Book Reviews : Pictorial History of Philosophy. By DAGOBERT D. RUNES. (New York: Philo sophical Library, 1959. Pp. x, 406. $15.00.)

DOI10.1177/106591296001300344
AuthorFrancis D. Wormuth
Published date01 September 1960
Date01 September 1960
Subject MatterArticles
833
to
be
said
beyond
this.
There
is,
for
example,
his
ignorance
of
Russian
history,
as
when
he
describes
the
government
of
Kievan
Rus’s
in
the
age
of
Yaroslav
as
an
autocracy.
And
surely
one
of
the
most
questionable
gifts
he
bequeathed
to
his
heirs
in
the
tradition
of
Russian
conservatism
was
a
bigoted
and
intolerant
nationalism.
Of
Poland
he
writes:
&dquo;Let
foreigners
condemn
the
partition
of
Poland
-
we
took
what
was
ours.&dquo;
Similarly,
almost
the
entirety
of
his
ex-
tensive
critique
of
Peter
the
Great
was
based
on
Peter’s
destruction
of
&dquo;good
Russian
customs&dquo;
in
favor
of
foreign
substitutes.
In
other
words,
the
main
basis
of
his
criticism
seems
to
be
an
outraged
nationalism.
Finally,
Mr.
Pipes’
rather
matter-of-fact
description
of
Karamzin’s
views
on
autocracy
conveys
none
of
their
heavy
emotional
flavor.
Karamzin’s
entire
historical
theme
is
a
glorification
of
absolute
rule,
replete
with
copious
moralizing
degressions
on
the
inevitable
superiority
of
this
form
of
government,
and
reaching
a
nadir
in
paying
unctuous
tribute
to
the
&dquo;virtuous&dquo;
nonresistance
shown
by
Russians
in
the
days
of
Ivan
the
Terrible’s
Oprichnina:
&dquo;[The
Russians]
took
no
steps
to
save
their
lives!
What
a
memorable
time
and
disposition!&dquo;
Whatever
one’s
criticisms
of
it,
the
introduction
remains
a
highly
stimulat-
ing
essay.
Moreover,
the
translation
of
Karamzin
is
excellent
throughout
(this
volume
is
accompanied
by
another
containing
the
Russian
edition),
and
the
extensive
notes
and
bibliography
have
been
prepared
with
commendable
thoroughness.
HERBERT
J.
ELLISON
University
of
Oklahoma
Pictorial
History
of
Philosophy.
By
DAGOBERT
D.
RUNES.
(New
York:
Philo-
sophical
Library,
1959.
Pp.
x,
406.
$15.00.)
This
is
a
really
fabulous
piece
of
book-making.
There
are
about
eight
hun-
dred
entries
in
the
index
of
names,
and
most
of
these
persons
are
represented
pictorially,
in
the
form
of
a
bust
or
an
imaginative
painting
made
at
a
later
date
for
the
earlier
authors,
in
contemporary
portraits
or
photographs
for
the
later
ones.
A
much
larger
number
of
illustrations
bear
on
some
feature
of
the
textual
commentary.
The
collection
of
the
pictures
must
have
been
a
vast
labor,
they
are
admirably
reproduced.
The
organization
is
topical
and
roughly
chronological.
Since
three-quarters
of
the
space
is
given
over
to
illustrations,
the
biographical
sketches
are
so
brief
as
to
be
of
little
value.
In
some
cases,
as
da
Vinci
and
Bolingbroke,
the
text
is
confined
to
the
legend
under
the
picture.
All
the
comments
reflect
Mr.
Runes’
preoccupation:
&dquo;Philosophy
is
ethics,
or
it
is
nothing
at
all.&dquo;
And
other
biases
enter:
the
author
repeats
the
weary
canard
that
Karl
Marx
was
an
anti-Semite.
But
as
a
collection
of
pictures
of
the
intellectual
aristocracy
of
the
race
the
book
is
invaluable.
Leafing
through
it
affords
more
pleasure
than
Hoff
or
Charles
Addams.
FRANCIS
D.
WORMUTH
University
of
Utah

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