ABSTRACT

It seems to me that most reviewers, whether they praised or disparaged it, have totally missed the point of Aldous Huxley's Ends and Means. And it seems to me too that the author helped to lead them astray by describing his new book as 'an inquiry into the nature of ideals and into the methods employed for their realization.' Judged on that basis it seems well intentioned, even noble, but at the same time badly argued, badly constructed, unscientific, often illogical and generally crammed with platitudes and misinformation. In spite of these faults it has a semihypnotic quality-not so much a persuasiveness as a compellingnessthat is hard to explain at a first reading.