Vintage Philosopher

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31902, 1 February 1969, Page 4

Vintage Philosopher

Action. By Sir Malcolm Knox. London. Allen and Unwin. 250 pp.

Sir Malcolm Knox writes for the Muirhead Library of Philsophy, and his book is an expansion of the Gifford Lectures he delivered at the University of Aberdeen. He quickly mentions that what he has written is otdfashioned and “indeed smacks of the nineteenth century. This is not surprising. Not only is my mind steeped in Hegel, but I read and re-read Scott and Trollope, Balzac and Stendhal, and cannot find my feet in modern novelists . . .” This leaves the reader with the feeling that he is stepping out of his present into another era if he can become absorbed in the development of the theme. Such immersion has its reward. The final impression is of a drink of clean, cool water, as against much of the perfumed cocktails that many modern philosophers serve up in their concentration of specific difficulties of our present day. Sir Malcolm takes such classical prqblems as “ought” as against “can;” “duty not as a means to an end;” a definition of “good;” with discussions on hedonism and its fallacies; the essence of utilitarianism; and so on. They are all topics that have been covered in nuinerous philosophical texts over the cen-

turies, but his approach Is clear and dispassionately reasoned tn satisfying conclusion.

Sir Malcolm does enter the field of practical action from time to time, in the traditional role of the philosopher making unquestionable pontifical statements such as: “ . . . Discipline in youth is an inescapable prerequisite of a moral order . . . Juvenile delinquency is such a grim problem today, at a time when so many parents have been bemused by psychological and other doctrines about natural goodness and natural development. Development is impossible without negation, which in this context means discipline and punishment, especially the corporal punishment which is either the only one effective in a child, as in a dog, or as the one which humiliates him, and therefore impresses the growing mind of the adolescent.”

The chapter on determinism and freedom of choice is particularly valuable, and ends up by proving quite clearly that such an argument is a purely verbal one, without possible resolution. Finally Sir Malcolm reviews the opposition between the psychologists’ Eysenckian approach of behaviourism as against the Freudian of unconscious motivation. This he has not been able tq resolve, but maintains with some force that studies of animals and looking at man as a machine is never able to explain the true nature of his activity. This is not a book to while away a hot summer’s day, but one to become personally involved in and to start thought processes in the mind, pondering the ancient problems of existence and purpose of living.

The 8.8. C. recently sent one of its television camera crews to interview a rather outspoken management consultant. As the interview drew to a strong finish criticising overmanning, the interviewer leaned across and asked, “You can’t really believe all this.” And the reply? “Just turn your cameras behind you and see what I mean.” Behind were 14 men—four looking after the camera, 10 sitting down watching.—“ Observer” in the “Financial Times,” London. 0-