Summary: Koestler is a true original, and a thinker who makes a real effort to integrate many different worlds of experience. In this work he is obsessed with the turning point event which is the use of nuclear weapons. As he understands it Mankind lived throughout its history with threats to individual life, but nuclear weapons have brought a new kind of collective threat, a threat that Mankind will completely destroy itself.
Koestler's concern here connects with his perception of Mankind as a kind of defective product of Evolution. He especially focuses on the conflict between our reptilian brain , our lower mammal brain and the brain of reason our neocortex. He too sees the human propensity for violent conflict as something which relates to our being controlled by the emotional lower brain. But he too singles out our propensity for 'loyalty' for collective bonding as source of violence. And his claim is that the kind of individual criminal act people often focus on when talking about the defects of Mankind, is secondary to the evils we do out of loyalty to the Collective.
Koestler in analyzing the human situation also makes an effort to supply an overall theory of the organization of reality. He speaks of a heirarchal principle in which things are organized in all realms in two directions. The Janus- like character of reality is that each thing is organized as independent and autonomous on one level, and as a part of a higher whole on another. This dual aspect character in which the ' wholes' or as he calls them 'holons ' are greater than the parts he seems as integrating all realms of experience.
Koestler writes a chapter on Humor and on the Act of Creation. He sees humor as operating by what he calls 'biassociation' which involves bringing two different frameworks into connection. He provides many examples. But I do not feel myself capable of adequately assessing his theories here , though I do have a basic feeling that ' comprehensive and all - inclusive explanations' cannot really cover the various kinds of creative activity there are.
This is an ambitious, challenging work. I must admit his pessimistic evaluation of human character and nature set me back a bit. The horrifying possibility that Disaster is the Ultimate end of us all does not warm the heart.
Again I do not feel I can properly evaluate Koestler's theories but I do appreciate his capacity to arouse interest and curiosity.
A truly outstanding work.