The Mind of Kierkegaard by James Collins (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 261 there is always the danger, in this hindsight or post mortem analysis of older works, of reading too much into their contents. Extreme caution must be observed and, if it is, then a proper historical judgment can be made on medieval logic, and at the same time this accurate and comprehensive estimate of medieval logic may be the means of bringing together these two great schools of logic. If Fr. Boehner's work succeeds in arousing scholars to action towards the construction of this historical judgment, his work will be justified, although his publication of such minimal results probably will not sufficiently convince many that it is urgent for this lacuna to be filled. More material and a more comprehensive outline, even though it meant a later publication date, would have achieved his purpose much more efficiently, it seems to us. The most interesting part of Medieval Logic is the section which discusses Ockham's consequences, explaining them and symbolizing them in modern notation. Of particular interest are those consequences which show that Ockham had a complete mastery of De Morgan's Laws. This is the best part of Fr. Boehner's book. Fr. Boehner is to be praised for his editing of the Burleigh text and for his attempt to promote harmony between scholastic and modern logic, or rather between the descendants of scholastics and modern logicians. There is a need of more men of Fr. Boehner's stature, logicians acquainted with both scholastic and modern logic, in order to bring about this harmony. Actually, the existence of such logicians will constitute this very harmony. The Catholic University of America Washington, D. C. THOMAS B. WRIGHT The Mind of Kierkegaard. By JAMES CoLLINS. Chicago: Regnery, 1953. Pp. 308 with index. $4.50. The title of this book accurately indicates that it deals primarily with the content of Kierkegaard's thought, " the structure of his shareable convictions." This it tries to do, without overlooking the importance of the personal attitude of response and responsibility before the truth, an oversight which Kierkegaard constantly criticized the ' dons ' for making." (p. viii) The exposition " confines itself to the philosophical aspects of his fundamental dialectic of esthetical, ethical and religious modes of experience," (p. xi) leaving to the theologians the religious and theological aspects of Kierkegaard's thought. In addition to presenting the thought of Kierkegaard, this book also " attempts to give a philosophical appraisal of Kierkegaard's standpoint." (pp. viii-ix) In this task of evaluation the focus is primarily on Kierkegaard in himself rather than as a progenitor of existentialism. He is, in this phase of Professor Collins' work, studied BOOK REVIEWS not only against his "proximate philosophical situation" of post-Kantian German philosophy but also in the light of Christian philosophical thought found in St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas. Throughout the work Dr. Collins relies chiefly upon the works of Kierkegaard himself. Thus the initial chapter, "Kierkegaard The Man" is based upon his Journals, and sketches his life as son, lover, author and witness to the truth. The second and third chapters deal respectively with the esthetic and ethical views while in the fourth and fifth the philosophical works-Philosophical Fragments, Concluding Unscientific Postscript, and the " Introduction " to The Concept of Dread-are considered. The fourth chapter, " The Attack Upon Hegelianism " shows the negative aspect of these works, that is, as a critique of Hegel; while the fifth, " The Meaning of Existence," shows the positive contribution in the new theory of existence. The eighth and concluding chapter," Kierkegaard and Christian Philosophy ," examines the degree to which "Kierkegaard's detached insights can be rendered philosophically meaningful by incorporation into, and correction by, the body of Thomistic doctrine concerning existence, man, and God." (p. xii) Finally, a "Bibliographical Note" lists, among other things, the twenty Kierkegaard titles available in English, and ·the major bibliographical , expository and evaluative works in English and other languages. In the twenty-six pages of footnotes which follow there are contained some independently valuable discussions. This is a typical Collins performance: it is, therefore, the most mature study of Kierkegaard in English. It is as definitive an account of the thought of Kierkegaard as Walter...