Philosophical Trends Research Articles

“How like an Angel”: Self-Fashioning in Pico della Mirandola and Raphael

The projected image of the philosopher Pico della Mirandola and the painter Raphael share a common trait: both were seen by contemporaries as angels. The role Pico and Raphael themselves played in the establishment of this assimilation is discussed, as is the theological and intellectual background of the function of angels in this period. Especially the latter is shown to make a biographical interpretation of angelic connotations in both figures such as presented by Vasari (Raphael) or Gianfrancesco Pico (Pico) extremely hazardous. Rather, elements of self-fashioning merge with theological and philosophical trends in the creation of the angelic image.

The Polish Socinians

Socinians were members of the specific radical Reformation international religious group that was formed originally in Poland and in Transylvania in the XVIth century and went beyond the limited scope of the reform initiated by Luther or Calvin. At the roots of their religious doctrines was the Antitrinitarianism developed by Michael Servetus (1511-1553) and transplanted by Italian Humanists, as well as the social ideas borrowed initially from the Anabaptists and Moravian Brethren. They called themselves Christians or Brethren, hence Polish Brethren, also Minor Reformed Church. Their opponents labeled them after the old heresies as Sabellians, Samosatinians, Ebionites, Unitarians, and finally Arians. They were also known abroad as Socinians, after the Italian Faustus Socinus (1539-1604) (Fausto Sozzini, nephew of Lelio Sozzini) who at the end of the XVI th century became a prominent figure in the Rakow Unitarian congregation for systematizing the doctrines of the Polish Brethren. Although the spirit of religious liberty was one of the elements of the Socinian doctrine, the persecution and coercion they met as a result of the Counter Reformation led them to formulate the most advanced ideas in the realm of human freedom and church-state relations. The intellectual ferment Socinian ideas produced in all of Europe determined the future philosophical trends and led directly to the development of Enlightenment. The precursor ideas of the Polish Brethren on religious freedom were later expanded and popularized by John Locke (1632-1704) in England and Pierre Bayle (1647-1706) in France and Holland. The ideas of John Locke were transplanted directly to the American continent by James Madison (1751-1836) and Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) who implemented them for the first time in the American legislation. The achievements of the Polish Brethren are the highest in Europe of their times and originated all modern trends in political, social and moral sciences, in biblical and religious studies, and in concepts of the absolute freedom of intellectual inquiry, liberty of conscience and

Poetyka a światopogląd. O twórczości Marii Pawlikowskiej-lasnorzewskiej

Part ONE. This dissertation is devoted to the inspiration of Maria Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska by the philosophy of the East, which she got to know through Arthur Schopenhauer's writings. The first part contains a description of the manner in which the poet interpreted the inconsistency of the conception of the German philosopher who tried to combine in one all the elements of various religious and philosophical trends coming from India. We can look on Maria Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska's works of the pre-World War II years as on a peculiar literary adaptation of these various ideas, and, to be more exact, as on an attempt to construct such a poetic world in which there might be a coordination between diverse currents determined by the Brahminian and the Buddhist ideas. In Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska's early poems affirmation, paradox, (self/auto)irony and degradation of loftiness are concurrent, which are characteristic of the Buddhist attitude to the world and there is also avoidance of reflection of ethical nature so characteristic of Brahminism.Part two. In the second part of the dissertation on the influence of Indian philosophy on Maria Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska's views, these elements of her writings are analysed (such as miniaturisation, condensation, formal rigour, intellectualisation of lyricism), which reflected her way of thinking. The description also contains the next stage of writing activity of the author of Krystalizacje [Crystallisations] during which the poet gave up the affirmative amoralism, and in her poetry occurred a confrontation of the negativist assumptions of Brahminism with the Buddhist imperative of mercy. Along with the acceptance of the evaluative perspective in Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska's poetic diction elements of gnostic rhetoric began to appear in which she followed Schopenhauer, and in her writings the process of "decay of the poetic form" began to be more and more visible, which was described by critics, and which led through the poetics of a sketch and fragment in her later prewar works to the notebook-like last recordings of the war period.

