Book Notes

132 HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY course of the arts. Creativity is distributed unevenly, both geographically and temporally. A. L. Kroeber assumes an ample supply of potential geniuses everywhere, but they have to fit into some cultural patterns and configurations and are frustrated if they do not. This theory is highly speculative. Art was always controlled in the past; it is rigidly controlled by the totalitarian regimes today-but it is institutionally controlled even in liberal societies. Some kinds of art are favored and bought, others rejected. A large amount of liberty in the creative process is required if "natural selection," i.e., free competition for favor of the public, is to become operative. Neither the evolutionary nor the cyclical nor the Marxist theory explains all the facts of the history of the arts. Munro's study is of monumental scope, a brilliant reinterpretation of the development of the arts. Taking as a point of departure the general principles of evolution devised by Herbert Spencer, the author reviews critically the whole literature on the subject. It is highly significant that Munro reaches his conclusions in a field where resistance to evolutionary thought is so outspoken, viz., the theory of art and literary criticism. His role in aesthetics matches the achievements of Herbert Spencer in other fields. Prof. Munro's technological theory of art is an instrumentalist philosophy of art. This is shown by his analogy of a work of art as a tool. His views pose a number of problems. Munro excludes from his concept of evolution all considerations of value. The evolution in the arts does not mean that modern art is better than ancient art and vice versa. Only the fact of complicative change is asserted. What is, however, in this sense the aesthetic significance of this sort of evolution? What remains significant in evolution if we exclude the connotation of gradual improvement? On the other hand his technological theory of art seems to imply nevertheless some sort of advance, namely, the successive improvement of the 'tool'--so that his theory seems less "value-free" than prima facie evidence seems to show. But is the analogy of an art work and a tool valid? A tool affects the physical constitution of things in availing itself of the laws of nature. Works of art affect the state of mind of the "consumers" of art, their state of consciousness, the interior life of a person. If his body is affected, the mediation through the mind is necessary. The influence of the art work resembles more an act of seduction than the impact of physical instru. mentation. The art work attracts or repels but never by physical causes. Tools work by force and affect forces, art works affect human minds by seductive persuasion. They enthrall. MAX RIESER New York City BOOK NOTES Knoll, August M., Katholische Kirche und scholastisches Naturrecht. Zur Frage der Freiheit. Wien, etc., Europa Verlag, 1962. Pp. 144. This is a survey by a revolutionary Catholic of the history of the application of natural law theory in its Scholastic formulations to the practical problem of slavery vs. freedom. Its conclusion is that the doctrine has proven meaningless as a ground for emancipation. Pollak, Oscar, Der neue Humanismus. Geist und Gesellschaft an der Zeitenwende. Wien, etc., Europa Verlag, 1962. Pp. 88. ----Europiiische Perspektiven. BOOK REVIEWS 133 A plea for European unity on the basis of a humanistic socialism based on respect for human rights and emphasis on economic rights. By the former editor of the Wiener Arbeiter-Zeitung. Fulton, Robert Brank, Adam Smith Speaks to Our Times. A Study of IIis Ethical Ideas. Boston, Christopher Publishing House, 1963. Pp. 143. $3.00. From the Author's Preface we quote: Study of Smith's writings, both for purposes of the dissertation and the teaching in China, and since then in relation to other courses in the fields of religion and philosophy, has convinced me of the integral relation of his ethical views to his approach to economic and political matters; and it has led, also, to a growing sense of his right to greater recognition as an ethicist than he normally receives today and of the relevance of his views to the...