A compact edition of Mr. Beck's excellent translation of the second Critique, slightly revised, together with a helpful short introduction and a bibliography.--V. C. C.

This textbook combines Father Klubertanz' Introduction to the Philosophy of Being and Father Holloway's Natural Theology in a new two-part abridgement, appropriate for single semester courses in general metaphysics and natural theology. The standpoint of both the authors is roughly that of existential Thomism, and the continuity between the work of each within the book is notable. The first part contains the revisions to be found in the second edition of Father Klubertanz' volume.—C. V.

This volume contains the contributions of philosophers and psychologists to one of the Rice University semicentennial symposia and includes the papers of Koch, MacLeod, Skinner, Rodgers, Malcolm and Scriven. Discussion from the audience and among the participants is recorded, and the general result of both is a blurring of distinctions between behaviorism and phenomenology. The peculiar logical character of first person utterances is duly considered and provides the backdrop for much of the rehash of the private-public problem in philosophy and (...) psychology.—C. V. (shrink)

A reprint, intended for student use. Despite the repudiation by some of the contributors of their articles after editing, the work as a whole has some value, and some of the pieces are distinguished.--V. C. C.

An attempt to present Kant's Critical Philosophy in a non-technical and up-to-date manner. The author is largely successful in translating complex doctrines into simple language and in relating Kant's thought to contemporary developments in philosophy, science, morals and theology. He stresses the continuity of Kant's thinking with our own, and expounds the Kantian position in the light of the criticisms which have been directed against it, in our and other times. Despite the simplicity of its language, however, the book is (...) not always as clear in meaning or content as one might wish, and some of the interpretations--as when, in Chapter 2, space and time are made out to be "particulars"--are decidedly strange.--V. C. C. (shrink)

In this book we are offered a collection of ten papers illustrating Malcolm's conception of ordinary language philosophy, ranging in content over a wide variety of topics in epistemology. The influence of his former teachers, Moore and Wittgenstein, is evident throughout. Three lectures on the often neglected concept of memory, two of which are new, are included in the book, together with the widely regarded article entitled "Anselm's Ontological Arguments."--C. V.

The thesis of this brief but suggestive essay in interpretation is that Kant's critical works express a unified "Weltanschauung" whose determining principles are ethical rather than epistemological. The argument is subtle and complex, and is supported by references more to the spirit than to the letter of the Kantian writings; its consequent difficulty, however, is more than outweighed by its breadth and illuminatory power. In his concern with the relations between morals and religion for Kant, and in his emphasis upon (...) the voluntaristic and subjective element in the Critical philosophy, Kroner draws a Kant who often looks like Kierkegaard. The result is challenging and, if nothing else, provides a useful contrast to the predominant "piecemeal" interpretations of the epistemologically oriented Marburg school.--V. C. C. (shrink)

A brief survey of topics having to do in some way with "time," in a number of that term's myriad senses. There are chapters on "lived" time, the times of physics and history, and the relation of time and eternity. M. Pucelle's writing is lively, and his discussions are frequently illuminating, despite their extreme brevity and, at times, over-generality.--V. C. C.

Maritain's Walgreen Foundation Lectures on political philosophy, given in 1949, in a handsomely produced paperbound edition.--V. C. C.

An original and independent treatment of epistemology's central question--that concerning the relation between the mind and its objects. The author's answer is that of naive realism: the mind is a spectator of its objects, and the objects themselves are real and independent of it and its activity. The classical objections to such a view are examined forthrightly and yet with care; error, e.g., appears as a function of the unclarity with which some objects are apprehended rather than as evidence that (...) all objects are fictions. Professor Earle is quite willing to spell out the somewhat startling ontological consequences of his view; since whatever is an object of consciousness is real and independent, illusions differ from, say, material objects, not as non-being differs from being, but as one kind of being differs from another. The result is a contribution to metaphysics as well as to epistemology, and its conclusions in both areas are fresh and important. Part of Chapter I first appeared in this Review, VIII, 211-24.--V. C. C. (shrink)

Alberti's Della pittura was the first, and in many ways the most important, of the Renaissance treatises on painting, elaborating as it does the theoretical backgrounds of the influential new art of 15th-century Florence. This edition presents the work with distinction. The translation--the first in English since 1755--is based upon the known manuscript sources, and has been provided with a helpful introduction and notes. Diagrams serve to clarify Alberti's accounts of perspective. --V. C. C.

Jowett's Protagoras has been revised extensively for this new edition, and helpful section titles have been provided. The editor's fifty-page introduction could stand alone; it is a solid and scholarly examination, with footnotes, cross-references, and logical analyses, of the great Socrates-Protagoras quarrel.--V. C. C.

