From the apparently simple formula "To say that x is good is to say that it is such as to satisfy the wants of the person or persons concerned," Sparshott develops a subtle and self-critical analysis of evaluative language, incorporating much of classical and very recent ethical theory. A stimulating treatise.--J. T. W.

Drawing on the philosophies of Aristotle and Aquinas, the author is concerned with justifying the need and use of political authority in any well-ordered and good society. Authority is necessary, he argues, because individual virtue, no matter how enlightened, cannot alone bring about "the common good in matter." The leaders, the wise men, can help assure this common good, "the communication of excellence," throughout the social hierarchy by using their authority properly. The author does not deal with such questions as (...) to how the wise men are selected, how to guarantee that they will remaining wise, and who and what protects civil liberties and minority rights.--J. T. B. T. (shrink)

A careful and tough-minded analysis of Marxian economics from within. Wolfson treats Marx's economic theory as worthy of serious discussion and not just as an obsolete curiosity in the history of economic thought. His thorough analysis shows what elements in the theory are empirically confirmable and what elements are not. Ultimately, Wolfson feels Marx fails to make a convincing case for his most critical prediction: the progressive immiseration of the proletariat and the consequent break-up of the capitalist form of social (...) organization.--J. T. (shrink)

The first English translation of three essays on contemporary drama penned by Kierkegaard in the mid-1840's. The most substantial essay, "The Crisis and a Crisis in the Life of an Actress," takes as its point of departure Johanna Luise Heiberg's performance as Juliet in a production staged at the Royal Theatre on January 23, 1847. Some 19 years earlier Fru Heiberg had played the same role on the same stage as a girl of fifteen, and Kierkegaard's essay considers some of (...) the ironies and tensions of this juxtaposition. The 56 page introduction by Stephen Crites is perceptive and consistently illuminating as a portrait of the life situation out of which the essays grew. The translation is readable while preserving a thoroughly Kierkegaardian flavor, and the notes are revealing and to the point. Altogether, this volume might be taken as a model of how to present Kierkegaard's minor works in English.—J. T. (shrink)

This is the fourth and final volume in Campbell's history of world mythology entitled, The Masks of God. It takes for its narrative the disintegration of the tradition from the middle of the twelfth century to the present-day, ending with a discussion of Mann and Joyce. Although sometimes stunning in insight, in an overall way it is less illuminating than the earlier three volumes. In his earlier works on primitive, oriental, and occidental mythological traditions he was dealing with complete and (...) integral world-outlooks. The very fragmentation of the West's world-picture over the last few centuries makes Campbell's task in this volume virtually an impossible one. He has made a gallant, but only partially successful, effort at synthesis.--J. T. (shrink)

Mayo argues that ethical principles are not actually universal but can be universalized in three senses; they are, in fact, essentially controversial and can best be understood in terms of an analysis of the notion of authority. He conculdes with a critique of duty, as opposed to virtue, as a key to morality.--J. T. W.

This collection of essays reveals the natural coincidence of the interests of contemporary analytic philosophers with the central concepts of a philosophy of education which extends its focus to education in its most advanced stages—"higher" education and the development of rationality. It is against this sort of background that the discussion of the notions of creativity, socialization, believing and knowing, critical thinking, emotion and desire, virtue and duty, is set forth. At the hands of contributors who are among the leading (...) British philosophers topics that may be somewhat played out in the philosophical journals acquire an invigorating freshness when posed anew in the narrower context of philosophy of education. (shrink)

Various essays originally published in journals between 1922-1929.—J. T.

A commentary on the arguments whereby Hume endeavored to delimit the role of reason in morality. Harrison’s procedure is largely one of logical analysis: he identifies individual arguments, examines inferences, asks whether there are reasons to believe premises. Throughout, he displays a balanced, appreciative approach, and when obliged to draw attention to Hume’s mistakes, he does so only reluctantly. Over half of the book is taken up in a careful examination of the text which, in terms of clarity and penetration, (...) goes beyond previous studies of Hume’s ethics. Additionally, Harrison offers chapters on Hume’s general epistemology and on the classical is/ought passage. In the latter he declares that Hume quite obviously thought that the derivation of an ought from an is was impossible, and then goes on, in what he labels an independent treatment of the problem, to offer a subtle exploration on the contours of our usage of the language of evaluation and obligation. But perhaps the most valuable contribution of the book is the closing section in which Harrison endeavors to arrive at a depiction of Hume’s alternative to rationalism. He puts forward five distinct interpretations of Hume’s positive moral philosophy, each of which has textual support as well as its own advocates. Harrison finds no grounds for affirming that any one of these interpretations defeats the others. Concluding with the judgment that Hume was confused in expounding his own position, the author notes that "Hume himself would not have approved of a reverence which substituted a superficial acceptance for a thorough grasp and realistic appraisal of his opinions." Despite the opposition which his work may provoke from those who defend some single interpretation of Hume’s moral philosophy, Harrison’s study may be expected to become a standard reference work on Hume’s ethics.—J.T.K. (shrink)

