Notes on Books

Written 1912–1916 (See each Note for publishing information) · pages 392–400 · First published 1933–1938 (See each Note for publishing information) · Translated by Clemence Dutt

Note that this document has undergone special formating to ensure that Lenin’s sidenotes fit on the page, marking as best as possible where they were located in the original manuscript.

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NOTES ON BOOKS

F. Raab, Die Philosophie von R. Avenarius. Systematische Darstellung und immanente Kritik, Leipzig, 1912 (164 p.). 5 Mk. Perrin, Les atomes, Paris (Alcan).[1] Written not earlier than 1912 First Published in 1938 in Lenin Miscellany XXXI Published according to the manuscript     From books on philosophy in the Zürich Cantonal Library[2] Gideon Spicker, Über das Verhältnis der Naturwissenschaft zur Philosophie (especially versus Kant and Lange’s His- tory of Materialism). Octavo. Berlin, 1874. IV. W. 57 K. Hegel, Phänomenologie (hrs. Bolland, 1907). IV. W. 165 g. Written in 1915 First published in 1933 in Lenin Miscellany XXII Published according to the manuscript     (Cantonal Library in Zürich[3] (Signatur: K. b i.) Flugschriften des deutschen Monistenbundes. Heft 3: Albrecht Rau. “Fr. Paulsen über E. Haeckel.” 2-te Aufl. Brackwede, 1907, (48 SS.)
A very sharp criticism of Paulsen from the stand- point of Feuerbach. A “Mohican” of the bourgeois enlightenment!				NB
Written in 1915 First published in 1933 In Lenin Miscellany XXII Published according to the manuscript     Section III. (“Works of informative and scientific content”)[4]: Theories of Origin... 1914. (Present-day Culture III, IV). F. Haeckel, Gott-Natur, Leipzig, 1914... Sch. 480 N 24. Uhde, Feuerbach, Leipzig, 1914 ... XVI. 906. A. Zart, Bausteine des Weltalls: Atome, Moleküle.. Stuttgart, 1913. Written in 1916 First published in 1934 in Lenin Miscellany XXVII Published according to the manuscript     Ruttmann, Die Hauptergebnisse der modernen Psycholo- gie, Pe. VII. 3551. Suter, Die Philosophie von Richard Avenarius, 1910 (Diss). St. Bro. 11.341 Written in 1916 First published in 1936 in Lenin Miscellany XXIX Published according to the manuscript     ON THE REVIEW OF JOH. PLENGE’S BOOK MARX AND HEGEL[5] Joh. Plenge, Marx and Hegel, Tübingen, 1911. (184 SS.) (Mk. 4).
An unfavourable review by 0. Bauer in Vol. 111, 3rd number of Archiv für Geschichte des Sozialismus.
Written in 1913 First published in 1938 in Lenin Miscellany XXXI Published according to the manuscript     ON THE REVIEW OF R. B. PERRY’S BOOK PRESENT PHILOSOPHICAL TENDENCIES[6] Mind. 1913. April. Review by F. C. S. Sculler of Ralph Barton Perry’s Present Philosophical Tendencies: a Critical Survey of Naturalism, Idealism, Pragmatism and Realism, together with a Synopsis of the Philosophy of William James, London and New York. (Longmans & Co.). 1912. 383 pages. Schiller is against Perry’s “realism” and makes the charge that “his mind is so preoccupied with the metaphysical antithesis between realism and idealism that he is always trying to reduce all other issues to this.” It is to be noted that Schiller quotes the following pas- sage from Perry: “The organism is correlated with an en- vironment, from which it evolved and on which it acts. Consciousness is a selective response to a pre-existing and independently existing environment. There must be some- thing to be responded to, if there is to be any response” (p. 323 in Perry’s book). And Schiller raises the objection:
“Unless the question is begged in the ‘independently exist- ing environment’” (Schiller’s italics), “nothing is here proved except the correlation of the mind and its ‘environ- ment’”... (p. 284).				[illegible]
Written later than April 1913 First published in 1938 in Lenin Miscellany XXXI Published according to the manuscript     ON THE REVIEW OF A. ALIOTTA’S BOOK THE IDEALIST REACTION AGAINST SCIENCE[7] Antonio Aliotta: La reazione idealistica contro la sciensa. 1 vol. 8°. XVI + 526 pages. Palerme. Casa editrice Optima, 1912. Review in Revue Philosophique (Ribot). Paris, 1912, No. 12, pp. 644--646, by J. Segond, who states: “He” (Aliotta) “shows us in agnosticism all the latest sources of contemporary reaction; he shows how it de- velops through German (Riehi) and French (Renouvier) neo-criticism, the empirio-criticism of Mach and Avenarius, and English neo-Hegelianism; he describes and exposes the intuitionism of Bergson and Schmitt, the Anglo-American pragmatism of W. James, Dewey and Schiller, the philos- ophy of values and the historicism of Rickert, Croce, Mün- sterberg and Royce,” etc. (645), and so on up to Schuppe, Cohen and others. In the second part the author examines the energetics of Ostwald and “the new physics des qualités”[8] of Duhem and the “theory of models” of Hertz, Maxwell and Pastore. The author particularly dislikes, he says, mysticism (includ- ing that of Bergson), etc. The point of view of the author is stated to be “the spir- it of the happy mean of truly rational intellectualism, that of M. Aliotta and of M. Chiapelli.” (645) Written in 1913 First published in 1938 in Lenin Miscellany XXXI Published according to the manuscript     REMARKS ON HILFERDING’S VIEWS ON MACH (IN FINANCE CAPITAL)[9] Hilferding: Finance Capital. (“The Latest Phase in the Development of Capitalism”). Moscow, 1912 Published in German in 1910 (III Band Marx-Studien)

muddle...					p. 13—“According to E. Mach” “the ‘ego’ is only the focus in which the infinite
incorrect not “in the same way”   incorrect					threads of sensation meet most closely.... In exactly the same way money is the focal point in the network of social connec- tions....” p. 71, note. “Only our perception gives things the form of space” (a Kantian).

Written not later than June 1916 First published in 1934 in Lenin Miscellany XXVII Published according to the manuscript

 

 

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Notes

^[1] The entry on the books by Raab and Perrin was made in a notebook entitled “Austrian Agricultural Statistics, etc.” not earlier than 1912.

^[2] The entry on the books under the heading From Books on Philosophy in the Zürich Cantonal Library was made in the first notebook (notebook “α”) on imperialism in 1915.

^[3] The entry under the heading Cantonal Library in Zürich was made in the first notebook on imperialism (notebook “α”) in 1915.

^[4] The entry under the general heading Section III. (Works of informative and scientific content), containing reference to the books by Haeckel, Uhde and Zart, was made in a notebook on imperialism (notebook “ε”) in 1916.

^[5] Note on the Review of Johann Plenge’s book “Marx and Hegel” was written in 1913, amidst bibliographical excerpts on various questions, in the notebook “Austrian Agricultural Statistics, etc.”

^[6] Remarks on the Review of R. B. Perry’s book “Present Philosophical Tendencies”—written after April 1913 in the notebook “Austrian Agricultural Statistics, etc.”

^[7] Remarks on the Review of A. Aliotta’s book “The Idealist Reaction Against Science”—written in 1913 at the end of the notebook “Austrian Agricultural Statistics, etc.”

^[8] of qualities—Ed.

^[9] Remarks on Hilferding’s Views on Mach (in “Finance Capital”)—contained in notebook “θ”on imperialism.