This is a remarkable little book. On first reading I was impressed by its clarity and simplicity of style. On subsequent reading I was impressed by its close knit logical structure. This had escaped me on the first reading. On rereading I found myself stopping to ponder the wealth of implications it suggested. Although a small volume it possesses the wealth of substance of one three times its size. I emphasize this fact because its very simplieity and clarity earl easily deceive one as to its substance.
Its great merit lies in its closely knit logical structure. It results not only in a compact coherent whole but, as the author emphasizes in the beginning, it provides a powerful mnemonic basis for the mastery of its subject. The, basic assumptions are so rich in implications that a class could spend an entire term in working out the bearings of the text without exhausting its substance.
An additional merit is the last chapter in which the author develops some illustrative units which further clarify the practical import of his theory. This is no small merit in a philosophical text, for too frequently the theory is left without concrete illustration and application.
To do justice to the book I will first try to develop the basic pattern of Bayles' argument. I will then make a few general observations. Chapter I "Pragmatism: Relativity Taken Seriously," introduces pragmatism with a quote from Bode, "Perhaps the best point at which to begin a discussion of pragmatism is the idea that no aspect of human experience can be dealt with as a 'thing-in-itself,' but only as a figure against a background, viewed from a given angle of envisionment or point of reference, and viewed by a person who brings to the situation a set o.f insights on the basis of which he tends to interpret the experience:."
Professor Bayles refers to this point of view as a relationalistie one. He says, "pragmatism is a matter of dealing with the affairs of life patternwise, or configurationally.