The Student History of Philosophy by Bernard Delfgaauw (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 593 and Reformed Christian thinking as the basis of true science, and a scriptural educational creed. St. Stephen's CoUege DovM", Mass. MicHAEL STocK, 0. P. The Student History of Philosophy. By BERNARD DELFGAAUW. Translated by N.D. SMITH. Albany: Magi Books, 1968. Pp. :t!!O. $4.95. This one volume survey of Western philosophy is a translation of Fr. Delfgaauw's Beknopte Geschiedenis der Wijsbegeerte. The title selected for the English translation is a happy one; a " concise " history of Western thought is probably beyond hope. But to what avail another short history of philosophy? The proof must be in the classroom pudding. The study of philosophy's history appears to be losing ground in an increasingly crowded college and seminary curriculum. From the introductory survey course the student will take either some lasting appreciation of philosophy's search for ultimates or else the conviction that the past does not speak to his own present. Delfgaauw seems to be mindful of this and faces the challenge rather squarely. The work compares well with the author's previous studies of Marx and Teilhard de Chardin and is a good harbinger for his promised survey of twentieth-century philosophy. Covering philosophy in the West down to the close of the nineteenth century, the present survey traces the essential trends of Greek, medieval and modern thought with clarity and direction. It is, of course, succinct, but expansion by the teacher in class would not be difficult. The opening section on ancient thought discusses Plato and Aristotle in a brisk fifteen pages, which allows room for a sorely needed analysis of Greek and Latin patristic philosophy, a topic often neglected in the seminary curriculum. Delfgaauw's treatment of medieval thought strives to correlate the historical factors in scholasticism's evolution with elements from the thought of chief figures. The author's talent for synthesis is best displayed in sections on the transitional periods, for example, the evolution of the via moderna from the via antiqua. Fully half the survey is devoted to the formation of modern philosophy's worldview and the ramifications of this in the thought of the last century. Delfgaauw does not restrict himself to tracing the epistomological problem, as the emphasis he gives Spinoza testifies. For the author, Spinoza's thought is not extreme rationalism but rather reason in the service of an mystical vision, an amor intellectualis Dei. Those watching the recent attention given Spinoza's Ethica will be pleased with this appreciative position. 594 BOOK REVIEWS The study approaches the nineteenth century through "national " philosophies , and the discussion of German materialism handily recapitulates Delfgaauw's earlier work on Marxist thought. Perhaps the importance given de Biran is not proportionate to his influence in the French school, yet the author defends his case well. On the other hand, the contention that German philosophy had less influence on French thought of the last century than is usually supposed is not explicated as it should be. The significance of Darwin and Spencer on nineteenth-century British thought is rightly stressed, although some may resent their inclusion in a survey of philosophy. The harried teacher of the introductory course is bound to recognize in Pelfgaauw's survey something of value: a swift yet competent look at our intellectual origins which keeps in mind today's students and their impatience with the past. The Pennsylvania State University University Park, Pa. JoHN B. DAVIS, O.P. Movies and Morals. By ANTHONY ScHILLACI, 0. P. Notre Dame, Ind.: Fides Publishers, 1968. Pp. 181. $2.45. Sister Corita once remarked that if Christ were teaching the crowds today, He would be taking them to the movies. Father Schillaci's book, " Movies and Morals," is saying basically the same thing, Films, at least some of them, are in fact contemporary parables, offering the visually literate viewer emotional maturity, moral sensitivity and even religious experience. However, not every Hollywood effort qualifies as modern man's morality play. This is true of even the so-called "religious" films. Father Schillaci contends that movies like "Going My Way," "Say One For Me," "The Bells of St. Mary '," through a cheap and sentimental presentation of their subject, often succeed...