Abstract
PROF. BEWS' book is very difficult to review and, but for the evidence of the accomplished fact, might have been thought impossible to write. It is intended to supplement his previous work “Human Ecology”, which was a study of man, in relation to his environment—material, social and cultural. The present work is an attempt at a more complete synthesis. It is written explicitly from the point of view of General Smuts's theory of “Holism’. The development of mankind is considered as the construction or creation of new ‘wholes’, whether these are mechanical inventions, social institutions, scientific and philosophical theories, or works of art. The author's general conclusion is that all human constructions are imperfect and may have to be pulled down and reconstructed. The pulling down may necessitate temporary reversion to more primitive and simpler conditions.
Life as a Whole
By Dr. J. W. Bews. Pp. ix + 347. (London, New York and Toronto: Longmans, Green and Co., Ltd., 1937.) 15s. net.
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R., A. Life as a Whole. Nature 141, 853 (1938). https://doi.org/10.1038/141853a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/141853a0