BOAS, G., — Rationalism in Greek Philosophy.

Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore, 1961. XII,488p. Original blue cloth. Spine gilt titled. Spine a little bit discoloured and with vague spot to head. Head and tail spine a little bit wrinkled. ‘Professor Boas describes his book as ‘a historical study of rationalism in classical philosophy’. In chronological sequence, beginning with Anaximander and ending with Plotinus, he examines each philosophical theory in four main respects: ‘the distinction between appraisal of life made by the men studied, and something about their ethical theories’. Within this scheme the ‘rationality’ of each thinker is assessed. A definition of rationalism is given in the preface. The first essential trait is that ‘when a method of study is accepted as right, a body of information compiled according to the method will exist and any new information will be expected to be consistent with it.’ Secondly, the method is ‘indifferent to the individual’s feelings, his moral life, his religious ideas’, and involved in it is ‘the ability of every man to check its results to see if its truths are interpersonal’. Finally the method should ‘produce results’; its laws should be a fruitful source of predictions and inferences. A disadvantage of this definition it that its equation of rational with scientific immediately robs the author of the distinction in his survey. (…) Moreover, the definition tends to make the assessment of ethical theory somewhat narrow in scope and less than fair in its judgement, especially when the theory, on perfectly rational grounds, makes no claim to be rational in Boas’s sense. (…) This is not a reliable book. It lacks balance, and its detailed interpretation is too often either misguided or imprecise. It is true that there are many shrewd general remarks with illuminate various aspects of Greek philosophical speculation. (…) The author’s gift of lucid exposition is also apparent at many points. But these merits are hardly enough to make this long (…) survey recommendable.’ (NORMAL GULLEY in The Classical Review (New Series), 1963, pp.190-192).