Word: loeb
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Donald Fleming's new edition of Loeb's Mechanistic Conception of Life explains both the former stellar position and the present eclipse of the biologist Jacques Loeb (1859-1924). When the first edition of this book appeared in 1912, Loeb ranged in poplar opinion with Galileo, Newton, and Darwin: he was a great-scientific innovator, who applied the principles of his science to the problems of ordinary men. This second edition of Loeb's most famous book-recalls an alternative to today's canon that the principles of scientific inquiry may be legitimately applied only to the defined problems...
...Loeb believed in determinism, mechanism, and materialism as The Truth, not as working hypotheses useful for getting good results in limited experimental situations. He was a philosophical monist: he believed one principle, determinism, governed the whole universe. He felt he could therefore, apply his experimental results to political justice, social welfare, and ethics. Mechanistic science was the source of whatever progress men had made, he said, "not only in physical welfare but also in the conquest of superstition and hatred, and in the formation of a correct view of life." The possible social and philosophical applications were Loeb's motivation...
...Gordon et al, must surely realize that those of us who are working in the theatre are as wary as they of gimmickery. Certainly it can spoil the best of plays; and certainly the Loeb Drama Center is capable of providing it in immense amounts. But CRIMSON reviewers must also realize that the process of making a play "come alive," as Mr. Gordon says Sophocles' works "honorably" do, is absolutely dependent upon a certain amount of hocus-pocus. Sets are gimmicks; so are theatrical lights; so are costumes and made-up faces. And they have a certain amount of validity...
...indeed agree with Mr. Bramhall that "The problem is...where, how much, and what kind...." I meant only to question, in the course of a review, proportions the Loeb has used in the past and used once again in the Oedipus readings. Many "average theatre-goers" have joined me in suspecting too great a dependance on "production" devices and too little a reliance on the talents and insights of the actors...
...also chose the medium of a review to wonder whether the "concert reading" as it is done at the Loeb is an appropriately rewarding exploitation of the talent and capital which the Loeb's presence has made so manifestly available. Any resemblance between our reviews and those of a "professional critic" is purely coincidental...