Review

Reviewed Work(s): Power of Words by Stuart Chase and Marian Tyler Chase
Review by: Ithiel de Sola Pool
Source: The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science , Jan., 1955,
Vol. 297, Ethical Standards and Professional Conduct (Jan., 1955), p. 156
Published by: Sage Publications, Inc. in association with the American Academy of
Political and Social Science

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1029887

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156 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY

or
or aa menace
menaceunlessunlessthey
theyrecognize
recognizethisthis
His
His earlier
earlierbook,
book,The
TheTyranny
Tyranny of of
Words
Words
need
need [the
[theneed
needfor
forworld
world
commonwealth]."
commonwealth]." (1938),
(1938), maintained
maintainedthethesemanticist's
semanticist's thesis
thesis
For
For if
if political
politicalphilosophy
philosophy is nothing
is nothing that
that many
ulti-ulti- manyof ofmankind's
mankind's ills
ills
spring
springfrom
from
mately
matelybut butthe
themirror
mirrorof of
environment,
environment, it confusion
it about language. His present
would
would seem
seemtotodepend
dependupon
uponthethe
environ- book is more sophisticated. He sees the
environ-
ment,
ment, notnotupon
upon the
the
political
political
philosopher,
philosopher,field of communications research as a
whether
whetheror ornot
nothehe
recognizes
recognizes thisthis
need.
need.
I broader
I thing than a crusade against termi-
do not see how Mr. Bowle can have it nological confusion. He still oversells, how-
both ways. ever, the legitimate points of which the
HARRY V. JAFFA semanticists have made us more aware.
Ohio State University While he gives to each scientific discipline
concerned with communications a single
CHASE, STUART, in collaboration with short but clear chapter, he gives semantics
MARIAN TYLER CHASE. Power of Words. (which is also treated as a science rather
Pp. xii, 308. New York: Harcourt than as a philosophical school) about half
Brace and Company, 1954. $3.95. the book, and of all the versions of se-
This book is a popularization. To some mantics, he pays the greatest respect to
academicians, that may damn it, but popu- the tracts of Korzybski. We receive the
larizations are useful in a democratic so- impression that semantics not only cor-
ciety and Stuart Chase is a master of the rects some widespread misconceptions, but
genre. Ponderous studies come to life in that it also can solve political problems,
his simple and apt illustrations and easily cure neuroses, and perhaps even bring
flowing language. peace to the world.
Chase surveys a wide range of researchIt is laudable that the communications
areas impinging on communication. These research of recent years should become
include: information theory, computing accessible to a wider public through the
machines, the psychology of perception, able pen and intelligent exposition of
animal communication, linguistic develop- Stuart Chase. It is unfortunate that this
ment of children, structural linguistics, should be accompanied in part by some
psycho-linguistics, intercultural communi- overtones of a doctrinal crusade. The
cation, semantics, group dynamics, and merits of the book, however, balance this
memory and comprehension. In each of defect.
these areas he takes the reader over two ITHIEL DE SOLA POOL
or three important and suggestive pieces
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
of research which convey the flavor of the
field. The specialist might protest theFRIEDRICH,
in- CARL J. (Ed.). Totalitarian-
completeness of these samples which but ism: Proceedings of a Conference held
skim the cream. For a popular book, how- at the American Academy of Arts and
ever, it is enough that the illustrations Sciences,
be March 1953. Pp. x, 386.
accurate and appropriate. They cannot Cambridge,
be Mass.: Harvard University
complete. Mr. Chase states correctly what Press, 1954. $6.50.
students of communication have actually Totalitarianism has been variously sub-
said and often states it better than they, jected to study and analysis by historians,
themselves. political scientists, and experts from other
fields. The three-day conference of the
A more subtle difficulty for the popular-
izer is to separate the wheat from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
chaff: which studies are good and signifi- in Boston (of which the present volume is
cant, which incompetent or misleading; a report) represented one of the first ma-
which are real contributions and which are jor attempts at an interdisciplinary ap-
not. Another subtle difficulty for the proach to the phenomenon of totalitarian-
popularizer is the temptation to present ism. The authors of the twenty-one pa-
the discoveries he summarizes as the pers read at the conference represent all
golden key to all man's hopes. the major fields within the political and
Stuart Chase is a devotee of semantics. social sciences in addition to philosophy,

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