The Oxford companion to philosophy

This is the most authoritative and engaging philosophical reference work in English. It gives clear and reliable guidance to all areas of philosophy and to the ideas of all notable philosophers from antiquity to the present day. The scope of the volume is not limited to English-language philosophy: it surveys the foremost philosophy from all parts of the world. A distinguished international assembly of more than two hundred contributors provide almost 2,000 alphabetically arranged entries which are not only instructive but also entertaining: they combine learning, lucidity, elegance, and wit. There are more than fifty extended entries of 3,000 words on the main areas of philosophy and the great philosophers: these include essays by Alasdair MacIntyre on the history of moral philosophy, Paul Feyerabend on the history of the philosophy of science, Jaegwon Kim on problems of the philosophy of mind, Richard Swinburne on problems of the philosophy of religion, David Charles on Aristotle, Peter Singer on Hegel, Anthony Kenny on Frege, and Anthony Quinton on philosophy itself. Short entries deal with key concepts (for instance, personal identity, time) doctrines (utilitarianism, holism), problems (the mind-body problem, the meaning of life), schools of thought (Marxist philosophy, the Vienna Circle), and practical issues (abortion, vegetarianism). Individual thinkers past (Pythagoras, Confucius, Galileo, Goethe, Burke, Santayana, de Beauvoir, Radhakrishnan) and present (over 150 contemporary figures, such as Chomsky, Derrida, and Popper) are profiled, and eighty of them are depicted in black-and-white portraits. Interspersed throughout are short explanations of particular philosophical terms (qualia, supervenience, iff), puzzles (the Achilles paradox, the prisoner's dilemma), and curiosities (the philosopher's stone, slime). Every entry is accompanied by suggestions for further reading. A chronological chart of the history of philosophy is located at the end of the book, together with fourteen diagrams showing the structure of philosophy and the relations between its subjects and doctrines. This book will be an indispensable guide and a constant source of stimulation and enlightenment for anyone interested in abstract thought, the eternal questions, and the foundations of human understanding.

Author Notes

Ted Honderich is Grote Professor of the Philosophy of Mind and Logic at University College London. He is the author of numerous books, including most recently How Free Are You? (OUP, 1993). Something of a media philosopher, he is often asked to air his thoughts on radio and television.

Reviews (4)

School Library Journal Review

Gr 10 Up-Opening with a stimulating preface (âÇ£Philosophy thrives....It is only the sciences and the superstitions that come and goâÇ ), Honderich presents this considerably revised and expanded update of his 1995 edition as a resource that will be equally useful to scholars and to general readers. Now including more than 2200 alphabetically arranged entries from nearly 300 contributors, it provides an encyclopedic view of philosophy's past and present, its ideas, disputes (the editor himself contributes an article on âÇ£unlikely philosophical propositionsâÇ ), and key figures, living and dead. The articles range in length from several sentence definitions to meaty topical and biographical essays of several pages. Each concludes with a list of references; a scattered few are illustrated. A massive index backs up frequent cross-references to enhance ease of access. Back matter includes a time line and an absorbing series of âÇ£maps,âÇ or schematic diagrams, of types and schools of philosophy. More extensive in scope and level of detail than the Concise Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy (1999), this title makes an excellent companion for standard multivolume subject encyclopedias, and will serve college-bound students and beyond well for both quick reference and sustained enquiry.-John Peters, New York Public Library (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.

Booklist Review

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. (Reviewed Oct. 1, 1995)

Choice Review

Honderich assembled for this project a team of scholars that includes Isaiah Berlin and W.V. Quine. They provide brief entries on a wide range of persons, ideas, and schools, including such entries as "Brain in a Vat" and "Law, Feminist Philosophy of." The entries are arranged alphabetically, and each is followed by one or more bibliographic citations and/or cross-references. Although the editor admits to a bias toward the English-speaking world, in this reviewer's own field, medieval and Renaissance thought, which is characterized by sources, topics, and key persons from many regions and languages, all entries searched for were found. Portraits of many famous philosophers and appendixes ("Logical Symbols," "Maps of Philosophy" and "A Chronological Table of Philosophy") are included. "Maps of Philosophy" provides schematic guidance to the relationships of topics and concepts in philosophy. The volume closes with an extensive index and a list of entries, the latter useful for relating individuals to their contributions. For example, Peirce is mentioned in a dozen places, including under "Sign and Symbol." General readers may find some entries difficult since they presume some knowledge of the particular topic, but informed readers will find this volume useful for almost any aspect of philosophical study. Highly recommended for all academic and research libraries. T. M. Izbicki; Johns Hopkins University

Library Journal Review

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 (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Preface	p. vii
Contributors	p. xiii
On Using the Book	p. xix
A p. 1
B p. 74
C p. 114
D p. 175
E p. 211
F p. 267
G p. 303
H p. 330
I p. 386
J p. 423
K p. 435
L p. 453
M p. 516
N p. 601
O p. 631
P p. 641
Q p. 736
R p. 740
S p. 787
T p. 864
U p. 885
V p. 894
W p. 905
X p. 920
Y p. 921
Z p. 922
Appendix: Logical Symbols	p. 925
Appendix: Maps of Philosophy	p. 927
Appendix: A Chronological Table of Philosophy	p. 945
Sources of Illustrations	p. 957
Index and List of Entries	p. 959

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