Overview

In the twenty-first century the wonders of science show its magnificent potential for good. The scientific successes we enjoy are rooted in the modern way of thinking about physics. But success has fostered a myth that the dialectic of physics should be used in other areas. In the opening paragraph the author proclaims-and indeed others agree-a crisis has been reached in our evolving Western worldview. In this work Kevin Wall illuminates this development in the light of philosophy, theology, science, art, and with reference to Greek and Scholastic minds--showing the real-world implications of Western speculative thought

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9781893426092

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Reviews

"Dr. Wall has written an important book giving an overview of the development of philosophy in the West from the Enlightenment to the end of the Second World War. His early death delayed its publication. There were many currents that formed the modern mind and Wall has a canny insight and the skill to lead his readers from the dawn of the Enlightenment in the early 1600's to the origins of Linguistic Analysis schools on the eve of WWI. Even if the quarrels of the eighteenth and nineteenth century have largely been forgotten, Dr. Wall's book is still timely because the modern mind was formed through those discussions and they are very much alive forming the minds of our contemporaries. I should warn the reader that while the style of this book is written as if for beginners (and they will profit from it) it does demand an understanding of the development of the major European currents of philosophy during those 250 years. Hilary Martin O.P. Fr. Martin has revealed the primitive mind's grasp of reality in his books The Reality of Myth and People from the Dawn. In this book, Fr. Kevin Wall presents a brief, masterful overview of the vast sweep of modern and contemporary philosophy, tracing ""the emergence of the modern mind"" with all its doubts, hopes, promises, and perplexities. He makes special note of challenges and opportunities this presents for Thomism, as now ""it must necessarily overflow its boundaries and seek to penetrate into others. It cannot be indifferent to other thought but must seek to illuminate and understand it. Not by pride in the possession of truth, but by such love for it, Thomism must bring its light to bear upon the many obscurities of the modern mind"" (p. 112). Michael J. Dodds, O.P., Professor of Philosophy and Theology, Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology, Berkeley, CA. Professor Dodds has published extensively on the interactions of science and religion. In his searching study, The Modern Mind, Kevin Wall, O.P., gives us an historically grounded diagnosis of the malaise of modernity and post-modernity. Wall's range is impressive: Plato and Aristotle, Hegel and Kant, the dialectics of the Idealists and the varieties of existentialism. His account closes with the rise and fall of positivism. The dynamic heart of Wall's vision is the wisdom of the perennial philosophy, always alive in its engagement with the human struggle for truth. The Modern Mind serves us well as a serious introduction to the increasingly ""interesting times"" in which we now find ourselves. James G. Hanink, Ph.D. President, American Maritain Association. Dr. Hanink, formerly a professor of philosophy at Loyola Marymount University, as an independent scholar writes in the areas of metaphysics, epistemology, and social thought. Kevin Wall's book The Modern Mind offers a brief yet balanced account of the development of modern philosophical thought from the scientific revolution to the mid-twentieth century. As it proceeds, it offers a sustained critique from the perspective of modernity itself, largely by way of the thought of Kierkegaard, as well as representatives of earlier epochs, particularly Aristotle and Aquinas. By its brevity it offers a helpful introduction that may be supplemented by further study. Fr. Brian Chrzastek, O.P., Assistant Professor of philosophy at the PFIC of the Dominican House of Studies, Washington D.C."

Dr. Wall has written an important book giving an overview of the development of philosophy in the West from the Enlightenment to the end of the Second World War. His early death delayed its publication. There were many currents that formed the modern mind and Wall has a canny insight and the skill to lead his readers from the dawn of the Enlightenment in the early 1600's to the origins of Linguistic Analysis schools on the eve of WWI. Even if the quarrels of the eighteenth and nineteenth century have largely been forgotten, Dr. Wall's book is still timely because the modern mind was formed through those discussions and they are very much alive forming the minds of our contemporaries. I should warn the reader that while the style of this book is written as if for beginners (and they will profit from it) it does demand an understanding of the development of the major European currents of philosophy during those 250 years. Hilary Martin O.P. Fr. Martin has revealed the primitive mind's grasp of reality in his books The Reality of Myth and People from the Dawn. In this book, Fr. Kevin Wall presents a brief, masterful overview of the vast sweep of modern and contemporary philosophy, tracing the emergence of the modern mind with all its doubts, hopes, promises, and perplexities. He makes special note of challenges and opportunities this presents for Thomism, as now it must necessarily overflow its boundaries and seek to penetrate into others. It cannot be indifferent to other thought but must seek to illuminate and understand it. Not by pride in the possession of truth, but by such love for it, Thomism must bring its light to bear upon the many obscurities of the modern mind (p. 112). Michael J. Dodds, O.P., Professor of Philosophy and Theology, Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology, Berkeley, CA. Professor Dodds has published extensively on the interactions of science and religion. In his searching study, The Modern Mind, Kevin Wall, O.P., gives us an historically grounded diagnosis of the malaise of modernity and post-modernity. Wall's range is impressive: Plato and Aristotle, Hegel and Kant, the dialectics of the Idealists and the varieties of existentialism. His account closes with the rise and fall of positivism. The dynamic heart of Wall's vision is the wisdom of the perennial philosophy, always alive in its engagement with the human struggle for truth. The Modern Mind serves us well as a serious introduction to the increasingly interesting times in which we now find ourselves. James G. Hanink, Ph.D. President, American Maritain Association. Dr. Hanink, formerly a professor of philosophy at Loyola Marymount University, as an independent scholar writes in the areas of metaphysics, epistemology, and social thought. Kevin Wall's book The Modern Mind offers a brief yet balanced account of the development of modern philosophical thought from the scientific revolution to the mid-twentieth century. As it proceeds, it offers a sustained critique from the perspective of modernity itself, largely by way of the thought of Kierkegaard, as well as representatives of earlier epochs, particularly Aristotle and Aquinas. By its brevity it offers a helpful introduction that may be supplemented by further study. Fr. Brian Chrzastek, O.P., Assistant Professor of philosophy at the PFIC of the Dominican House of Studies, Washington D.C.

Author Information

"Kevin Wall O.P. earned degrees from the Angelicum in Rome and from The University of Fribourg where he studied Hegelian thought under the renowned Polish logician Joseph Bochenski. He died unexpectedly in 1988. He was a revered teacher who could illuminate philosophical ideas for the critical minds of his students from his encyclopedic reach into philosophy, science, theology, and art. Much of his estate was organized in notebooks, three-ring binders, and computer floppy disks. In the collection, his incomplete manuscript on the modern mind with its clearly prophetic observations was of great interest. It was evident that he had labored for several years on Western thinking and the dialectical science that has dominated it. He says, ""The prime speculative error of the modern mind was to regard dialectical science as potential to nothing higher."" He founded Solas Press in 1999, an independent publisher of non-fiction. It has brought to the public eye critical works of enduring value and contributions to contemporary thought."

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