Memory Consolidation, Multiple Realizations, and Modest Reductions

This article investigates several consequences of a recent trend in philosophy of mind to shift the relata of realization from mental state–physical state to function-mechanism. It is shown, by applying both frameworks to the neuroscientific case study of memory consolidation, that, although this shift can be used to avoid the immediate antireductionist consequences of the traditional argument from multiple realizability, what is gained is a far more modest form of reductionism than recent philosophical accounts have intimated and neuroscientists themselves have claimed.

Concepciones rivales de la Filosofía de la Educación

This article makes a case for the relevance of philosophy in the study and practice of education. It is written primarily from an Anglophone, and especially from a UK, perspective. The essay has three main sections. The first one provides an analysis of the political and institutional context in the UK and of the trajectory of philosophy of education. The second part identifies current trends in philosophy of education in the UK. The last part focuses on the ways in which the philosophy of education can have a bearing on educational policy and practice.
 
 Key words: philosophy of education, educational theory and practice, teacher education, educational management.

Lord Westbury, Law Reform and Fusion

Lord Westbury was a dominant legal figure in his day, but scandal engulfed his political career. He was a zealous law reformer. However, it is not possible to appreciate his approach to law reform, including the fusion of law and equity, without understanding his diagnosis of the ills of the English legal system. Lord Westbury's standpoint was a peculiar amalgam of nineteenth-century philosophical trends together with a respect for equitable principles and a strong predilection for the methodology of the civil law. It was always going to be difficult to convert common lawyers to equitable standards and the civilian approach to law. Not surprisingly, Lord Westbury did not succeed.

What am I Doing Here? Schools in the Era of Accountability

ABSTRACT The presence of working class students in higher education has been challenged during the past few years, with more obstacles introduced lately to reduce their numbers. Particularly noteworthy has been the use of a unique form of essentialism, associated with accountability, to screen students. But this strategy relies on a metaphysics that is outmoded. In view of modern trends in philosophy, a more enlightened mode of materialism is more appropriate to support education. In this way, schools can become critical and open, instead of serving merely to filter students and perpetuate the current stratification system.

Wolfgang U Eckart (ed.), Man, medicine, and the state: the human body as an object of government sponsored medical research in the 20th century, Beiträge zur Geschichte der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft, Band 2, Stuttgart, Franz Steiner, 2006, pp. 297, €43.00 (paperback 978-3-515-08794-0).

After Useful bodies (2003, edited by Jordan Goodman, Anthony McElligott and Lara Marks) and Twentieth century ethics of human subjects research (2004, edited by Volker Roelcke and Giovanni Maio), the present volume is the third collection of essays in a short time that explores the “dark side” of human experimentation in the past century through a range of case studies. As in Useful bodies, the focus is on the social and political contexts that facilitated unethical trials on human subjects, and as in the Roelcke/Maio volume, historical and ethical assessments are often coupled (cf. my reviews in Med. Hist. 2005, 49: 221–2; 2006, 50: 254–5). However, Eckart's collection provides more than just an extension of current knowledge about twentieth-century abuses in human research. Arising from a Heidelberg conference in 2003 as part of a larger project on the history of the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG) between 1920 and 1970, this book contains several contributions that investigate in detail the dynamics created by state funding for certain areas of medical research, especially during the period of National Socialism. This applies in particular to Volker Roelcke's paper on the psychiatric genetics of Ernst Rudin, Karl Heinz Roth's essay on German aviation medicine, Marion Hulverscheidt's account of malaria research, Alexander Neumann's discussion of nutritional physiology and Gabriele Moser's article on Kurt Blome and cancer research in the Third Reich. Moreover, the DFG's role in redefining and reconstituting anthropology and human genetics as academic disciplines in Germany after the Second World War is analysed by Anne Cottebrune. Revealing as these discussions are regarding the funding drive behind those research fields and its ethical implications, they would have been more useful to a broader readership if the volume had included a background contribution on the institutional development of the German Research Foundation in the relevant period. Also, the English of some of the papers by German authors would have benefited from more careful copy-editing. Other papers add details of the medical atrocities committed in the concentration camps of Nazi Germany, for example of the experiments in Natzweiler with chemical warfare agents and of the notorious hypothermia experiments in Dachau. This is complemented by a contribution on Japanese biological warfare research on Chinese prisoners in Harbin during the Second World War. Till Barnighausen, author of this latter paper, examines for the Japanese experiments the ethical question that has been discussed in the late 1980s and early 1990s with regard to the Nazi concentration camp trials: whether the immorally obtained data from those experiments may ever be used for scientific purposes. The international dimension of human subject research and abuse in the twentieth century is further highlighted by contributions on vaccination experiments on Sengalese infantrymen in the French army between 1916 and 1933 (Christian Bonah), on metamphetamine tests in the German Wehrmacht (Peter Steinkamp), on the Tuskegee syphilis study (James H Jones), and on American cold war research on flash burn in preparation for a feared nuclear attack (Susan Lederer). The general conclusion that arises from all these papers is obvious: war, racism, and scientific opportunism were the key factors that led, often in combination, to exploitation of human subjects and disregard for consent (even where and when official guidelines on information and consent requirements had been issued, as in the German Reich in 1931). Beyond this insight, what can the future historiography of human experimentation contribute? Paul Weindling's essay, focusing on the victims of Nazi medical experimentation, rightly complains that most of the historical research in this area has been perpetrator-oriented so far. His call for more attention to be paid to the fate of human subjects mirrors, perhaps unwittingly, recent trends in philosophy towards a patient- or victim-centred conception of ethics. Finally, David Rothman, reflecting on the debate of the 1990s about the standards of human trials on AIDS treatment and prevention in developing countries, makes clear that the achievements of ethical codes, such as those of Nuremberg and Helsinki, are under threat in contexts of socio-economic hardship. Historical analysis, one may conclude, may well warn against an ethical relativism that is prepared to compromise on standards of human subject research in situations of poverty and medical need. Eckart's volume has made a significant contribution to this historical enterprise.

