, No. 7. I am
indebted to the editors of these periodicals for permission to reprint
with minor changes.

In the writing of this, my first book, I have been often reminded that
a higher critic, skilled in the study of internal evidence, could
probably trace all of its ideas to suggestions that have come to me from
my teachers and colleagues of the Department of Philosophy in Harvard
University. I have unscrupulously forgotten what of their definite ideas
I have adapted to my own use, but not that I received from them the
major portion of my original philosophical capital. I am especially
indebted to Professor William James for the inspiration and resources
which I have received from his instruction and personal friendship.

RALPH BARTON PERRY.

CAMBRIDGE, March, 1905.

FOOTNOTES:

[vii:A] Edw. Caird: _Literature and Philosophy_, Vol. I, p. 207.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART I

APPROACH TO THE PROBLEM OF PHILOSOPHY
PAGE

CHAPTER I. THE PRACTICAL MAN AND THE PHILOSOPHER 3

Sect. 1. Is Philosophy a Merely Academic Interest? 3
Sect. 2. Life as a Starting-point for Thought 4
Sect. 3. The Practical Knowledge of Means 8
Sect. 4. The Practical Knowledge of the End or Purpose 10
Sect. 5. The Philosophy of the Devotee, the Man of Affairs, and
the Voluptuary 12
Sect. 6. The Adoption of Purposes and the Philosophy of Life 17

CHAPTER II. POETRY AND PHILOSOPHY 24

Sect. 7. Who is the Philosopher-Poet? 24
Sect. 8. Poetry as Appreciation 25
Sect. 9. Sincerity in Poetry. Whitman 27
Sect. 10. Constructive Knowledge in Poetry. Shakespeare 30
Sect. 11. Philosophy in Poetry. The World-view. Omar Khayyam 36
Sect. 12. Wordsworth 38
Sect. 13. Dante 42
Sect. 14. The Difference between Poetry and Philosophy 48

CHAPTER III. THE RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE 53

Sect. 15. The Possibility of Defining Religion 53
Sect.