An attempt to reconcile the "Masculine and Feminine Principles," i.e., the intelligible, rational, formal, quantitative, and the sensible, nonrational, mystical, qualitative; the Western philosophical bias and the Eastern; science, and religion and art. The author's desire is to do justice to both areas, but his sympathy seems to be with the East. The result is a spiritual monism, not without insight, but with a minimum of self-criticism, and without concern for details. --D. S.

An account of history and man's relations to it, surveying work done by the author in more detail in previous volumes. The vehicle of truth is biography rather than history, which cannot duplicate events as they happened. The claim that the unique man can be adequately described, while the unique event cannot, poses a paradox which the author attempts to solve in terms of man's essential rationality. The book moves too fast to be convincing, but is interesting nonetheless. Contains detailed (...) bibliographical notes. --. (shrink)

The program of which the cybernetics conferences are a part is described as "an experiment in communication, still in progress," in which the emphasis is on informal and critical discussion rather than uninterrupted presentation of formal papers. The articles have a refreshing frankness about them. Included are an introduction and a summing up of the previous nine conferences by Warren S. McCulloch, and articles on brain activity, on measures of semantic information, and on the nature and acquisition of meaning in (...) language. ---D. S. (shrink)

Non-dialectical dialogues in which a professor, after defining culture in terms of the ideals of a society, attempts to explain to his students the meaning of basic Indian ideals: Karma, Artha, Dharma, Moksha, the four stages of life and social institutions of the Vedic age. These ideals are presented uncritically, with the general reader in mind.--D. S.

An encyclopedia of both philosophical ethical theories and anthropological observations of moral practices. The volume consists of selected articles and numerous cross references to these articles. Many of the articles themselves are well done, but some of the references are questionable. The only counsel under the heading "atheism" is "see Spinoza"; under the heading "associationism" there is no mention of the Mills.--D. S.

Essays by Catholic doctors and scholars attempting to define the proper spheres of psychiatry and religion and their "interpenetration." The aim is to remove misconceptions concerning psychiatry and to demonstrate its value "in the domain of secondary causes" as an aid to man's realizing his "religious and spiritual ideas." --D. S.

A scholarly and imaginative contribution to ethics and aesthetics. The author sees in certain types of abstract art an affectation of austerity which he interprets as compensation in the aesthetic realm for moral lassitude, and a symptom of the decadence which characterizes our age. Decadence is natural and inevitable; in fact, everything is decadence, but in some ages, notably ours, decadence becomes monstrous. The author distinguishes two types of austerity: the limited and rational, and the infinite. Rational austerity is the (...) austerity of the scientist, who denies himself everything but abstract relationships. Through this austerity, the aesthetic and moral realms are joined, in a Platonic fashion; but when this sort of austerity is applied to ethics, it results in a stylized and unproductive ethics. It is necessary to turn to infinite austerity, in which it is seen that the moral "cure" is itself a further "malady," but a malady which is a continuous cure. Even infinite austerity, however, is not enough; in the end, "C'est l'amour qui importe, non l'austérité."--D. S. (shrink)

A systematic and scholarly history of English idealism, treating not only the contributions of the professional philosophers, but those of the essayists and poets as well.--D. S.

Essays in language and meaning with Japanese texts and short English abstracts. Also included, in English, is "the Rise of Philosophy" by Hajime Nakamura, a comparative study of philosophies geographically diverse in origin, using Indian philosophy as his "axis for comparison." His thesis, competently argued, is that the similarities both in the problems recognized and the solutions offered far outweigh the dissimilarities, for the human mind is neither Western nor Eastern. --D. S.

A report on carefully conducted experiments, by the authors and others, in extrasensory perception, with detailed statistical analysis of the data of these experiments. Acquaintance with the extensive controls on some of the experiments discussed, and the magnitude of the odds against chance occurrences of the apparently extra-sensory phenomena, should preclude the uncritical dismissal of such phenomena.--D. S.

A provocative critical study of the concept of measurement as applied to the major sciences, particularly physics and psychology, written for the layman by a scientist engaged in industrial research. The book suggests that the professional philosopher or pure scientist can easily overlook significant problems with which his colleagues in industry are forced to deal. --D. S.

