The title of this book is too modest. In his Disputationes on the text of the Summa of St. Thomas, Gabriel Vazquez draws upon a very wide reading of the theological literature of his own and previous ages. His conclusions present a synthesis, not without originality, of the speculation of the 15th and 16th centuries. The problem here considered, that of the obligation of civil law, raises the great issues of civil obedience and the limits of human authority. The book, (...) then, is more than a monograph on a single author; it is an important study in the history of moral philosophy and theology. (shrink)

The sixteenth century ‘Silver Age’ of scholasticism in Spain has been studied less than one would expect, particularly in English. There are a number of reasons for this comparative neglect - the lack of studies of the considerable manuscript and archival sources of Spanish economic, administrative and colonial history, the fact that Spain was almost untouched by the Reformation and by the scientific and industrial revolutions and, so, cast back upon her medieval heritage more than other nations; these, with some (...) other minor factors, are mentioned by Miss Hamilton. All the more reason, then, for her pioneering work in studying the political thought of four outstanding representatives of Spanish sixteenth-century political thinking. Not that there have not been monographs and studies - her bibliography is a good summary guide to the literature - but there is little, in English at least, with the range Miss Hamilton sets herself. (shrink)

English ethical writing between the wars was dominated by the controversy about the right and the good. The controversy was not just a period-piece, for the protagonists on either side crystallised attitudes almost as old as moral philosophy itself. The quarrel between the deontologists and the axiologists takes one back to the very foundations of ethics, the foundations that, as is becoming increasingly apparent, have successfully resisted the erosion of post-war logical positivism and analysis.

English ethical writing between the wars was dominated by the controversy about the right and the good. The controversy was not just a period-piece, for the protagonists on either side crystallised attitudes almost as old as moral philosophy itself. The quarrel between the deontologists and the axiologists takes one back to the very foundations of ethics, the foundations that, as is becoming increasingly apparent, have successfully resisted the erosion of post-war logical positivism and analysis.

This book shows Dr. Pieper’s conciseness of style and exposition to excellent advantage; with all its brevity it is more informative than many works two or three times its size.

This book shows Dr. Pieper’s conciseness of style and exposition to excellent advantage; with all its brevity it is more informative than many works two or three times its size.

Gabriel Marcel is, deliberately and professedly, the most unsystematic of philosophers. The chemin sinueux of his thought is not an easy one to follow; and the attempt would involve an acquaintance with M Marcel’s considerable literary and artistic output of half a century. As a practical measure some introduction to his thought is necessary; and in the case of this book one is reassured by M Marcel’s blessing on the venture. It is, perhaps, slightly disturbing that Mr Gallagher should, on (...) at least one point, disagree with the interpretation proposed by Père Troisfontaines. But in general one can be confident that, in so far as Marcel’s thought can be summarised at all, the summary here offered is as little misleading as possible. (shrink)