The Great Dialogue of Nature and Space by Yves Simon (review)

344 BOOK REVIEWS Reality." Included in appendices are two articles by Philipp Frank on Mach's philosophy of science, one by Richard von Mises which has hitherto been unavailable in English, and biographical data and a complete bibliography of Mach's writings, including those that have appeared in English translation. In sum, these three volumes contain a wealth of information on the current state of the philosophy of science movement. Like most collections they are uneven in the quality of their thought, in the level of their presentation, and in the philosophical background and presuppositions of the authors represented. This is not necessarily a disadvantage, since the movement has increasingly diversified within the last ten years or so, and the inputs from many different philosophical and historical traditions have contributed greatly to its vitality. In the ten years of the Boston Colloquium's existence, moreover, its discussions have aided considerably in this broadening of perspective, and Professors Cohen and Wartofsky can only be thanked for their untiring efforts to give all interested parties a hearing-ranging from voices within Communist countries that could all too easily go unheard to those of Aristotelians who courageously discuss contemporary scientific problems in terms of their roots in Greek thought. This reviewer has only two adverse criticisms, one probably beyond the control of the editors, viz., the prices of the volumes, and the other probably within their control, viz., the absence of an index of any type in Volumes IV and V. Volume VI has a helpful index of names at the end, and it is to be hoped that at least this minimal reference aid will be continued in future volumes. The Catholic Univermty of America Washington, D. C. WILLIAM A. wALLACE, 0. P. The Great Dialogue of Nature and Space. By YvEs SIMON. Edited by GERARD J. DALcOURT. Albany, N. Y.: Magi Books, 1970. Pp.!W6. $3.75. The first word to be said of this book is that it is splendid, from every point of view. The analyses in all ten chapters are models of philosophical brilliance combined with didactic simplicity and historical exactitude. The editor has organized and polished this posthumous publication with a consummate skill; the publisher has produced a volume that is aesthetically pleasing and of high quality. In his " Preface " Mr. Dalcourt modestly describes this book as one BOOK REVIEWS 345 " that should be of some value to the general reader and also, in some instances, to professional philosophers." (p. xiv) I agree with this description on both counts-except that I cannot imagine what the instances might have been in which Dalcourt thought the volume might not be of value to professional philosophers, for every issue touched on in this book is fundamental in any thorough philosophical reflection on the world and is treated with a scholarly competence at the service of philosophical genius, the kind of genius that puts one in the pure presence of philosophy itself. The book is all the more amazing when one considers that it is composed of no more than the fragments of a volume which Yves Simon had planned as part of a comprehensive 21-volume Encyclopedia of Philosophy, to be published by the University of Chicago Press. Hardly had Professor Simon conceived and laid the groundwork for this monumental Encyclopedia than it was discovered that he was a victim of cancer that ensured an early death, much too early to afford any hope of his carrying through the carefully planned and extensive task of the Encyclopedia. What response does a man make in the face of discovering that his lifework shall go uncompleted, cut off by a mindless and unstoppable perversion of nature itself? Yves Simon's response at least showed the stature of the man and the dedication of the philosopher who had written in his early days: " It is in order to know the truth that one establishes ideas, expresses concepts, constructs, discourses: when that has been realized, one is immunized against a great many of the false conceptions of the activity of the mind." This present book, along with the several other posthumous volumes already published and still to come, is thus the product of...