The "new" idealism," which Miss Sinclair discusses, is not the kind which centers around high ideals and disregards sordid practicalities. It is not moral idealism, in short, but metaphysical idealism, which concerns her. We have here not the May Sinclair of Mary Olivier or The Romantic, but the author of A Defence of Idealism, who, after continued reflection, felt that she had to amend that earlier work.Her aim, in the present work, is to consider critically the foundations of realism, to inquire into the inroads it has made upon the old idealism, and to formulate a renovated idealism that will withstand the attacks of the old, but reinvigorated, arch enemy. For Miss Sinclair is convinced that the old idealism of Berkeley, Kant and Hegel must give way to a philosophy that will take into account seriously the world of space and time which is coming into our ever-widening view.One can hardly say that the book disposes of the controversies which have engaged the attention of philosophers in the past, or that there is a great percentage of novelty in her "new idealism." She does help the reader to understand the bases of these conflicts, however, and shows that concessions must be made upon both sides.It will probably be somewhat disconcerting to the intellectual old guard to encounter a lady philosopher who deals with many abstruse metaphysical problems with what is usually considered a masculine penetration and vigor. Miss Sinclair has proved that it is not impossible for the feminine mind to explore the higher ranges of thought where the air is cold and thin.She writes with ingratiating candor and has a pleasing sympathy with opposing ideas. One of the statements in her introduction is especially noteworthy. "If I betray ignorance of many contemporary idealists, it is because for years I was satisfied with Kant and Hegel relieved by Schopenhauer and Mr. Bradley, and because, lately, my chief interest has been in seeing what can be said against idealism. It is the realists who have made me look to its defences and who have most helped to show me the possible lines of reconstruction." This might well furnish the text for a homily on the value, in considering any problem, of inspecting the enemy's position as well as one's own -- a principle which one fears was not always a forceful guide to Leibnitz, Hegel, el al.There is a certain keenness and pungency in Miss Sinclair's style that sticks out here and there. The work is systematic and orderly. The author knows fairly well what she wants to say and says it -- an achievement that is often conspicuously absent in books these days. Incorrigible realists, of course, will not accept the thing, but it is, nevertheless, a learned treatise on the fundamental problem in philosophy and should be recommended to all students of Messrs. Immanuel Kant, William James and Bertrand Russell. -- The Standard, Volumes 9