Note 83 — Chapter II · CRITICAL ACCOUNT OF SOME PREVIOUS PHILOSOPHICAL THEORIES OF GEOMETRY.

The works of Helmholtz on geometrical philosophy comprise, in addition to the articles quoted in Chap. I., the following articles: "Ursprung und Sinn der geometrischen Axiome, gegen Land," Wiss. Abh. Vol. II. p. 640, 1878. (Also Mind, Vol. III.: an answer to Land in Mind, Vol. II.) "Ursprung und Bedeutung der geometrischen Axiome," 1870, Vorträge und Reden, Vol. II. p. 1. (Also Mind, Vol. I.) Two Appendices to "Die Thatsachen in der Wahrnehmung," entitled: II. "Der Raum kann transcendental sein, ohne dass es die Axiome sind"; and III. "Die Anwendbarkeit der Axiome auf die physische Welt," 1878, Vorträge und Reden, Vol. II. p. 256 ff.

The two Appendices last mentioned are popularizings and expansions of the article in Mind, Vol. III. The most widely read, though also, to my mind, the least valuable, of all Helmholtz's writings on Geometry, is the article in Mind, Vol. I. This contains the famous and much misunderstood analogies of Flatland and Sphereland, which will be discussed, and as far as possible defended, in answering Lotze's attack on Metageometry—an attack based, apparently, almost entirely on this one popular article. The present discussion, therefore, may be confined almost entirely to Mind, Vol. III., and the philosophical portions of the two papers quoted in Chap. I., i.e. to the articles in Wiss. Abh. Vol. II. pp. 610–660. His other works are popular, and important only because of the large public to which they appeal.