ISO
PARTISAN REVIEW
never qt!ite comes to grip with her subject matter. It is significant that,
after indicating dissent from the fashionable empiricist philosophers of
the day, she fails to show what exactly is wrong with them--e.g. in the
case of Oakeshott that his well-advertised attachment to Conservatism
is void of meaning: the traditional Tories had definite beliefs, and
were by no means content to argue that "systematic political theorizing
is a bad thing." Miss Murdoch is mistaken in supposing that Conserv–
atism as a doctrine implies hostility to theoretical thinking-there is
plenty of theorizing in Burke, not to mention the Continental tradi–
tionalists, from de Maistre to Ortega. And why talk of "Benthamite
scepticism"? No one was more dogmatic than Bentham. His reasoning
was shallow, which is quite a different matter. On balance, then,
Con–
viction
fails to come off as a statement of Socialist theory, though it
justifies its title by the vigor with which the twelve authors conduct
their search for a new character-the up-to-date Socialist of tomorrow.
Paradoxically, the only non-political essay in the collection is the best
of the lot; and even that suffers from undue attachment to insular
habits of thought. There are, throughout this book, some casual side–
swipes at Marxism and the Communists, but no Communist
is
going to
change his mind after reading it; nor is it likely that Conservatives or
Liberals will find themselves shaken in their opinions. (For one thing,
there is no discussion of economics, only of the social services.) What
then is to be said of the authors? Principally that they have demon–
strated an intelligent faith in democratic socialism as a cause which
makes sense in their favored island, if not in the world generally. And
that after all is something.
Robert Goodnough
Jan. 6 - 31
Ralph Humphrey
Feb. 3 - 21
Edward Avedisian
Feb. 24 - Mar. 14
Fairfield Porter
Mar. 17 - Apr. 4
TIBOR DE NAGY GALLERY
24 E. 67 St. (corner Madison)
N.Y.C.
G. L. Arnold
Coming Exhibitions:
Ad Reinhardt
Thomas Sills
Richard Lindner
Enrico Donati
Richard Pousette-Dart
Betty Parsons Gallery
15 East 57 Street, N. Y.
