This book is a classic in the history of American (USA) phenomenology. It is an examination of the metaphysical grounding of human values in symbolic practice, especially the ontological function of language in creating ethical values. The book was followed by another work, Language and Reality: The Philosophy of Language and the Principles of Symbolism (1939; reprint Arno Press, 1971), the first systematic presentation in English of Edmund Husserl's work in the Logical Investigations to appear in the United States and the influence is presented in the context of the problematic of "the symbolic, a ground of language and communication." A third book, Beyond Realism and Idealism (George Allen & Unwin, 1949) explores "realism, idealism, and communication and the conditions for intelligible discourse" in which "transcendence of both Object and Subject is pfresupposed." In the Geisteswissenschaften, the emphasis is shifted from "social" to "humanistic sciences." Urban's work in the Philosophy of Communication (Communicology) with an emphasis on semioitc phenomenology is largely overlooked by scholars on ther contemporary scene. His work parallels that of Maurice Merleau-Ponty in France during the same historical period.