New Themes in Christian Philosophy ed. by Ralph M. McInerny (review)

204 BOOK REVIEWS of moral value and ethics, e. g., William B. Hund (Notre Dame} on Franz Brentano, Germain Grisez (Georgetown U.) on methods of ethical inquiry, and Gerard Dalcourt (Seton Hall U.) on natural law theory. In philosophy of nature and philosophical psychology there are papers on motion as conceived in the sixteenth century (William A. Wallace, Dom. House of Studies, Washington), on the evolution of the notion of cause (George A. Blair, Villa Madonna College), and on sensation and perception, with penetrating comments by Theresa Crem (U. of San Francisco). A special symposium treats of Bernard Lonergan's theory of inquiry and its relation to American thought. Here salient questions are raised by the participants and answered by Father Lonergan. Other noteworthy papers treat of Marius Victorinus and his philosophy of the living God (Mother Mary T. Clark) , of the cosmological argument (Peter Bertocci) , and of Heidegger and Thomistic metaphysics (William E. Carlo, Boston College, James F. Anderson, Villanova U.). This volume shows that the work of the founding fathers is being continued by earnest and broad-minded persons seeking ecumenical contact and understanding between the past and the present in philosophy and religion. There is something here for everyone, and much that is true and good. Aquinas Institute of Philosophy River Forest, Illinois WILLIAM H. KANE, o. P. New Themes in Christian Philosophy. Edited by RALPH M. MciNERNY. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1968. Pp. 416. $9.50. Whatever be the outcome of the recurring arguments about the exact relationships between philosophy and the Christian message, there can be no doubt that there has been and will continue to be an interaction between these two vital areas of human thought and activity. The present volume offers seventeen essays designed to " provide a wide-ranging view of today's philosophy which attempting to achieve a coherent picture of what the Church sees through these re-opened windows." Because these articles are the papers presented at a conference held at the University of Notre Dame in September 1966, they are limited by the range of the purposes of that conference. That the scope is a wide one is clear from the variety of subjects discussed and the differences of outlook presented. No reader will fail to be satisfied by some of the articles or, by the same token, fail to find fault with others. No anthology ever totally suceeds or totally fails. On balance, however, any student of these matters will find the work a useful tool for pointing out the various contemporary trends in thought affecting both philosophical and religious issues. BOOK REVIEWS 205 There are several historical studies that are readable and illuminating·, together with others whose authors seem to have forgotten the advice which warns that the ignorance of history inevitably brings in its wake the repetition of historical errors. Nowhere is the advice more needed than in philosophy and religion where dead horses are dragged out to be beaten again and again. A case in point is the whole area of man's knowledge, particularly on the intellectual level. Notwithstanding the obvious lacunae in our grasp of the total picture, there are many problems here that have been at least partially solved, but the solutions are ignored or forgotten by those who do not know their history. A number of the articles have appended comments which evaluate, reinforce or perhaps controvert opinions expressed in the articles. These comments are often very helpful in eliminating confusion or tempering undue enthusiasm for some precious opinion. The difficulties of terminology encountered in the writings of thinkers having differing backgrounds is pointed up in several of the comments. This difficulty of terminology makes for muddy writing in which the book abounds. When the commentators who heard the paper are baffled, it is inevitable that readers will be more completely at sea. After closing the book, two strong impressions remained with me. One was a nostalgic longing for the times when most of those attempting to do philosophy made some use of the fundamental scholastic disciplines having to do with the acts of the mind and modes of knowing, because these make language intelligible, and no contemporary or...