T. 1. 1907-1909 -- T. 2. 1909-1914 -- T. 3. 1914-1917.

RÉSUMÉ: Les philosophes de la période moderne sont souvent présentés comme ayant commis une erreur élémentaire: celle de confondre la force propositionnelle avec le contenu propositionnel. Par l'examen de deux cas saillants, à savoir les philosophes de Port-Royal et John Locke, je montre que l'accusation n'est pas fondée, et que Locke en particulier a les ressources requises pour construire une théorie des attitudes propositionnelles.

The tendencies in bourgeois ideology that are intimately associated with religion constitute one of the subjects of current interest for criticism from the Marxist standpoint. The trend toward establishment of a clerical philosophy has long since been noted: its roots go back to the 19th century. But it has only been in the years between the two world wars, and during the present period that such currents as Neo-Thomism, Christian spiritualism, religious existentialism, and the like have flourished and, what is (...) particularly important, have exercised serious influence on secular intellectuals in the capitalist countries. (shrink)

Written by a prominent figure in Arab politics today and a well-known Islamic scholar, the book, after one chapter on the life of the Prophet, concentrates on an exposition of the essential message of Islam that purports to show its relevance to our contemporary world. Its pages abound in examples of religious toleration among the followers of Islam in the past to show how misled Westerners have been in depicting a religion of "righteousness" and "brotherhood" as the religion of the (...) sword.—E. O. T. (shrink)

A series of summary descriptions of the theories of the Pre-Socratics, Sophists, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Stoics, Epicureans, Sceptics, and Gnostics, the book suffers from controversial points made in an off-hand fashion. The two following interpretations are especially perplexing, if not erroneous: that Plato's philosophy is "materialistic in outlook" since by ideas he means "the material perfects of the material imperfects"; and that "the Atomistic philosophy is teleological" since it depicts the atoms as "intelligent agents," "striving for an ultimate purpose."—E. O. (...) T. (shrink)

This book is a selective anthology containing excerpts from Sartre's early as well as recent writings. The selections consist of some of his most prominent writings taken from his philosophical and literary works. The editor has written a forty-seven page introduction to the book which would be quite helpful to a student first approaching Sartre's thought. The anthology is well-arranged and documented, giving full references following all passages quoted.—E. O. T.

This study is an attempt to develop an adequate theoretical model of the philosophical enterprise, to serve both as a guide for interpreting the history of philosophy and as a critical tool for evaluating the present state of and prospects for contemporary philosophical thought. Ballard proposes that philosophy be understood as man’s attempt to come to grips with the experience of crossing the boundaries that separate radically different aspects of human existence. These boundaries exist on many levels of experience; philosophy (...) is most concerned with the crossing of the internal boundaries of "archaic experience," the most fundamental and universal form of human experience. Perhaps the most fundamental boundary in archaic experience is that between inspired insight and rigorous, rational analysis. Ballard interprets the history of philosophy from the standpoint of that opposition; philosophy is man’s attempt to navigate the continual crossing from one of these modes of experience to the other. Ballard is most concerned with the tendency of most modern philosophies to stress one or the other aspect of the opposition, frequently to the point where the philosophical significance of the other side of the opposition is completely denied. Although Ballard finds the germ of the rationalistic, scientific perspective in Plato, he believes it is Descartes who molded that perspective into a powerful philosophical tradition, carried on by Hume and modern analysts. Against this tradition, which treats man as merely one more scientific object, stands the transcendental or Romantic tradition, which takes man’s subjectivity as its starting point and formative principle. In the context of this radical division of the tradition, Ballard finds the philosophy of Heidegger extremely important. It represents one of the few contemporary attempts to admit both insight and scientific reason as philosophically significant by examining both against a more fundamental ontological background, Being itself. Being is the original source of all possibilities, and its philosophical elucidation provides a context within which the conflicting aspects of archaic experience can be accommodated. Heidegger’s thought thus offers a model of philosophical reflection that avoids the reductionist extremities of the main traditions of modern thought, and it is that model Ballard believes offers the best prospects for future philosophical development.—O. T. (shrink)