Appearing in the “Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam” as an undefined referent for the limits on freedom of expression in Islam, Shariah is still to be chased as an indefinable referent which restricts freedom of the expression in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Iran’s Press Law as well as Constitution unveil Shariah’s referent to be a person: the Jurist-Ruler around whom a cult of personality is legalized in terms of “Imamate” and around whom all the limits on freedom (...) of expression revolve. Interpretation of Shariah is not a solution but part of the problem in Iran. Such problem can be dealt in terms of three modes of self-expression which were invented by the Iranian Reformists to avoid self-censorship. The notion of master-signifier can be the key to unraveling the problem of self-referentiality in freedom of expression and its Reformist solution in Iran’s legal system. (shrink)

An attempt to unite the inwardness of the existentialists with a Thomistic teleological realism. Because man is a creature in nature, with ends external to himself, he has desires which can only be fulfilled by appropriating the goods of the world ; because he is also a person, whose ends are internal to himself, who must communicate as well as appropriate, he must seek his perfection inwardly. These two strains are necessary ingredients in man, and in him they find their (...) reconciliation. The first chapter was first printed in this Review, VIII, pp. 225-45.--A. R. (shrink)

A revised edition of the author's dissertation, originally published in 1941 and for several years out of print. The major change is in Chapter VI, "Formal Analysis of Inductive Probability," which has been entirely rewritten so as to take into account more recent writings on the logic of induction by Carnap, Reichenbach and others. Although studies in logic are not neglected, the author remains primarily concerned with the philosophic problem of finding a rational justification for inductive arguments. There is an (...) excellent bibliography, but no index.--A. R. A. (shrink)

A companion to the logic text by the same authors. -- A. R. A.

A formal exposition of the author’s controversial views for which Warren Burger, then on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, attempted unsuccessfully to have him disbarred. The second half of the book consists of a reprint in full of the ABA’s Code of Professional Responsibility, its Canons of Professional Ethics and Standards Relating to the Prosecution and Defense Functions.

Written for a popular audience, this book extols the virtues of individuality--A. R.

A collection of excerpts from Mead's three posthumous volumes, with a short introduction offering a concise presentation of Mead's pragmatic analysis of the role of evolution in the formation of the self and its relation to society.--A. R.

The author adopts a phenomenalistic method to educe, not the content of universally valid moral judgments, but "the generic characteristics of all moral experience." Interested in describing rather than prescribing the standards of judgment, he finds that the common ground lies in a contextual "fittingness." The possibility of validating moral judgment is maintained by the enunciation of principles of the primacy of facts, of universality, and of ultimacy or obligation.--A. R.

From a study of Hindu scriptures, the author concludes that there is a "spiritual overturning in consciousness," after which there will be a purification and a Golden Age. The book is disorganized and diffuse.--A. R.

An extension of game theory to the two-person game involving collaboration. In a detailed discussion of a simple case, the author argues persuasively that his methods yield a strategy which is sensible, prudent and fair for both participants. One of the more interesting by-products is a method for comparing inter-personal preference scales, thus providing an answer to one of the standard objections to the Hedonistic calculus. Braithwaite's approach is novel, and should be of interest to game-theorists as well as philosophers.--A. (...) R. A. (shrink)

This is a clearly written account of Martin's views of analytic truth, containing, in addition to the philosophical considerations, some novel formal results. The formal theory offered is shown to satisfy plausible adequacy conditions, and is notable for economy of assumptions--a reflection of Martin's conviction that semantical metalanguages should, so far as possible, be neutral to issues in ontology. But one need not share the author's extensionalist outlook in order to find much of interest here.--A. R. A.

An analysis of the source and value of human dignity, this book treats of the practical as well as the theoretical issues of individualism. The foreword is by Cardinal Spellman.--A. R.

In an attempt to develop a synthesis between biology and metaphysics, the author argues that the categories of metaphysics should properly come not from an abstract logic, but rather from "organic nature." The arguments of the mechanists and vitalists are re-interpreted; the position of the vitalist is defended and broadened so as to provide a foundation for the new science of psycho-biology, which is to merge with metaphysics.--A. R.

A revised second edition of an elementary ethics text which has been widely used since its publication in 1947. Much new material has been added, and the old re-written and re-arranged.--A. R.

