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210 BOOK REVIEWS tions which defend censorship. " These activities," we are informed, " are dangerous because a small energetic group is able to impose the consequences of its judgments and prejudices on a community, frequently without the majority of the community becoming aware of what has happened." (p. 37) The Commission could not have described more accurately what it is doing. Providence College, Providence, R. I. DAVID A. O'CoNNELL, 0. P. Elements of Logic. By VINCENT E. SMITH, PH. D. Milwaukee: Bruce, 1957. Pp. Q98. $3.50. Dr. Vincent Smith of the University of Notre Dame Faculty has dared to be different in writing a rather novel type of Logic manual for college undergraduates. Well aware of the plethora of textbooks in Logic with an Aristotelian flavor and not unmindful of the popularity enjoyed by books on Symbolic Logic the past few decades on most college campuses in the United States and elsewhere, the author has sincerely and successfully incorporated some new features inĀ· this textbook that should prove very appealing to college instructors in, and college students of, Logic. Among the many distinctive purposes of this book the paramount one was to provide the college undergraduate with the ability " to form a fair off-hand judgment as to the goodness or badness of the method of anyone presenting an argument." (p. 20) This noble objective was to be accomplished by making the Art of Arts " come more .alive for students by presenting it in terms of case histories of logical operations " and by moving " considerably beyond the purely formal treatment of the syllogism and to confront students with some modern applications of logic and the scientific method." (p. vii, Preface) This book has a number of outstanding features. It is very evident that the author has spent many hours in the classroom teaching this subject, for he has a pleasant way of anticipating and appreciating many of the difficulties that usually arise in the minds of college students. He is not unaware, either, that very few college groups will be able in one semester to cover the thirty-five chapters in a perfect way. He is honest enough to suggest that certain compromises in emphasis be made by each instructor according to the needs and abilities of the groups being taught, so long as the primary objective is accomplished. "Case histories," based mostly on crucial questions in our Western culture, are found in each chapter. These quotations from some of the most famous savants of ancient, medieval, and modern times are an innovation worthy of great praise. His BOOK REVIEWS ill choice of texts from such varied intellectual traditions is remarkable . and should significantly enhance the student-appeal of this textbook. Yet, Dr. Smith urges instructors to make frequent use also of editorials in local newspapers and weekly national magazines. All this is in harmony with his main objective in authoring this textbook. His explanations of logical entities will prove to be, in the mind of this reviewer, as intelligible as they will be interesting to the ordinary collegian subjected to a course in the science of correot thinking. Any omissions of traditionally-taught subjects (e. g., obversion, moods of categorical syllogisms, reduction to the first figure, etc:) have been reluctantly made only on the grounds that they do not significantly contribute to gaining the primary objective of this book. Though it would unfair for anyone to write a " scorching review " (p. ~66) on this score, nevertheless, many Scholastic instructors will consider with not a little justification that such omissions represent an unhappy decision in light of the detailed treatment of other subjects that are strictly speaking non-logical, as found in Part VI. His uncanny manner of relating to Logic such a great number of realities in the humanities and sciences assures the student-reader of how practical Logic really can be in everyday life. Finally, one of the most worthwhile features of the book is the extensive treatment of Induction and the popular " scientific method." Structurally, this textbook is conveniently divided into seven major parts, each of which is subdivided usually into three to nine chapters. There are also fifteen invaluable pages listing the References for Case...

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