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The Oxford Companion to Philosophy
Philosophy can be intriguing--and at times baffling. It deals with the central problems of the human condition--with important questions of free will, morality, life after death, the limits of logic and reason--though often in rather esoteric terms. Now, in The Oxford Companion to Philosophy ,
readers have the most authoritative and engaging one-volume reference work on philosophy available, offering clear and reliable guidance to the ideas of all notable philosophers from antiquity to the present day, and to the major philosophical systems around the globe, from Confucianism to
phenomenology.
Here is indeed a world of thought, with entries on idealism and empiricism, ethics and aesthetics, epicureanism and stoicism, deism and pantheism, liberalism and conservativism, logical positivism and existentialism--over two thousand entries in all. 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 read Paul Feyerabend on the history of the philosophy of science, Peter Singer on Hegel, Anthony Kenny on Frege, and Anthony Quinton on philosophy
itself. 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 (over 150 living philosophers are profiled). 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 short explanations 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, from Pythagoras and Confucius to Rudolf Carnap and G.E. Moore. And finally, as in all Oxford Companions, the contributors also explore lighter or more curious aspects of the subject, such as
"Deaths of Philosophers" (quite a few were executed, including Socrates, Boethius, Giordano Bruno, and Thomas More) or "Nothing so Absurd" (referring to Cicero's remark that "There is nothing so absurd but some philosopher has said it"). Thus the Companion is both informative and a pleasure to
browse in, providing quick answers to any question, and much intriguing reading for a Sunday afternoon.
An indispensable guide and a constant source of stimulation and enlightenment, The Oxford Companion to Philosophy with appeal to everyone interested in abstract thought, the eternal questions, and the foundations of human understanding.
readers have the most authoritative and engaging one-volume reference work on philosophy available, offering clear and reliable guidance to the ideas of all notable philosophers from antiquity to the present day, and to the major philosophical systems around the globe, from Confucianism to
phenomenology.
Here is indeed a world of thought, with entries on idealism and empiricism, ethics and aesthetics, epicureanism and stoicism, deism and pantheism, liberalism and conservativism, logical positivism and existentialism--over two thousand entries in all. 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 read Paul Feyerabend on the history of the philosophy of science, Peter Singer on Hegel, Anthony Kenny on Frege, and Anthony Quinton on philosophy
itself. 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 (over 150 living philosophers are profiled). 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 short explanations 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, from Pythagoras and Confucius to Rudolf Carnap and G.E. Moore. And finally, as in all Oxford Companions, the contributors also explore lighter or more curious aspects of the subject, such as
"Deaths of Philosophers" (quite a few were executed, including Socrates, Boethius, Giordano Bruno, and Thomas More) or "Nothing so Absurd" (referring to Cicero's remark that "There is nothing so absurd but some philosopher has said it"). Thus the Companion is both informative and a pleasure to
browse in, providing quick answers to any question, and much intriguing reading for a Sunday afternoon.
An indispensable guide and a constant source of stimulation and enlightenment, The Oxford Companion to Philosophy with appeal to everyone interested in abstract thought, the eternal questions, and the foundations of human understanding.
1030 pages, Paperback
First published August 31, 1995
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About the author
Ted Honderich
66 books26 followersEdgar Dawn Ross "Ted" Honderich was a Canadian-born British philosopher, who was Grote Professor Emeritus of the Philosophy of Mind and Logic, University College London.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
November 15, 2021
"Competence with a language is not simply competence in packaging already given ideas. This is obvious if we imagine mastering some new area, such as physics, where there is no distinction between mastering the language and mastering the subject." — Professor Simon Blackburn, The Oxford Companion to Philosophy, under the entry "language, problems of the philosophy of"
I set out to garner a map of philosophy not through top down approaches of by topic or by historical development, but by the bottom up approach of the concepts and language which make up the corpus of philosophy. In a sense, to understand the "lingo" of philosophy. I believe this was sufficiently accomplished.
To read the Oxford Companion to Philosophy is to have 291 philosophers, who derive their knowledge from 1000s of other philosophers, impart knowledge of their respective expertise onto you. A book which serves as a platform to be taught by philosophers, it is a privilege to read.
As such, this book is akin to speed dating for philosophy. You receive the opportunity to effectively yet efficiently learn all the parts of philosophy for further exploration, without the cost of entering a relationship by virtue of poring over copious texts. (Though, such an analogy may said for any specialized dictionary, encyclopedia, or anthology)
Having said that, if reading this entire book, I do not recommend this as an introduction. It is vital to have a thorough introduction to philosophy prior to reading this, elsewise it would be futile to read. This is due to 1. how compressed the entries are, and 2. how they are alphabetically, rather than conceptually, organized entries. Besides this, I believe it would be best to have covered some logic as well. Surprisingly many of the entries were terms of logic, and such an introduction might help to avoid having them "fly over your head". In essence, doing so would simply maximize how much one gathers from reading this.
