Book Note

BOOK REVIEWS 325 would be useful were the present monograph to be complemented by another one on the Kuki-Heidegger encounter. The writings of Kuki presented by Light rely substantially on Western philosophical concepts (e.g., "idealism," "the absolute," "the infinite," "pantheism") in their attempt to convey the character of Japanese thought, and Tomio Tezuka in his conversation with Heidegger implies that Kuki's efforts were compromised by this conceptual baggage.3 But Light tells us that Kuki was the "possessor of an enormous culture" (23) as one of those rare thinkers thoroughly schooled in both oriental and western modes of thought, and his essays exhibit a real talent for cross-cultural comparison-especially his two lectures delivered at Pontigny in t928 and published in France under the title Propos sur le temps (one wonders whether Albert Camus read this volume, since it contains a striking anticipation of Camus' interpretation of Sisyphus). It may be hoped that the publication of this monograph will lead to the translation of substantial parts of Kuki's collected works, published in Tokyo in 198o-82.4 We are in debt to Stephen Light for this intriguing first look at Kuki's career and works. JOSEeH P. FELL Bucknell University BOOK NOTE Anthony Birley. Marcus Aurelius. A Biography. Revised Edition. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1987. Pp. 32o. $25.oo. In a short review I can only highlight some features of this illuminating, though somewhat arid, account of the life of Marcus Aurelius. In Marcus Aurelius (121-a8o A.D.), the steely Stoic philosopher and dour emperor of the Roman Empire, is realized, at least formally, Plato's ideal--the philosopher-king, that coveted combination of capacities which allegedly could be the salvation of the state. In fact, conspicuous beginnings of the end of the empire began to appear during Marcus's reign, but Plato is not thereby refuted, for the Roman Empire was not a Greek city-state, and Stoicism, with its meditations on duty and death, was not Platonism, with its contemplation of the Forms of numbers, the virtues, and goodness. But Plato was no stranger to the factions and wars of men, to which Marcus had to devote so much energy and thought while emperor of Rome. Anthony Birley, who acknowledges that the Meditations give us mainly a picture of the inner life of Marcus, provides us with a lush complement and companion, to the Heidegger, Unterwegszur Sprache,88 (trans., 3)4 Perhaps especially deserving of early translation is Kuki's The Structureoflki (193o), which Spiegelberg (Movement,669) singles out as "an original study in phenomenology." Eight writes (29) that "the phenomenological influence of Husserl and Heidegger is immediately apparent" in this book. 396 JOURNAL OF THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY 27:2 APRIL 1989 reflections of Marcus on the nature and destiny of the human being, for his biography gives us an admirably full account of the external aspect of Marcus's life and career. In a book rich in detail, Birley gives us a view of Marcus's adoptive family and the empire under Antoninus, Marcus's education and early commerce with Stoic philosophers, the embarrassments caused by his brother and less than Stoical co-ruler, Lucius Commodus , the devastating plague of 167, Marcus's predictably Stoical reaction to the rumors of Faustina's infidelities, and the wars in the East and the Marcomannic Wars, during the course of which Marcus, fatally ill, died. Birley's narrative reflects Marcus's relatively humane stance as regards slavery and his ultimately hostile attitude towards Christianity. Birley's biography contains three maps, five detailed appendices, and some powerfully telling plates of coins and tablets from the Aurelian column. I noticed one lacuna (P. 97, line 13: a 'to' is missing) and one unwanted word (p. t84, line ~9: 'should' for 'she') in this otherwise nicely produced book. JOSIAH B. GOULD State University of New York, Albany BOOKS RECEIVED Ackermann, Robert John. Wittgenstein's City. Amherst: The University of Massachusetts Press, 1988. Pp. xiii + 267. Cloth, $25.oo. Paper, $12.95. Agacinski, Sylviane. Apart~. Conceptionsand Deaths of SOrenKierkegaard. Translated with an Introduction by Kevin Newmark. Kierkegaard and Postmodernism. Tallahassee: Florida State University Press, 1988. Pp...