A densely-packed and comprehensive textbook of scholastic metaphysics. Metaphysics is understood as including "not only a general investigation of beings but also the study of knowledge and of the divine nature and attributes in the light of natural reason." Owens brings to this task the Gilsonian understanding of a Christian philosophy, his own considerable knowledge of Aristotle, Aquinas and scholastic philosophy generally, and a conviction that metaphysics is a knowledge of the universe and the things within it, founded on necessary (...) principles. Though intended as a college text, Owens' work might be better taken as a standard reference manual, much like the classic Latin text of Gredt.--W. G. E. (shrink)

A very detailed piece of scholarship devoted to showing the fundamental importance and meaning of Aristotle's notion of phronesis in the Nicomachean Ethics and the Politics, which express Aristotle's complete philosophy of human life. The infelicity of style and omnipresence of scholarly paraphernalia obscure the philosophic importance of the analysis unnecessarily. This is especially true in the case where imprecision of language leads Michelakis to treat phronesis as a faculty along with nous praktikos rather than a disposition modifying it. As (...) a result an important section of the second chapter is mystifying, if not completely wrong, issuing in the identification of the subordinate disposition nous with the nous praktikos itself. Michelakis is correct in thinking that an analysis of phronesis is urgently needed to clear up the confusion of interpretations of Aristotle's ethical and political doctrine. This book presents much of the requisite material for that analysis, but not the requisite analysis.--W. G. E. (shrink)

This is essentially a textbook for an introductory course written in basic English of the primer type with a drastic simplification of exposition. The simplification often makes the exposition inaccurate and the readings confusing or misleading. The authors cover literally scores of positions and authors, some few major ones and many very minor ones, in almost every conceivable area of philosophy.--W. G. E.

A successful textbook-anthology in the philosophy of religion. Hick tries to do justice to the demands of both historical range and variety of approach. His selection of texts, from Plato to Flew, is sound and offers only a few surprises. The selections themselves are of adequate length and the introductory remarks and bibliographies provided in the appendix are useful guides to further reading. The contents are listed both historically and topically, adding to the flexibility of the book. Of the current (...) spate of anthologies in this field, this one seems one of the more teachable.—W. G. E. (shrink)

Bits and snatches of the poetry, drama, philosophy, history and oratory of Greek literature are gathered with minimal biographical and introductory notes. Only one translation is acknowledged, that of Aristophanes' The Birds. The selection, though varied, shows no underlying plan.—W. G. E.

Burkill sees Kant's critical philosophy as the source of a vicious dualism in modern philosophy, a dualism between the phenomenally contented and the phenomenally discontented. After two chapters spent making this point, sketching both Kant's basic position and his criticisms of it, the author briefly considers a multitude of post-Kantian philosophers of all varieties. He ends with a constructive solution of the dualism, offering a doctrine of God as the élan vital, a positive principle inherent in the nature of things, (...) open to a descriptive philosophy based on an empiricism which sees the world of experience as made up, not of discrete events, but of entities in dynamic interconnection.--W. G. E. (shrink)

Aristotle remarks in his Ethics that the insights of the elderly, who speak from the experience of a long and good life, are often more profound than the trained speculations of the philosophers. Mr. John Molloy has distilled from his eighty-three years of successful living some basic ground-rules for an integrated life. He calls his essay "a study of design in objective existence" and claims that the basic laws of human relations are simple, available for all to know and practice. (...) This short, epigrammatic essay is pervaded by the joy, grace and serenity of which its author speaks and to which he testifies.--W. G. E. (shrink)

Laszlo separates this book into two major sections: Schematization and Analyses. In the former, he seeks to schematize the relationship between "official" political theory, the political ideas of the common citizen and political institutions and activities. He also tries to elucidate the basic metaphysical premisses of "collectivism" and "individualism" as the two irreducibly opposing political conceptions. The second part is then designed to be a concrete analysis of contemporary, especially communistic, political theory and practice, making use of the elements schematized (...) earlier. Unfortunately, the schematization is too schematic and simplistic, too full of hoary truisms and excessive generalizations, to offer any genuinely new or very helpful analyses or explanations of the realities to be analyzed.—W. G. E. (shrink)

