Book Reviews : Community (Nomos II). Edited by CARL J. FRIEDRICH. (New York: The Liberal Arts Press, 1959. Pp. 293. $5.00.)
| Published date | 01 June 1960 |
| Date | 01 June 1960 |
| DOI | 10.1177/106591296001300225 |
| Author | Lee C. McDonald |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
532
Following
are
twenty-three
paragraphs
for
the
other
states
which
have
vary-
ing
phraseology
and
additional
entries
on
states
which
have
more
than
one
pro-
vision
on
the
subject.
The
editors
have
tried
to
expand
rather
than
condense
the
entries.
In
so
doing
they
have
made
the
Index
Digest
of
considerably
more
sig-
nificance
and
value
to
the
teacher,
the
researcher,
and
the
student.
B.
R.
E.
Community
(
Nomos
II).
Edited
by
CARL
J.
FRIEDRICH.
(New
York:
The
Liberal
Arts
Press,
1959.
Pp.
293.
$5.00.)
It
should
no
doubt
be
taken
as
a
gratifying
sign
of
the
uniqueness
of
human
personality
that
contributors
to
symposia
such
as
this
are
incapable
of
a
co-or-
dinated
attack
on
a
common
theme.
Editor
Friedrich
in
his
much
too
brief
pre-
face
candidly
notes
that
&dquo;the
argument
unfolds
in
a
meandering
sort
of
way.&dquo;
The
trouble
is
that
even
though
the
editor
has
obviously
tried
to
string
his
beads
in
a
meaningful
pattern,
there
is
not
one
but
many
arguments,
over
many
dif-
ferent
issues
for
which
the
term
&dquo;community&dquo;
provides
a
very
loose
linkage.
The
headings
of
the
two
parts
of
the
book,
&dquo;Community
and
the
Law&dquo;
and
&dquo;Com-
munity
and
Society,&dquo;
could
have
been
exchanged,
replaced,
or
omitted
without
apparent
loss.
Some
of
the
essays
are
useful
and
well
done
but
obscurely
related
to
a
theory
of
community;
for
example,
Margaret
Spahr’s
study
of
the
Supreme
Court
and
Wolfgang
H.
Kraus’s
history
of
doctrines
of
governmental
secrecy.
Others
are
relevant
to
theories
of
community
but
are
not
so
useful
or
well
done;
for
example,
Dante
Germino’s
tired
tribute
to
the
saving
function
of
Natural
Law
and
George
E.
G.
Catlin’s
undisciplined
exhibition
of
erudition.
Like
book
ends,
the
first
and
last
essays
try
to
keep
the
inner
ones
upright
and
at
attention,
as
if
their
authors
(both
key
figures
in
the
founding
of
the
American
Society
of
Political
and
Legal
Philosophy,
for
which
Nomos
is
the
year-
book)
were
loyally
trying
to
keep
alive
a
community
spirit
on
community.
The
first,
by
Friedrich,
introduces
the
book
with
a
skillful
but
breath-taking
gallop
through
the
history
of
Western
political
thought
as
it
bears
on
the
problem
of
community,
ending
with
a
statement
of
the
three
&dquo;great
debates&dquo;
in
the
scholarly
consideration
of
community:
whether
community
&dquo;simply
exists&dquo;
or
is
willed;
whether
it
is
based
on
law
or
love;
whether
it is
organic
or
purposive.
This
sug-
gests
a
significant
framework
for
analysis,
but
the
rest
of
the
writers
in
the
book
seem
wholly
unaware
of
it.
In
the
last
essay
John
Ladd
follows
the
tenets
of
Oxford
analytic
philosophy
and
attempts
to
erect
a
distinction
between
theoretical
and
practical
definitions
of
community.
In
the
process
he
refers
to
as
many
of
the
previous
essays
as
is
prudent,
but
one
feels
it
would
have
been
better
had
some
of
the
essayists
been
reminded
of
the
distinction
before
rather
than
after
they
wrote.
Somewhat
ironically,
the
most
creative
and
original
essays
seemed
to
be
those
cast
as
comments
on
a
prior
essay.
Lon
L.
Fuller
takes
off
from
Professor
Kraus’s
efforts
and
soon
leaves
him
far
behind
with
a
beautifully
clear
and
in-
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