A CRITICAL INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS,

by Philip Wheelwright, Professor of Philosophy. (Revised edition.) Odyssey Press, 1949, PP- x, 476; $3.50.

The original edition of this work, published in 1935, has been extensively used as a textbook. Because of its careful presentation of historical materials and its subtle yet lucid analyses, it is universally acknowledged to be a thorough and competent introduction to ethical theory.

The present, revised edition is notable for the care and skill with which alterations have been made. These alterations are, in general, of two kinds: those which are designed to make the work more powerful as an instrument of instruction, and those which represent changes in Professor Wheelwright's own position.

Of the first we need merely say that they are without exception felicitous: the omissions, additions, rearrangements, and rephrasings all contribute to clarity and add force and timeliness to the presentation.

Of the second, the most conspicuous is Professor Wheelwright's new emphasis on religious experience and its implications for ethics. Whereas in the previous edition Christian ethics had been relegated to a small place in the chapter on the ethics of duty, and classical Humanism represented (or so it seemed) the highest form of the moral ideal, we now find the chapter of Humanism closing with a suggestion of its inadequacy. At this point a wholly new chapter on Religious Ethics has been added. This chapter, I believe, is one of the most admirable in the book. It introduces a wide range of material from major historic religions, ably interpreting the common elements in their ethical ideals, and concludes with a careful and sharp-edged interpretation of Christian ethics. The religious orientation which this chapter affords reappears in the newly written final section of the book, where Professor Wheelwright briefly introduces the problem of the ethical significance of history.

Those who may have found fault with the lack of a sufficiently positive statement of Professor Wheelwright's position in the previous edition of the book, will now find their criticism answered. In this respect, as in all others, the revised edition is definitely superior. Teachers of philosophy as well as students and the interested public have reason to be grateful to Professor Wheelwright for the thoroughness and skill with which he has revised his book.