Abstract

This is a splendidly written and researched book on a topic of great importance to contemporary ethics. Now that modern moralists are finally returning to the study and teaching of normative ethics after more than half a century of being reluctant to talk about much more than ethical language, we are in desperate need of recovering the great wealth and sophistication of major religious, ethnic and national traditions. Ryn comes to our immediate assistance by putting before us the rich speculation of Irving Babbitt on the moral life of man. Ryn also uses the work of Croce, particularly on the imagination and the will as a means of further analysis of Babbitt.