186
PARTISAN R.EVIEW
A second edi tion would be improved by a few minor terminological
clarifications. For example, Nagel uses the term "internal" inconsistently;
in the main he means internal to a domain of reasoning but occasionally
he describes subjective attitudes as "inner" and inner surely means the same
as internal. This double use might confuse some readers. Another example:
the word "rationalization" appears qui te often but is never defined, which
wouldn't matter if Nagel were right to assume that a local (Viennese,
U.
S.
East Coast), technical (psychoanalytical) sense would be perspicuous to
every reader. A possible definition here might be: "the process of hiding
irrational or unworthy wishes behind a facade of nOll-genuine reasons," a
sense of the word which is we ll understood by many middle-aged and
elderly academ.ics, but one can't be so sure about students and other
youngish readers. Still, these linguistic points are mere niggles.
The Last
Word
can be strongly recommended as an accessible, well-written, and
sometimes inspired demolition of an unfortunate and unprepossessing
philosophical and cuI tural phenomenon.
JENNY TEICHMAN
"Is it possible for a philosopher to have a wicked wit, a kindly heart, a passion
for clarity, and an utterly convincing argument that crossword puzzles are, for
thinkers, what labs are for scientists? It is, if her name is Susan Haack."
-Robert Heilbroner, author of
The Worldly Philosophers
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Susan Haack
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