Book Reviews and Notices : A Soviet History of Philosophy. Translated by WILLIAM EDGERTON. (Wash ington, D. C.: Public Affairs Press. 1950. Pp. 58. $1.00.)

• Author: Frank Hinman
• Published date: 01 March 1951
• Date: 01 March 1951
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/106591295100400131
• Subject Matter: Articles

152

of

differing

fields

of

science.

The

book

also

includes

a

mass

of

specific

material

about

types

of

scientific

apparatus

which

is

of

less

importance

to

social

science.

One

cannot

read

through

a

volume

of

this

sort

without

realizing

anew

how

far

political

scientists

are

behind

their

brethren

of

the

natural

sciences.

One

can

plow

through

tomes

of social

science

without

finding

a

shade

of

a

hypothesis-let

alone

any

amassing

of

evidence

for

or

against

a

particular

one.

We

write

learnedly

about

socialism

and

capitalism

without

having

even

attempted

to

check

carefully

a

basic

hypothesis

on

the

correlation

of

political

and

economic

freedom.

We

write

lengthy

books

on

state

and

local

government

with

little

sign

of

thought

about

the

actual

effect

of

government

changes

on

the

presumed

fundamental

values

of

political

decentralization.

With

relatively

few

exceptions,

political

scientists

are

a

long,

long

way

from

displaying

a

true

scientific

spirit,

and

leaders

in

the

profession

are

not

doing

much

to

remedy

the

difficulty.

If

any

political

scientist

really

wishes

to

devote

his

life

to

genuine

research

in

the

principles

of

political

organization

rather

than

the

writing

of

lucrative

text

books,

he

will

find

some

helpful

suggestions

in

Mr.

Freed-

man’s

book.

Claremont

Men’s

College.

GEORGE

C.

S.

BENSON.

A

Soviet

History

of

Philosophy.

Translated

by

WILLIAM

EDGERTON.

(Wash-

ington,

D.

C.:

Public

Affairs

Press.

1950.

Pp.

58.

$1.00.)

In

1947,

a

philosophical

discussion

was

organized

and

dominated

by

the

Central

Committee

of

the

All-Union

Communist

Party.

Among

the

results

of

the

meeting

were

the

withdrawal

from

circulation

of

G.

F.

Alexandrov’s

History

of

Western.

European

Phalosophy

and

the

appoint~

ment

by

the

Communist

Party

of

a

group

of

Soviet

philosophers

(G.

F.

Alexandrov,

M.

A.

Dynnikin,

M.

T.

Iovchuk,

B.

M.

Kedrov,

M.

A.

Leonov,

M.

B.

Mitin~

and

0.

V.

Trakhtenberg)

to

collaborate

in

writing

a

new

book.

&dquo;A

Soviet

History

of

Philosophy,&dquo;

the

tentative

prospectus

of

this

book,

was

originally

published

as

an

article

in

the

Soviet

journal,

Voprosy

filosofii

(1947,

No. 2),

under

the

title,

&dquo;Istoria

filosofii.&dquo;

In

the

prospectus,

the

history

of

philosophy

is

divided

into

two

main

parts:

(1)

pre-Marxist

philosophy

and

(2)

the

development

of

Marxist-

Leninist

philosophy.

Within

each

part,

the

history

of

philosophical

thought

is

further

broken

down

on

the

basis

of

the

class

struggle

in

society

at

different

stages

of

social

and

economic

development.

The

content

consists

in

very

generalized

statements

of

the

purpose

and

plan

of

each

proposed

chapter.

A

number

of

chapters

will

be

devoted

to

the

task

of

demonstrat-

ing

the

significant

role

of

the

Eastern

and

Slavic

peoples

in

the

history