A biography of the famous revivalist, readable and scholarly, though occasionally rather diffuse. Its claim to see Sunday's work "in terms of a critical reorientation in the ideological structure of American life" is not fully realized; the book tends to waver between biography and sociology without satisfying the requirements of either.--A. R.

A collection of previously published essays, carrying the ramifications of the author's work on the theory of meaning and literary criticism into a discussion of the relations between language and education. This is a provocative study, drawing on knowledge in a wide variety of fields--communication theory, psychology, literary history--without becoming diffuse.--A. R.

A guide to the different views of Joan of Arc as they have varied from her time until World War II, with emphasis on the political and ideological shifts which lay behind them. The chief chroniclers, sources, and commentators are referred to and their viewpoints briefly described. The author emphasizes the fairness of her trial by the standards of her day, and the political motives underlying her rehabilitation. Joan, he concludes, was a highly complex character, and in her story the (...) judgment of history and the judgments of partisans are inextricable.--A. R. (shrink)

An attractive paperback reprint of an interesting and erudite work, itself historical in its approach to history, first published in 1946.--A. R.

An informative study of the conditions, the strengths, and the weaknesses of Russian totalitarianism by an expert on Russian affairs. The "Keys" are: the necessity of a struggle for power within the totalitarian regime, the necessity for secrecy and the complete control of all activity, the proscription of labor, the contempt for democratic election, the constant need for colonial expansion, and the subordination of the people to the state.--A. R.

An excellent introduction to symbolic logic. Part I, "Principles of Inference and Definition," carries the reader through the first order predicate calculus with identity, and relates the formal theory of inference to many standard informal arguments. Chapter 8 contains by far the best elementary discussion of the theory of definition now in print. Part II, "Elementary Intuitive Set Theory," gives a clear introduction to the fundamental concepts, and prepares the way for more advanced work in the field. The book is (...) distinguished by the number and variety of the applications of logic considered, both in formal mathematical reasoning, and in the axiomatization of various scientific theories. The final sections contain material which should be of interest to experts as well as novices.--A. R. A. (shrink)

The author demonstrates how the problem of free will as inherited by Descartes from scholastic philosophy is translated into secular terms. This monograph reviews some of the significant bibliography on the subject, particularly the studies of Octave, Hamelin, E. Gilson, A. Espinas, and H. Gouhier.--A. R.

A text, primarily behavioristic in approach, covering the psychological and physiological development of the human organism. Its analyses of ontogenetic change are supplemented with brief phylogenetic descriptions.--A. R.

This book consists of three parts: a general theory of descriptive ethics, a general theory of ethical discourse, and an application of II to the ethical discourse of the Navaho Indians, based on the writer's own field studies. The work is careful, clear, thorough, and detailed, and the inclusion of field notes is helpful in understanding and evaluating Ladd's reconstructions. There are questions of detail where one might cavil, but the book is an important contribution to the relatively unexplored area (...) where philosophy and the social sciences overlap. --A. R. A. (shrink)

A collection of previously unpublished essays--philosophical, literary and critical--presenting the influential views of T. E. Hulme and throwing new light upon the complex personality of their originator. The book also includes Hulme's war diary, his controversy with Russell on war, some poems and fragments, and a complete bibliography of his writings.--A. R.

Section Philosophique, No. 39. Bruges: Desclée De Brouwer, 1955. 227 pp. 245 fr. B.--A Thomistic defense of Plato against Gilson's criticism of "essentialism." The first of the book's two sections, that dealing with "ascending" dialectic, argues that 1) Being or intelligible Form is not merely essence, but is considered as existent, 2) Plato proves the existence of a transcendent and supreme Being, and 3) the supreme Being whose existence is proven in the Republic is identical with the primary object of (...) the intellect defined in the Symposium. The second section, on "descending" dialectic, treats the problems of participation, and attempts to derive the world of becoming from the world of Forms, without, however, accepting a neo-Platonic account of emanations. An interesting, but highly controversial interpretation of Plato. --A. R. (shrink)

Sections 1-6 contain a novel and perspicuous proof procedure for elementary quantification theory, which is "effective" in the sense that it will produce a proof of a theorem-candidate S if such a proof exists. In sections 7 and 8 a general theory of modalities is introduced, and the proof procedures are extended to the resulting systems. -- A. R. A.