Spirit and Spirituality: Philosophical Trends in Late Modern Pneumatology

AbstractThis dialogue piece reviews some of the key developments in the doctrine of the Holy Spirit in late modern theology that have contributed to the scholarly and practical integration of pneumatology and Christian spirituality. Shifts in the meaning and use of three concepts — matter, person, and force — have played a particularly influential role in these developments. These trends are illustrated in several recent pneumatological proposals. The final section outlines some new directions for the ongoing task of reforming pneumatology.

A (re)constituição da Psicologia Fenomenológica em Edmund Husserl

The German philosopher Edmund Husserl (1859-1938), founding father of Phenomenology, was one of the most prominent thinkers of the 20th century, who not only influenced the philosophical trends of his time but also the sciences in general. Nevertheless, psychology was the science which strongly had direct influence of phenomenology which, in its turn, provided the possibility of developing a phenomenological psychology. The aim of this thesis is to (re)constitute, from a historical-critical point of view, the conception of phenomenological psychology in Husserl’s last work: The Crisis of European Sciences and the Transcendental Phenomenology (Die Krisis der europäischen Wissenchaften und die transzendentale Phänomenologie. Eine Einleitung in die phänomenologische Philosophie). At present, psychologists are developing a large number of versions of phenomenological psychology, particularly in Brazil; however, none of them have rigorously been based on Husserl’s concepts. Thus, in order to have an understanding of what constitutes to Husserl a phenomenological psychology, we present, to start with, a brief introduction to the transcendental phenomenology, explaining the variations of the phenomenological method (i. e. phenomenological levels). After that, we point out the most meaningful aspects of Husserl’s last piece of writing, concentrating our efforts on the revelation the philosopher makes concerning a crisis of the sciences and of reason, as well as his phenomenological criticism on epistemology of Psychology. At last, following Husserl’s analyses of phenomenology and psychology, we conclude that the conception of phenomenological psychology will constitute a universal science of human beings whose object of study is the animistic being. This science will have basic functions such as: a) the rebuilding of the scientific psychology and the explanation of the psychological concepts; b) the constitution of a universal science of the psychic; c) the description of the intentional experiences and d) be a propaedeutic discipline for the transcendental phenomenology. For Husserl, the authentic and genuine conception of the phenomenological psychology is important to the psychologists since that it is through the development of this discipline that they will recover the subjectivity as the original source of human life and its correlation with the world-life.

