=OUTLINES OF COSMIC PHILOSOPHY=, based on the Doctrine of Evolution.
With Criticisms on the Positive Philosophy. 2 vols. 8vo, pp. 465, 523,
$6.00.
Mr. DARWIN, after reading this work, wrote as follows to Mr.
Fiske:--
"You must allow me to thank you for the very great interest with which
I have at last slowly read the whole of your work.... I never in my
life read so lucid an expositor (and therefore thinker) as you are;
and I think that I understand nearly the whole, though perhaps less
clearly about cosmic theism and causation than other parts. It is
hopeless to attempt out of so much to specify what has interested me
most, and probably you would not care to hear. It pleased me to find
that here and there I had arrived, from my own crude thoughts, at some
of the same conclusions with you, though I could seldom or never have
given my reasons for such conclusions."
This work of Mr. Fiske's may be not unfairly designated the most
important contribution yet made by America to philosophical
literature.... His theory of the influence of prolonged infancy
upon social development (Part II., chap. xxii.) entitles Mr.
Fiske's work to be considered a distinctly important contribution
to the theory of the origin of species, and of the origin of man in
particular.--_Academy_ (London).
His most important suggestion, that of the influence of the long
period of feeble adolescence upon man's social development, is, we
think, a permanent contribution to the development theory.--_Nation_
(New York).
He recognizes Mr. Spencer as his teacher and guide; but he has moulded
the doctrines of his master into a popular form, surrounded them
with fresh and vivid illustrations, pointed out their bearing upon
great practical questions of the day, and amply supplied the reader
with materials for forming an intelligent judgment with respect
to their merits. Mr. Fiske is himself a thinker of rare acuteness
and depth; his affluent store of knowledge is exhibited on every
page; and his mastery of expression is equal to his subtlety of
speculation.--GEORGE RIPLEY, in _Tribune_ (New York).
Mr. Fiske's work ... is the first important contribution made by
America to the evolution philosophy, ... and is well worth the study
of all who wish to see at once the entire scope and purport of the
scientific dogmatism of the day.--_Saturday Review_ (London).
The author asserts that a system of philosophy has been constructed,
out of purely scientific materials, ... which opposes a direct
negative to every one of the theorems of which Positivism is made
up.--_Scotsman_ (Edinburgh).
Mr. Fiske is not a mere compiler from Mr. Spencer's works, nor is
he simply a popularizer of an abstruse theory. He works his way to
the chief results of Mr. Spencer's argument with independence and
self-reliance. In many places he has presented his master's doctrine
in new aspects or carried it forward to new conclusions, while
throughout he adds something to the original from which he draws by
freshness of illustration and individuality of literary style.... It
is curious to note the almost fierce persistence with which the author
returns again and again to an attack on the doctrines of Comte....
The most striking part of Mr. Fiske's social speculations is the
hypothesis by which he proposes to bridge over the gulf which divides
the merely gregarious and sympathetic brutes from morally constituted
man (Part II., chap. xxii.).--JAMES SULLY, in _Examiner_
(London).
Mr. Fiske is a disciple who thinks for himself, and who has no
hesitation, when necessary, in criticising him whom he acknowledges as
master.... He is so thoroughly imbued with the philosophic spirit that
his work merits a careful perusal; it has the especial attraction of
being written in excellent temper and admirable English.--_Daily News_
(London).
Mr. Fiske's work shows a complete and independent mastery of the
subject in all its bearings, together with a power of lucid and
vigorous exposition unexcelled in any philosophical work with which we
are acquainted.--_Daily Globe_ (Boston).
It is our best American book on the evolution philosophy, and deserves
to rank with the productions of the great English thinkers.--_Index_
(Boston).
=DARWINISM AND OTHER ESSAYS.= New Edition, enlarged. 12mo, pp. 283,
$2.00.
CONTENTS: Darwinism Verified; Mr. Mivart on Darwinism; Dr.
Bateman on Darwinism; Dr. Büchner on Darwinism; A Crumb for the "Modern
Symposium;" Chauncey Wright; What is Inspiration? Modern Witchcraft;
Comte's Positive Philosophy; Mr. Buckle's Fallacies; Postscript on Mr.
Buckle; The Races of the Danube; Liberal Education; University Reform;
A Librarian's Work.
If ever there was a spirit thoroughly invigorated by the "joy of right
understanding" it is that of the author of these pieces. Even the
reader catches something of his intellectual buoyancy, and is thus
carried almost lightly through discussions which would be hard and
dry in the hands of a less animated writer.... No less confident and
serene than his acceptance of the utmost logical results of recent
scientific discovery is Mr. Fiske's assurance that the foundations
of spiritual truths, so called, cannot possibly be shaken thereby....
