The Problem of Truth and Reality in Grisebach's Thought (review)

406 HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY the formal notion of a transcendental unity of apperception. This notion lives on in Ryle's remarks concerning the systematic elusiveness of the "I" and in the Strawsonian conception of the person . In Husserl's phenomenology, however, the transcendental unity of apperception appears to be transformed into a substantial, as opposed to a merely formal, entity-a non-empirical substance which is the source of meaning-giving acts and of meaning as well. But what status, what justification can this notion have? What sense does it make to speak of a non-empirical, non-psychological, non-Kantianly formal "subject" of experience. Here Farber is unhelpful, though demonstrably clear on Husserl's position . "For the more thoroughgoing understanding of experience, the natural world and all metaphysical beliefs are suspended, or are placed in abeyance . Since the descriptions of phenomenology do not refer to the experiences of actual empirical persons, it would be wrong to designate phenomenology as descriptive psychology in the usual sense . Nothing is said about human beings, and no hypotheses are made ." [pp. 43-44] More areas could be examined, but I shall forego this examination . Having said this, however , I do not wish to end on a negative note . This would be to do Farber a great injustice . From the standpoint of Anglo-American philosophy, to get clear on what is unclear or problematic in phenomenology is a decided gain . Farber's book, though employing to large extent the terminology of phenomenology, helps us to get elear concerning a number of such areas. For this reason it is a valuable contribution to the literature on phenomenology . STEPHEN A. ERICKSON Pomona College The Problem of Truth and Reality in Grisebach's Thought . By G. A. Rauche . National Council for Social Research, Department of Education, Arts, and Science Publication Series No. 21. (Pretoria, South Africa : J. L. van Schaik, 1966. Pp. [iii] + 122 .) Eberhard Grisebach is, as G . A . Rauche in the introduction to his bonk states, "a man who has nearly been forgotten." Grisebach has indeed been forgotten today in his native Germany and is certainly virtually unknown abroad, where outside of Kant and Hegel and a few men who have emigrated in this century (e.g., Carnap, Cassirer, Tillich) German philosophy as a whole has remained a (nonetheless respected) mystery . Rauche-as disciple of Grisebach and rare member of both Anglo-Saxon and German philosophical traditions-would seem to be a good choice to remedy these defects . His stated purpose in writing this book is as much practical as philosophical : "to pave the way for a further study of his [Grisebach's] philosophy, which may help man to adopt an attitude towards life which is more suited than the present one is to coping with the problems and the difficulties of the actual situation" (p. 1). Whether this cautiously stated goal is attained here by Rauche or not, we feel that in any case this is a valuable attempt in that it can perhaps bring nearer the goal at which we hinted earlier-increased understanding of modern German philosophy in the Englishspeaking world . Eberhard Grisebach lived from 1880 until 1945, and as much as his thought was involved in life ("actuality") so was his life bound up with an involvement in those troubled times . Politically we see him swing from the optimism and nationalism of the German nation that lasted until the end of World War I to the pessimism brought about by the following economie and political chaos . This pessimism led Grisebach to a rejection of all thinking, political or philosophical, as meaningless ; this standpoint, although critical, was certainly not thee in a position to give an alternative to Adolf Hitler . Philosophically Grisebach began during the period of optimism with the Idealists, Socrates, Plato, Giodano Bruno, Descartes, and Kant, then passed on to the Neokantians Rickert and Windelband . However by 1908 Grisebach already considered the "optimism" of these thinkers too abstract and became attracted during a stay in England to the theory of society of the English Pragmatists with its rejection of all metaphysics . Realizing soon, however, BOOK REVIEWS 407 that in this theory the judgment of society itself-again a mere product...