Book Reviews : Legal Personality and Political Pluralism. Edited by LEICESTER C. WEBB. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press. 1959. Pp. xvi, 200. $5.50.)

• DOI: 10.1177/106591295901200456
• Published date: 01 December 1959
• Author: Francis D. Wormuth
• Date: 01 December 1959
• Subject Matter: Articles

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what they substituted in its stead has ruled the profession until quite re-
cently. They preached what Strout calls a &dquo;skeptical or pragmatic relative-
ism.&dquo; They denied the possibility of historical objectivity, since all historical
facts were screened through the biased mind of the writer himself. The
speculations of Henry Adams were &dquo;irrelevant&dquo; to Becker, a specious &dquo;dream
of omniscience&dquo; to Beard. On a practical level, Becker’s historical writings
emphasized &dquo;the inner, psychic dimension, ... individual character and the
intellectual climate of opinion.&dquo; Beard stressed the economic interpretation
of history; for example, the profit motive, not some benevolent deity, di-
rected the actions of the Founding Fathers.
Strout’s volume, besides its high stylistic merit, is an exciting adventure
into the ideas of these two men. He lays the broad pragmatic ground on
which they agreed, and then deftly marks their contrasts. With clarity, he
demonstrates their heroic attempt to search for philosophic truth, and the
paradox between their findings and actual application in written history.
Finally, in two excellent chapters -
&dquo;The Dilemma of a Modern Diderot&dquo;
and &dquo;The Devil’s Adversary&dquo; -
Strout deals with the painful necessity
both men experienced of revising their philosophies in the Age of Hitler.
Becker came to realize the &dquo;impotence of pragmatic relativism as a basis of
liberalism,&dquo; and his revisions &dquo;coincided with his defense of democracy
against fascism.&dquo; Beard, on the other hand, saw Franklin Roosevelt as an
arch-conspirator, whose foreign policies would destroy the liberal &dquo;idealistic
conception of the promise of American life.&dquo; In the end, both succumbed
to the positivism they deplored in earlier writers.
Mistakes are minor. These minor errors, however, do not lessen my
appreciation of this excellent volume.
MORTON BORDEN.
Montana State University.
Legal Personality...