Carlston looks at the problem of nationalization of industries as a problem in organization arising with the increasing interdependence of national economies. He uses this as a "hard case" through which to study the structure of world society, the motivating values of action in world society, and the role of law as an organizing process in that society. By exploring this "hard case" Carlston hopes to clarify basic concepts, justify a new theoretical approach to international law, and point out the (...) basic deficiencies of legal positivism as a philosophy of international law. This book should prove a landmark in the philosophy of international law.--W. G. E. (shrink)

The essays in this collection fall into three groups: the first dealing with phenomenological methods and discussions, the second with applications in the field of literature, the third with applications in the social sciences. The quality and seriousness of the essays is quite uneven. The essays in the first group fail to go beyond a fairly uncritical reading of Husserl, especially in treating the reduction of the natural viewpoint. The crucial failures there effect the second and third sections. Especially in (...) the analyses of literature, the neglect of the context of meanings leads to questionable generalizations. Natanson's frequent criticisms of Sartre's rejection of the transcendental ego suffer from incomplete statement of Sartre's arguments. One wishes that Natanson had prepared a substantial statement of this discussion for the collection, rather than allow scattered brief remarks in several papers to stand alone. Elsewhere as well, brief suggestive passages could have profited from a thorough rewriting.—W. G. E. (shrink)

A piece of metaphilosophy which seeks to assimilate metaphysical assumptions to religious faith conceived as an ungrounded, yet necessary, attitude of "trust of orientation" toward "what is taken to be ultimate." Dilley claims that "philosophical fragmentation is the rule; hence attention has turned to the reasons for philosophical pluralism, and one of the reasons which has become increasingly obvious is the confessional character of metaphysical theories." We find this supported by the usual convenient, if uncomfortable, alliance between positivism and Tillichian (...) theology, buttressed by snatches or arguments from dozens of metaphilosophers, philosophers, metatheologians and theologians, such as Carnap, Whitehead, Lazerowitz, Barth, Buber, and Hick. The irrational clutter of authorities doesn't quite conceal the argument's lack of foundations, philosophical or theological. But there is a consistency between the thesis and the mode of argument. Attitudes are notoriously chaotic, unreflective, and possibly inconsistent mental states which we try to clarify, straighten out, order, and ground through thought. Perhaps we would be asking for a self-refutation to require this task of Dilley.—W. G. E. (shrink)

Time's man at Vatican Council II has produced an informed and intriguing account of the men, trends and events before and during the first session of Vatican Council II. The book is not as detailed as Xavier Rynne's Letters from the Vatican, and is certainly more argumentative. But the things being argued for are well worth study. Kaiser does bring out some details not found in Rynne's book, notably the undercurrent of problems related to anti-semitism. Unfortunately, Kaiser does not share (...) the tolerance and charity of either Pope John or Rynne toward the person and motives of his conservative antagonists. The book is somewhat repetitive and structurally confused.--W. G. E. (shrink)

Pearson points to the radical questioning of the traditional Greek ethic, which is found in the classical dramatic literature of fifth century Athens, as an example of popular ethics. The philosophic discussion of the Socratic-Platonic tradition supplanted this popular ethics in the fourth century. Many of the problems discussed in the philosophic literature were taken over as developed and articulated by the classical dramatists. Thus, three ethical traditions are described and related in this book: the "traditional" ethics coming from Homer, (...) Hesiod, and Solon, the "popular" ethics of the classical dramatists, and the technical "philosophic" ethics of Plato. The main effort of the book is to discuss the popular ethics as related to both the traditional and philosophic ethics The student of the Platonic dialogues will find the book of great value in identifying the various positions represented by the dramatis personae of the dialogues.--W. G. E. (shrink)

Surely the least familiar area of the generally unfamiliar subject of medieval philosophy is that of Islamic classical philosophy. This is the first appearance in the non-Arabic world of Al-Färäbï's lively three-part work on the nature of philosophy and the reconciliation of the philosophies of Plato and Aristotle. The present translation is from the newly recovered Arabic text. It seems designed to appeal to a wider audience than that of students of medieval philosophy, Islamic or otherwise. Yet it does serve (...) the valuable purpose of calling attention to an unjustly neglected tradition in the history of western philosophy and to one of the founders of that tradition.--W. G. E. (shrink)

