Marcuse here returns to themes which he has discussed elsewhere: the prospects for revolution, the problem of generating liberatory sensual needs, and the subversive character of art. Of the book’s two principal essays, the first—"The Left under Counterrevolution"—attempts "only to focus the prospects for radical change in the United States." As a critique, the essay presents in highly schematic form the argument of One-Dimensional Man: the peculiar dialectic of expanding oppression and enlarged possibilities for liberation. Marcuse attempts to specify his (...) critique in a discussion of the New Left, a discussion which he admits to be "highly tentative and fragmentary." As in the insistence upon theory and upon the "essentially intellectual" character of the contemporary Left, the essay is often provocative; but its overall effect is too schematic and fragmentary, as questions calling for detailed analysis, such as the problematic relevance of Marxist "class" ideology, are dealt with in summary fashion. However, the other major essay "Art and Revolution," focusing upon the cultural revolution, provides a lucid and precise account of Marcuse’s aesthetic theory. Through his interpretation of "the aesthetic form," Marcuse can unpack the political dimension of the imagination, without reducing artistic relevance to propaganda. Retaining an essential alienation from the established order, "art can express its radical potential only as art." There is no question of art collapsing into reality, even the reality of a revolutionary epoch; rather, while maintaining the integrity of the aesthetic form, art acts as an imaginative lure towards social progress. Finally, Counterrevolution and Revolt may satisfy few readers, but should challenge many to raise new questions—which is, after all, a central function of critical theory.—D. F. D. (shrink)

In contrast with Ford’s essay, David R. Griffin presents a catalogue of the differences between the two philosophers from a "Hartshornian" perspective. Strangely, perhaps the least helpful contribution comes from Hartshorne himself, whose "Ideas and Theses of Process Philosophers" is simply a highly schematic outline. Completing the volume are essays by William O’Meara on Hartshorne’s methodology, and by Frederic Frost on relativity theory and Hartshorne’s dipolar conception of God. In general, the book suffers from repetition; many of the same issues (...) recur in the essays, at times with significantly different interpretations, but frequently with only the slightest modification of accent. While its flaws cannot be ignored, Two Process Philosophers does possess the virtue of focusing upon the genuine diversity within the tradition of process philosophy.-D.F.D. (shrink)

The Unifying Moment provides a fine comparative study of Whitehead and James. Eisendrath expresses the presupposition of his effort in noting "a fruitful complementarity" between his subjects: "Whitehead is highly abstract and needs the exemplification which reference to James can provide. Conversely, Whitehead can be used to show the full sweep of general application implicit in James’s ideas." The core of Eisendrath’s analysis lies in creativity and in the ‘aesthetic’ bias shared by Whitehead and James; experience is feeling, appetition and (...) advance into novelty. There are indeed problems in the analogy between personality and atomic concrescence, since from a Whiteheadian perspective personality is a complex ’society', not a simple concrescence. Yet the analogy works, because Eisendrath is aware of the disparity, and because it serves to illuminate the anthropomorphic tendency in Whitehead. The book is at its strongest in dealing directly with issues of epistemology and psychology, where Eisendrath also displays a firm grasp of the early history of psychology. Less satisfying are some of the approaches to larger issues, such as the discussions of God and civilization. Throughout, there is the stylistic flaw, perhaps inevitable in a comparative study, of lengthy textual citation and explication; while thus documenting his position, Eisendrath at times lets the documentation obscure his argument. The notes and index are both extensive and helpful.—D. F. D. (shrink)

As Macquarrie states, "In this book the concern is with some basic issues in the relation of theology and ethics." The three issues involved are 1) the relation between specifically Christian morals and non-Christian morals; 2) the direction to be taken in formulating "a theological ethic appropriate to our time"; and 3) "the place of faith in moral life, the problem known traditionally as that of the relation of religion and morality." Macquarrie centers his reflection on man as an ethical (...) being, rather than on specifically theological doctrines of Christology or redemption. Through a creative interpretation of the structures of existential thought, Macquarrie situates his ethic within an analysis of contemporary man. In this context, the "drastic reconsideration" given to natural law proves particularly illuminating; also of value are the discussions of faith, hope, sin, grace, and conscience as phenomena within the general "moral striving of mankind," rather than as the private property of Christian theologians. The demand that theology turn towards an anthropology enables Macquarrie to explore the continuity between Christian ethical thought and the non-Christian traditions, while neither forcibly annexing the non-Christian as a "crypto-Christian," nor eradicating the divergences between the Christian and the non-Christian. The approach of Three Issues is thus of twofold value: it makes both explicit and possible a deepened solidarity and cooperation of all engaged in ethical reflection and practice, and also demands that the full integrity of all thus engaged be respected.--D. F. D. (shrink)

