Ian Hacking puts forward a distinction between two kinds of scientific realism. According to scientific realism about theories, scientific theories are accepted as approximately true; according to scientific realism about unobservable entities, the theoretical terms occurring in scientific theories refer to existing, real entities. This article seeks to show that Claude Bernard's philosophy of science is a realist one about scientific theories, but anti-realist about unobservable entities. The term “fictionalism” is used here to stand for this sort of anti-realism about unobservable entities.

Un grand nombre de problèmes dont traite aujourd'hui la théorie de la décision reposent sur des problématiques qui appartiennent à des approches philosophiques, méthodologiques et théoriques fort différentes et dont l'auteur de Choix rationnel et vie publique déplore à juste titre l'absence d'unité intrinsèque. En effet, les racines de la théorie contemporaine du choix rationnel ont des ramifications dans trois traditions philosophiques qui ont été maintenues sans entretenir de contacts: théories philosophiques de l'action d'Aristote à Hume, à Kant et à la philosophie analytique de l'action de Davidson; la théorie du conflit de Hobbes à David Gauthier; la théorie de la justice (d'inspiration utilitariste qui a profondément marqué la pensée économique du XXe siècle). Ces branches ont entretenu des interactions sporadiques, mais ces relations n'ont jamais été exploitées systématiquement. Le travail que présente l'auteur est une première tentative dans cette direction, du moins en langue française.

The Philosophy of Hans-Georg Gadamer, edited by Lewis Edwin Hahn, the twenty-fourth volume in the “Library of Living Philosophers”—a series founded in 1938 by Paul Arthur Schlipp, the aim of which has been to represent some of the world's greatest living philosphers. In keeping with this tradition, the 600-page Gadamer volume contains an invaluable and lengthy autobiographical sketch by Gadamer himself, long with wide-ranging critical and interpretive essays by twenty-nine scholars. The essays address the foundations of philosophical hermeneutics, the significance of beauty, art, and aesthetics to hermeneutic theory, theSocratic-Platonic sources of Gadamer's outlook, the relationship between Gadamer's hermeneutics and the characteristic perspectives of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, questions concerning Gadamer'sconnection to political affairs in twentieth-century Germany, and the nuances of Martin Heidegger's profound influence on Gadamer's thought. The essays divide evenly into those which take issue with Gadamer and those which interpretively and sympathetically elaborate on Gadamerian themes. Of the twenty-nine authors, twenty-six were teaching at North American colleges and universities at the time of writing.

Philosophie grecque est un ouvrage d'histoire de la philosophie du Vle siècle av. J.-C. au XVe siècle byzantin et qui vient s'ajouter aux nombreuses histoires de la philosophie ancienne que nous a données l'historiographie française du xxe siècle. Le rythme de ces publications, même limitées à la tradition française, demeure impressionnant. En effet, une recherche rapide nous indiquerait facilement un rythme de publication d'environ une histoire de la philosophie ancienne tous les trois ans au cours de ce siècle. Une recherche plus poussée augmenterait sans doute cette moyenne. Un esprit malin et tant soit peu insolent pourrait soutenir que Philosophie grecque est un ouvrage de trop sur les rayons déjà amplement garnis de nos bibliothèques et poserait la question fondamentale de la pertinence d'une nouvelle histoire de la philosophie ancienne en cette fin de siècle.

This collection of essays is a mixed bag. It is intended to be, inasmuch as the selection has been made to show Robert Nozick's versatility as a philosopher and a writer. And it does so—but too much that is of passing interest is included. The first ten essays could have made a collection on their own. Nine of these are included within two sections: “Choice and Utility” and “Philosophy and Methodology.” The tenth, “Moral Complications and Moral Structures,” appears in a section entitled “Ethics and Politics.” It is by far the most substantial piece in this section, both in length and depth. A selection of the remaining pieces in the book might then have been included in a section of jeux d'esprit. So I will first report on the first ten essays and then come back to some of these.