ABSTRACT
Themes are crucial to the philosophical and scientific disciplines; just as crucial as to the arts. In philosophy "variations on a theme by Plato" could serve as the title of literally thousands of works. Some of the themes which Professor Holton has identified in physical science are found also in the arts, and, of greatest import here, in sociology and the other social sciences. A style or theme may or may not be the product of some one great piece of work. It is fair to say that in poetry Milton established a style, a pattern of themes, forms, and rhythms, that had almost immediate and then lasting effect. It should be observed that the artist's concept of "styles" is also appropriate to our understanding of the history of philosophy and science. Without doubt the sociology of the age the author concerns produced much else: ideas and concepts of role, structure, function, development, interaction, and so on.
