Book Reviews : Political Philosophy. By ALAN GEWIRTH. (New York: Macmillan, 1965. Pp. 123. $1.50.)

• DOI: 10.1177/106591296501800430
• Author: J.A. Schwandt
• Published date: 01 December 1965
• Date: 01 December 1965
• Subject Matter: Articles

917
number of times they were elected (1.98 times) , how often their first election was at
a by-election (11.2 per cent) , what portion was born in their constituency (58 per
cent) and in Turkey (89 per cent) -
we
also discover that those born in their con-
stituency had a mean election rate of 2.081 and those not so born, 2.089! There is
very much more data than this in the 500 pages of this book, ranging from an analysis
of members’ fathers’ occupations to an examination of how often members spoke in
Assembly debate.
A great deal of this information is interesting; some of it is useful. Assuming
that the task itself was worthwhile, Frey has indeed given us a model of industrious
empirical research. Yet it is difficult not to feel that the effort could have been made
more fruitfully in other ways. How does such esoteric information in all of its rami-
fications help us in understanding the Turkish political process? Probably not all
political scientists will agree with the reviewer that such information doesn’t help
very much. Behavioral methodology is a continuing area of controversy; Frey should
not be blamed for faults that more properly adhere to the premises upon which the
study was undertaken. But perhaps because he does his job so well and pushes his
efforts to such extremes does the barrenness of the approach become so apparent.
To sum up: The Turkish Political Elite is a finely tuned behavioral study of the
backgrounds of the members of Turkish National Assembly from 1920 to 1957.
Within the confines of its theoretical framework it is impressively and beautifully
done. It remains, nonetheless, a relatively barren and disappointing work.
CARL LEIDEN
University of Texas
Political Philosophy. By ALAN GEWIRTH. (New York: Macmillan, 1965. Pp. 123.
$1.50.)
This book consists of an essay by Alan Gewirth and selections from the works
of Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Hegel, Marx and Engels, and John Stuart Mill. It is
intended as an introductory text but the...