The authors, a father and son team from Pacific Lutheran University and Augustana College respectively, speak of their book as "not primarily a study of Kierkegaard, but a guide to the literature." Only one caveat should be applied to this description--it is a guide to the literature in English. When the authors turn to untranslated works they express their gratitude to someone else for translations, and the notes refer only to secondary sources in English. Although it is not a work (...) of genuine scholarship or penetration, it does provide "a relatively simple introduction" to Kierkegaard's authorship.--J. T. (shrink)

By pointing out parallels between Kierkegaard's thought and that of the eighteenth century "Dunkers," the author seeks to offer a case for twentieth century "Neo-Sectarianism." As he points out, "S. K. would be listened to where Menno Simons and Alexander Mock would not." Eller leaves no doubt of his devotion to Kierkegaard studies, pointing out on the dedication page that he has named one of his sons Enten Eller--a phrase which in Danish means "Either/or" and which was the title of (...) Kierkegaard's masterwork, Enten-Eller.--J. T. (shrink)

In an Editor's Preface Pelikan admits that he finds "some of Sponheim's constructs rather artificial," but this disclaimer should not prevent him from bearing some responsibility for the gross inflation which makes the book almost unreadable. The basic idea of the work--namely, that Kierkegaard's thought can be seen as composing itself in the tension between diastasis and synthesis in the relation between God and man--is not without merit. Yet this idea could have been argued with clarity and grace and with (...) much greater effect in a book half the size of the present volume.--J. T. (shrink)

In the dispute as to whether the ultimate foundation of the ethical is principles or persons, this study vigorously advances the latter position. The author develops the thesis that morality is fundamentally a matter of caring about others. He derives this claim from the premise that engaging in the proscription of certain harmful acts "will depend ultimately upon your relation to the person against whom these acts are directed". The author contends that if one were utterly indifferent to the well-being (...) of the person affected by the acts in question, one would not condemn them morally. He goes on to claim that this caring qualifies as moral only if it is an unselfish concern for what happens to the person in question. He does not so much argue as illustrate this view by adducing from literature examples of human desperation and suffering to which compassion is the only natural response. Our condemnation of, e.g., a brutal assault shows, he says, that we care disinterestedly about the well-being of others. This immediate concern for the other is contrasted with attention to the inherent rightness or wrongness of actions--something the author characterizes as pharisaical. He attacks not only any theory which would reduce morality to a refinement of self-interest but likewise any which would preposit to this personal concern any alternative frame of reference--the rules of moral language, norms backed by social pressure, or the objectives of social harmony. Morality, he argues, is not a system of social control --it is not properly controlling nor systematic. (shrink)

The author develops an historical thesis about Hume’s moral theory in the Treatise and advances his own estimate, which goes well beyond Hume’s, of the connection between sympathy and morality. In a masterly analysis of the Treatise doctrines of sympathy and the indirect passions, Mercer reveals insurmountable difficulties in Hume’s endeavor to give morality a basis in the passions. He characterizes the technical notion of sympathy operating in the Treatise as narrow, egocentric, and amoral; and singles out both a natural (...) proclivity to prejudice and a blindness to value as its inherent limitations. (shrink)

One opens this first volume of the Hong's long-awaited translation of Kierkegaard's Papirer with a sense of astonishment. For there on the first page in bold face type is the topic heading:, Abstraction. One reads further. Absurd; Action; The Ancients, The Classical; Anselm; Anthropology, Philosophy of Man-the topic headings unroll in alphabetical order. With a profound sense of the waste of it all, one gets the point: the Hongs have decided to present the Papirer in a topical not a chronological (...) ordering. Toward the end of their Preface the translators try to justify their topical presentation by noting: "Although the plan of the present English edition of selections primarily according to subject is in harmony with an emphasis by Kierkegaard, the Danish editors, and [Walter] Lowrie upon contiguity of content, the extent to which it exceeds what has been done in this direction is unabashedly in the interest of the reader." The appeal here to the authority of Kierkegaard himself and to his Danish editors is clearly misplaced. For Kierkegaard did not group his Papirer entries under topical headings—he wrote his thoughts down when they occurred to him, and collected them in notebooks in chronological order—and the Danish editors basically preserved this chronological ordering in their twenty volume edition. The chief benefit for a reader of the Danish edition is the possibility of following the evolution of Kierkegaard's thought and personality. What an irony that this new edition of the papers and journals of the arch "subjective thinker" actually makes it impossible to follow the subjective development of his thought!—J. T. (shrink)

