Reviewed in Brief

Varieties of Human Value, by Charles Morris. 209 pp. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. $5.00

Professor Morris is an outstanding leader of the collegium of analytical philosophers who have in this century systematically sucked the substance from thought. The guiding spirit of the International Encyclopedia of the Unified Sciences, he is the analyst’s analyst. This book is an attempt to study the meaning of values by statistically comparing the preferences shown by college students of diverse cultures for thirteen different “conceptions of the good life,” varying from “live with wholesome, carefree enjoyment” to “obey the cosmic purposes.” Needless to say, this last, the nearest to an expression of the traditional beliefs by which civilized men have lived, comes out pretty badly. Even this Kinsey of philosophy has the grace to seem somewhat bewildered as to just what he has achieved.

FS

About the Author

Frank S. Meyer

Frank S. Meyer was a senior editor of National Review.

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Varieties of Human Value, by Charles Morris. 209 pp. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. $5.00

Professor Morris is an outstanding leader of the collegium of analytical philosophers who have in this century systematically sucked the substance from thought. The guiding spirit of the International Encyclopedia of the Unified Sciences, he is the analyst’s analyst. This book is an attempt to study the meaning of values by statistically comparing the preferences shown by college students of diverse cultures for thirteen different “conceptions of the good life,” varying from “live with wholesome, carefree enjoyment” to “obey the cosmic purposes.” Needless to say, this last, the nearest to an expression of the traditional beliefs by which civilized men have lived, comes out pretty badly. Even this Kinsey of philosophy has the grace to seem somewhat bewildered as to just what he has achieved.