STYLES IN PHILOSOPHY, THOUGH SELDOM AS UNPREDICTABLE

as ladies fashions, do not endure without change or with-

out alternativc. In the English-speaking world, philoso-

phy since the twenties has been powerfully influenced by

nonmctaphysical (and even antimetaphysical) tendencies.

Chic~ among them has been analysis, whose lineage in-

dudes such notables as Bertrand Russell, G. E. Moore,

and Ludwig Wittgenstein. It may of course be argued

that in the American scene there has been a place [or

all comers, regardless of creed. Still, it cannot plausibly

bc claimed that in recent decades metaphysicians have

comuiandcd the stage or even that they have enjoyed

supporting roles. There have doubtless been good rea-

sons for indifference toward metaphysics; the excesses

and flamboyance of nineteenth-century metaphysics

called for reaction. But neglect of metaphysics has meant

that many students of philosophy have received only a

superficial introduction to the long history of speculative

philosophy and scarcely more than a glimpse at twentieth-

century developments.