This monograph continues the author's investigations into connections between symbolic logic and modern algebraic structures. The results presented support the thesis that contemporary studies in symbolic logic have a direct and immediate relevance for many topics in mathematics.--A. R. A.

A fairly routine work of Thomist scholarship which argues that, though both Aquinas and Aristotle regard prudence as a virtue, Aristotle cannot and Aquinas must analyze the vice of imprudence. The difference is found to depend on Aquinas' stress on the liberty of the will.--A. R.

A rich collection of essays in honor of Msgr. Mansion, including a study of Mansion's work, several essays on Plato, studies of various aspects of Aristotle's philosophy--textual and systematic analyses of his metaphysics, logic, psychology and ethics--and some essays on the influence of Plato and Aristotle on medieval philosophy. Contributors include Diès, Wilpert, Ross, and Minio-Palaello.--A. R.

An argument for the historical continuity of Neo-Platonism and the Early Academy, resting principally on the positions held by 1) Posidonius on the relation between the soul and mathematics, 2) Speusippus on the relation between the One and the material principle, and 3) Boethius on the relation between degrees of being and degrees of knowledge. There is also an analysis of the elements of Neo-Platonism in Aristotle's metaphysics. A scholarly and readable book, certain to be controversial.--A. R.

An analysis of the realism of M. Blondel, with an attempt to distinguish its traditional elements from its novel features. Blondel's emphasis on the inseparability of philosophy and action is argued to be the foundation of his return to Christian realism.--A. R.

A discussion of the influence of Nietzsche in the Spanish-speaking world, extensive in scope but lacking in depth. Rukser fails to evaluate properly the extent and significance of Nietzsche's effect upon Machado, and he treats Baroja at length but superficially. The bibliography of works on Nietzsche in Spanish is unusually extensive. Unfortunately his acquaintance with the material often does not extend beyond the title, and many important works are left unevaluated.--A. R.

An attempt, by a Rosmini scholar, to develop a contemporary metaphysics capable of accounting for the spiritual crisis of our time. Beginning with the theoretical problems of "the ethics of the spirit," the author moves dialectically to the existential problems of the relation between choice and situation.--A. R.

An evaluative study of the philosophy of history as developed by Croce and Gentile. The author agrees with Nietzsche that the idealist's view of history fails, in the last analysis to account for the moral force of the individual; this failure stems from the more basic difficulty of not admitting a sufficiently radical distinction between actuality and potentiality. He suggests that if creative value is to be maintained in history, the syntheses which form history should be regarded as "open" rather (...) than "closed," and irrationality should be admitted as an historical force.--A. R. (shrink)

An illuminating discussion of the logic of normative systems. The approach is semantical rather than syntactical, in the sense that the systems are defined by reference to truth-conditions rather than by axioms and rules. The results are substantially in accord with the familiar syntactic systems of deontic logic, but they do diverge in some non-trivial details. A perceptive study.--A. R. A.

This introduction to Dilthey's basic philosophical assumptions is mainly seen through the eyes of his critics. The author limits himself to sources found in Spanish and omits from his commentary the studies of Stein, Misch, Heyen, Landgrebe, and Hennig, among others.--A. R.

This is an able book of essays, written by well-qualified scholars, about an unjustly neglected nineteenth century German philosopher. He is known in this country primarily as the founder of "formal sociology," but much of what he has to say belongs with equal propriety to the philosophy of culture. The aim of the volume is to rehabilitate Simmel's reputation, which suffered much among sociologists from attacks by Abel and Sorokin. The volume also contains about 100 pages of Simmel's own essays (...) in translation: "The Ruin," "The Handle," and "The Aesthetic Significance of the Face," among others.--A. R. A. (shrink)

Mauchaussat gives a detailed, chronological, and dense picture of Lachelier's thought and its milieu. He studies with erudition the connections with thinkers of analogous tendencies: Maine de Biran, Ravaisson, Boutroux, and Brunschvicg, and, outside the French tradition, Lachelier's relations and debts to Kant.--A. R.