Warm personal admiration and acute critical discernment could not
well be blended in finer proportions than in the article on the
lamented Mr. Wright.... The article on Mr. Buckle's Fallacies has
one aspect more remarkable than all the rest. It was written and
published when the "History of Civilization" was new,--that is to
say, when the writer was nineteen years of age; and the years--almost
nineteen more--which have elapsed since then have rather confirmed
than detracted from its value as a piece of criticism. The judgment
of posterity on the most ambitious book of its generation, and one of
the most bewildering, was actually anticipated by a stripling, and its
final rank assigned with singular fairness and precision. Scarcely
even in the style is there a trace of immaturity.... The essay on the
Races of the Danube forcibly suggests the idea that Mr. Fiske has
qualities of mind, almost unused hitherto, which would make him an
exceptionally valuable writer of history.--_Atlantic Monthly._
The article on the Races of the Danube shows that Mr. Fiske has a
special talent for history.--_Nation_ (New York).
* * * * *
=MYTHS AND MYTH-MAKERS=: Old Tales and Superstitions interpreted by
Comparative Mythology. 12mo, pp. 251, $2.00.
CONTENTS: The Origins of Folk-Lore; The Descent of Fire;
Werewolves and Swan-Maidens; Light and Darkness; Myths of the Barbaric
World; Juventus Mundi; The Primeval Ghost-World.
Mr. Fiske has given us a book which is at once sensible and
attractive, on a subject about which much is written that is crotchety
or tedious.--W. R. S. RALSTON, in _Athenæum_ (London).
This volume is not a text-book of scientific mythology. It contains
seven essays crowded with quotations and examples, in the abundant
use of which the writer's learning is not more conspicuous than his
literary skill. Not everybody can shape and control such wealth of
material.--_Christian Union_ (New York).
He has, as we must admit, one qualification for attaining his object,
in being completely master of his subject, and in knowing also how
to treat it in an attractive manner.--FELIX LIEBRECHT, in
_Academy_ (London).
It is extremely interesting for its happy combination of psychologic
analysis with a study of the primitive beliefs of mankind.... A
perusal of this thorough work cannot be too strongly recommended to
all who are interested in comparative mythology.--_Revue Critique_
(Paris).
Mr. Fiske is a master of perspicuous explanation.--_World_ (New York).
Its weight of sense and its lucidity will extend Mr. Fiske's
reputation as one of the clearest-minded, most conscientiously
laborious and well-trained students in this country.--_Nation_ (New
York).
With the capacity for profound research and the power of critical
consideration, he has a singular grace of style, and an art of clear
and simple statement, which will not let the most indifferent refuse
knowledge of the topics treated. In such a field as the discussion of
old fables and superstitions affords, we have not only to admire Mr.
Fiske for the charm of his manner, but for the justice and honesty of
his method.--_Atlantic Monthly._
It is both an amusing and instructive book, evincing large research,
and giving its results in a lucid and attractive style.--E. P.
WHIPPLE.
* * * * *
=THE UNSEEN WORLD, AND OTHER ESSAYS.= 12mo, pp. 349, $2.00.
CONTENTS: The Unseen World; The To-morrow of Death; The
Jesus of History; The Christ of Dogma; A Word about Miracles; Draper
on Science and Religion; Nathan the Wise; Historical Difficulties;
The Famine of 1770 in Bengal; Spain and the Netherlands; Longfellow's
Dante; Paine's St. Peter; A Philosophy of Art; Athenian and American
Life.
We think every one will remark, while examining this volume, the
variety of subjects treated; and if anybody has formed an opinion that
Mr. Fiske is a man who cares for nothing but myths and philosophy, he
will find occasion to correct it. Many of these papers are critical
reviews of important books widely different in their subjects; but
to each study the writer seems to have brought, besides an excellent
quality of discriminating judgment, full and fresh special knowledge,
that enables him to supply much information on the subject, whatever
it may be, that is not to be found in the volume he is noticing. To
the knowledge, analytical power, and faculty of clear statement,
that appear in all these papers, Mr. Fiske adds a just independence
of thought that conciliates respectful consideration of his views,
even when they are most at variance with the commonly accepted
ones.--_Boston Advertiser._
Of all the criticism and discussion called forth both in this country
and in England by that remarkable little book, "The Unseen Universe,"
Mr. John Fiske's "Unseen World" is at once the most profound, the most
comprehensive, and the most lucid.... The mere statement of a thought
in his perspicuous and translucent language gives it, in most cases, a
new meaning and an added force.--_Appletons' Journal._
They are all striking compositions, and deserving of a place in the
fore rank of this kind of literature. It is not often that more robust
and healthy reading can be found between the covers of a single
volume.--_San Francisco Bulletin._
The vigor, the earnestness, the honesty, and the freedom from cant and
subtlety in his writing are exceedingly refreshing. He is a scholar, a
critic, and a thinker of the first order.--_Christian Register._
Mr. Fiske has won for himself a foremost place among American writers
on physical science; and the present volume of essays bears testimony
not only to his ability as a physicist, but to his versatility of mind
and critical powers as well.--_Canadian Monthly._
He is one of our foremost religious thinkers.--_Times_ (New York).
