A clear, concise and well-organized textbook in Thomistic metaphysics which incorporates recent developments in "Thomistic Existentialism," while retaining the best of the traditional content. Each chapter concludes with a summary and a list of supplementary readings. As a textbook, it succeeds in stressing the essentials and, at the same time, by judicious use of footnotes, indicates what are still issues among Thomists. The book represents the position of that group of Neo-Thomist thinkers who emphasize the primacy of existence and the (...) actual over essence and the possible as the object of metaphysics. A good introduction to the subject.--V. G. P. (shrink)

This work of vast erudition, which according to the author is substantially the same as the original Swedish edition, attempts to show how the young Augustine integrated certain key concepts of ancient philosophy into Christian thought. Holte limits himself to the philosophical issues and so does not consider the young Augustine as theologian. Parts I and II develop the historical background of the concept telos in the ancient philosophers and in the early Fathers. Part III presents the central thesis: that (...) Augustine tried to link the contemplative life to the commandment of love which requires total abandonment to God of every form of human life. The Telos is to be found in the contemplative life, although Augustine never separates it from the active. Telos is to be realized in the study of Christian philosophy and scripture. Part IV treats of this realization as a sort of Christian gnosis which can be briefly characterized from the point of view of systematic theology as fides quaerens intellectum.--V. G. P., S.J. (shrink)

Two celebrated essays on the comic, reprinted together with a long appendix written for this volume by the editor. The appendix itself, bulging with learned references, is a comprehensive essay on the place of comedy in the human situation, past and present.--V. G. C.

A short, not too technical introduction to the existentialist movement. The first half of the book presents five basic themes which existentialists treat in a distinctive way: the problems of knowledge, reality, existence, communication, and transcendence. The second half of the book gathers together five independent lectures on Kierkegaard, Heidegger, Jaspers, Sartre and Marcel. The book is useful for those unacquainted with the men and their ideas.--V. G. P.

This collection of essays is concerned with the present world struggle between totalitarianism and the western heritage of freedom. Its contributors are well-known economists, sociologists, philosophers and political scientists from the United States and Europe. It is dedicated "to the moral and intellectual struggle against communism and an analysis of our own democratic institutions." The purpose of the book is both clarification and inspiration. The essays cover such subjects as the nature of freedom in the West, the common patrimony of (...) America and Europe, the role of the masses in representative democracy, intellectualism and political impotence.--V. G. P. (shrink)

This work of scholarship examines the use of the Greek terms epistrephein and epistrophë by pagan and Christian writers during the first three centuries A.D. Such a study, though philological, intends also to contrast two distinct attitudes toward human existence: fidelity to oneself and fidelity to God. The findings include the following: 1) these terms appear in the common language of the period in a non-technical sense, 2) the Christian use of them has a Biblical origin, 3) the philosophical use (...) of the terms is of uncertain origin, 4) the expression epistrephein eis eauton is philosophical and not truly Christian, 5) the notion of "conversio Dei" is alien to pagan thought, and 6) these divergent uses had an influence on the mystical traditions of paganism and Christianity.--V. G. P. (shrink)

A textbook intended to play the role of the Socratic midwife, by introducing the student-reader to the philosophy of being through contact with the great minds which first struggled with the puzzle of the one and the many. It is thorough and detailed. The author takes the reader from Thales to Aristotle in search of an understanding of being and becoming. The text is replete with charts and diagrams. There is a useful lexicon of Aristotelian metaphysical terms and a fine (...) annotated bibliography.--V. G. P. (shrink)

This little book is a collection of essays on the philosophy of mind and serves as a preview of a larger work to come. Writing from the point of view of naturalism, while not defending it, Langer is primarily concerned with the relation of the human mind to feeling, which is the subject of the first essay, "The Process of Feeling." Other contributions include speculations on the origin of speech, a new definition of symbol, the cultural importance of art, the (...) relation of the individual to society. Interesting and provocative.--V. G. P. (shrink)

An impressive book whose purpose is to "relate the outstanding events of contemporary life and thought to the accumulated wisdom of the past." Forming part of the series The Great Books of the Western World, its contributors are among the most qualified in their fields: Alfred Kazin, George Gamow, Irving Kristol, Karl Ubell, and James Collins, not to mention the editors themselves. Five parts make up the book: in Part I, The Great Debate of the Year: "Does America's best hope (...) for the future lie in political conservatism?", Barry Goldwater speaks for the affirmative and Jacob Javits for the negative; Part II, The Editors' Review of the Year, analyzes three problems as yet unsolved: the divided world, automation, and television; Part III, the largest portion of the work, reviews the contemporary scene in literature, physical science and technology, social sciences and law, biology and medicine, and philosophy and religion ; Part IV offers four important additions to the Great Books Library: M. Luther's The Freedom of a Christian, R. H. Tawney's The Acquisitive Society, Max Planck's The Universe in the Light of Modern Physics, and James Joyce's The Dead; finally, Part V gives a bibliography of significant books published in the last ten years.--V. G. P., S. J. (shrink)

According to the author, philosophy and politics are intimately connected, since any understanding of society involves an analysis of "order." The notion of order contains three essential elements which political philosophers have frequently overlooked: unity, sanction and authority. Barth examines the work of Burke, Rivarol, de Lamennais, Comte and others. The concluding chapter attempts to resolve the problems raised by the apparent conflict between "historical" and "natural" right in a comprehensive idea of order.--V. G. P.

The major portion of the book presents the biological facts, while the final chapter raises philosophical questions concerning 1) the antithesis between form and substance, 2) the relation of form to aesthetics, and 3) the origin of mind in the goal-seeking quality of life. The author does not pretend to solve the questions he raises; he merely wishes to draw attention to them "at a time when many people fail to recognize them, and when even some biologists have temporarily lost (...) sight of the fundamental importance of the fact of form for the science of life."--V. G. P. (shrink)