Habermas’s self-correction

Differences between some sentences in the German original of 1981 and their English translation of 1984 were found in Volume 1 of Habermas’s magnum opus. It turned out to be an accurate self-correction by Habermas, which created there a concise summary of the teleological aspects of his speech act theory. This increased the linguistic devotion of his argument, but weakened the practical, societal influence of his theory of communicative action. Some other topics within the voluminous secondary literature on Habermas are also touched: the meaning spectrum of the key term ‘ Verständigung ’ (‘Understanding’), problems around the validity claims, and the formal, procedural character of his theory, i.e. the lack of substantive, causal factors. The latter traits and behind them Habermas’s close connection with the dominant philosophical trend of the ‘linguistic turn’ (Rorty 1967) are supposed to have led to the fact that Habermas’s theory has failed to redeem possible hopes about social awakening effects in the late 20th century. Yet, Habermas’s life-work has epochal significance. Besides complementing the ‘paradigm of production’ with the one of communicative interaction, deepening the concept of modern democracy, highlighting the significance of interpersonal social connections through the elaboration of the ‘lifeworld’ concept, Habermas’s work in providing theoretical foundations to understand the age of modernity is of key importance. Through analyzing ‘the unfinished project of modernity, of the Enlightenment’, whose contemporary defects ‘can only be made good by further enlightenment’, Habermas sums up the very essence of our age of globalization, of capitalism. He provides a program for all social scientific workshops still following the paradigm of historical progress and working for a developed, humane and democratic society, but sometimes being on the defensive today. The extension and supplementation of Habermas’s theory of modernity, with a ‘social turn’ (Roderick 1986) and a ‘causal turn’ is being proposed.

Philosophy, Religion and Education American Style: A Literature Review

This literature review presents an overview of Christian higher education in the United States with particular attention to philosophical trends and their influence on institutions of Christian origin. This literature review is situated in the context of the discussion of the need, or lack thereof, for helping students integrate their faith with the learning they acquire in colleges and universities.

PL.01 The endocannabinoids: functional roles and therapeutic opportunities

The Swiss psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler (1857–1939) became known worldwide through his theory of the ‘group of schizophrenias’ and their psychopathological formation, a conception that differed markedly from Emil Kraepelin’s prognostically pessimistic ‘dementia praecox theory’ and that incorporated specifically psychoanalytical elements. Bleuler sought an understanding of psychosis that, while fully acknowledging the biological determinants, brought in the individual psychological, social, and anthropological dimension. Furthermore, he outlined a natural philosophy in his later work that was to a large extent independent of contemporary philosophical trends, but that was, however, barely taken up by either psychiatry or philosophy.

Operationalism, Logical Empiricism and the Murkiness of Models

In the first half of the 20th century, scientific models were hardly mentioned in philosophy of science. Models were not thought to be central elements of science, in contrast to theories. This attitude can be better understood when considering philosophical trends Operationalism and Logical Empiricism and scientific developments the advent of quantum theory and relativity theory. This paper traces the philosophical currents and positions that prevented models from being recognized as playing an important role in science. It goes on to examine why the hostile attitude towards models slowly tempered in the 1950s. The contributions of Mary Hesse and Ernest Hutten are shown to foreshadow recent debates that have arisen in the context of the philosophical study of scientific models.

Aversão à teoria e indigência da prática: crítica a partir da filosofia de Adorno

Na educação, o pragmatismo tornou-se capilar e infiltra desde a formação docente até as definições do que e como ensinar. Buscamos evidenciar as contribuições de Adorno para o confronto dessa perspectiva filosófica. A vitalidade de suas análises está em se dirigir ao núcleo característico da tradição pragmática. Para ele, na sociedade administrada, a formação cultural se converte em semiformação. O espírito pragmático instaura a racionalidade do sempre-igual na relação sujeito e objeto, teoria e prática e alimenta o fenômeno da aversão à teoria. Configuram-se assim facetas da miséria da formação cultural contemporânea: a atrofia do pensar autônomo e a indigência da prática. Porém, o filósofo vê a possibilidade de um pensamento de resistência, que não abre mão de seu referente objetivo e da validade objetiva da verdade, opondo-se à ruína da razão. A experiência reflexiva criadora e criativa no/sobre o trabalho educativo não pode se desviar desse pensamento não eficaz.

