This volume is the fourth of aseries of the Boston College Studies in Philosophy. The series has attempted to publish articles on a more or less common theme, affecting contemporary problems in philosophy. The first volume entitled: The Quest tor the Absolute, was comprised of articles showing the relevance of classical, patristic and medieval thinkers to the God problem. The second volume entitled: Demytholo gizing Marxism, presented articles revolving around the theme of the Christi an -Marxist dialogue. The third vol urne en titled : A uthority, offered articles analyzing this notion from a philosophical point of view. In the present volume, there is hope of furthering dialogue by pre senting views on certain key topics from the Marxist point of view. Many philosophers would agree that basic to dialogue, is some kind of necessary agreement on the epistemological question of realism versus idealism. Marxist philosophers are firmly rooted in the realist tradition and, to my mind, this point should be stressed in our philo sophical discussions. Thus the topics discussed in the present volume emphasize the realism of contemporary Marxists as opposed to a trend toward subjectivity that is manifested in much that emanates from existential and analytical schools. It is this emphasis that, in my opinion, forms the unity of this volume as will be realized from the authors' discussions of such topics as universal ideas, theory of meaning, freedom and conscience.
