A condensed, richly annotated and documented collection of essays interpreting Aristotle as a doxographer and historian of philosophy who presents his predecessors faithfully and accurately. Though exceedingly scholarly, the book is written with a fine sensitivity for those Aristotelian questions which truly belong to our age; a chapter on the meaning of physis deals critically with Heidegger's reading of the Stagirite, and another reviews recent inquiries into Aristotelian "dialectic."--R. C. D.

Existential analysis, according to Binswanger, is not a psychopathology, and is not necessarily therapeutic; it is not founded upon the medical standards of "sick" and "healthy." The eight writers in this volume illustrate that the suspension of such norms widens and deepens the field of philosophical anthropology, and hold that we may talk meaningfully about the "human condition." Taking "alienation" as an aspect of that condition, four of the authors explore some of its manifestations and its place in the totality (...) of experience. As a whole, the volume is bold and engaging, and balances scholarly rigor with adventurous speculation.--R. C. D. (shrink)

Twenty-two thinkers apply their various and excellent talents to the problem of "demythization" as posed originally by Rudolf Bultmann. In part, the problem is to understand message and event as two aspects of Christ's life and resurrection, and to delineate mythological, historical, and existential interpretations of the divine entry into world-history. The entire collection is of the highest level of boldness, care, scholarship, and originality.--.

Developed from the author's own explorations as a poet and novelist, from the classics of European existential philosophy, and from the "positive existentialism" of Nicola Abbagnano, this work presents a creative and careful integration of divergent strands in contemporary philosophy. Invrea contributes an original discussion of the complementary characteristics of subjective existence--"situationality" and temporality. This study displays the vigor and seriousness of the Italian existentialists.--R. C. D.

In this volume are collected sixteen previously-published essays dealing with sociology's peculiarity as a science, and with such general problems in sociological thinking as ideology, technology, culture, and the search for community. Ferrarotti's guiding principle is that truth is "intersubjective reality," and his goal is "to accept the other man as man" and thus to "guarantee the opening towards existential involvement with the truth-truth as participation."--R. C. D.

The author--biologist, physiologist, and psychologist--shows the limitations of the all-too-scientific approaches to the human being, and argues effectively that "psychology requires an ontological interpretation of human existence." Psychology and philosophy must return to the living subject as their basis, the subject as self-and-context. The ultimate meaning of "physiological" pain lies in the person's disposition towards pain and his consequent reactions to its occurrence. Although he does not discuss abstract phenomenological principles, he works in an altogether phenomenological way, and throughout the (...) book enlightens the continuous path between man, the object of scientific study, and man, the subject in an ethical world.--R. C. D. (shrink)

The chosen subject for this volume is "Philosophy and Psychiatry," and most of the contributors deal with it. Charles Hartshorne's article on Whitehead, Rudolf Aller's on Ontoanalysis, and Bernard Boelen's on "Human Development and Fixations in Moral Life" are engaging and rich contributions. The influence of Husserl, deWaelhens, and Binswanger is considerable, and is rendered quite compatible with the Thomisitic point of view. --R. C. D.

The author interprets those facets of major American thinkers which resemble, lead to, or complement the insights of Zen; and if a pedantic scholar might quarrel with some of his readings, his own intention and insights are refreshing and provocative. Beginning with Jefferson, and passing through Thoreau, James, Peirce, Santayana, Dewey, and others, he traces the Zen-like themes to their most complete expression in G. M. Mead. In - their regard for non-dualism, participation, responsibility, dynamism, openness, concern for the "everyday," (...) compassion, zest, and being-at-one with self, others, and nature, Ames finds that Zen and American thought meet, and suggests that their differences can be mutually fertilizing. This gentle book is a success in a field too often plagued by non-conformist and cultish postures. --R. C. D. (shrink)

The book is subtitled "An Approach to Sanity and Happiness on a Non-Sectarian Basis," and is a personal meditation and discourse on the appeal of the Zen outlook. The author wishes not only to exhibit the sense of Zen, but also to contribute to the erosion of fossilized Western prejudices. The criticisms are gentle; the style manifests wu-wei.--R. C. D.