(1) The Contingency of the Laws of Nature (2) The Dreams of Orlow (3) A Modern Job: an Essay on the Problem of Evil

Abstract

(1) M. EMILE BOUTROUX'S essay was originally presented as a thesis to the Sorbonne in 1874. Its aim was to find a new vindication of the freedom of the human will. The great difficulty which is always supposed to beset the libertarian is to reconcile free-will in man with the strict determination of natural objects which are governed by immutable laws. The author undertakes to show that there are no such laws. What really exist are uniformities which are similar to the uniformities in behaviour of a man who has formed very regular habits. “Contingency” in the title of the essay means, “non-necessity,” and the laws of Nature are not necessary, though they are regular. So long as we regard the laws of Nature as necessary we render illusory all life and liberty. And so the author claims that he has “restored to man that reality and effective influence over the course of things which common sense attributes to them, but which purely intellectualist or voluntarist philosophies, like those of Germany for the most part, declare to be inconceivable and illusory.”

(1) The Contingency of the Laws of Nature.

Emile Boutroux. Authorised translation by Fred Rothwell. Pp. ix + 196. (Chicago and London: The Open Court Publishing Co., 1916.) Price 5s. net.

(2) The Dreams of Orlow.

A. M. Irvine, with an Introduction by J. Arthur Hill. Pp. 256. (London: George Allen and Unwin, Ltd., 1916.) Price 5s. net.

(3) A Modern Job: an Essay on the Problem of Evil.

Etienne Giron, with Introduction by Archdeacon Lilley. Authorised translation by Fred Rothwell. Pp. 92. (Chicago and London: The Open Court Publishing Co., 1916.) Price 2s. 6d. net.