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The author, Hollis Professor of Mathematic and Natural Philosophy at Harvard University, presents in this volume an extremely engaging and interesting analysis of human thought and behavior. The problem is attacked as though it were a paper on some subject in physics or mathematics and as in the laboratory every element is closely examined and reduced to its basic significances. Words, phrases and concepts are weighed and measured to see whence they come and what they do mean. With the consistent attitude of a research worker this plan is at times followed with disregard for practical realities of the moment. At such times it becomes a pleasant armchair discussion of life and thinking.
The thesis is that the scientific method applicable to physics can be adapted to the study of the 'social sciences', though not with dogmatic slavishness. Life cannot be even moderately satisfactory unless it can stand intelligent scrutiny although the author admits there may be other elements necessary to make life satisfactory. He applies a cold, keen-cutting logic in examining a number of commonly accepted social concepts as morality, rights, freedom, etc. In analyzing these concepts and their acceptance he finds that our slavishness to verbalizations offers us an easy means of escaping the arduousness of intelligent scrutiny of our behavior and the motives for our behavior. Particularly interesting is the fact that in his analyses, he consistently insists upon pointing out the rôle of the emotions and the 'unconscious' in man's philosophies in contrast to the usual 'common-sense' view point that these philosophies are the result of pure reasoning.