Education at the Crossroads by Jacques Maritain (review)

110 FRANCISCAN STUDIES of thinking” (p. 6). To achieve this end, Dr. Fearon has devoted about half the book to topics not usually associated with logic as such. There are sections on "How to Analyse,” "How to Associate,” "How to Memorize,” "How to Succeed." The section entitled "How to Reason” devotes 56 pages to logic properly so-called (Propositions and Syllogisms) and 48 pages to what is called "Skills for Good Reasoning” (How to test a syllogism to see whether it is good or bad reasoning; How to examine each word for its meaning, etc.). The practical angle, as is to be expected, is emphasized throughout and the importance of doing many exercises is consistently reiterated. Specimen examples of such exercises accompany each new topic dealt with, but unfortunately they are not of uniform value. There is an interesting summary of rules relative to the discipline of efficient study on pp. 67-71. Similar summaries, in fact, are a welcome feature of the whole book. Quite apart from them, however, the author tends to be rather repetitious — a fault which may be excused on the assumption that the book is not intended as a text for class-use, but rather as a vehicle for private study; and by the fact that it is professedly addressed to high-school students and college freshmen in particular, though it is intended "for all intelligent persons over fourteen” (p. 1). Occasionally the style lapses into a display of benevolent paternalism, but it is usually clear and very readable. We were a trifle shocked at the unnecessary statement in the Introduction: "I shall even sacrifice accuracy to facility of expression and simplicity” (p. 6), but were relieved to find only one outstanding example of this principle put into practice — viz., in the definition of the syllogism on p. 75. While bigger and better books have been written about each of Dr. Fearon’s five sections, we feel that he has presented a representative summary of the main points, and has fashioned a very useful little manual for students who are anxious to synthesize and apply the mass of information gleaned from many passive curricular courses. How to Think can be recommended to even professors of logic in our seminaries as a directive for a course that 'might profitably supplement or precede the usual courses in formal logic. Seba stia n D a y, O . F. M. St. Bonaventure College, St. Bonaventure, N. Y. Education at the Crossroads. By Jacques Maritain. (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1943. Pp. x+120. $2.00.) This volume comprises the Terry Lectures delivered at Yale University in 1943. Though the lectures were certainly never meant to be popular, the subject matter is most timely and up-to-date. As might be expected from Maritain the philosopher, the treatment is comprehensive and thorough; and no course in education can afford to neglect this little volume. In truly philosophical style, Maritain goes right to the root of matters. Since "the chief task of education is above all to shape man” the author shows how the aims, the technique, and the matter of education depend upon the true nature of man. He corrects the misconceptions regarding man’s nature BOOK REVIEWS 111 which have led to false educational theories and practices; outlines the ideal curriculum; lays down the fundamental dispositions and norms which must guide both pupil and teacher; discusses the whole process of a liberal edu­ cation from the kindergarten to the university; and finally reviews the trials of present-day education and the tasks it will face in the post-war world. Stressing, throughout, man’s spiritual nature, the philosopher never loses sight of the fact that man’s is still a fallen and weakened nature, and that education’s task of freeing man’s inner spirit is beset with many obstacles and pitfalls. "In the education of the mind the emphasis should be shifted from that which is pressure . . . to that which awakens and frees the aspira­ tions of spiritual nature in us. Thus creative imagination, and the very life of the intellect, would not be sacrificed to cramming memorization or to the conventional rules of skill in making...