La Philosophie Bergsonienne was Maritain’s earliest work. It has now been translated into English for the first time. Already, when the book was written, Maritain was a follower of St. Thomas; in his foreword to the present edition he modestly describes it as “probably a fair to middling account of basic Thomistic Philosophy”. As the title of the book suggests, Bergson’s thought, at least in its basic doctrines, is given not for its own sake but rather to enable us to (...) see how Thomistic thought can face up to the problems Bergson sought to answer. (shrink)

Although this is a very compact work, it presents in a competent and lucid manner some of the more essential themes of Gabriel Marcel’s thought. The author modestly describes his work as an effort to explain and popularize two important plays, namely, Un homme de Dieu and Le Monde Cassè. He indicates their metaphysical significance in his commentary, to which, as a background, we are first given in broad outline the essentials of Gabriel Marcel’s philosophy.

The present work is a series of critical appreciations of various contemporary philosophical studies that have been published in France since 1942. A very high standard is maintained by the author. When dealing with works of Louis Lavelle, René Le Senne, Gabriel Marcel, Jean Paul Sartre, the author gives a brief summary of their thought that can serve as a clear introduction to their respective philosophies. We feel the author was justified in collecting the reviews into one volume. Among the (...) books reviewed, however, there are works by authors who are themselves explaining or criticizing the teaching of other philosophers. The inclusion of these works is not so felicitous as they are merely reviews of reviews. If the author merely presented them as reviews, they would still be of considerable importance; but instead he presents them as articles on philosophy, which they are not. Thus the name of the book reviewed only appears in a footnote, and there is no general index of the books reviewed anywhere in the volume. We feel that these defects detract considerably from the value of the book as a whole. The reviews are excellent, but we have no ready means of finding out what books are reviewed. (shrink)

In the course of the present work Mr. Miller reminds us that none of the great philosophers in the past “did hold the golden thread long enough to be able to trace the spool from which it was unwinding”. In our opinion, Mr. Miller has indeed grasped many threads of truth as he borrows in an eclectic manner from many sources but he leaves those threads in a more confused and tangled state than when he found them. He, too, has (...) failed to unwind the golden thread, though the tone of this book suggests otherwise. (shrink)