The Academic Man by Logan WilsonReview by: M. F. Ashley MontaguIsis, Vol. 34, No. 6 (Autumn, 1943), pp. 528-529Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of The History of Science SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/225910 .

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528 Reviews

A. C. KRAUSE finds that the photochemistry of the visual purple resembles the sensitizing dyes used in photographic emulsions.

GEORGE WALD reports that photo-reception throughout all organisms is founded chemically upon a single group of substances, the carotenoid complexes.

E. GELLHORN finds that even a mild anoxia results in a diminution of the visual functions, but that the autonomic system shows increased excitability.

S. H. BARTLEY discusses the relations of visual sensation to time and space, and T. J. CASE reports that the alpha waves of the brain become smaller or even disappear when the eyes are opened, and regular and larger when they are closed.

W. H. MARSHALL and S. A. TALBOT present a general theory of sensory acuity based on neural mechanisms in vision.

G. VON BONIN, H. W. GAROL, and W. S. MCCUL- LOCH apply strychninization to the analysis of the functions of the three areas of the occipital lobe of the macaque and chimpanzee.

S. L. POLYAK reviews the histology of the retina. G. L. WALLS treats extensively of the development and evolution of the visual cells, concluding that color vision, which is universal among diurnal sauropsidians, is absent in most placental mam- mals despite their possession of abundant cones. The human cone has regained color vision through redifferentiation within placental mammals with a culmination in the primates.

H. KLUVER discusses the significance of the geniculo-striate system, with especial reference to area and brightness. K. S. LASHLEY presents the dilemma that although nerve impulses are transmitted from cell to cell over restricted paths, yet all behavior seems to be determined by form or relations or proportions of excita- tion within general fields of activity without re- gard to particular nerve cells. It is the pattern and not the elements that count.

This symposium reveals the difficulties and in- tricacies of the analysis of perhaps the most highly evolved function of the living substance, namely, the perception of and reaction to light. It reveals the diverse lines of approach to this fascinating subject at the present time.

CHARLES A. KOFOID

LOGAN WILSON: The Academic Man. viii+248 p. New York, Oxford University Press, 1942. $3.00.

Professor LOGAN WILSON's book is a welcome contribution to the study of the sociology of a much neglected profession, that of the academic man. We have had studies of dish-washing, laun-

dering, labor, business, and of other professions, but very little attention has been previously paid to the sociological study of what is, next to school teaching, the most important profession in our land, university teaching and research. Professor WILSON refers to the class of men comprising this profession as "academicians." The term "aca- demic" would perhaps have served his meaning better.

Professor WILSON is head of the Department of Sociology at Tulane University, he is therefore well equipped for the task of writing a book such as this. And it is, indeed, a most valuable work that he has given us, one that will be of interest to all classes of readers.

The author traces the course of the academic man from his student days to his final arrival in the professorial chair, and he describes and ana- lyzes the factors which operate upon him during the process as well as afterwards, and his re- sponses to them. The presentation is excellent, the picture which emerges of the academic man is deplorable. Professor WILSON passes no moral judgments, but the facts, as he sets them out, do seem to point to the conclusion that the ideal con- ception of the academic man as a courageous, pro- vocative thinker is more often than not in reality replaced by a timorous, climbing conformist. The ideals of the academic man, on the whole, ap- pear to be no higher than those which prevail within the society of which he is a member. The case should be far otherwise; for the true legis- lators of mankind are its teachers: in our society the teachers in the elementary and secondary schools, the colleges and universities. What has been omitted or erroneously taught in the former should be supplied or corrected in the latter. But how can this be done by one who has been appointed because he implicitly agrees to support the status quo?

I like the words of an assistant professor in the social sciences published in a recent Harvard faculty report:

"The common tendency is to over-value the qualities that make a young man merely 'sound,' industrious, technically proficient, and 'productive' man of research in an established specialty, and one who does efficient and reliable, routine work as a scholar and teacher, fits obligingly into the niche or groove his department provides for him, is always 'co- operative' in the work of the department, accepts all the aims and standards for his work approved by his elders, and is in no way a nuisance, problem, or disturbing influence; to over-value all these respectable and convenient qualities . . . of the young man who above all is vigorously, intellectually alive and independent, whose aspiration and bent is to be primarily a thinker rather than a 'scholar,' who boldly chal- lenges accepted ideas in his general field and related fields and is provocative or stimulating in discussions with his colleagues and with students, and who, in a word, chiefly 'shines' not by efficient, routine industry, and conformity, but rather as an invigorating, intellectual force within the university community."