The writing style felt mostly consistent throughout, despite the numerous contributors. However, upon closer examination, one may notice that some entries have a subtle joke included, some entries have an unusual abundance of open ended questions within their explanations, and some entries have a quip at a philosophy or philosopher. Put together, such features permit small departures from the monotony of the text. Besides this, although some entries were short and condensed whereas others were long and detailed, almost all were well written with the lethal precision which usually accompanies philosophers.
The content is, of course, extremely diverse and dispersed. The philosophy of almost everything is at least partially addressed. Types of recurrent entries were specific philosophers, specific topics, problems of specific topics, histories of specific topics, and different geographies, places, or schools. Additionally, there were meta-philosophical entries in here which I do not think most philosophers thoroughly encounter unless they explicitly seek them out. For example, the following entries: American Philosophy, Children Philosophizing, Deaths of Philosophers, Journals of Philosophy, Philosophical Practice the ethics of, Philosophy history of centres and departments of, Publishing Philosophy, Teaching Philosophy, and Unlikely Philosophical Positions. There were also many entries I particularly enjoyed because they were well written or completely new to me, however I shall forgo blighting this review with such a list.
On a smaller note, the appendix at the end of the book is excellent. Specifically, the maps of philosophy are unlike any I have seen before. Furthermore, I believe the closest alternative to this book is The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy. However, it seems the Oxford Companion to Philosophy is a bit more popular and preferred. Alternatively, one might also consider perusing the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy online.
Overall, yes, this book is dense. However, it is done well. Upon proper rumination, only then may you decompress this 1,000 page tome of text into its 100,000+ pages of meaning. Having been busy enough to only read a little at a time over many days, I noticed my thoughts pushed and pulled with the contents I had read which permitted such rumination. Personally, the amount of ideas I generated from this is obscene. Having read this, I finally feel well acquainted with philosophy.
October 24, 2007
I do love this book, but my only complaint is that sometimes the entries tend towards academic bullshit.
Specifically the one on Ockham's Razor. Jesus.
"A methodological principle dictating a bias towards ismplicity i theory consturciton, where the parameters of simplicity vary from kinds of entity to the number of presupposed axioms to characteristics of curves drwan between data points."
Are you kidding me? Seriously?
Way to sum up the gist of the theory there.
(which is, more or less: The simplest explanation tends to be the correct one.)
Specifically the one on Ockham's Razor. Jesus.
"A methodological principle dictating a bias towards ismplicity i theory consturciton, where the parameters of simplicity vary from kinds of entity to the number of presupposed axioms to characteristics of curves drwan between data points."
Are you kidding me? Seriously?
Way to sum up the gist of the theory there.
(which is, more or less: The simplest explanation tends to be the correct one.)
March 19, 2007
My favorite (okay, only - but still, wickedly comprehensive) reference book for all things philosophical (Ayn Rand not included, yay!).
I see there's a 2005 edition out though (Ayn Rand still not included, yay!). Mine is 1995. I might have to upgrade.
I see there's a 2005 edition out though (Ayn Rand still not included, yay!). Mine is 1995. I might have to upgrade.
June 23, 2019
Amazing how far this took me, this bundle of short 9pt font columns. Many entries have the denseness of aphorism. Like a thousand dehydrated journal papers in one book. And hundreds of distinctive voices contributing.
You could get very far through a philosophy degree with just this. Speaking strictly hypothetically, that is.
You could get very far through a philosophy degree with just this. Speaking strictly hypothetically, that is.
September 3, 2017
This massive compendium isn't really worth reading cover to cover, though one could argue that the point of the book is to be a reference guide. It would be like reading a dictionary from cover to cover or an encyclopedia. It is an interesting time-waster sometimes but not really worth it. Rather than doing that, I merely looked up things that interested me and left it at that. It might be better to check out an online encyclopedia, but those have some flaws as well. The main pro of this book is that it is well-researched and written by a number of experts. It is controlled information. They didn't let some homeless hobo with a library card in there to talk about his opinions on Aristotle. The main weakness of the book is that it is printed material. If they find something else about Hegel for example, they will never be able to take this book and edit it unless they print an entirely new copy. The good thing is that philosophy is one of those subjects that doesn't move as fast. If it was a book on computers from the same era it would be completely obsolete by now except to a specialized collector perhaps.
August 14, 2012
This is a monster of a tome, but it's perfect for casual reading as well as deeper study. I've found it useful for looking up tricky terms (e.g., "intensionality," "de re/de dicto"), but the most valuable entries are probably the biographies, which are stuffed with serious philosophical and life-historical content without ever running too long for one sitting.
June 14, 2007
The sort of mini-encyclopedia reference book you can read cover-to-cover.
