Abstract

This is the third volume of the four volume history of philosophy being prepared under Gilson's editorship. There is no explicit mention of the division of labor between Gilson and Langan in the authorship of the present volume. The book is characterized throughout by the usual Gilsonian clarity and urbanity of style and, perhaps less fortunately, by the distinctively psychological-sociological approach he tends to take to non-medieval periods in the history of philosophy. Attention is directed to the evolutionary continuity of major philosophic themes. Accordingly, the minor stepping-stone figures ordinarily omitted in general histories of philosophy are given full treatment--Montaigne, the Cambridge Platonists, Condillac, the Encyclopedists, Vico, Montesquieu, Condorcet, Lessing and Herder. This approach permits a more integrated picture of an historical period, but it also forces the authors to compress their treatment of the major philosophers, sacrificing the painstaking detail and relying on the insightful and suggestive thematic interpretation. The notes provide a real treasury of information, almost worth the price of the book.--W. G. E.