Abstract

The main purpose of Alexander’s book is "to lay a foundation for modes of philosophical thinking and many of the traditional problems of philosophy by an examination of the manner in which ideas are constructed." Toward this end, the book is divided into three parts. The first part deals mainly with language and its constituent questions. The mechanics of communication are presented including a detailed breakdown of its elements and the reasons for its success and failure. With respect to the study of language, Alexander explores such questions as the learning of a language, the study of grammar, the nature of words, and the relation of thought to language. In his section on symbols, the author considers the nature of symbols, the relationship of symbols to their referents, and the distinction between and uses of signs and symbols. The fourth major topic in this section, the concept of meaning, centers around the kinds of referential meaning and the relation of existential variability to class relations. Views mentioned range from Plato to Chomsky, Piaget, and Austin. This first part serves as a backdrop to the more central part dealing with processes of thinking. Analyzed are three basic processes: abstracting, imagining, and generalizing. Three varieties of abstractions: qualities, relations, and functions, are deemed sufficiently important to warrant sustained treatment. Imagining, "the altering of abstractions," is of primary importance in the understanding of the nature of thought. His account of the process of generalizing explicates, among other issues, the concept of universals and their existential status. This section is neatly tied together by an examination of the interrelationships between these three processes in which he appropriately draws upon the major figures of Greek and modern philosophy. Throughout the presentation, the ways in which these processes are expressed linguistically is never lost sight of. The final part of the book, dealing with the nature of rational inquiry, centers upon the concepts of defining, inferring, and systematizing. While the book was designed as an introductory text, its usefulness is certainly not limited to this purpose.—B. G. H.