Book Reviews : A History of Philosophical Systems. Edited by VERGILIUS FERM. (New York: The Philosophical Library, Inc. 1950. Pp. xiv, 642. $6.00.)

• Date: 01 September 1951
• Published date: 01 September 1951
• DOI: 10.1177/106591295100400321
• Author: William Kent
• Subject Matter: Articles

504

The

second

volume

deals

with

policy,

and

is

probably

the

most

use-

ful

to

the

American

student

of

British

government

and

politics.

Its

first

chapter,

&dquo;Principles

of

Post-War

Planning

and

Industrial

Reorganization&dquo;

(II,

1-13),

is

by

G.

D. H.

Cole,

who

stresses

two

points.

The

first

is

that

the

mixed

economy

toward

which

Britain

is

moving

&dquo;will

not

work

un-

less

effective

means

can

be

devised

of

securing

the

compliance

of

the

capitalistic

part

of

the

economy

with

the

overriding

policy

of

the

central

planning

agency,

which

can

only

be

the

Government

itself,

or

some

body

acting

directly

under

the

Government’s

authority&dquo;

(II,

7).

The

second

point

is

that,

whereas

the

mechanism

of

socialization

has

been

explored,

the

&dquo;psychological

problems

are

still

for

the

most

part

unsolved,

and

even

largely

unstudied&dquo;

(II,

10).

The

chapter

on

&dquo;Economic

Socialisation&dquo;

(II,

14-38)

is

by

Herbert

Morrison,

and

is

one

of

the

best

brief

summaries

of

the

main

issues

involved.

Further

chapters

in

the

volume

deal

with

various

social

and

economic

problems,

such

as

full

employment,

housing,

health,

social

insurance,

town

and

country

planning,

the

distribution

of

wealth,

taxation,

and

local

government;

the

last

three

chapters

discuss

the

foreign

policy

of

the

Labour

party

between

the

two

World

Wars,

the

relations

of

labor

and

the

Commonwealth,

and

the

prospects

of

the

United

Nations.

The

third

volume

is

entirely

biographical.

The

first

part

contains

forty-eight

brief

biographical

sketches

of

contemporary

leaders,

including

representatives

of

the

younger

generation,

such

as

Harold

Wilson,

Hugh

Gaitskell,

and

Hector

McNeil;

and

the

second

part

is

devoted

to

&dquo;Pioneers

and

Founders,&dquo;

such

as

the

Webbs,

Keir

Hardie,

Arthur

Henderson,

Ellen

Wilkinson,

Lord

Olivier,

Lord

Wedgwood,

Ben

Tillett,

George

Lansbury,

Robert

Blatchford,

and

James

Maxton.

In

itself,

each

sketch

is

very

brief,

and

cannot

possibly

convey

more

than

a

few

basic

data

and

impressions.

Taken

together,

the

biographical

essays

in

volume

III

provide

an

over-all

picture

of

the

lives

and

struggles

of

the

men

whose

efforts

have

gone

into

..hrt.

..,.&dquo;,1>;..~ ~~

-L-

T

....hrt.1&dquo;’&dquo;

&dquo;&dquo;&dquo;&dquo;&dquo;’’’’’’7

WILLIAM

EBENSTEIN.

Princeton

University.

A

History

of

Philosophical

Systems.

Edited

by

VERGILIUS

FERM.

(New

York:

The

Philosophical

Library,

Inc.

1950.

Pp.

xiv,

642.

$6.00.)

This

particular

history

of

philosophy

is

based

on

a

novel

plan

whose

merits

and

shortcomings

can

perhaps

be

indicated

by

a

brief

descrip-

tion

of

it.

Forty-one

authors

have

cooperated

to

produce

forty-seven

chapters,

each

of

which

attempts

to

cover

some

aspect

of

the

history

of

philosophy

in

ten

or

fifteen

pages.

Some

chapters,

such

as

those

on

Indian

and

_

.

h

...