Cybernetics. Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine by Norbert Wiener (review)

BOOK REVIEWS suffice. The De Principiis Naturae covers the whole matter succinctly in some 14 pages. Neither teachers nor students need wonder whether the book is 'Thomistic,'-it is St. Thomas himself! Finally, this little book which starts one out squarely on the study of the science of nature with a treatment of matter and form and the causes of nature, also brings squarely before the eyes of Thomists the AristotelianThomistic doctrines of chance and necessity in nature (Book II, Lesson VII sq.). There seems to be a certain tendency to skirt apologetically the Aristotelian-Thomistic philosophy of nature in its full implications. But while Thomists are apologizing for it, advanced scientists such as E. T. Whittaker ("Aristotle, Newton, Einstein," Science, Sept. 17, ~4; 1943) are rediscovering it. In fact, in the Lessons mentioned one will find the principles , long ignored, which have now again been recognized not explicitly, but veritate coacti, in the " principle of indeterminism," one of the most recent milestones of science. H Aristotle and St. Thomas are not always abreast of modern scientific theory, it may not be because they are behind it, but because they are ahead of it. That challenge awaits the intrepid Thomist. In the meantime, Prof. Kocourek has helped to start lifting the veil from our crystal balL May he find many coadjutors-and publishers! Providence College, Providence, Rhode Island. PIERRE H. CoNWAY, 0. P. Cybernetics. Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine. By NoRBERT WIENER. New York: J. Wiley and Sons, 1948. Pp. 149. $3.00. Philosophers have frequently been accused of not taking account of what happens outside of their speculative world and of living in too often mentioned "ivory tower." They have been advised to step down and to talk to the people in the market place as did Socrates; whether the people would have the patience and interest to listen to the philosopher may be questioned . Yet, it is true that philosophers cannot afford to overlook what is being done in othe!7. fields of human endeavor. Thus, when a book is announced by the publisher as " of vital importance " for all sorts of specialists , among them the philosopher, it is the latter's task to give due consideration to the matter. If the philosopher sometimes feels that he has not gained much, there are nevertheless other instances in which he realizes the existence of truly philosophical problems arising in fields of which he has hardly any knoweldge. The present work constitutes just such an instance. The facts it reports, the ideas it submits deserve attention and study on the part of the phi- 230 BOOK REVIEWS losopher. The book is written, or at least so claims, to acquaint nonspecialists with highly interesting facts and very suggestive theories and attitudes. Some chapters, however, are quite technical and contain many pages of strictly mathematical reasoning which presupposes a greater knowledge than the average reader probably possesses. Nor is the terminology always intelligible to one not acquainted with certain data, as the case may be, of mathematics, physics, or biology. Unfortunately, there is also a number of rather disturbing printing errors. Thus: on p. 67, "group of operators" rather than "of operations" is probably meant; on p. 77, in the discussion of the equation (3. 081) the symbols are missing to which the remark refers; in the formula (3. 942) a bracket is missing; on p. H7, the discussion is on negative values of t, not of I; the symbols used in the diagram 2 (p. 121) and those used in the explanation are not the same (Y in the latter and y in the former). The reader may wonder why the first equation mentioned has the number (2. 01); suspicion arises that a part has been cut out. These defects are the more regrettable in that they render the study of Dr. Wiener's book even more difficult. Nevertheless, a careful evaluation of the author's ideas is necessary. Dr. Wiener is professor of mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is much more than a mathematician; he possesses an astonishing grasp of many, apparently heterogeneous matters, which he knows how to integrate and relate, The...