In these essays grouped under the title Spectacles and Predicaments Gellner is doing in social theory what Luigi Pirandello did on the stage, namely, make us involved in the political predicaments of life rather than be a mere observer of the spectacle of politics. The book is divided into three parts: part one is concerned with philosophers and their philosophies by which we interpret humanity; part two deals with the nature of knowledge and its implications; and part three concerns the (...) political implications of philosophy. Just about all the essays are reviews of books dealing with the various topics of philosophy and socio-political questions. As a result the unity that one hopes to find is never really developed. (shrink)