NEW BOOKS

J. HANDYSIDE
1911 Mind  
NEW BOOKS. 281 bearing of heredity and instinct on the progress and destiny of man. It is confessedly written to strengthen and promote religion, and it faces the problems squarely. But Mr. Coke's philosophy is built upon a naturalistic basis, and its chief interest for the philosopher will be the attempt which it makes to escape the oonsequenoes of naturalism by -espousing an agnostic faith. In the end we are bidden to believe in a God, who has only a probable existence, who is neither
more » ... nt nor omniscient, and yet possesses spiritual attributes remotely analogous to our own. The most valuable part of the book is undoubtedly that in which the author combats the claims of the modern materialists. His knowledge 01 the current scientific theories of life, matter and force, is fall and systematic, and his quotations are always well-chosen and interesting. Like Huxley and Spencer, however, he places his faith on a reality which is inconceivable, but which nevertheless remains the foundation of all appearance. Reality is monistic but unknowable : God exists bnt His existence lies beyond the power of reason to prove : Immortality is probable but not demonstrably neoessary: Evil is incompatible with the omnipotence of God : Matter is oo-etemal with God and offers an intractable material upon which He is forced to work. These are nome of the positions which Mr. Coke is compelled to maintain by the inherent dualism of his general phUkmophy, and they prove conclusively the impossibility of holding a vital religious faith bused upon an agnostic philosophy. Whatever opinion* may be taken upon the book, it is unquestionably readable.
doi:10.1093/mind/xx.78.281 fatcat:xz5o63cbtrg3lcqxe6dpa3va6a