No religious phenomenon appears more bizarre to the modern mind than shamanism. Eliade's comprehensive study illumines the phenomenon, cutting away various accretions and modifications, distinguishing it from related phenomena and relating it to more basic and general ones. Genuine shamanism is a kind of mysticism involving institutionalized techniques of ecstasy, initiatory rites and public spectacles, and a fairly determinate social role. Eliade finds the shamanic ecstasy to be the primary phenomenon and relates it to the pervasive belief in a Supreme (...) celestial Being. The ecstasy, a form of death, is an ascent by a privileged member of the community, enabling him to communicate directly with the Supreme Being. By virtue of this communication the shaman is empowered to inform the community of spiritual matters, to protect it from invisible evils and to render death and its aftermath less mysterious. The shaman's personal experience gives rise to poetic creation in allegory and myth, epic and lyric poetry, thus enriching the community's language. Eliade's erudition is enormous and his analysis convincing. This translation was made from a revised and expanded version of the French text and is presented with the usual Bollingen Series' handsomeness.—W. G. E. (shrink)

This closing volume of Tillich's Systematic Theology is devoted to the domain of the Spirit, the domain of social reality, culture, history, and tradition. Tillich's existential, ex-static concept of faith, his qualitative concept of God, and his symbolic concept of the Christ lead him to see the ambiguity, fragmentariness and repeated failures of the church as an empirical reality. But they offer insufficient tools for an analysis of the positive nature and functions of the community of the Faithful. The Protestant (...) Principle becomes a principle of the ultimate inadequacy of all finite systems of thought and action, and is offered as the universally valid resolution of existential estrangement. As such, one wonders if it can also be a principle of faith for a community of believers. This ambiguity creates a number of difficulties throughout the book. Many of the themes of this volume are central to Tillich's thought and the general approach parallels and completes the earlier volumes. And for such a passionately committed theologian as Tillich, this last volume must be of first importance.—W. G. E. (shrink)

Father Abbott has interviewed twelve council Fathers: Cardinals Léger, Suenens, Liénart, Siri, Koenig, Rugambwa, Alfrink, Doepfner and Cushing; Archbishops Cordeiro and Florit ; and Bishop Carter. The book is curiously uneven in both style and depth. At times the question and answer format is used, at times not. When used, it causes the usual interview weakness--superficiality. When a free format is used and a Father's remarks are allowed to stand uninterrupted and unguided, greater depth results. One feels that Father Abbott (...) has allowed his own interests altogether too much influence. On the whole, the book is somewhat unsatisfying to anyone genuinely interested in following the trends and thoughts among the leading figures of Vatican Council II.--W. G. E. (shrink)

A collection of talks and lectures given by Father Küng during and after the first session of Vatican Council II, ranging over a variety of theological and religious issues. One essay is especially valuable, "'Early Catholicism' in the New Testament As a Problem in Controversial Theology," a technical discussion of the problems raised by exegetical discoveries of the early "Catholic" elements in the New Testament. Küng analyzes the solutions given by Kasemann and Diem, showing the basic weaknesses of each position. (...) He then formulates the problem as a fundamental challenge to Reformed exegetes and theologians alike.--W. G. E. (shrink)

There are many reasons to rejoice at this revision of Owens' masterful work, although one might question the term "revision." There are no substantive revisions in the text. There is a very important addition, the Foreword to the Second Edition, in which Owens defends his views against critics and goes on to point out some conclusions about the nature of the Metaphysics which were not explicitly stated in the previous edition, notably that Aristotle's metaphysics was necessarily not a system and (...) was necessarily incomplete. New bibliographical information has been included in footnotes throughout and the Bibliography has been up-dated. The major improvement in the book is that it has now been printed with regular set type. An almost equal boon to the reader is the inclusion of the footnotes at the bottom of the appropriate pages, rather than as a separate section at the back of the book. That extensive revisions of a substantive nature were not necessary is only one more tribute to the excellence of Owens' original work.--W. G. E. (shrink)

This translation of the Fons Vitae, "specially abridged," is stiflingly verbal. There is no critical apparatus, no index, no attempt to lay bare the philosophic doctrine, no explanation of the "abridgment." The book is useless to a serious student and too clumsy to interest any but the most general reader.--W. G. E.

