Oxford Companion to Philosophy (New Edition) by Ted Honderich (Editor)

From the Publisher

Offering clear and reliable guidance to the ideas of philosophers from antiquity to the present day and to the major philosophical systems around the globe, he Oxford Companion to Philosophy is the definitive philosophical reference work for readers at all levels. For ten years the original volume has served as a stimulating introduction for general readers and as an indispensable guide for students and scholars. A distinguished international assembly of 249 philosophers contributed almost 2,000 entries, and many of these have now been considerably revised and updated in this major new edition; to these are added over 300 brand-new pieces on a fascinating range of current topics such as animal consciousness, cloning, corporate responsibility, the family, globalization, terrorism .
Here is, indeed, a world of thought, with entries on idealism and empiricism, epicureanism and stoicism, passion and emotion, deism and pantheism. The contributors represent a veritable who's who of modern philosophy, including such eminent figures as Isaiah Berlin, Sissela Bok, Ronald Dworkin, John Searle, Michael Walzer, and W. V. Quine. We meet the great thinkers--from Aristotle and Plato, to Augustine and Aquinas, to Descartes and Kant, to Nietzsche and Schopenhauer, right up to contemporary thinkers such as Richard Rorty, Jacques Derrida, Luce Iragaray, and Noam Chomsky. There are short entries on key concepts such as personal identity and the mind-body problem, major doctrines from utilitarianism to Marxism, schools of thought such as the Heidelberg School or the Vienna Circle, and contentious public issues such as abortion, capital punishment, and welfare. In addition, the book offers shortexplanations of philosophical terms (qualia, supervenience, iff), puzzles (the Achilles paradox, the prisoner's dilemma), and curiosities (the philosopher's stone, slime). Almost every entry is accompanied by suggestions for further reading, and the book includes both a chronological chart of the history of philosophy and a gallery of portraits of eighty eminent philosophers.
An indispensable guide and a constant source of stimulation and enlightenment, The Oxford Companion to Philosophy will appeal to everyone interested in abstract thought, the eternal questions, and the foundations of human understanding.

Library Journal

A decade ago, an international team of 249 contributors assembled over 2000 entries in the original edition of this standard companion to philosophy. Magisterial and unrivaled then, the new edition remains the definitive reference guide to the world of philosophy, from abandonment to Zoroastrianism. Now, edited by well-known UK-based philosopher Honderich (philosophy of mind & logic, Univ. Coll., London)-and with 291 contributors-the articles have been lengthened and revised in most cases. Over 300 new ones on topics ranging from animal consciousness and globalization to terrorism have been added. The entries include short profiles of contemporary philosophers such as Jacques Derrida, Alasdair MacIntyre, and Bernard Williams and longer biographical essays on major philosophers from Plato and Aristotle to Kierkegaard and Nietzsche. Short entries discuss concepts (death, universalism), theories (deontological ethics, utilitarianism), and movements (the Frankfurt School, the Vienna Circle) and move beyond Western philosophy to include articles on Islamic and Japanese philosophy and schools like Confucianism and Jainism. There are some philosophical mistakes worth noting: Hegel's "dialectic" never used the thesis/ antithesis/synthesis model, which Fichte introduced, and also some regrettable omissions (e.g., Why doesn't an "updated" edition include more than an 18-year-old secondary source in a much-too short entry on Derrida?). Bottom Line The tone of this work edges more toward analytic than continental philosophy, which explains why the entry on C.S. Pierce, for example, is overwhelmingly longer than the entries on John Dewey, William James, and Josiah Royce. These are quibbles, however, given the overall quality and completeness. Students will find it extremely valuable. Essential for all libraries.-Henry L. Carrigan Jr., Lancaster, PA Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

BookList

Editor Honderich sees this book not only as a reference work, but as "something more amiable than that. It diverts. It suits a Sunday morning." "The Oxford Companion to Philosophy" is an authoritative, alphabetically arranged encyclopedia. Honderich has assembled a distinguished roster of 240 contributors, including Isaiah Berlin, Anthony Kenny, Michael Dummett, Alasdair MacIntyre, W. V. Quine, and John Searle. Contributors and affiliations are listed in the front matter. The 1,931 signed entries are directed toward general readers fascinated with philosophy as well as philosophy students and professional philosophers Among the lengthiest entries (2,000 words or more) are those on the great philosophers of the past (Aristotle, Descartes, Kant, etc.), on the dozen or so major branches of philosophy (epistemology, metaphysics, logic), and on the most prominent "national" philosophies (American, Indian, Japanese). Shorter biographies focus on others prominent in the field, including some 150 contemporary philosophers. Rounding out the book are hundreds of articles on philosophical terms and dozens on national philosophies of lesser impact on the Anglo-American tradition (Croatian, Spanish, Swedish). Short bibliographies follow most entries. Three appendixes cover logical symbols used in this book, "maps" or family trees of various branches of philosophy, and a chronological table of philosophy. The index directs readers to related entries. Portraits of several dozen major philosophers are grouped by period or culture (medieval, French, Eastern) The diversity of contributors has resulted in a wide variety of interesting, idiosyncratic articles. The one on the late Paul Feyerabend, for instance, begins "Austrian-American philosopher of science who argues for the abolition of his subject." Feyerabend, author of the article on the history of the philosophy of science, was thus a far-from-unbiased viewer of his own discipline. It might be argued that the various biases in "The Oxford Companion" somehow balance out in a way that a single-author work like Simon Blackburn's" Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy" ["RBB" Ja 15 95) cannot. Blackburn has more (2,500) but generally much shorter entries. A more apt comparison might be the venerable multivolume "Encyclopedia of Philosophy" (Macmillan, 1967), edited by Paul Edwards (a contributor to the present work). It boasts much longer articles but is necessarily silent on the last quarter-century of philosophy. "The Oxford Companion to Philosophy" is highly recommended for academic, public, and high-school libraries.

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