Wittgenstein and Modern Philosophy, and: An Interpretation and Critique of Wittgenstein's Tractatus (review)

190 HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY cendental idealism, confusing methodology with ontology, emasculating human reason, etc.) and the strong sides of Husserl's idea of phenomenology (bracketing of the natural attitude, eidetic reduction, emphasis on intuition, description of essence). He holds the opinion that the most promising aspects of the future of phenomenology lie in the field of psychotherapy, in particular because of its clarification of the concept of "the normal." J. M. Edie, in "Notes on the Philosophical Anthropology of William James," recalls James' program of a return to "pure experience" (p. 116), mentions James' philosophy of man "as the natural center and focal point of this thought" (p. 115), and considers it legitimate to give a phenomenological interpretation to James' doctrines of pragmatism and radical empiricism (p. 11). J. Wild's paper on "Authentic Existence: A New Approach to Value Theory" contrasts existential values and norms with those of the objectivistic and subjectivistic theories. He submits a value theory on the basis of man's life development, in the course of which "the conditions that must be met...work...by issuing an appeal of meaning" (p. 76). As to the principles of phenomenology, besides the essay of F. Molina mentioned earlier, one finds several others. A. Gurwitsch, in "The Phenomenology of Perception: Perceptual Implications ," wants to supplement Husserl's theory of perception with some results of the Gestalt theory. E. TeHennepe, in "The Life-World and the World of Ordinary Language," indicates similarities of method and results between phenomenology and ordinary language philosophy, without neglecting the differences. E. T. Gendlin, in "Expressive meanings," refutes any phenomenologist's claim of "pure reading-off description" (p. 242) and elaborates on the conditions to be fulfilled "if the phenomenological datum is not to disappear amidst a welter of competing schemes, theories, and assumptions" (p. 245). E. Kaehlin, in "The Visibility of Things Seen: A Phenomenological View of Painting," starts working out M. Merleau Ponty's "language indirect" in terms of a phenomenological "language of vision" (p. 55, n. 18). W. E. Olson, in "On Avoiding the Void: Ideals and Principles," analyzes in a fundamental study the separation of ideals and principles of social action as "a Western tendency" (p. 78). These last two essays offer already concrete applications. Four others give concrete phenomenological descriptions in a more technical sense of the word: H. Spiegelberg concerning approval ("A Phenomenological Analysis of Approval"), R. Golesky concerning various aspects of alienation ("Aloneness, Loneliness, Isolation, Solitude"), G. A. Schrader concerning feeling and emotion ("The Structure of Emotion"), finally, E. H. Straus concerning the position and gaze of thinking subjects ("The Expression of Thinking"). This sympathetic "invitation" to phenomenology as a philosophy and description of experience allows the reader to take notice of some work being done in this country in the phenomenological field. It seems to us that, as a descriptive method, phenomenotogy is particularly fruitful in the field of human expressions, be they those of ordinary life or those of creation in the fields of art, religion, and knowledge. Descriptions of data of this kind are all too often subordinated to preconceived schemes, while phenomenology makes an appeal to go to the things themselves. JacQues WAARDENBURG University o] Cali]omia, Los Angeles Wittgenstein and Modem Philosophy. By Justus Hartnack. Translated from Danish by Maurice Cranston. (New York: New York University Press, 1965.Pp. x + 142.$5.00.) An Interpretation and Critique o] Wittgen~tein's Tractatus. By David Favrholdt. (New York: Humanities Press, 2nd printing, 1965.Pp. 231. $8.00.) These two works are of very different character. Professor Hartnack's monograph, originally published in Danish in 1962, was evidently intended to be a brief introduction to recent developments in analytical philosophy. His approach to the subject matter is both historical and analytical, involving the isolation, description, and critical appraisal of main themes in a roughly chronological order. The first two chapters deal with the life and early work of BOOK REVIEWS 191 Wittgenstein, the third with the influence of the Tractatus on the development of logical positivism, the fourth with the Philosophical Investigations, and the fifth and final chapter touches lightly (in some 35 pages) on the work of Ryle, Strawson, Hart, and Urmson. Given...