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172 BOOK REVIEWS ophy programs. Yet it is not a text-book nor is it a monograph which could be picked up by a casual observer or an unsophisticated student of philosophy interested in discovering what contemporary philosophers have to say about perception theories. And it is precisely this point which has caused this reviewer some anguish. I make the following comment from the perspective of a teacher of philosophy. A book like this, serious and important as it is, would be better if it contained a competent and lucid introductory chapter, especially one expository in nature, which would indicate where in the flow of contemporary philosophy these papers and responses fit. This type of introduction would be an invaluable asset for students of philosophy confronting these difficult issues for the first time, either in seminars or through independent study. I realize that at times authors are under pressures from publishing-house editors to limit severely the size of introductions . Nevertheless, editorial policy should be in keeping with educational needs. And one such educational need for books of this caliber is the inclusion of introductory material helping students to become aware of how the important papers contained within the book are connected with each other and how the issues discussed are related to the other concerns central to twentieth-century epistemology. Denison University Granville, Ohio ANTHONY J. LISSKA The Political Philosophy of Luis de Molina, S.J. (1535-1600). By FRANK BARTHOLOMEW COSTELLO, S. J. Roma: Institutum Historicum Societatis Iesu, 1974. Pp. XXVIII + 242. Paper. Father Costello, now of Gonzaga University, Spokane, is a former student of Heinrich Rommen at Georgetown. The present work, his dissertation researched in Rome, is Vol. XXXVIII in the Bibliotheca Instituti Historici Societatis Iesu. It is monographic in its documentation: there is a bibliography containing every work cited, an index, and long footnotes which include quotations from Molina's Latin. But the simple and clean prose makes the book swift and readable. Moreover the report of Molina's thought is spiced at the beginning and end of each chapter with ancient and recent parallels and contrasts. These wide-ranging citations make the reading easy and enjoyable, provided one is willing to pass over the exhaustive footnotes. The book is divided into nine chapters which open with Molina's biographical and historical setting, and then take up in tum his theories of civil society, political authority, the right of resistance, church and state, war, slavery, and law. A brief concluding note is appended to the last chapter. BOOK REVIEWS 178 The reader is impressed with Father Costello's mastery of the materials and his admiration for his subject. Molina receives from him an apologetic treatment in the face of the " almost universal neglect " of the great Spanish jurist-theologian by modern scholars, notably political scientists and international lawyers. Father Costello places Molina at the head of the " socialmetaphysical tradition of the Jesuits". In the summer of sixteenth-century scholasticism, he writes, " Molinism became the distinctive flower of Jesuit thought." (p. 231) \ Molina's political thought is encompassed in the massive De Justicw et Jure, which began as lectures commenting on the Secunda Secundae of St. Thomas at the University of Evora in Portugal. Its five volumes, published betwen 1593 and 1609, are subdivided into tractates and disputations . Although the plan of the work is original, its inspiration came from Aristotle's classification of justice. Besides St. Thomas, Molina's work was strongly influenced by two other Dominicans, more contemporary with him: Vittoria and Soto. No doubt the neglect of Molina by historians of political philosophy is largely due to his adherence to a tradition already established by illustrious predecessors. Molina's treatment of the origin and nature of civil society unfolds along Aristotelian-Thomistic lines. He postulates three broad groups of reasons for the origin of political society. The first two provide a natural basis for the state's directive function: indigentia (the instinctive rational sense of need) and socialitas (which insures the possibility of human development ). The third is responsible for the coercive power of the state: eventus peccati (the effects of original sin). As for political authority, Molina is among the Translation theorists, who...

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