Philosophy & political action/ by Virginia Held, Kai Nielsen and Charles Parsons

The spirit of political activism which has engaged a wide range of persons in American society, particularly in university communities, is reflected in this book. Its thesis is that a professional philosophical orientation, i. e., the critical and theoretical abilities developed by philosophers, should be brought to bear upen discussion of social problems. Most of the essays are original papers written for the New York Group of the Society for Philosophy and Public Affairs, an or ganization formed expressly to stimulate such applied work among philosophers.

Employing nontechnical language, the contributors treat a number of timely issues, including definitions and implications of "reform" and "revolution" and the choice between the two; the justifiability of de fiance of the state through "strikes," draft resistance, and civil dis obedience; and the responsibilities of members of universities. The book affirms the view that contemporary social problems are of concern to philosophers along with abstract theoretical questions. As such, the volume is one of the few contemporary works in a not yet clearly defined academic area which lies between philosophy and the social and natural sciences.

Virginia Held is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Hunter College of

the City University of New York. She is the author of The Public Interest and Individual Interests (1970) and of articles on social and political philosophy, game theory, ethics, and public policy.

Kai Nielsen is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Calgary. Formerly he taught at New York University, Harpur College, and at Amherst College. He has written Reason and Practice (1971), Contem porary Criques of Religion (1971), Scepticism (1971), and numerous articles.