Originally published in 1985, this distinguished and constructive critique of modern culture introduced into our language a brand-new term, ‘PN’, standing for ‘psychic nutrition’, which at the time promised to become a household expression. Drawing on his first-hand knowledge of oriental civilizations; on discoveries of Jung, especially his concept of psychic energy; on the ideas of the cultural anthropologists; and not least on the New Science implicit in microphysics and microbiology, E.W.F. Tomlin, whose philosophical books have been translated into (...) several languages, shows how the human psyche requires its own kind of nourishment just as urgently as the body needs food. In the industrial societies of the West, this need has often been ignored. Reformers, in their earnest though sometimes inept endeavours to create a better world, have too often exposed us to the dangers of psychic starvation and the noxious effects of what may be called ‘neg-PN’. Here lie the roots of violence and the lack of direction so conspicuously afflicting modern man and woman. Examples of PN, positive and negative, are given, lending the book an immediacy and practical character often lacking in studies of this kind. In the new scientific approach here adopted, the divisions between matter and life, and life and mind, are discarded, and the old conflict between science and religion shown to belong to an out-of-date world view. The result is a radical reappraisal of the nature and function of religion and art, the two great psychic forces in history. Indeed, the present crisis is shown to originate in the psychic sphere rather than in the political and economic order. Deeply felt and elegantly written, yet not lacking in wit and humour, the book ends with some concrete ideas on how a more balanced culture may be achieved. (shrink)

Introduction I The Use of Philosophy The kind of questions which we propose to discuss in this book and with which, it seems to us, all introductions to the ...

Modern philosophical biology has been dominated by the idea of mechanism. Even the attempts to escape from mechanism, such as the theories of vitalism and holism, covertly assume the mechanistic hypothesis while surrounding it with an aura of mysticism. The mechanistic approach is the result of applying the methods of physics to the realm of biology. The immense prestige of physics has tended to disguise the fact that biology is a science in its own right, with autonomous principles. The purpose (...) of the article is to develop the philosophy of organism, first systematically elaborated by Whitehead, and to seek to demonstrate that organic being is unintelligible without the concept of purposiveness and hence of value. This necessarily leads to the return of metaphysics in the form of metabiology.RésuméLa biologie philosophique moderne est dominée par l'idée de mécanisme. Il n'est pas jusqu'aux tentatives d'échapper au mécanisme, telle par exemple la théorie du vitalisme et celle du holisme, qui n'assument implicitement l'hypothése mécaniste tout en l'entourant d'une aura de mysticisme. La conception mécaniste résulte de l'applicatio n des méthodes de la physique au domaine de la biologie. L'immense prestige de la physique a tendu à déguiser le fait pourtant reel que la biologie est une science qui jouit de sa propre souveraineté et de principes autonomes. Le but de cet article est d'exposer une philosophie de l'organisme élaborée systématiquement par Whitehead pour la premiére fois et de chercher ensuite à démontrer que tout être organique est inintelligible en dehors du concept de finalité et, par conséquent, de valeur. Ceci conduit nécessairement à un renouveau de la métaphysique sous forme de métabiologie. (shrink)

Plato is one of the key ancient authors studied by both classicists and philosophers. This long-awaited new edition contains seven of the dialogues of Plato, and is the first in the five-volume complete edition of his works in the Oxford Classical Texts series. The result of many years of painstaking scholarship, the new volume will replace the now nearly 100 year old original edition, and is destined to become just as long-lasting a classic.

Aristotle maintains that every man has, or should have, a single end, a target at which he aims. The doctrine is stated in E.N. I 2. ‘If, then, there is some end of the things we do which we desire for its own sake, and if we do not choose everything for the sake of something else, clearly this must be the good and the chief good. Will not the knowledge of it, then, have a great influence on life? Shall (...) we not, like archers who have a mark to aim t, be more likely to hit upon what is right?’. Aristotle does not here prove, nor need we understand him as claiming to prove, that there is only one end which is desired for itself. He points out correctly that, if there are objects which are desired but not desired for themselves, there must be some object which is desired for itself. The passage further suggests that, if there were one such object and one only, this fact would be important and helpful for the conduct of life. (shrink)