NUTSHELL SURVEY OF PHILOSOPHICAL STREAMS

Dr.Abdul Lathief:-PHILOSOPHICAL REFLECTIONS

(Mulberry Publications,Kozhikode)Pp.165.Rs.75/-

      Book Review by P.Raja

http://lathief1.tripod.com

 

         lt was Francis Bacon who remarked. "Some books are to be tasted ; others swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested."Dr.Abdul Lathief's Philosophical Reflections belongs to the third category.Yet,it cannot be read in a single sitting for the heaviness of the material provided therein demands a serious study and it is not everyman's cup of tea.

  

        Dr. Abdul Lathief ,it goes without saying,should have buried himself  among books of Philosophy for hours together for years and the scholarship he had thus gained should have gone into the making of this book.

   

         In the first part of his book,Dr.Abdul Lathief talks about the different ways of existence,and the planes of manifestations.Along with the discussion of creative evolution and dissolution,one finds the path of the seeker and also Wisdom,Love and Power.In his attempt to present his own views on the philosophy of existence,he has taken trip round the world of philosophers.

   

              The rest of the book is an analysis of Western and Eastern Philosophies,mystical and religious system and major psychological systems.The second part starts with the pre-Socretic philosophers to Neo -realistic philosophers.It is also a nutshell history of Western philosophy.Human psychology,part III of the book ,discusses in detail the thoughts of Freud,Jung,Adler and Berne.

     

            The fourth part deals with religious and mystical philosophy and all the philosophies embedded in world's religions find their place here.The final chapter deals with mysticism,metaphysics and ethics.

        

                 In his analysis of theroies and philosophies,Dr.Abdul Lathief must had made the best use of the sources which he has  conveniently forgotten to mention; a list of books at the end would have made the work  more scholarly.Yet the book is a work of ready reference to scholars,teachers and interested students who have a taste for philosophy.

 

Dr. P. Raja.24 Poincare Street.Olandai-Keera Palayam,Pondicerry-605004-India.

 

This Book -Review is from  "Indian Book Chronicle-Vol-27-No -9-September 2002.