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Is Modern Culture Doomed? by ANDREW J. KRZESINSKI Review by: Alexandre Koyré Social Research, Vol. 12, No. 2 (MAY 1945), pp. 262-264 Published by: The New School Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40982076 . Accessed: 25/06/2014 02:05 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. . The New School is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Social Research. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 194.29.185.47 on Wed, 25 Jun 2014 02:05:38 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Is Modern Culture Doomed?by ANDREW J. KRZESINSKI

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Page 1: Is Modern Culture Doomed?by ANDREW J. KRZESINSKI

Is Modern Culture Doomed? by ANDREW J. KRZESINSKIReview by: Alexandre KoyréSocial Research, Vol. 12, No. 2 (MAY 1945), pp. 262-264Published by: The New SchoolStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40982076 .

Accessed: 25/06/2014 02:05

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

The New School is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Social Research.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 194.29.185.47 on Wed, 25 Jun 2014 02:05:38 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Page 2: Is Modern Culture Doomed?by ANDREW J. KRZESINSKI

262 SOCIAL RESEARCH

this difficulty Dr. Kelsen suggests that the necessary consent should be obtained by the United Nations, by treaty.

Those who are in favor of compulsory adjudication of interna- tional disputes, and of punishing war criminals, will find substantial arguments in this book for continuing their struggle for an improved system of international relations. It seems doubtful, however, that Dr. Kelsen's theses will prove persuasive enough to reverse the current trend in international politics, which favors a distinction between legal and political disputes and places a political rather than a judicial body in the center of the future international organization.

Leo Gross Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy

KRZESINSKI, ANDREW J. Is Modern Culture Doomed? New York: Devin-Adair. 1942. 176 pp. $2.

Recent years have seen the publication of a rather large number of books, from the pens of Catholic and also Protestant divines,

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Page 3: Is Modern Culture Doomed?by ANDREW J. KRZESINSKI

BOOK REVIEWS 263

stating that the modern world is going to the dogs. The responsi- bility for this unhappy state of world affairs is usually laid on modern culture, and the explanation of its pernicious influence is trium- phantly discovered in the irreligious or even anti-religious character of our period. The explanation clearly points to the remedy: back to the teaching of the Church.

Father Krzesinski is not so pessimistic as most writers of this type. He, too, condemns modern culture for its materialism, paints a gloomy picture of the misery of modern man, who has turned away from God in his absurd pursuit of worldly happiness, and opposes to this picture the radiant joy and deep contentment of the life inspired by faith. He recognizes, however, that not all is to be condemned in the materialistic trend of the modern world: the alleviation of poverty, the betterment of the living conditions of the masses, are in his opinion positive achievements. Still, without God, all that is dust and ashes. But Father Krzesinski does not despair, because he finds in the modern world, in spite of its prevailing

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Page 4: Is Modern Culture Doomed?by ANDREW J. KRZESINSKI

264 SOCIAL RESEARCH

materialism, a deep Christian trend. Christian culture is not dead; its light shines in the darkness and its truth asserts itself with a growing strength.

Now it is obvious that a civilization which could not prevent the unholy mess in which the world has found itself in the twentieth century is a sick civilization. It is therefore very easy to criticize it, and, as a matter of fact, Father Krzesinski's criticisms are often witty, and even justified and pertinent. Yet his conclusions seem to be wholly gratuitous, and his proposed remedy illusory. Faith has never prevented wars, or hate, or even cruelty. Quite the contrary: it is the epochs which had the deepest concern about the salvation of man's eternal soul that were also the least concerned about his terrestrial and temporal destiny. Humanitarianism is a product not of faith, but of the secularization of faith. Moreover, people believe in God, or don't. You cannot promote faith by showing that it is a good means to save culture- even if it were true.

Alexandre Koyré

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