FILOSOFINIŲ IDĖJŲ RAIŠKA GAMTAMOKSLINIAME UGDYME: TEORINIAI IR PRAKTINIAI ASPEKTAI

Natural Science education is becoming one of the most important branches of the educational content in Lithuanian Comprehensive School , whereas the content of these disciplines has special importance for the development of the informational society and for the rise and nurturance of the scientific potential. It, surely, gives possibilities for students to develop their self-expression and forms positive interaction relations with nature. If we want to make Natural Science the underlying aspect of the education, it is necessary to have a few fundamental ideas helping achieve the aims. The weak fundamental principles and ideas in the educational system become situations when todays education doesn‘t supply demands of the modern life. The aim of this research is to describe the expression of the philosophical ideas in todays and future practise of Natural Science education. The research was done applying the analysis of the educational documents and the resourses of scientific information as well as comparative analysis and systematic analysis. The research showed that in the different educational stages not many topics related with the philosophical aspects of person‘s life are regulated, though at the primary educational stages (because of the subject integration) conditions are quite favourable. In the upper grades when resumptive courses of Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Geography are taught there is not much space for the philosophical aspects left . At this stage subjects are hardly realised as the integrated parts of the undivided holistic world. Such situation becomes a setback trying to educate qualitatively. That‘s why the reach to re-create united and systematic attitude to the World, to the Human in the world and to the human‘s life in the modern world becomes particularly relevant. Today the close relation between pedagogics and philosophy becomes a necessity. Discussing the Natural Sciences Education prospects, achieving sufficient natural science literacy, it‘s worth regarding to the requirements of the Natural Sciences programs and education standards and to use these philosophical trends in which the objects of interest are in some ways related with communication and information technologies: postmodernism, hermeneutics, constructionism and reconstructionism. Key words: philosophy of education, natural science education, content of natural science education.

Urological catheter—“travelling through the ancient world”

Purpose Based on Greek and Latin sources the use of the urinary catheter in Western medicine between 200 and 1000 CE was reviewed. Material and methods Computerized databank searches permitted the identification and analysis of ancient and early medieval texts that include material on the catheter. Results Ten medical authors mentioned the catheter and its use. In the Byzantine world they include the encyclopedists Oribasius, Aetius and Paul of Aegina. The best known Latin author is Caelius Aurelianus. These writers often put together summaries of earlier works. Innovation or independent research was not easily found at a time during which neither anatomical autopsy nor experimentation was widely practiced. Conclusions Old texts contain numerous instructions on how to skillfully use the catheter. As a technical achievement, it was independent of philosophical trends. Its primary indications, namely urinary retention, bladder stones and the administration of cures, changed little with time. As one of the oldest and most important instruments at the disposal of physicians, the history of the catheter should be known to every urologist

Philosophy’s predicament and Hegel’s ghost: Reflections on the view that there is “no philosophy in China”

When Western science was introduced to modern China, more translated words were used to express fundamental concepts and terms than borrowed words. The process of academic translation, commensuration, and communication between Western and Chinese philosophy is a process of comparative philosophical research. Nowadays, however, it seems that Chinese philosophy is evaluated by a Western Hegelian criterion. This leads to the debate over whether or not China has philosophy. But it is meaningless to argue about whether or not China has the name of philosophy. The key issue is whether or not China has the actuality of philosophy. Looking at the history of Western philosophy, it seems that the Hegelian definition of philosophy was the only one that existed in Europe. However, during the last 200 years after Hegel that the two main philosophical trends of positivism (scientism) and irrationalism developed from anti-Hegelianism or “Spurning Metaphysics.” As metaphysics is being reconstructed, the ghost of Hegel has reappeared. It is clear that in the future, philosophy will evolve from the development of human metaphysics or cultural philosophy. It is a process of the “negation of negation”: from traditional metaphysics to the spurning of metaphysics, and then to human metaphysics.

Critical reflections on intersubjectivity in psychoanalysis

The authors review the philosophical trend known as postmodernism and the way it has infl uenced a part of psychoanalytic thought, concluding with some comments on the qualities and shortcomings of the new developments. The authors consider the origins and the cultural and aesthetic‐philosophical meaning of postmodernism, identifying some key concepts such as deconstructionism, the disappearance of the ‘individual subject’ and individual identity, and the rejection of ‘in‐depth’ models of psychoanalysis. Then they examine various, wide‐ranging developments in psychoanalytic thought and treatment. They review the intersubjective fi eld in psychoanalysis, especially in the USA, and then explore whether the underlying lack of truth to be discovered, stressed by these ‘new view’ statements, or the fact that the ‘truth’ only exists in linguistic‐narrative constructions is consistent with basic analytic concepts such as the unconscious, phantasy, transference and countertransference, which recall the tri‐dimensional nature of inner psychic reality. The psychoanalytic process is a condition activated through a bond that is able to hold and contain the relationship of the analytic couple and the patient's unconscious world and not through hermeneutic or narrative constructions.

