Philosophy of the Social Sciences: A Reader (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 185 security, but to wholeness and freedom, to the realization of himself as Man unqualified by facts of individual biography. The whole man reconciles the creative and servile acts. He creates works of art conceived in his mind and embodied well and truly in a material substance . But every man is both an artist and a user of art. Man as user needs the work of art as a support for his meditation, in order to re-create the form in his own mind. It is necessary, therefore, to ask not only what a work of art means, but for what use it was intended. If it has no specific use, it is not art, but merely decoration. If it has no meaning, it is not art, but merely a utility. To evaluate Indian art, one must ask both questions, for there is in it no separation of sacred and profane, meaning and utility. Indian art expresses divine reality even in the common objects of daily use. A beautiful sword, for example, is not merely a useful piece of equipment, but the va#a (thunderbolt) of Indra is a material likeness, and the swordsman is not a mere man, but Indra himself, particularized temporarily in history. The art of India and Ceylon declares itself to be the representation of God, who is given human proportions so that man might hear the Unheard through sound and see the Unseen through sight. Art and religion are indeed one. Coomaraswamy has been criticized as a traditionalist, blind to the problems and complexities of modern life, and it is certainly true that he does not deal adequately with modern movements in art. However that may be, in the light of man's present disorientation, would it not be worthwhile for a moment to heed Coomaraswamy's call to wholeness, and to reaffirm the integrity of all those who trust to their hands, everyone being wise in his work? The present book demonstrates that the world has not always been at odds with itself, and that beauty and goodness and honor can be appreciated even now as ultimate virtues in the life of man. This book is more than a treatise on exotic art; it is an affirmation that man and his works both declare the glory of God. JOHN T. HATFIELD McGiU University Philosophy o] the Social Sciences: A Reader. Edited by Maurice Natanson. (New York: Random House, 1963. Pp. 560. $7.50.) This collection of contemporary essays is the first in its field. For several reasons, it is likely to remain as one of the most important sources in the philosophy of the social sciences. While none of the writings appears in this collection for the first time, all are substantial selections , and most are reprinted in complete form. Natanson has striven to provide, as he says, "true units from writers who are aware of each other, who discuss each other's work, who examine each other's ideas in a controversial way." What further distinguishes this anthology is ,Natanson's conception of the fundamental controversy in the philosophy of the social sciences. The writings have been selected and organized as illustrations of a basic dialectical argument between "subjective" and "objective" approaches to social reality. In adopting this unifying theme and rationale, Natanson acknowledges the inspiration of the late Alfred Schutz. Yet Natanson is less willing than his mentor to rest content with such vague labels as "subjectivism" and "objectivism" in philosophy and the social sciences. One of the most valuable lessons of the book is its disclosure of the variety of positions which have shaped--and which will continue to shape--the philosophy of the social sciences. Subjectivism is represented, not only by phenomenologists such as Merleau -Ponty, Schutz, and Natanson himself, but by such diverse spokesmen as Simmel, Peter Winch, and Leo Strauss. On the objectivist side we find an equal diversity among such writers as Max Weber, Ernest Nagel, Carl G. Hempel, and A. J. Ayer. Clearly, many of the writers mentioned above would not agree with Natanson's contention that "the fundamental nature of the social world" should be the basic preoccupation of a philosophy of the...