Science in Synthesis by William H. Kane, O. P., et al (review)

268 BOOK REVIEWS may help us to see how different is St. Thomas from both the great Greek thinkers and therefore how much .more profound is his own original insight into the mystery of being. We believe this work a major contribution to the real understanding of St. Thomas to be placed alongside the works of Fabro, Santeler, Geiger, de Finance, and Isaye, on this important doctrine of participation as the key principle of Thomism. The Catholic Univ!N'sity of America, Washington, D. C. CHARLES A. HART Science in Synthesis. By WILLIAM H. KANE, 0. P. and others. River Forest, Ill.: Albertus Magnus Lyceum for Natural Science, 1953. Pp. 9l89 with index. $3.50. There is something quite wrong in the universe of modern scientific thought. The error (or errors, depending upon how fundamental the roots are) has its ramifications throughout the entire structure not only of educational institutions but as well of the thinking of " modern man." The fact that the error has som:e very definite relation to the lack of unification of the sciences is recognized by some. There are others who maintain that atomization on every level is the very instrument of and not merely a sign of scientific emancipation and progress. Still others see no problem at an. There have been a great number of volumes addressing themselves to the task of specifying this problem and offering various solutions. Philosophical and scientific conventions have devoted much time to the subject. The results so far have had varying degrees of failure. In some instances the readers have laid down the book or the participants have come away from the discussions with really nothing but aversion to philosopher or to scientist, or to theologian, to whomever might seem to be trying to shackle the other. The present volume is the published summary of a portion of what seems to be the most promising approach to this problem to date. In general it has overcome many of the difficulties which have prevented a truly " scientific " analysis of the problem on a level where alone it might be specified and solved. The authors do not believe that the problem can be faced in the narrow thinking of one particular science~ nor in the confines of one particular age or stage of the development of' that science, but rather that the problem must be specified and ultimately solved in the context o'f the whole history of science and human thought and in the broad expanses of all of the major disciplines. How this is accomplished is the uniqueness of the Albertus Magnus Lycem for Natural Science. The Lyceum is a " permanent institution of collaboration " established at BOOK REVIEWS 269 the Dominican House of Studies, River Forest, lll. The dialectical methods by which the institute overcomes the obvious handicaps of other attempts are only new in the sense that they are not a part of the present scientific society but rather have their lost roots in the " dialectical method " of Socrates as well as the disputations of the Middle Ages. A meeting of the minds is certainly an indispensable foundation for the objective of the unification of the sciences for this can hardly be accomplished without the unification of scientists. In coming to agreement," a meeting of the minds," it is perhaps even more important to discover underlying disagreement in apparent agreement as it is to uncover underlying agreement amidst apparent disagreement. The method is precisely this: that of systematic discussion in terms of questions and expositions among the members. The topics for discussion are based on standard texts in the fields. A leader of the group had the task of initiating the discussion with questions and also of closing each session with a summary of the discussion. Though unanimity might be desired, it was rather understanding which was the prime objective of the sessions. As it turned out, it seems that there was little unanimity but considerable progress toward cooperation and understanding. Total success was, however, not achieved in any of the sessions but there does seem to be manifest a progressive trend toward a perfection in this order as the weeks proceeded. Whether this was due to...