Book Reviews and Notices : Conflicting Patterns of Thought. BY KARL PRIBRAM. (Washington, D. C.: Public Affairs Press. 1949. Pp. viii, 176. $3.25.)

• Author: Francis G. Wilson
• DOI: 10.1177/106591294900200428
• Date: 01 December 1949
• Published date: 01 December 1949
• Subject Matter: Articles

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Conflicting Patterns of Thought. BY KARL PRIBRAM. (Washington, D.
C.: Public Affairs Press. 1949. Pp. viii, 176. $3.25.)
According to Dr. Pribram, &dquo;nominalistic reasoning, based on the
principle of hypothetical thinking, has been unique in that it has of-
fered its adherents no prospects of finding absolute verities&dquo; (p. 58).
It is a form of reasoning that declares reason to be unable to tell us any-
thing about the choice of ultimate ends, and it is the only possible foun-
dation of democracy. Since all views are purely hypothetical, everyone has
the right to participate equally in politics (p. 58). This reviewer would
add that, by implication, this principle means that an individual may
participate in politics if he does not believe that what he believes is
true is really true. Alternative forms of thinking, such as the universal-
istic (e. g., Christian), intuitional or organismic (e. g., German), and
dialectical (e. g., Marxist) cannot be reconciled with democracy.
The author argues that the pattern of reasoning determines social,
political, and economic institutions, establishing variant conceptions of
social responsibility, liberty, the role of reason in the sciences and the
arts, forms of economic planning, patterns of trade, and the emergence
of war. The distinction between the forms of reasoning in this analysis
is so abrupt that it is unlikely that the...