The Concept of Order ed. by Paul G. Kuntz (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 163 would surely have had merit. But the reader can only ask whether such an approach was truly helpful when at the end of his study the author concludes that the Angelic Doctor's treatment of eviternity (aevum) in his Commentary on the Sentences of Peter Lombard and the Summa Theologiae , while differing perhaps verbally, is in effect, "really equivalent in the framework of his system." (p. 114) Equally questionable is the manner in which the author has incorporated so many lengthy, untranslated texts into his main narrative. In numerous instances the author's purpose could just as easily have been served by synthesizing and/or incorporating parts of the texts themselves into his narrative and relegating the full Latin text to a convenient footnote. The final synthesis, too, lacks satisfying sharpness and precision. Even here the reader is confronted with an additional ten pages whose narrative is often interrupted by fresh Latin texts. Yet, despite these shortcomings, all the more unfortunate since a thorough revision of the dissertation's original format could have eliminated most of them, this work is surely representative of thorough and sound scholarship, and should prove helpful to students of Aquinas wishing to explore in depth his teaching on duration in the separated substances and the human soul. Seattle University Seattle, Washington JAMES B. REICHMANN, s. J. The Concept of Order. Edited by PAUL G. KuNTZ. Seattle & London: The University of Washington Press, 1968. Pp. 518. $12.50. The concept of order has always been one of the pivotal notions in philosophy. Thoughout the centuries many attempts have been made to discuss order (or disorder) and the implications which it has for philosophy. Today any attempt to discuss order must begin not only with a philosophical analysis but with the way in which other disciplines rest upon a concept of order. Science, art, history and the social sciences as well as philosophy all demand a penetrating analysis of order. This book is a collection of twenty-eight essays on order plus an introductory essay by the editor. The work is the fruit of a seminar on order held at Grinnell College in 1963-1964. The authors represent a wide variety of academic disciplines, and one of the important features of the collection is its interdisciplinary character. In the attempt to describe a basic concept from a variety of perspectives the authors bring into sharp focus the necessity of broadening one's point of view. The different approaches to order come to be seen as complementary and the richness of the notion of order emerges. 164 BOOK REVIEWS In certain ages the concept of order was regarded as a simple idea, and it was believed that by reason man could come to know the basic order of the universe. This unifying concept of order was thought to be one which would bring together the way in which the concept was employed in different disciplines. Thus, it was thought that there was a basic order at the foundation of the physical sciences whose laws could be expressed in relationship to this basic order. When interest was centered upon the philosophy of history, it was thought by some that man would uncover the basic order which was behind the process of history. The authors who write in this collection do not represent one point of view, but they do agree on the need for a sophisticated understanding of order. Thus, for example, Eric Voegelin finds in history not a simple order but the co-existence of various movements and institutions which tend to be found together. These he calls configurations, and he is able to find some order in history in terms of recurring configurations. Arnold Toynbee appreciates the importance of Voegelin's analysis and attempts to find the foundations of order in history in the regularity and uniformity stemming from man's subconscious. The order which is uncovered by the physical sciences is expressed in laws which indicate a statistical determinism. As John Greene indicates, however, the physical idea of order is by no means simple. The entropy of the laws of thermodynamics is not easily reconciled with an evolutionary understanding of order. In fact...