Two new Kaufmann translations together with five pages of related correspondence and a helpful bibliographical appendix. Although as Kaufmann admits, his translation of The Birth of Tragedy owes much to the earlier Clifton Fadiman rendition, he has clearly produced the definitive translation of these two works for English readers. The translator's notes and introductions are consistently helpful. By no stretch of the imagination could these two works be considered central to the Nietzschean corpus, while central works like The Dawn or (...) The Gay Science exist in English only in mediocre, pre-World War I translations. Hopefully, Kaufmann will now turn his considerable talents as a translator in this direction.—J. T. (shrink)

Smart divides his study into two parts. The first is a phenomenologically-oriented investigation of worshipping. He maintains that ritual and convention are at the core of worship, but that what worship tries to express is quite the opposite of convention, that is, the numinous. The focus of worship is also treated as a combination of opposites: it is a superior Power that inspires awe, but at the same time it is personal, addressable, receptive of men’s praise. Smart holds that there (...) is an internal relation between the concepts of God and of worship, and sets the relation up in such a way that worship is construed as a response to what the worshipper sees or perceives. The possible import of reflection regarding an object’s worthiness of worship is not emphasized, nor is the suggestion entertained that there might be a radical distinction between responding to the Numen and worshipping. (shrink)

The editor of this text has brought together fifteen selections representing some of the major contributions philosophers have made to the study of the aims of education. This anthology is organized into three parts: classical, modern and analytic philosophies of education. Each selection is preceded by the editor’s one page introduction, which unfortunately is far too short to prepare the student to deal technically with the material. In the part devoted to classical writings on education, texts from Plato and Aristotle (...) are offered with no regard to the cultural setting, while the excerpts from Locke, Rousseau and Kant seem to be presented principally with a concern for moral education. The five modern selections are far more interesting, particularly those from Dewey and Russell. The material from Maritain and Whitehead is preponderantly practical, though Sidney Hook’s defense of Dewey will afford the student an appreciation of careful argument. By far the most engaging part of the book is the last, comprising significant selections from Scheffler, Ryle and Jane Roland Martin. A portion of R. S. Peters’ Authority, Responsibility and Education is reprinted, but surprisingly enough, Peters’ far better book, Ethics and Education, is neglected. Cahn presents a short essay of his own, "Is There an Analytic Philosophy of Education?" which he probably would have modified had he been acquainted with Peters’ recent work. The likely use of this anthology is the teacher education course commonly referred to coincidentally by the same title. It is to Cahn’s credit that he has attempted to expose the education student to genuine philosophy, yet this anthology presents a mere mass of material without an effort at providing direction, structure or synthesis. The serious philosophical work of systematically analyzing education, culture, self and meaning still remains as much a task as it did before, though now thanks to Cahn some of the working materials for such an endeavor have been made more available.—J. T. K. (shrink)

A mammoth labor, this work offers us for the first time in a definitive English edition those notes grouped together and published in 1901 by Nietzsche's sister under the title, Der Wille zur Macht. In his Introduction Kaufmann disputes with good reason Karl Schlechta's claim that "The Will to Power contains nothing new, nothing that could surprise anyone who knows everything Nietzsche published." There are many new things in this work—of particular interest are the discussion of European nihilism in Book (...) One and the "Critique of the 'Good Man'" in Book Two. In addition to an illuminating introduction, there are eight pages of facsimile manuscripts.—J. T. (shrink)

A mammoth labor, this work offers us for the first time in a definitive English edition those notes grouped together and published in 1901 by Nietzsche's sister under the title, Der Wille zur Macht. In his Introduction Kaufmann disputes with good reason Karl Schlechta's claim that "The Will to Power contains nothing new, nothing that could surprise anyone who knows everything Nietzsche published." There are many new things in this work—of particular interest are the discussion of European nihilism in Book (...) One and the "Critique of the 'Good Man'" in Book Two. In addition to an illuminating introduction, there are eight pages of facsimile manuscripts.—J. T. (shrink)