Contemporary American Philosophy

Abstract

(1) OF these three books, all by American philosophers, the first is concerned with the ultimate structure of the universe, the second with the nature of scientific thought and the third with metaphysical conclusions derived from a realistic epistemology. The first, by Prof. Spaulding of Princeton, is a further development of the new realism with which he has been identified and is, primarily, a defence of the thesis that ontological contingency is a logical necessity. Prof. Spaulding holds that there is no ultimate unity except the unity of totality, and his ‘ultimates' or ‘irreducibles’ consist of five properties?possibility, contingency, propertiness, ultimacy and reality. Each of these is an instance of itself as well as of the other four; and, in order to obtain this finality, he deliberately violates the theory of types. Prof. Spaulding asserts that, while all existing entities are possibilities and all possibilities realities, not all possibilities are realized in Nature. He maintains that in the structure of reality, shot through with chance and indeterminism, Nature is but a chance instance which is but need not be, that there is no necessity for the existence of even that objective realm of possibilities one of which is realized as Nature, and, finally, that the whole of reality, including logical entities and values, is contingent.

(1) A World of Chance:

or, Whence, Whither and Why? By Prof. E. G. Spaulding. Pp. xxxiv + 293. (New York: The Macmillan Co., 1936.) 12s. 6d. net.

(2) The Logical Structure of Science

By Prof. A. Cornelius Benjamin. (Psyche Monographs, No. 9.) Pp. 344. (London: Kegan Paul Co., Ltd., 1936.) 10s. 6d. net.

(3) Personal Realism

By James Bissett Pratt. Pp. xi + 387. (New York: The Macmillan Co., 1937.) 15s. net.