Prophets of the West by John Edward Sullivan (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 543 There have been many " spirits," more American philosophers than scholars have as yet exhumed, and more in the making. If an optimistic prospect is sought for today's near-despair, almost unrelieved anxiety and shrillness, it would surely be more likely located in the richness, variety, drama, and irresolution of America's philosophic history, variously adaptive or maladaptive as evaluations and evaluators themselves respond or fail under pressure-here, I think, more surely than in attempting to construct a consistent and coherent case for a single philosophische Volksgeist, 1609-1970. One must sympathize with the motivation that this country's history requires and strongly rewards careful inquiry into its philosophical past; reflection as to where we are, how we came here, and whither our needs and capabilities should take us cannot flourish without acutely acquiring in the present that entire past, as well as our scholarly efforts allow. Unfortunately, the present undertaking, in that light, must be assessed as distorting and, at its worst, perniciously question -begging: for if individualism and some reducing of moral judgment and risk to " method " are at the bottom of our present inability to reach each other and covenant anew in common cause, toward liberty a;nd justice, next time, truly for all, then we must hope that Prof. Myers's case is not merely distorted and confused but also false, that is, that we have some actual options. Emory University Atlanta, Georgia CRAIG wALTON Prophets of the West. By JoHN EDWARD SuLLIVAN. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston. 1970. Pp. 319. John Edward Sullivan's introduction to the philosophy of history admirably fulfills its intention. The author has an excellent grasp of source materials in the subject, and if certain areas such as evolutionary theory do not receive more attention, it is perhaps because of the necessary limitation imposed on the author by the wealth of material. The book is divided into four sections. The first begins with Augustine's progressivism, examines the classical philosophies of progress, the dialectical history of Hegel and Marx, and the evolutionary history of Comte and Spencer. The second section entitled (inappropriately, I believe) "Historicism, Complete and Incomplete," treats such figures as Rickert, Dilthery, Croce, and Collingwood. The third considers Spengler, Toynbee, Sorokin, and Kroeber. The 544 BOOK REVIEWS final section treats the humanistic evolutionism of Julian Huxley and the Christian evolutionism of Teilhard de Chardin. The work covers many more figures than similar introductions to philosophy of history by W. H. Walsh and Karl LOwith, although Walsh devotes more attention to the analysis of historical explanation and Lowith concerns himself more than Sullivan with the theology of history. Although somewhat surprised by the limited attention paid to Vico, this reviewer was much gratified to read the splendid section on the muchneglected Wilhelm Dilthey who figured so prominently in the history of ideas for over a half-century. One might object, however, to the characterization of Nietzsche's revival of eternal recurrence as pessimistic. However much he differed from the Greeks in cyclic theory, his theory of eternal recurrence must be considered in relation to his theory of the over-reaching and exultant tl"bermensch . The only serious objection to this excellent book is the omission of any treatment of Greek cyclicism against which the real significance of both secular and religious linear philosophies must be compared. The Catholic Univm-sity of America Washington, D. C. RoBERT PAUL MoHAN The Essential Philo. Ed. by NAHuM N. GLATZER. New York: Schocken Press, 1971. Pp. 87~. $8.95. There is a continuous line from Plato to the Fourth Gospel. During the intervening centuries Plato's Idea received many supplementary insights and concepts into itself. In all probability the most significant, from the standpoint of later Christian teaching, was supplied by Philo of Alexandria. Philo was a well-educated Jew, and a well-educated Greek. He was a Roman citizen and the elected leader of the huge Jewish community of Alexandria, in which capacity he visited Rome. He lived in the last quarter of the first pre-Christian century and well into the first Christian century. The exact dates of his birth and death are unknown. Philo was the...