Brief Notices

BRIEF NOTICES Europa'ische Philosophie der Gegenwart. By I. M. BocHENSKI. Berne: A. Francke, 1947. Pp. 304, with index. 11.50 s. fr. Philosophy has long stood in need of a single-volume. work that would sift through the welter of contemporary trends, reducing them to an order for study by the professional and for presentation to college students, who are preparing to face present-day problems with the Thomism of their classrooms. The claim to fulfill this need is not made by the author of the present book. But his work, even though confining itself to European philosophy, seems almost tailored for the tremendous need in Thomistic, indeed in all philosophical, literature today. Dr. Bochenski's book can lay claim to unusual character if only because it is the sole book of its type now available. When its general excellence is totalled with the fact of its uniqueness, the combination is inviting to all thinkers who are interested in the modern problem. Such a problem makes a special appeal to the Thomist. It is in the essence of Thomism to deal with all other philosophies not in the spirit of a priori dismissal that St. Thomas' thought so often receives from present-day adversaries but to sift out its truths, signalize its errors, and assimilate the result in a way that cannot but make Thomism more conscious of itself, of its rich progressive , and strictly modern-because perennial-character. This book opens with a concise background chapter on the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Its ambition is to explore the European period between the two wars. Considering space requirements and the vast dimensions of the material to be surveyed, a truly remarkable map of modern thought has been plotted out. The chapter subjects run like this: the philosophy of matter, including the doctrines of Russell, logical positivism , and dialectical materialism; idealism, a treatment of Croce, Brunschvicg , and the branching German schools after the first war; the philosophy of experience, including Bergson, Pragmatism, and German historicism; the philosophy of essence, a discussion of Husserl and Scheler; existentialism, including Heidegger, Sartre, Marcel, and Jaspers; the philosophy of being, a study of Whitehead, Hartmann, and the Thomists. Each chapter is followed by a succinct summary and a swift critical estimate. The end of the book boasts a chronology of modern philosophy year by year from 1900 to 1943 and a classification of contemporary European philosophers according to schools-seventeen such schools are listed. There is an index of important contemporary journals and a bibliography on all the important men treated in the text. There are two indices, one of topics and the other of names. 267 268 BRIEF NOTICES Dr. Bochenski admits in his preface that the history of philosophy cannot be written as one would describe a work of art. A viewpoint is essential , and Bochenski's is that of Thomistic realism. Such a viewpoint does not maim the thoughts of the men being treated. It simply provides a pattern of organization, a reference system. After all, Thomism is a realistic philosophy, and to assess othl!r thought in its white light is like comparing these systems with reality itself. Unfortunately the author does not do justice to the philososphie de l'esprit movement in France which was even stronger before the war than now and which has contributed two of its members to leading philosophy posts in French university life. To emphasize where emphasis is due, a special section might have been in order on the philosophy of method which is. even more important for Russell and the logical positivists than their views on matter. But such criticisims are likely to be flooded out by the otherwise outstanding merits of this book. Modern philosophy is unusually unfamiliar except to those who make special efforts to understand it; in fact the understanding requires the time and patience of the professional philosopher. Hegel boasted at the beginning of his Logic that philosophy, unlike science, was too deep, abstract, and complicated for the ordinary mind. Today, those tables would be turned. It is science and the philosophers who repeat it for their philosophy which remove thought from ordinary experience, and it is genuine...