A Dialogue Between a Philosopher and a Student of the Common Laws of England (review)

90 HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY of the history of terminology and of philosophical ideas, to pursue, as the author does, the different meanings given to the term occasio by the great Cartesians. As happens in many other eases, the meaning of this term is sometimes so ambiguous and so blurred that it must be established case by case through inferences which are not always completely conclusive. This should teach the historian of philosophy to use some cautions which are not frequently exercised, and to refrain from making clear-cut distinctions between different schools of thought, which in many cases do not withstand closer examination. Exchanges, minimal differences, partial confluences between different schools of thought should be paid more attention. Another of the author's main theses is that we cannot speak of "occasionalism" properly in the cases of Clauberg and La Forge. Cordemoy, in his opinion, is the first true occasionalist, prior to Geulincx and Malebranche. In fact, Cordemoy is the first to assume that not only the interaction of physical bodies and the action of the human body on the soul are made possible through God's intervention, but also that the action of the soul on the body is directly mediated by God. The author is aware that this conclusion depends on the definition we give to the term "occasionalism"; but I think that, on the basis of his definition, his point is very well taken. Moreover whatever different definition of "occasionalism" may be introduced subsequently, his remarks on the subject should be recognized as revealing a turning point in the history of this doctrine. A marginal note: Malebranche's first name is not Nicole (pp. 104, 178, 183) but Nicolas. I warmly recommend this work to all persons interested in seventeenth-century philosophy as a sound, comprehensive and stimulating piece of scholarship, whose implications reach far beyond the limits imposed by the author to his research. GIORGIO TONELLI State University of New York at Binghamton A Dialogue Between a Philosopher and a Student of the Common Laws o[ England. By Thomas Hobbes. Edited with an Introduction by Joseph Cropsey. (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1971. Pp. vii+ 168) This new and handsome edition of Hobbes's work is favored with an introduction by Joseph Cropsey. Early in it, Professor Cropsey examines both the authenticity of Hobbes's authorship as well as problems concerning its date of composition and whether or not it is to be taken as an incomplete or unfinished work. He does not find evidence to question with any conviction that Hobbes is indeed the author, nor does he think that we need consider the work incomplete or unfinished although granting that it begins and ends in medias res. The bulk of his Introduction is a running commentary and summary of the Dialogue (I shall use this abbreviated name for the book) whose main personae are a student of the common law (a lawyer) usually representing the opinions of Sir Edward Coke (1552-1634) but sometimes introducing Hobbesian concepts, and a philosopher, for the most part identifiable with Hobbes and his thought but expressing some of Sir Francis Bacon's thought as well. Professor Cropsey in that part of his Introduction, and it is substantial, in which he presents his own interpretation is at times original, often incisive, and always interesting. He ties Hobbes to Bacon in the Iatter's attempts to achieve supremacy for Chancery or statute or equity over common law. Based upon a fascinating and profound insight into Bacon and Hobbes, Cropsey notes BOOK REVIEWS 91 the true rationality of law inheres not simply in the reason of the sovereign doctrinairely insisted upon but in the endurability of the laws as that is signified or imparted to them through the assent of the people in Parliament. As I hope will appear, Hobbes maintains the king's prerogative, the need for the assent of Parliament, and the indispensability of subordinating the common law (thus the legal profession) to statute and Chancery or equity. This is the paradigm of Bacon's practical politics. (p. 14) In this same vein, perhaps, the inner leaf of the cover to this edition of Hobbes's Dialogue "advertises...