TALK SENSE:

This effort to encourage would-be philosophers to step over the threshold of the Scholastic method into its thorough study is commendable for what it sets out to do. Unfortunately the simplification device of an everyday situation, which might be considered practical in either England or Australia, rings untrue here and minimizes the effectiveness of the presentation. Father Gryst, in the acceptable classroom manner, gives his explanations in the setting of a continuing conversation with a haberdashery clerk. Using the purchase of a hat as his take-off point, Father Gryst knowledgeably and clearly presents realistic examples to explain the ways of knowing, judgments, the problems of skepticism, idealism, empiricism, the idea of something, the problem of change, potency and act, the cause of things, quantity, living things, their differences, the will, the soul, God and right and wrong. This truly formidable undertaking in brief form using homely, though often less than successful, examples should be helpful to anyone interested in knowing more about Scholastic philosophy or in reviewing what was once studied. College students certainly will benefit from a close reading and re-reading of Father Gryst's adventurous synthesis of basic Scholastic principles.