Journal of the History of Philosophy

BOOK REVIEWS 325 Grund des Buches selbst jeder Leser die St~rke dieser Stimme mit der der "Fortschittler " vergleichen kann. Ich finde keinen Grund, die Edelsteinsche Hauptthese anzunehmen ; bin ihm aber ftir das reiche Material das er vor uns ausbreitet, aufs ~iufierste verbunden. Und yon vielen seiner Einzelreflexionen kann man reiche Anregung und Belehrung empfangen.4 Im ganzen wird man wohl sagen miissen: man sieht es dem Buch an, dat3 es leider nicht des Autors letzte Feile empfangen hat 5--auch nicht im Gedanklichen. PHILIP MERLAN Scripps College and Claremont Graduate School N.B.: The Journal of the History of Philosophy learned with very great regret of the passing of Professor Philip Merlan on December 23, 1968. Professor Merlan had been one of the most valued consultants, advisers and contributors during the entire life of the Journal, and we are proud to have been able to publish his articles and reviews. Professor Merlan was born in Kolomyja, Austria in 1897. He studied at the University of Vienna, receiving his Ph.D. in 1924 and his J.D. in 1927. He wrote many articles on jurisprudence, ancient, medieval and modern philosophy, classical philology and literature, as well as two major books, From Platonism to Neo-Platonism, and Monopsychism Mysticism Metaconsciousness. A bibliography of his writings appeared in the Zeitschrift fiir Philoaophische Forschung, Jan.-Mar. 1968, Band 22, Heft 1, pp. 139-145. He taught at the University of Redlands and from 1942 onward as Professor of German Philosophy and Literature at Scripps College, Claremont. He was also a visiting professor at Warzburg, Munich, Oxford, Bonn and Columbia. He had been president both of the Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy and of the American Philosophical Association, Pacific Division. A volume of essays in his honor is now in press. Professor Merlan will be sorely missed by scholars all over the world. The editor, who had the good fortune to know him over the past decade, and to profit from his learning, wisdom and humanity, feels a great personal loss. We shall treasure his guidance and advice. The two reviews of his that appear in this issue are among his last writings. His widow, Franciszka Nehenzahl Merlan, is now preparing other remaining works of his for publication .--R. H. PoPr~n~ The Buddhist Nirvana and its Western Interpreters. By Guy Richard Welbon. (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1968. Pp. 320. $8.50) The aim of this study is to document the development of Western interpretations of the Buddhist concept "nirvana," and in doing so not only arrive at some conclusions about it, but also about the methods of those who analyzed it. Nirvana has been a constantly misunderstood term, and this volume supplies the first full length treatment of the history of European debates on the subject. The book would be of value if for no other reason than its sorting out of the accomplishments of several successive generations of scholars of Buddhism from the beginning of the nineteenth century to the eve of World War II. Yet it is also important as an example of a trend in the history of religions field to examine rigorously the problem of "intercultural hermeneutics." It is Guy Richard Welbon's hope that his book will make some con9 So habe ich z.B. die Ausflihrungen, der Hellenismus habe gelernt, das menschliche Leben in Kategorien, die das individuelle Dasein transzendieren (152), besonders anregend gefunden. Aber hat das nicht schon Plato mit ~einer Unterscheidung zwischen individueller trod generischer Unsterblichkeit oder dem beriihmten Fackellaufvergleich getan? s Sicherlich hitte im endgiiltigen Literaturverzeichnis nicht gefehlt: S. Lauffer, "Der antike Fortschrittsgedanke," Proceedings of the Xlth International Congress of Philosophy (1953), XII, 37-44; noch O. Luschnat, "Fortschrittsdenken und Vollendungsstreben ins Hellenismus ," Theologia Viatorum, VI (1954), 88-110, eine Liste, die sich leicht verliingern licit. 326 HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY tribution to "methodological debates concerning the study of nonwestern Geistesphiinomena and therefore be of interest to students in several disciplines. To what extent do cultural and social presuppositions determine the conduct and conclusions of the study of alien traditions? What role does the expanding body of ordered data flay?" (p. viii) Welbon opens with a review of Western contacts with Buddhism up to...