The author attacks recent as well as traditional philosophic speculation and attempts to formulate his own resolution to all the outstanding problems in philosophy. But the elaboration of his "psycho-physiological monism" results in involving the author in most of the difficulties he claimed to avoid.--R. T. L.

In these two Bode Memorial lectures, the author grapples with the problem of formulating general principles for education in a democratic society of separate and radically different individuals--how to achieve a proper balance of unity and variety. He concludes that "our principles are to be viewed as more or less impressionistic ideals which we should seek to realize in concrete living as best we can."--R. T.

A clear and highly readable account of the main currents of existentialist thought, together with a briefer discussion of the relation of these ideas to the recurrent themes of Indian philosophy.--R. T. L.

The author claims to be aiming at the conception of a "finite metaphysics," which is described as a metaphysics which draws heavily upon researches in symbolic logic and the empirical sciences. The result is uneven, and at times wearisome. Though several sections are interesting and valuable in their own right, in this "open system of finite ontology" one finds more openness than system.--R. T. L.

More than any other philosopher except Descartes, Locke has seemed a man without an intellectual environment. Yolton's monograph performs the important task of shedding light into this corner of the history of ideas. By his perceptive selection of passages from Locke's contemporaries, Yolton makes clear the context of theological and philosophical debate into which the Essay must be fitted. And in the course of his investigations into the doctrine of innate ideas and the epistemological and religious scepticism its denial seemed (...) to entail, he reveals an interesting side of Locke's character and the character of his opponents and allies. --R. T. (shrink)

A Dover reprint of the 1911 English translation. The eight lectures deal with the interaction among the Oriental mysteries and late Roman paganism, with particular reference to the factors within the mysteries which made them attractive in the Empire.--R. T.

The author conducts an investigation into the biological foundations of mental phenomena, together with a short history of reason itself, in the course of which he discovers that "the formation of abstract concepts did only begin at the time of Plato."--R. T. L.

A shallow book in which the author gives us his opinions on topics ranging from religion to the policy of grading students.--R. T. L.

In this refreshingly different study of Whitehead's thought, Miss Wyman attempts to elicit the aesthetic relevance of Whitehead's categories by means of comparisons and contrasts with such men as Goethe, Emerson, Whitman, and particularly, Wordsworth. Although not a technically rigorous discussion, Miss Wyman's book is useful and instructive.--R. T. L.

In this Aquinas lecture the author defends the idea of wisdom as a valid and valuable topic for philosophic discussion. Collins devotes most of his energies to explaining the largely neglected Cartesian view of wisdom. He concludes that by the method of "metaphysical ingression" we can give the subject of wisdom its proper close connection with the whole of metaphysics.--R. T. L.

In 1932, C. E. M. Joad wrote of Whitehead: "Up to the issue of his most recent book I believed…I had followed, although with difficulty, the development of his thought. Process and Reality, however, baffled me." So it was for the philosophical community generally. Process and Reality is badly written, as badly in its way as Kant’s first critique. In the last thirty years or so several good introductions to and interpretations of Whitehead have emerged. However, these are mostly synoptic (...) reorganizations of the material in PR and elsewhere; so they must be read virtually entirely before one turns from them to PR. Kraus, though, has written a companion to PR, designed to be read along with it. After some introductory work, Kraus’s format parallels that of PR so that one may read part of one then part of the other. Like a good teacher, she tries to organize and clarify the material so that one may, with hard work, understand it better than one otherwise might. But like good students, the readers must work through the "assignments" in conjunction with the "lectures" for the "lectures" to count for much. Kraus does not intend for her book to be read except in conjunction with PR. (shrink)

A portion of the works of Lachelier give a comprehensive view of the kind of neo-Kantian idealism he espouses. In his introduction Mr. Ballard presents a summary of Lachelier's philosophy, expanding somewhat on the more obscure sections of his work.--R. T. L.

A doctoral dissertation seeking to establish the Thomist theory of substance by means of a refutation of the epistemologies of Descartes, Locke, Hume and Kant. --R. T.

A literate and informed study of the scientific background of Adams' writings. The discussion of his use of thermodynamics and phase-rule theory in developing his theory of society and history is especially enlightening.--R. T.

A history of philosophy designed for use in a beginning philosophy course. This work is vigorously written. It avoids smothering the student's interest under a heap of names and facts, but it hardly avoids the opposite difficulties: superficiality of treatment and too close an association with a particular philosophy course.--R. T.