| Summary: | "The Philosophy of the Active and Moral Powers of Man</xh:i> came from the press in the spring of 1828, a few weeks before the author's death. An unfriendly and severe critic in the Penny Cyclopædia admits, in respect to this treatise, that it is "by far the least exceptionable of his works. It is more systematic, and contains more new truths, than any of his metaphysical writings; and his long acquaintance with the world and with letters enabled him to suggest many obvious but overlooked analyses." The author begins his Preface by apologizing for "the large and perhaps disproportionate space" allotted by him to the evidence and doctrines of natural religion. This part, making nearly one third of the whole, has been omitted in the present edition, as being out of place here, however excellent in itself. Other retrenchments have also been made in respect to unimportant details, in order to find room, without transgressing the prescribed limits, for some additional notes and illustrations. The latter, which are indicated by brackets, or otherwise, as they occur, consist almost exclusively of extracts from living or late writers, or references to them, and are inserted with a view to mark whatever progress has been made or attempted in ethical speculation since Mr. Stewart's day. Some changes have been made in the distribution and numbering of the chapters and sections, and sub-sections have been introduced for the first time. The use of the latter in giving a more distinct impression of the successive steps in the argument or exposition, no practised teacher will fail to appreciate. The Latin and Greek citations in the text are translated in the present edition, where this had not been done by the author. The translations are taken, for the most part, from common sources, without particular acknowledgment, the only object being to fit the work for more general and convenient use as a text-book"--Preface. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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