A brief but scholarly history and critique of key concepts of gravitational theory: nature, motion, inertia, space. Arguing that mathematical theories concerning nature and natural philosophy are necessarily distinct but complementary sciences, the author attempts to reconcile the Aristotelian philosophy of nature with the Einsteinian theory of relativity. First published as three articles in The New Scholasticism.--D. S.

A series of essays contrasting contemporary microphysics and its philosophic implications with classical physics' concern for macroscopic phenomena. De Broglie examines the evidence, theoretical and empirical, which forced him to abandon classical concepts, such as causal necessity, in favor of the quantum physics he helped found. The translation omits some parts of the original, including a valuable chapter on Bergson, which is merely summarized.--D. S.

These are indeed "poems from a gentle heart," one which can say, "To be alive today I'm glad." --D. S.

Five essays dealing with the relationship between contemporary scientific progress, both technological and theoretical, and its moral, specifically Christian, implications. Though the author's opinions concerning the current and future status of science are perhaps oversimple, the book is a contribution to a field which demands more attention.--D. S.

An unrestrained examination of human reasoning, abounding in imaginative analogies to the physical sciences, colorful metaphors, and appeals to the authority of "the 1940 edition of a College Standard Dictionary."--D. S.

New translations, quite readable, but seeming to lack a bit of the poetry and madness, and a bit of the obscurity, of more literal translations. A four page preface credits Nietzsche with anticipating psychoanalysis. --D. S.

A handy volume containing representative selections from all of Baudelaire's major works except Les fleurs du mal, including Le peintre de la vie moderne and De l'essence du rire in entirety, and selections from Les paradis artificiels, Petits poèmes en prose, his journals and notebooks, and his letters to his mother. The editor supplies a short introduction, largely biographical.--D. S.

Selections from the writings of twenty living men, chosen by the authors themselves as representative of their philosophies, and including previously unpublished material by Pitirim A. Sorokin. Short biographical notes are supplied by the editor. --D. S.

A scholarly and systematic treatment of the moral sphere, using the Bergsonian notion of obligation derived from status as a point of departure. It moves, through a treatment of such concepts as the Good, moral freedom, and retribution and immortality, to the conclusion that, though an individual man can be good without believing that God exists, there is no possibility of good if God does not in fact exist. The author's basic context is the Judaic tradition; however he pays more (...) than adequate attention to both classical and modern thinkers outside this tradition. --D. S. (shrink)

Wilkinson and Weaver have given a readable English translation of this highly influential work in which Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca point out historical and systematic inadequacies in much of contemporary logic and methodology. Since Descartes, philosophy has presupposed that all reason is self-evident and all proof is apodictic. The central thesis this work develops is that those areas outside the calculations of formal logic need not be dismissed as nonrational or meaningless. The "new rhetoric," by challenging the self-evidence of reason and (...) by opening the mind to induction through speech, extends the concept of reason beyond the limits of a system of formal deductive logic. While retaining much respect for modern logic, Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca find the foundation for their theory in ancient philosophy, particularly in Aristotle. The proof which the authors call "the new rhetoric" Aristotle calls "dialectical proof," or the proof based on reasoning from generally accepted opinions. The "new rhetoric," however, both expands and neglects aspects of the ancient dialectic. "New rhetoric" will not be limited simply to spoken words. This work is primarily a systemization of rhetoric through the analysis of methods of proofs in the humanities, law, and philosophy. The social character of language plays a central part in the authors' idea of rhetoric and argumentation. The starting point of the investigation is not definitive truth, but the opinions of men expressed in language. Apodictic argumentation in contemporary methodologies has as the condition for its possibility normal linguistic expressions.--D. S. S. (shrink)

A "comprehensive outline" of conclusions reached by the author in his personal quest for the divine, admittedly presented without adequate criticism, but obviously the result of careful thought and study. The "divine" is defined as the immanent aspect of God, God as effective in and realizable in this world; God's transcendent aspect, an object of faith rather than rational cognition, is not considered.--D. S.