De Homine by Aloisius Bogliolo (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 188 in the right direction, then our human consciousness seems utterly powerless to orient us toward the divine Absolute. Consequently, our Christian faith would be radically and totally discontinuous with our experience of personal becoming. The apparent absence of any significant statements about the question of analogy and symbolism in religious language is a sign that this book is not prepared to confront the contemporary problems of belief and unbelief in their more technical dimensions. Although the author maintains that his commitment to modern philosophy does not blind him to other alternatives of theologizing, it does appear to have narrowed his vision enough to keep him from exposing his own notions to the critical light of more classical approaches. In his introduction (p. fll) he would ask that his position be heard in the private forum of an individual's reasons for the way and the why of his life, if it cannot be successfully defended " in the court of the history of ideas." But the fact of the matter is that he has chosen to publish his ideas, and so the public courts of theological learning have a right, indeed a responsibility, to hear their defense in the context of the history of ideas. I consider it fortunate for all of us in the academic community of theology that such a promising young Christian thinker has chosen to share his reflections in a book; and we look forward to hearing more from him. In the meantime, it is my hope that he will permit the wisdom of the ages to enlighten and mature his position more fully, at least as it is reflected through the minds of great contemporaries whose philosophical theologies are modern classics. Dominican House of Studies Washington, D. C. FREDERICK M. JELLY, 0. P. De Homine. By ALorsms BoGLIOLO. Rome: The Lateran University Press, 1968. Pp. 395, with bibliography and name index. This first of an intended three-volume treatise covering the entire field of philosophy by a distinguished professor of the Lateran University concerns itself with the study of man. It would appear that the two projected volumes will treat of the world and of God. While the present volume is entitled De Homine, it cuts a somewhat wider swath than most manuals in philosophical psychology or anthropology . It is made up of what, in effect, are three distinct treatises of almost equal length. The first treats of those problems which are ordinarily covered in Logic; the second covers the traditional area of Critica or Gnoseology, and the third takes up the questions ordinarily treated in philosophical psychology. 184 BOOK REVIEWS The work claims to be an exposition of perennial philosophy according to the principles of Aquinas, updated to meet contemporary needs according to the norms laid down by Vatican II. Yet, the reader may seriously question whether this aim has been realistically met. The exposition of the philosophia perennis is certainly there, although there is little evidence of an attempt to correlate it with contemporary philosophical thought. Apart from a brief historical survey of some twenty-five pages which begins with early oriental philosophy and concludes with some of the prominent Thomist philosophers of the twentieth century, there is scarcely more than a passing mention of any philosopher other than St. Thomas himself. Exceptions occur only where various philosophers are listed as adversaries of a particular thesis, and in these instances the account is always brief and without a searching analysis of the positions described. One might also legitimately query whether the method the author employs is not more closely related to that of theology than of philosophy, for in numerous instances the authority alone of Aquinas would seem sufficient to prove a point. Consequently, it is to be feared that the reader would search in vain in this volume for fresh insights into contemporary philosophy and/or its relation to the philosophy of Aquinas. On the positive side of the ledger, however, it must be said that in De Homine the author presents us with an extremely well-ordered synthesis of the philosophy of Aquinas as it pertains to logic, epistemology and philosophical psychology. He has a truly magisterial command of...