PERSONS, STOW (Ed.). Evolutionary Thought in America. Pp. x, 462. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1950. $5.00

• Author: Robert E. Lane
• Published date: 01 March 1951
• Date: 01 March 1951
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/000271625127400189
• Subject Matter: Articles

255

attempted

to

formulate

with

varying

de-

grees

of

thoroughness

philosophies

about

human

society,

which

Professor

Sorokin

has

summarized,

compared,

and

criticized

in

this

medium-sized

volume.

For

the

most

part,

the

works

here

examined

could

be

even

more

narrowly

characterized;

they

are

philosophies

of

history;

that

is,

they

have

sought

to

offer

general

interpretations

of

the

long-run

changes

in

the

life

and

con-

figuration

of

human

society

(or

societies).

Because

considerable

attention

has

been

drawn

toward

problems

of

this

order

by

the

work

of

Spengler

and

the

more

re-

cently

published

work

of

Toynbee,

it

is

a

real

service

to

the

community

of

letters

to

have

this

able

and

scholarly

digest

of

a

number

of

less

well-known

works

of similar

purport.

Few

American

readers

know

any-

thing

about

the

writings

of

Danilevsky

and

Berdyaev;

not

many

more

really

know

much

about

the

philosophical

speculations

of

F.

S.

C.

Northrop,

A.

L.

Kroeber,

and

Albert

Schweitzer.

It

is

useful,

accordingly,

to

have

these

summarized

and

brought

into

an

intelligible

comparison

with

the

better-

known

work

of

Spengler

and

Toynbee.

Sorokin’s

critical

comments

on

the

works

reviewed

in

this

volume

frequently

make

somewhat

irritating

reading,

which

will

not

surprise

those

who

are

familiar

with

his

earlier

writings.

He

displays

a

rather

naive

tendency

to

proceed

on

the

assump-

tion

that

all

his

own

previous

works

are

authoritative

and

may

be

cited

without

further

argument

in

support

of

favorable

.or

unfavorable

comment

on

other

men’s

writings.

Still,

all

in

all,

one

can

pardon

this

as

a

minor

eccentricity

in

a

writer

of

otherwise

excellent

ability

and

industry.

The

bock

is

supplied

with

notes

and

an

index

which

seems

rather

brief.

It

is

at-

tractively

printed.

FLOYD

N.

HOUSE

University

of

Virginia

PERSONS,

STOW

(Ed.).

Evolutionary

Thought

in

America.

Pp.

x,

462.

New

Haven:

Yale

University

Press,

1950.

$5.00.

Persons’

book

creates

in

the

close

ex-

aminer

a

satisfying

sense

that

the

impact

of

an

idea

in

eight

separate

disciplines

has

now

been

defined.

Each

essay-and

the

essayists

are

distinguished-falls

properly

in

its

place.

Robert

Scoon’s

introduction

on

&dquo;The

Rise

and

Impact

of

Evolutionary

Ideas&dquo;

is

more

than

adequate;

it

is

also

clear.

Then

follows

a

piece

by

Northrop

dealing,

it

is

said,

with

the

relation

of

evolution

to

the

philosophies

of

nature

and

culture.

Part

I

is

completed

with

a

no-

table

70-page piece

by

Theodosius

Dobz-

hansky,

Professor

of

Zoology

at

Columbia.

In

his

hands

the

concepts

of

&dquo;race,&dquo;

&dquo;mu-

tation,&dquo;

&dquo;genetic

drift,&dquo;

&dquo;natural

selection,&dquo;

even

&dquo;caste

and

class,&dquo;

assume

the

proper-

ties

of

scientific

knowledge-and

all

with

humility

and

in

the

language

common

to

many

disciplines.

Part

II

of

the

book

covers

the

role

of

evolutionary

thought

in

the

areas

of

knowl-

edge

now

treated

as

distinct

fields:

soci-

ology

(Faris),

political

science

(Corwin),

economics

(Spengler),

psychology

(Boring),

literature

(Cowley),

architecture

(Egbert),

ethics

(Quillian),

and

theology

(Persons).

While,

inevitably,

these

essays

offer

the

reader

variety

in

length,

depth,

and

im-

agination,

none

is

trivial;

all

move

in

their

respective

fields

with

a

sure

foot;

a

few

bring

vivid

illumination

to

the

dark

corners

where

ideas

struggle

to

be

born.

Among

these

last,

I

should

say,

are

the

essays

of

Cowley

and

Egbert,

and

possibly

Persons’

own

contribution

on

theology.

The

others

-and

some

of

them

are

very

learned

in-

deed-must

shed

their

light

in

areas

al-

ready

partially

illuminated

by

Hofstadter

and

Dorfman,

and,

in

passing,

Parring-

ton,

Karpf,

Schneider,

Gabriel,

Coker,

and

many

more.

It

is

not

upon

close

inspection,

but

rather

when

the

work

is

put

at

a

distance,

that

hesitations

emerge.

Is

this

the

new

book

on

evolutionary

thought

in

America

which

we

most

need?

At

this

point

the

structure

of

the

book

begins

to

stand

in

its

way.

Each

of

the essays

must

present

a

running

account

of

recent

intellectual

history

prepa-

ratory

to

or

intertwined

with

an

exposition

of

the

evolutionary

theme.

But,

inevitably,

in

eight

introductions

there

is

much

repe-

tition,

each

of

the

other-and

all

of

ma-

terial

easily

available

in

other

work.

Further,

it

is

fair

to

ask

if

the

book

relates

the

story

of

a

great

theme

rising,

challenging,

sweeping

all

before

it

in

many