ion. In the first essay, The Twentieth Century: Dawn or Twilight?, Krutch (1959) explores the wealth, power and material focus of civilization, maintaining that human nature is relevant only to the conditions which produce it is a misguided philosophy, ôSociety is presumed to be what it is as the result of an inevitable evolution, and human nature merely what a given state of society has made itö (18). Krutch is determined to show that each is a separate realm and can be studied and discussed as such.
Krutch (1959) discloses the point of this collection of essays in his first essay, when he maintains that he will reject the premise that the human condition is ômerely a productö of human nature (19). Also at the end of this essay, Krutch (1959) asserts that one of his main premises will be to show that moral relativism is undermined by absolutism, ôÆGoodÆ and æbadÆ are assumed to be meaningless terms except in reference to some specific society or conditionö (19). The essays that follow the first one provide insight into a number of modern philosophical theories of rational inquiry that Krutch attempts to undermine in order to present his own theory.
For example, in Ideas Have Consequences, the author maintains that determinism is a theory that robs humankind of self-determination and will, thereby undermining capacity for ration. In The Not So Blank Slate, Krutch provides insight into the tabula rasa theory of knowledge and knowing; devaluing its dual classification by maintaining there is a third class of animal behavior that is inherent and learned. Also in this essay, Krutch (1959) puts forth his own brand of humanism which he maintains is available to knowing for all individuals who ôreject the attemptàto account for man wholly on the basis of physics, chemistry, and animal behaviorö (197).
Other essays provide insight into KrutchÆs quest to find absolute morals that do not originate from customs or va...