The line of argument is so plain that all can follow it, and the style
is wondrously charming.--_Index_ (Boston).
Mr. John Fiske is a devoted student of Dante. The review of Mr.
Longfellow's work is an admirable essay upon translating Dante,--an
essay showing a very fine critical feeling and thorough knowledge of
the subject.--_Transcript_ (Boston).
He is a scholar profoundly versed in ancient and modern lore, a
thinker familiar with all shades of thought, an observer who studies
men as well as books, and withal a writer of the purest and most
graphic English.--_Inter-Ocean_ (Chicago).
He finely exposes the materialistic character of the book called the
"Unseen Universe," which has been so highly extolled by the "Southern
Cross" and other papers.--_Advertiser_ (Maryborough, Australia).
The book has a unity and charm in the clearness of the thought and
the beauty of such a style as was perhaps never before brought to
the illustration of the topics with which Mr. Fiske habitually
deals. There is something better still in the admirable spirit of
his writing; it is of all writing of its sort, probably, the most
humane.... He has already achieved a place as wholly his own as it is
eminent.--_Atlantic Monthly._
* * * * *
=EXCURSIONS OF AN EVOLUTIONIST.= 12mo, pp. 379, $2.00.
CONTENTS: Europe before the Arrival of Man; The Arrival of Man in
Europe; Our Aryan Forefathers; What we learn from Old Aryan Words; Was
there a Primeval Mother-Tongue? Sociology and Hero-Worship; Heroes of
Industry; The Causes of Persecution; The Origins of Protestantism; The
True Lesson of Protestantism; Evolution and Religion; The Meaning of
Infancy; A Universe of Mind-Stuff; In Memoriam: Charles Darwin.
Among our thoughtful essayists there are none more brilliant than Mr.
John Fiske. His pure style suits his clear thought. He does not write
unless he has something to say; and when he does write he shows not
only that he has thoroughly acquainted himself with the subject, but
that he has to a rare degree the art of so massing his matter as to
bring out the true value of the leading points in artistic relief. It
is this perspective which makes his work such agreeable reading even
on abstruse subjects, and has enabled him to play the same part in
popularizing Spencer in this country that Littré performed for Comte
in France, and Dumont for Bentham in England. The same qualities
appear to good advantage in his new volume, which contains his later
essays on his favorite subject of evolution.... They are well worth
reperusal.--_The Nation_ (New York).
These essays are all full of thought and worthy of preservation,
while several of them are entitled to rank among the very best
essays of American writers. For depth of thought, scholarship,
literary taste, critical ability, and the power of clear and vigorous
exposition _combined_, Mr. Fiske has no equal in this country and but
few equals among European writers. He does not write on a subject
until he has acquainted himself with it; and then he presents his
thought, which often has the merit of originality, with a lucidness
and attractiveness of style which make it easy to follow him in his
treatment of even difficult topics. It is a pleasure to turn from
our merely literary writers to the essays of Mr. Fiske, whose clear
thought, discriminating judgment, and philosophic spirit, together
with his fine taste and perspicuity of style, make his writings both
instructive and entertaining.--_Index_ (Boston).
The vividness and directness of the style is second only to the
bracing and stimulating quality of the matter. This book comes
nearer than anything we now think of among American publications to
successfully popularizing the results of science without debilitating
or misinterpreting the same. The first papers of the book particularly
emulate the clearness of Huxley.... It compels assent to the dreaded
"new way of looking at things," but in such a way that when the
assent is given the dread is all gone. It is a good book for the busy
preacher on account of its wealth of facts, so arranged as to reveal
the thought that lies back of each fact. Each conclusion suggests a
lesson.--_Unity_ (Chicago).
