state of science in France. M. Royer Collard, whose great talents have long been zealously devoted to the same pursuits, has, if I am not misinformed, already made considerable progress in a translation of Dr. Reid's Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man,-a report to which I give the more credit, from the account of his previous studies given by a most respectable writer, M. Jouffroy, in a work which appeared at Paris in 1826. "Trahie par ses conséquences et par sa propre méthode, la philosophie de Condillac fut mise en question par un certain nombre d'esprits distingués, et enfin soumise à une discussion publique par M. Royer Collard. Dans les trois années de son enseignement, ce savant Professeur, qui n'est plus pour la France qu'un grand Citoyen, démontra, contre la doctrine de Condillac, ce que Reid avoit demontré contre celle de Locke; et en adoptant la méthode expérimentale de l'école de la sensation, prouva que cette école avoit été infidele à cette méthode. M. Cousin acheva ce **** L'enque M. Royer Collard avoit commencé. seignement de ces deux illustres Professeurs devoit porter ses fruits, et il les a portés. Dans l'esprit de ceux qui ont assisté à leurs leçons, il ne reste pas un doute sur la direction que doivent suivre les recherches philosophiques." And here may I be pardoned for gratifying a personal feeling, by mentioning the pleasure which I have lately received from a perusal of the very elegant translation by M. Jouffroy of my Outlines of Moral Philosophy, preceded by a long introduction full of original and important matter. This publication, together with the space occupied in the Fragmens Philosophiques of M. Cousin by large extracts from the same work, comprising nearly the whole of its contents, encourage me in the hope, that the volumes I now publish, which may X be considered as a Comment on the Ethical part of my Outlines, may perhaps find a few who will not only read but study them with attention (for a cursory perusal is altogether useless), in some other countries as well as my own. Kinneil House, April 16, 1828. SECTION I. The Desire of Knowledge SECTION II.-The Desire of Society SECTION III.-The Desire of Esteem SECTION V.-Of Pity to the Distressed SECTION VI.-Of Resentment and the various other angry General Observations on the Moral Faculty, tending chiefly to show that it is an original Principle of our Nature, and Continuation of the Remarks on the Objections stated by dif ferent Writers to the Reality and Immutability of Moral Preliminary Inquiry into the Principles of Natural Religion SECTION I. Of the Foundations of our Reasoning from the Effect to the Cause, and of the Evidences of Active Power exhibited in the Universe SECTION IV.-Digression with respect to the Use and Abuse |