The author describes his work as "an attempt to systematically re-think philosophy out of its original beginning and most fundamental perspective: the primordial phenomenon of wonder." Relying heavily upon the existential and phenomenological traditions, Boelen focusses upon wonder as the locus for the "dialectical self-manifestation of Being"; with this as his foundation, Boelen establishes the necessarily circular character of philosophical reflection, as rooted in wonder and recurring back upon its original data. The theory involved is further specified in analyses of (...) the aesthetic phenomenon, ethical existence, and existential loving. Throughout is evidenced a concern that philosophy and psychology work together in the reflective approach the primordial phenomena of human existence. Militantly anti-"scientistic." Although stylistically weak at times, Existential Thinking is nonetheless a useful and suggestive work; it is, to use one of the highest praises in Boelen's terminology, a beginning--and that in the two-fold sense of exploring the origins of philosophical reflection, and of indicating directions for fuller, more detailed reflection.--D. F. D. (shrink)

Contemporary problems associated with the notion of determinism are focused by this symposium in three major areas of inquiry--philosophy, physical science, and law and moral responsibility. Determinism in modern physics is capably analyzed by a number of eminent contributors; but with respect to its significance for a philosophy of nature, little that is new or suggestive emerges from this analysis. The distinction between "hard" and "soft" determinism and its implications in legal and moral contexts provoke the most valuable part of (...) the discussion.--J. F. D. (shrink)

An introduction to the author's conception of Ganzheitlichkeit and Terminalkausalität, and the first part of an inquiry into the relevance and adequacy of this conception for three different types of phenomena--atomic, biodynamic, and neural. The concept of Terminalkausalität is proposed as a basis on which the theoretical dualism of modern physics, and particularly the problems associated with the uncertainty relation, may be overcome. Further, this concept suggests the principles by which the various natural sciences may be unified. --J. F. D.

The reconstruction of ensemble d–f of the Akhmîm Papyrus, better known as the Strasbourg Papyrus, which attests approximately eighteen of the over seventy new lines of Empedocles’ physical poem, has drawn the attention of scholars over recent years. Thanks to the good condition of the papyrus and the coincidence with two Empedoclean lines, already known from the indirect tradition, ensemble d–f 1–10a presents a well-restored text and an intelligible sense. In contrast, because of the damaged state of the papyrus, the (...) restoration of d–f 10b–18 is more complicated. These lines seem to describe a life-generative process, but what process was Empedocles talking about? Some resemblances between these papyrus lines and the lines of another Empedoclean fragment, DK 31 B 62, have suggested to scholars, notably to A. Martin and O. Primavesi in 1999 and M. Rashed in 2011, that the lines of the papyrus depict, just like DK 31 B 62, the generation of whole-natured beings. Other scholars, however, such as R. Janko in 2004 and A. Laks and G.W. Most in 2016, show more caution and leave the possibility open that Empedocles is here talking about the generation of something else. (shrink)

Il faut savoir gré à l'éditeur Gérard Monfort de poursuivre sa politique de traduction d'ouvrages étrangers d'histoire de l'art en publiant le livre de J.F. Hamburger, paru en 1997 aux Presses de l'Université de Californie, sous le titre Nuns as Artits. The Visual Culture of a Medieval Convent. L'objet de ce livre passionnant et novateur, dont il faut souligner également la qualité de la traduction, est un ensemble rare, découvert fortuitement par l'auteur, de dessins coloriés, ..

D. Compaeetti, Leggi antiche delta città di Gortyna, Firenze, 1885 F. Bücheler and E. Zitelmann, Rheinisches Museum N. F. Bd. 40 J. and T. Baunack, Die Inschrift von Gortyn, Stuttgart, 1886H. Lewy, Stadtrecht von Gortyn, Berlin, 1885Museo Italiano di Antickità classiche, edited by D. Comparetti, Florence, 1885 sqq. Vols. i, ii.

T. Macci Plauti Menaechmi, editio altera a F. Schoell recognita . 5 M. 60. The Menaechmi of Plautus, edited on the basis of Brix's edition, by Harold North Fowler, Ph. D.

F. D. Maurice was a distinguished Christian theologian, much respected by academics and artists of his day and afterwards. This volume, originally published in 1951, contains the text of seven lectures delivered in his honour in 1942 by Arthur Ramsey, later Archbishop of Canterbury, and covers Maurice's career and his impact on later students of theology. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in Christian socialism or in Maurice's wider work.