A collection of six essays, including three previously unpublished papers entitled, "Methods of Philosophy," "The Nature of Value," and "The Metaphysical Concept of Space." The target in each case is the whole of technical philosophy; the thesis to be defended is the claim that its separate divisions represent no more than "linguistically contrived intellectual illusions." Along the way, it is argued that the traditional retreat from speculative metaphysics to philosophical analysis is to no avail, for it is claimed that since (...) all philosophy is of a piece, all its parts and methods stand or fall together. We are offered, therefore, the following dual thesis which is both surprising and unique: Philosophy is an ordered whole in structure and method, but the products of philosophical reflection embody nothing more than snares, delusions, and unproductive disputation.—C. V. (shrink)

Unlike many books of its kind, this collection of essays is more than a mere aggregate of papers loosely ordered around a set of common themes. In fact, for a work sensitive to the values inherent in the analytical tradition, it is surprisingly systematic, and strikes a happy balance between the products of the system-builders and the deliverances of those who are content to give us merely isolated insights. It embodies a sound knowledge of the history of philosophy, a sensitivity (...) to the contributions of the British philosophers since Bradley, and a desire to take science seriously without succumbing to the reductionism which so often characterized the contributions of the positivists. Throughout the papers the influence of Carnap, Kant and Wittgenstein is especially evident; and perhaps most characteristic are the repeated attempts to tread carefully, with their help, the sometimes narrow lines dividing realist and phenomenalist, realist and idealist, and realist and nominalist. Sellars is at pains to incorporate in his system the partial truths which always characterize conflicting philosophical alternatives. This book is well worth careful, critical study by philosophers of all persuasions.--C. V. (shrink)

Hanson has set forth in a fascinating way the story of the discovery of the positron. He takes up in some detail the question concerning the symmetry of explaining and predicting, argues that certain features of microphysical theory cannot be accommodated to mechanical-type models, and defends his interpretation of the "Copenhagen" view of quantum theory. He shows how an adequate understanding of these matters makes possible a grasp of the significance of the concept of the positron, and in so doing, (...) illustrates the complex relationships in which physical theory stands to observation and experiment. Consequently, Hanson's book is another of the recent works in which an author refuses to construe the scientific enterprise as a sophisticated search for facts, where so-called theoretical entities serve as mere devices to make calculation easier. The book includes four appendices of a rather technical nature and 41 pages of notes on the text.--C. V. (shrink)

The only English translation of the whole of the Philosophie der Weltgeschichte, in an attractive paperbound reprint. Sibree's translation, needs revision, as does the German text on which it is based, but this is a useful edition nevertheless, and it is better to have it than none at all. Friedrich's brief new introduction is a model.--V. C. C.

An account, systematically presented, of Plato's views on the subjects covered in the author's earlier books-ethics, aesthetics and philosophy of education--with only passing mention of Platonic logic, epistemology and metaphysics. The Platonic views are set against the views of Plato's Greek predecessors, and a final chapter discusses "Plato and Modern Philosophy." Mr. Lodge writes engagingly, but somewhat informally too; his book is intended more as an essay in appreciation than as a work of philosophical interpretation.--V. C. C.

Eight short papers, semi-popular in intent, surveying British philosophy from Bradley, through Russell, Moore, and Wittgenstein, to the contemporary analysis of Ryle and Austin. Coverage is spotty, and some of the treatments are so brief and sketchy as to be of dubious value. Ryle's introduction, however, and concluding papers by Strawson and Warnock are both pleasant and instructive.--V. C. C.

The paperbound edition of a unique and useful volume of selections, with critical introductions, from philosophical works of Petrarca, Valla, Ficino, Pico, Pomponazzi, and Juan Luis Vives. The original appeared in 1948.--V. C. C.

A fine new translation, in which clarity and ease of reading have been the principal aims. Mr. Warrington has re-arranged the traditional text in an effort to make of its often disparate parts a unified and well-ordered whole. Book Δ is printed first, for example, and Ι and Λ last, with α and parts of Κ and Μ as Appendices. Long sentences have been broken up, subtitles inserted, points and paragraphs numbered for ready reference, and parenthetical phrases printed as footnotes. (...) Further footnotes explain difficult passages and provide cross-references. The result is perhaps the easiest Metaphysics possible, though even it, of course, is far from easy going.--V. C. C. (shrink)

An effort to account for the discrepancy between modern man's technological skill and his understanding of moral and social values, which has made human self-destruction a very real threat. The author's conclusions are familiar and not too illuminating.--V. C. C.

Though intended as an introductory textbook of Thomistic metaphysics, this work offers a fairly detailed treatment of a number of important problems, presented in systematic and well-ordered fashion. Father Klubertanz rejects the a priori procedure of some recent Thomists, and endeavors to reconstruct the Thomistic synthesis by beginning with immediate sense experience. This and other "departures from systematized Thomism" give the book a certain originality, and raise it somewhat above the usual textbook level.--V. C. C.

A new edition of a famous classic, printed with elegance and taste. Mr. Shields' introduction succinctly reviews Mill's life and work, outlines the essay, and points up some of its problems.--V. C. C.