26 / CHRONICLESnSouth Africa has an economy basednupon cheap black labor. In fact, thenindustry of South Africa is highly automatednand is becoming more so at anrapid pace. If black South Africansnwent on a general strike, the economyncould and would carry on: The woundnwould not be fatal. A mortal wound tonthe economic vitality of South Africanwould be the loss of the white hightechnworkers because of fear-inducednflight from the country.nOne unpleasant domestic factornmust be recognized even though Neuhaus’ninterlocutors seldom speak of it:nMost black South Africans do not haventhe skills or habits to make highlynproductive contributions to the economy.nI have yet to meet an Afrikanernwho did not take it for granted that anblack would one day be the chief ofnstate of the Republic of South Africa.nThe issues in the minds of the whitesnare whether this will occur before ornafter blacks have the educational levelnwhich will qualify them for that status,nand how to finance the astronomicalnbills for education.nThe Botha government seems tonunderstand that economies should notnbe viewed as a zero-sum game but as anprocess whereby high technology increasesnthe quality of life for everyone.nThey seem to understand, if bishopsnand other divines do not, that thenprimary function of a government is tonprovide the freedom and the logisticalnsupport necessary for the creation,nrather than the distribution, of wealth.nSouth Africa is increasing opportunitiesnfor its black citizens by leaps andnbounds, in comparison with otherncountries in Africa and elsewhere. Ifnthe Marxists and their surrogates donnot work quickly, blacks in SouthnAfrica will soon have progressed economicallynto a level where internalnrevolution will be improbable.nThis brings us to a problem which isncentral to the South African crisis andnwhich seems to be a nonproblem tonmost of those to whom Richard Neuhausnhas spoken. It is the fact thatnSouth Africa occupies a strategic geographicnposition and that it has thenonly large supplies of many strategicnmetals outside the Marxist world.nThese two factors make it essential thatnthose who wish the West ill see to itnthat all possible pressure be brought tonbear on the Republic of South Africanto insure its overthrow while there isnstill a chance for a Marxist takeovernthere. Agitprop is doing an effectivenjob of setting the stage for the overthrow.nAmerica is now essentially convincednthat the problems of the Afrikanersnare of their own making, that onenman/one vote would bring about democracynand peace. Few people innAmerica ask the question, “How is itnthat I have the wisdom to see thensolution to a problem which those,nwho otherwise think very much likenme and who have had a lifetime ofnexperience with the problem, cannotncomprehend?” This question is so obviousnthat the fact we do not ask itnshows that we have, in Hegelian fashion,n”risen above our common sensenand grasped a higher reality.” It is thenability of the Soviets, their friends andndupes, to make us suspend our reasonnand adopt their terms of discoursenwhich bids so ill for South Africa andnfor us all. In 1971 Leonid Brezhnevnsaid with uncharacteristic candor thatntwo areas are critical to the victory ofnMoscow-style socialism in the world:nthe Middle East and Southern Africa.nWith a few exceptions, the intellectualsnwhom Neuhaus has interviewednlive in a world without wolves roamingnin the night.nBoomtownnPhilosophersnby Stephen L. TannernLatin American Philosophy in thenTwentieth Century, edited by JorgenJ.E. Gracia, Buffalo: PrometheusnBooks.nWhy is it that America has noticed then”Boom” in Latin American fiction butnhas ignored Latin American philosophy?nOne obvious reason lies in thenunavailability of translated texts.nWhile novelists have energetically andnstrategically combined efforts to publishntranslations of their works in thenUnited States, nothing of the sort hasnhappened in Latin American philosophy.nThis anthology, part of a Frontiersnof Philosophy series, is the first tonappear in English in more than 30nyears.nThe task was challenging. Materialnnnthat might have been included isnabundant, diverse, uneven in quality,nand often scattered in periodicals difficultnto locate. The editor has selectednfrom the writings of 14 thinkers fromnfive countries. To achieve a certainnunity, he has focused on three fundamentalntopics of particular concern tonLatin American philosophers: man,nvalues, and the search for philosophicalnidentity. The selections for the firstntwo parts were made in collaborationnwith Risieri Frondizi, one of the writersnrepresented in the book.nThe major trends in contemporarynLatin American philosophy emergednin reaction to positivism. The philosophynof Auguste Comte had been welcomednin Latin America as a correctivento the prevailing scholasticism. Itnseemed to offer empirical rigor and annassurance of progress in place of archaicndogmatism and fruitless theorizing.nIn Mexico, Comte’s slogan, “Ordernand Progress,” guided the 27-year dictatorshipnof Porfirio Diaz, and in Brazil,nthe phrase was incorporated intonthe national flag as well as into thenattitude of political leaders.nBut positivism failed to deliver on itsnpromises, and its determinism generatedndissatisfaction with diminished freedomnin the moral, aesthetic, and politicalnrealms. The selections in then”Man” and “Values” sections of thisnbook display a preoccupation with ontologicalnand metaphysical questions.nMany of these philosophers werentrained in the humanities and arenmuch concerned with social and politicalnissues—the themes of freedom,npersonalism, and human spirit appearnrepeatedly.nThe most pervasive and characteristicnconcern of Latin American philosophynover the past hundred years hasnbeen the search for philosophical identity.nIs there, can there be, or shouldnthere be a distinctively Latin Americannphilosophy? Part three of this anthologynprovides sample answers and concludesnwith Arturo Andres Roig’s argumentsnfor a “philosophy of liberation.”nRejecting the classic conception ofnphilosophy as contemplative and disinterestednknowledge, Roig looks tonMarxism and Freudianism to provide anbasis for the social function of knowledge.nPhilosophy, he insists, shouldnacquire substance by involving itself innthe historical process: “The ‘theory ofn