Mr. Fiske, under the above title, makes his excursions through the
realms of science, and evolves "evolution" in a most admirable
manner--physical and psychical--by the "testimony of the rocks,"
and with wonderful wisdom explains the origin of matter and man so
truthfully possible that it is accepted as exceedingly probable, if
not certain, by the thoughtful reader. It is fascinating to read his
proofs and speculations upon a subject grown so interesting, and the
reader is disposed to apply the same term of praise upon his work as
he bestowed upon Clifford: "Such scientific exposition as this is as
beautiful as poetry."--_Hartford Post._
Mr. Fiske is the master of an extremely lucid and attractive literary
style, and brings to all questions which he discusses the fruits of a
very industrious reading and examination of authorities.... Whether
one agrees with him or not one cannot fail to receive much instruction
and definite intellectual impulse from the reading of this volume....
While heartily dissenting from many of the views advanced in this
book, we commend it to all students who care for the honest judgment
of an honest man.--_Christian Union._
=THE DESTINY OF MAN=, viewed in the Light of his Origin. 16mo, pp.
121, $1.00.
CONTENTS: Man's Place in Nature as affected by the Copernican Theory;
As affected by Darwinism; On the Earth there will never be a Higher
Creature than Man; The Origin of Infancy; The Dawning of Consciousness;
Lengthening of Infancy and Concomitant Increase of Brain Surface;
Change in the Direction of the Working of Natural Selection; Growing
Predominance of the Psychical Life; The Origins of Society and
Morality; Improvableness of Man; Universal Warfare of Primeval Men;
First checked by the Beginnings of Industrial Civilization; Methods of
Political Development and Elimination of Warfare; End of the Working
of Natural Selection upon Man; Throwing off the Brute-Inheritance; The
Message of Christianity; The Question as to a Future Life.
Mr. Fiske has long held rank as one of the most profound and exact
of American thinkers, and his little monograph will serve to extend
that deserved fame among a class of readers who are not ordinarily
interested in the literature of science. Mr. Fiske's book is, in
a word, a plea for faith in the immortality of man, based on the
doctrine of evolution. With a superb command of all the knowledge
bearing upon the philosophy of Darwinism, to which he has himself been
a noteworthy contributor, Mr. Fiske sums up in eloquent periods the
process of evolutionary creation from the origin of infancy to the
beginnings of industrial and political development which have made
human society what it is to-day; and then, looking into the future, he
foretells how natural selection, working on the lines already marked
out, shall attain its perfect work. The whole argument, or rather
exposition, is a marvel of condensation.--_Boston Traveller._
Mr. Fiske has given us in his "Destiny of Man" a most attractive
condensation of his views as expressed in his various other works. One
is charmed by the directness and clearness of his style, his simple
and pure English, and his evident knowledge of his subject.... Of one
thing we may be sure, that none are leading us more surely or rapidly
to the full truth than men like the author of this little book, who
reverently study the works of God for the lessons which he would teach
his children.--_Christian Union_ (New York).
Professor Fiske is always interesting. His exposition, step by
step, of the doctrine of evolution, is admirably adapted for those
prejudiced against it to read--simple, pleasant, and clear, and
expressly designed to disarm hostility by showing that it is by no
means absolutely incompatible with accepted religious beliefs--at
least, with their essential qualities.--_Overland Monthly_ (San
Francisco).
It is a remarkable contribution to the literature of religious
thought.... It will prove that evolution is at least not
irreverent.... It is packed full of learning and suggestion, in a
style at once simple and beautiful, and is worth a dozen volumes of
ordinary sermons.--_Philadelphia Press._
This essay will and should attract wide attention, founded as it
is upon modern science and marking the way in an advanced path in
religio-scientific inquiry. Mr. Fiske is acknowledged one of the first
of scientific thinkers, and his conclusions have more than the usual
weight.--_Albany Journal._
His little volume will be highly prized by those who enjoy seeing one
of the most profound themes which can occupy the attention treated
with eloquence and strength, with scientific insight and imaginative
vigor.--_Buffalo Commercial Advertiser._
The reverent spirit of the book, the wide range of illustrations, the
remarkable lucidity of thought and style, and the noble eloquence
that characterizes it, render this book one of striking value and
interest.--_Salem Gazette._
=THE IDEA OF GOD AS AFFECTED BY MODERN KNOWLEDGE.= 16mo, $1.00.
This essay is a sequel to "The Destiny of Man." Its object is to show
that the indications of Science and Philosophy are theistic, not
atheistic; that while the idea of God has been greatly modified by
modern knowledge, it has not been lost or belittled, but magnified and
illuminated. The essay is prefaced by a long Introduction of remarkable
interest, and the whole book is full of significance and charm for all
thoughtful minds.