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Reviews 529

And as Professor WILSON adds:

"The non-conformist within the system, whether he be a new member of the staff or an old member with new ideas, by virtue of his actions implies that there are other ways just as good as the traditional modes, or even better, and hence tends to devaluate precedent. If he is a 'good fellow' his associates tend to be tolerant, but if he proves personally obnoxious, a wall of social ostracism may be gradually built around him, until he finds himself not being recommended for promotion, or even being dismissed because of his 'non-co- operative' attitudes. In less extreme cases, however, the individual merely encounters annoying obstacles or indiffer- ence to his efforts."

Since science is of its nature non-conformist, and since criticism is the life of science as of art, this is a sad reflection upon the alleged universal interest and sympathies which members of a uni- versity are supposed to possess and to further.

Professor WILSON calls attention to the indi- vidualistic character of the academic scientist, and to the negative results of his individualism, such as are seen collectively in duplication of efforts, lack of co-ordination, anarchic organization, and a general lack of integration in the field of re- search. The results are, of course, by no means all negative, but obviously there is a case here that calls for further investigation.

M. F. ASHLEY MONTAGU

Hahnemann Medical College and Hospital Philadelphia, Pa.

SUSANNE K. LANGER: Philosophy in a new key. A study in the symbolism of reason, rite and art. 312 pp. Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1942. $3.50.

The new key which Mrs. LANGER hears in phi- losophy is that of symbolism. She hears it in philosophy and she hears it in psychoanalysis as well. It is, she believes, "a new generative idea" that is "to preoccupy and inspire our philosophical age." It will provide a method for revolutionizing the mental sciences, a method that could not be derived from the natural sciences. "In the funda- mental notion of symbolization-mystical, prac- tical, or mathematical, it makes no difference- we have the keynote to all humanistic problems."

That this key of symbolism is entirely new is debatable. Almost every important period in phil- osophical discussion has found time to be pre- occupied with this subject. One needs only to mention the discussions of SEXTUS EMPIRICUS, AUGUSTINE, OCCAM, LOCKE. But that themes in this key are being played today with greater in- tensity and in some cases with greater inventive- ness, is true. One might also share Mrs. LANGER'S belief that the theory of symbolism will provide a fruitful approach to humanistic problems without sharing her view that this approach represents a

sharp break with natural science methods. On the contrary, the best work being done in semantics is perfectly compatible with natural science methods, since it uses either the formal methods of analysis known to mathematics and symbolic logic or the empirical methods of the physical and biological sciences. This is borne out not only by most of the literature Mrs. LANGER cites, but by her own discussions as well.

Mrs. LANGER does not confine herself, moreover, to laying down a program for other workers to carry out. Her book contains well-informed and fre- quently highly suggestive discussions of a variety of specific and pertinent topics in the field of the theory of signs. These include the origins of lan- guage; the logic of signs and symbols; the se- mantics of language, ritual, and music, among others. For man's wish "symbolically to trans- form" his experiences is all-pervasive, and is more fundamental, in her opinion, than the communica- tive, practical uses of language, with which it is often considered coextensive.

Mrs. LANGER'S theoretical formulations are at many points open to serious criticism. As an ex- ample, her explanation of human symbolic activi- ties in terms of a "biological need to symbolize" hardly does justice to specific physiological and cultural factors. One might as well explain man's knowledge of fire in terms of a biological need to use and make fires. Nevertheless, she does make out a plausible case for the relevance of a general theory of signs to the diverse phenomena with which the work deals.

The most original contribution of the present book to such a theory is Mrs. LANGER'S distinc- tion between a discursive symbolism and a non-discursive symbolism. Most previous theories, she feels, have concerned themselves too exclu- sively with discursive symbolism, of which lan- guage is the most important representative, and have neglected the rich fields of non-discursive or "wordless" symbols, such as that of art. A non-discursive symbolism has no vocabulary, according to Mrs. LANGER, because its elements have no fixed meanings, and vary with every context. They are neither definable nor trans- latable in terms of other units, and have no regular grammar or general reference. The elements of photography, e.g., lines, shadings, etc., have dif- ferent meanings in different pictures and at different places in the same picture. Yet symbolic activity in the non-discursive moods is no less "constructive" and "rational" than in the dis- cursive. Music, for example, the author regards as a non-discursive symbolism.

"Because the forms of human feeling are much more congruent with musical forms than with the forms of language, music can reveal the nature of feelings with a detail and truth that language cannot approach." (p. 235)

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