Weiss offers here what might be called a normative phenomenology of religion. The book clearly presupposes a body of descriptive detail and properly avoids metaphysical considerations of the existence and nature of God. The latter can be found in Modes of Being, the former have been the province of several disciplines. Weiss begins with an exploration of human experience to find those elements which give rise to religion and the common features which we should expect to qualify religious as well (...) as other human experience. The religious experience is described as a distinctive, episodic, qualitative immediacy involving the individual with God and detaching him from the world. Since the individual is public as well as private, the religious experience is both anticipatorily public and needs to be sustained within a religious community. We must be able to achieve a non-religious perspective in order to know what is involved in a religious experience. But the idea of God receives most of its content within a community which is distinctively religious though related in various ways to secular communities, and more or less antagonistic to competing religious communities. The most powerful chapters discuss these conflicts between religious communities and the phenomenon of "becoming religious." Combined with the section on the dedicated community, these provide one of the finest analyses of the religious life available in philosophic literature. The book is written with enviable style and grace, especially in the latter half.—W. G. E. (shrink)

Oberman's subject is the theological schools which make up late medieval nominalism. The major figure is Gabriel Biel, who forms the crucial link between Occam and Luther. A comprehensive and detailed examination of Biel's theology, as expressed in both systematic and devotional works, serves to substantiate Oberman's claim that neither Catholic nor Reformed historians have given a fair and balanced account of nominalism: one group sees only the weakening of philosophic claims in theology, the other sees only the biblical and (...) pastoral strengths. A grasp of the integrity and force of the many positions which comprise the nominalist movement serves to establish the continuity between medieval scholasticism and Reformation theology. This study of Biel should provide an incentive and a model for future study of a much misunderstood and neglected period of thought.--W. G. E. (shrink)

This book has been subtitled a "philosophical memoir." It is that only in a very loose sense of the term. There are many passages in which Gilson relates his experiences as a young philosopher at the Sorbonne under Durkheim, Lévy-Bruhl, Mauss and others. Other passages reveal the intellectual climate in the France of Bergson and the neo-scholastic revival. The autobiographical material in both cases will be appreciated by the many who know and admire Gilson as a scholar, teacher and great (...) Frenchman. But there is more to the book than that. The long middle passages on Bergson and his neo-scholastic critics provide the most extensive and subtle, though indirect, explication of Gilson's notion of Christian philosophy. Finally, there is Gilson's apologia as a Thomist, and his own interpretation of what it is to be one.--W. G. E. (shrink)

An interpretative introduction to the major themes of classic American philosophy and five of its major figures: Peirce, James, Royce, Dewey and Whitehead. Smith shows sympathy and insight into these men and their ideas, making an excellent choice of basic themes for discussion. Running throughout the book is a sustained argument for a renewal of the breadth of philosophic interest and the sound empirical basis displayed by Pragmatism at its best. Smith is concerned that this "Spirit of American Philosophy" be (...) rescued from the neglect it has suffered over the past decades and be recalled to the attention of the philosophic community. His book is an admirable step in that direction.--W. G. E. (shrink)

A well-defined, methodically executed, minutely documented piece of scholarship. The genre is a sociological-historical analysis of the "status" of the Florentine humanists, carried out at a rather low level of empirical generalization issuing in a theory that common sense and everyday experience would have supplied unaided. "Social position" is seen to depend on the presence of one or more frequently interdependent factors: wealth, family background, political achievements, good marriage. The careers of a vast number of representative humanists are detailed as (...) evidence. The sheer opulence of the detailed information testifies to Martines' persistent hard work and undoubtedly makes the book an important contribution to the field. It becomes evident that many of the humanists were substantial citizens, not foot-loose bohemians, and that they observed the Florentine tradition of responsible citizenship to a high degree.—W. G. E. (shrink)

Ferrater Mora's paper is devoted to the thesis that man makes his own life--a person constituting himself historically. Harris's lecture is a two-pronged attack on contemporary analytic philosophy. One part of the argument attempts to show that the enterprise is self-refuting, based on an epistemology of naive positivistic empiricism which most of its present proponents have themselves rejected. The other part of the argument is ad hominem, showing the urgent necessity for a synthetic and constructive philosophy which will be able (...) to develop a way of life and system of values capable of stemming the drift toward nuclear self-annihilation. Prior, starting with the MacTaggart-Broad time puzzle and digressing backward through St. Augustine, offers an adverbial analysis of time and tenses, based on the theory that there are only things, not events, and that things are present tense, when they are.--W. G. E. (shrink)