Politica de Vitoria por Antonio Gomez Robledo, La Filosofia de la Ley segun Domingo de Soto por Alfonso Zahar Vergara, The Main Problems of Philosophy by Dr. Oswaldo Robles (review)

BOOK REVIEWS Politica de Vitoria. Por ANTONIO GoMEz RoBLEDO. Mexico City: Ediciones de Ia Universidad Nacional, 1940. Pp. 165. La Filosofia de la Ley segun Domingo de Soto. Por ALFoNso ZAHAR VERGARA. Mexico City: Editorial Jus, 1946. Pp. 173, with index. The Main Problems of Philosophy. By Dr. OswALDO RoBLEs. (Translated by K. F. Reinhardt) Milwaukee: Bruce, 1946. Pp. 210, with index. $3.00. Philosophic thought in the United States has ever shown interest in the teaching ·of European thinkers and, in recent years, in the doctrines emanating from the Far East. Rarely has attention been paid the development of philosophic issues by the thinkers of the New World " south of the bordet." To assign all the reasons for this neglect, and, at times, contempt, would be difficult, not to say temerarious, for one who has not plumbed the complexities of Latin American relations. Yet, one explanation inevitably suggests itself. The tradition of the Catholic Church and its schools and scholars has been foreign to the ways of thinking of the philosophers of the United States and, for the most part, of historical moment; to the cultures of Latin America it has been and is vital. The three works under consideration are evidence of that vitality. Senor Gomez Robledo presents us with more than a mere essay on the politics of Vitoria; it is a commemoration of the fourth centenary of the Relectionea De India, it is the homage of a nation to the creator of international law, it is a sketch of the man, his times, his ideals, his theories on the state, and on war. To his own enthusiasm, Senor Gomez adds the critical observations and encomiums of such scholars as Barcia Trelles, Brown Scott, Recasens Siches, and Thomas Delos, 0. P. He :fin,ds little to blame and ·much to praise in the great scholastic, pointing out among other things that Vitoria anticipated the juridical concepts of Kelsen and the Austrian school. He has, however, at times been deceived, partly by his own evident and rather hysterical dislike for Black and Brown Fascism-but never Red!:_and partly by verbal similarities into claiming Vitoria as a supporter without further qualification of democracy in whatsoever milieu that much abused word be applied. No doubt further study and fuller penetration into their terminology will reveal to him how Thomists, by virtue of the distinction between the ultimate object of authority and its actual exercise, can upon occasion demand a single strong ruler, without becoming Fascists. Senor Zahar Vergara has dedicated his nascent talents to a study of 105 106 BOOK REVIEWS Vitoria's great disciple and first conquest, Dominic Soto, 0. P., the Lion of Trent, whose treatise De lure et Justitia lay side by side with Vitoria's Relectiones in the library of every jurist of consequence in Europe for centuries. There is a suggestion of Jaspers (Psych. d. Weltan.) in the way he begins his study with rather more than a glance at the intellectual ferment of the time in which Soto moved, as evidenced in the ideas of three of Soto's contemporaries: in Vitoria, the denial of arbitrary power to the prince and the exaltation of individual conscience as the basis of justice and right; in Melchior Cano, the denial of special privileges to the temporal power of the Pope and his consequent exposure to the hazards of power politics; and, in Mariana, the denial of absolute power and the justification of regicide as a threat to ambitious and immoral rulers. Soto then is conceived as a product of his times; the doctrines of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, ordered and co-ordinated by St. Thomas, under the impact of the religious, social, and political upheavals, guided by Vitoria, resulted in a treatise on juridical metaphysics which is fundamental to all juridical knowledge. Then after a brief biographical sketch, Soto's doctrine is summarized under three headings: the general concept of law, the eternal and the natural law, and the human or civil law. Soto is Thomistic throughout. In presenting Soto's thought, Zahar constantly compares him with St. Thomas and not infrequently finds St. Thomas clearer and more definite. Hence Soto seems...