled Ivy Mary Morris. * veryman's *, hrary, No. 905. J. SI. I)< nt and So-.is I.'-'. 'B4 pp. 111/- net )

Leibniz was one of the richest minds m the philosophical world, and students of thought will be glad to have- this handy selection from his writings. No complete edition of his voluminous works has yet been published, though the Berlin Academy of Science has issued five volumes of what will ultimately be a 40-volume quarto edition. Mrs Morris has not, however, used this for her translation, but that of Gcrhardt. The book is divided into three parts. The first, contains the essential outlines of Leibniz's system, as set forth in the "Monadology," "The Principles of Nature and of Grace," and his "Ultimate Origination of Things." The second part consists of extracts from correspondence and from the "New Essays in the Human Understanding." With these before him, the intelligent reader will be able to trace the development of Leibniz's thought. The book ends with a

I third part containing illustrative | extracts from the philosopher's ! writings. Mrs Morris has done her ! work well, both in translation and selection. This is a timely publication, for the thought of Leibniz has much affinity to some of the best philosophy of our day. The value and reality of the individual and the philosophical importance of mathematics and physics were outstanding features of his doctrine. There is a useful introduction in the life and philosophy of Leibniz. This is the work of MrC. K. Morris. It is hardly necessary to add that the book is, for so low a price, excellently printed and bound, THE NEW ADELPHI LIBRARY (i) Karly Sorrow and Mario and the Magician. By Thomas Mann, (ii.) Kefleetions on tlio Death of a, Porcupine and Other Essays. By J>. 11. Lawrence. (Hi) Miner. By F. <!. Bodcn. (iv) Tlie Shadow Line. By Joseph Conrad. The New Adclphi Library: J. M. Pent & Sons Ltd. and Martin Seeker. (3/6 net each.) This series of reprints has gained greatly by the collaboration of Aldine House with Mr Seeker. The four latest additions, listed above, exemplify very well the joint publishers' service to students of modern literature, ready to buy the best, but with little to spend. Two stories by Thomas Mann, and beauties; one of the best, atmospheric Conrad's; Mr Boden's very fine, realistic novel; and half a dozen of Lawrence's essays, including his packed, highly significant pages on the novel—this is a rich collection to hold in one hand and to have for less than a pound.