Dictionnaire Marcel Proust by Annick Bouillaguet, Brian G. Rogers

856 Reviews but, above all, by the beautiful set of photographs, sketches, and prints which follow the text. Turning to Rimbaud ingenieur, we find an equally attractive and engaging book. Dotoli suggests that Rimbaud very much wanted to be an engineer and argues that the poet was fascinated by science. Rimbaud absorbed all sorts of books on engineer ing, including areas such asmetallurgy and hydraulics, and was constantly making use of works of reference leading to the creation of his own technical library. Dotoli interestingly speculates that Rimbaud may have dreamt of the glory of a great sci entific breakthrough and hoped that such an invention might ultimately have had an application in agriculture inAfrica. What ismost thought-provoking here isDotoli's idea that the poetry and the passion for science and engineering have a common de nominator in the pursuit of 'l'inconnu'. Chapter 4 is a good illustration of the detail available inDotoli's study, for here he looks at Rimbaud's interest in 'instruments de precision' such as optical and astronomical devices and others in the fields of elec tricity, pneumatics, and hydraulics. He then argues that 'Rimbaud veut cou'te que couite etre un ingenieur de laphotographie' (p. I3 i), an assertion that leads to further stimulating thoughts on the silent movies and the idea of photography as a kind of modern poetry. That Rimbaud was 'un ingenieur reveur, un visionnaire de la science' (P. I78) seems a convincing argument and, as earlier, the poetry which speaks so often of dreams, projects, and a new order appears to prefigure the ensuing 'ecriture sci entifique' (p. 210). Setting Rimbaud in a long line of artist-inventors (Pascal, Dante, Da Vinci), Dotoli writes lucidly and persuasively of a visionary who insisted that 'il faut etre absolument moderne'. In summary, these two volumes contribute equally well to our understanding of two facets of Rimbaud's work and experience which have hitherto been insufficiently explored. UNIVERSITY OF ULSTER GERALD MACKLIN Dictionnaire Marcel Proust. Ed. by ANNICK BOUILLAGUETand BRIAN G. ROGERS. Preface by ANTOINE COMPAGNON. Paris: Champion. 2004. 1099 PP. eIo0. ISBN 2-7453-0956-o. A reference work of this type could give the impression of containing the writer, locking him in or reducing him to facts and trends. Fortunately, in this case, because of the very wide range and variety of the articles, it develops an energy all its own and becomes a liberating search engine for acquaintance and reacquaintance with Proust, who would certainly have approved. Itwill be recalled that he himself possessed and exploited such awork in his day on Balzac, viz. theRepertoire de la Comedie Humaine de Balzac by Cerfberr and Christophe (I887), discovering in it fascinating material about Balzac and his creative methods as well as a new departure for himself. The whole revelation of Balzac's recurring characters, which the dictionary made evident, became a stimulating and solid base for Proust's treatment of his own creations and especially, with their reappearances, their uniquely Proustian development in time. Approached in this vein, this compilation will encourage the reader to go along with Antoine Compagnon's claim in his preface: 'Ce dictionnaire, loin d'enfermer l'ceuvre, d'epingler ses elements, de limiter sa portee, ouvre grand le chantier de ses interpretations' (p. 8). Looking over the very broad field the compilers have to cover, and with consis tent editorial control, they have revisited the previous scattered and varied lists of characters, themes, and places and produced a reference text all under one roof, as it were, that supersedes them. This is an update that can be consulted in several dif ferent ways at the reader's whim: a detailed who's who of characters inLa Recherche MLR, IOI.3, 2oo6 857 and elsewhere, a stimulating array of themes, a gallery of associated writers, artists, and historical figures, a bird's-eye view of critical and philosophical trends, each one a prism that casts light in surprising and enlightening directions. Apart from re wardingly informative factual information, tailor-made for both general reader and advanced Proustian researcher, we also have meaty examinations, by several hands, of speculative subjects from memory to la mort. Proust is...