May 11, 2008
This is pretty much indispensible for anyone studying philosophy and/or intellectual history. Monographs in this cover nearly all of the major philosophers, schools of thought and technical terms.
October 14, 2012
A must have reference book for all would-be philosophers.
October 15, 2020
The ideal book for a student of philosophy, it gives a detailed definition of any term one may come across but be unsure of. It also provides good overviews of all philosophers.
Read
May 3, 2015الابستيمولوجيا
August 10, 2019
An impressive achievement
This extraordinary book is an exemplar of the "weighty tome" so beloved by lovers of knowledge; and that is certainly appropriate since it is billed as a "companion to philosophy." A "companion," as editor Ted Honderich notes in his preface, "is not only a book for diligent readers, to be studied and perhaps labored over..."; nor is it merely "a complete reference book. It is more amiable than that. It diverts. It suits a Sunday morning."
Well, maybe, but that would be a Sunday morning for logical positivists, Wittgenstein linguists, Kierkegaard intellectuals, professional logicians and perhaps child prodigies bored with their deferential calculus homework.
There are 249 contributors, contemporary philosophers, most holding academic positions at prestigious institutions of higher learning throughout the world, who wrote the 2,230 entries arranged alphabetically from "abandonment" (a term used by existential philosophers) to Zoroastrianism (the ancient Persian religion). In-between, the entries range from the whimsical to the esoteric to the downright impenetrable. An example of the whimsical might be "cat, Schrodinger's" from quantum mechanics. An example of the esoteric (as least to my mind) could be the entry on "corpuscularianism"--which I won't attempt to define. As for the downright impenetrable, how about, "logical theory," which, according to Christopher Kirwan of the University of Oxford who wrote the entry, "is best seen as a vaguely delimited and shifting group of problems." (All the entries are signed with the initials of the author who wrote the entry. These contributors are listed near the beginning of the book.) Or if that isn't enough how about the various entries entitled on the "history of the philosophy of" which includes "language, history of the philosophy of"; "law, history of the philosophy of"; "mind, history of the philosophy of," etc.
There are entries on the philosophers themselves of course. All the great Western philosophers, Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Hobbes, Descartes, "the blessed Hume" (p. vii) (I agree with Honderich's exalted designation!), Kant, Hegel, etc. appear in lengthy entries. There is also a smattering of greats from the non-Western world, Buddha, Lao Tzu and others in shorter entries. Clearly the emphasis is on Western philosophy, but Eastern philosophy, I am happy to say, is not neglected. Also not neglected is religious philosophy. While there is no entry on Christian philosophy as such, many of the great Christian philosophers have entries. There are entries on "Hindu philosophy" and "Buddhist philosophy" and even an entry on Jainism. National philosophies, in so far as such a thing can be discerned or identified, are presented, including entries on "Japanese philosophy," "Russian philosophy," "American philosophy," etc.
Additionally there are entries on the ideas and problems of philosophy such as "universals"; the "problem of evil"; "scepticism" and many others. Many of the fallacies of philosophy such as the "undistributed middle" or "denying the antecedent" appear with (sometimes difficult) explanations. There are entries on the history of various ideas, such as "epistemology, history of"; "metaphysics, history of," etc. There are even black and white photos of various philosophers, or in the case of the ancients, photos of statues of the philosophers.
I have only one problem with this book. Many of the entries assume too much knowledge and understanding on the part of the general reader. This is because the book is "directed partly to general readers for whom philosophy has a fascination greater than, or at least as great as, any other part of our intellectual and cultural existence," and partly "to those who study and practise the subject, and are scrupulous about their guides." (p. viii) In other words, this is a book aimed at professionals or the nearly so. As such it is a challenging book both to read and to understand. At least it was for me.
There are three appendices, one on logical symbols; another on "Maps of Philosophy," which presents groups or categories of philosophic ideas in pictorial or schematic form; and a third, "A Chronological Table of Philosophy" lists philosophers and important philosophic events alongside other historical people and events beginning with the "First flourishing of Greek philosophy" about 2600 years ago and the birth of Zoroaster to moral philosopher T. M. Scanlon's publication of "What We Owe to Each Other" and (ironically, it would appear) the slaughter of Rwandans in the 1990s.
Bottom line: a must for the professional academic philosopher and for the dedicated amateur, but decidedly not for dilettantes.
--Dennis Littrell, author of “The World Is Not as We Think It Is”
This extraordinary book is an exemplar of the "weighty tome" so beloved by lovers of knowledge; and that is certainly appropriate since it is billed as a "companion to philosophy." A "companion," as editor Ted Honderich notes in his preface, "is not only a book for diligent readers, to be studied and perhaps labored over..."; nor is it merely "a complete reference book. It is more amiable than that. It diverts. It suits a Sunday morning."
Well, maybe, but that would be a Sunday morning for logical positivists, Wittgenstein linguists, Kierkegaard intellectuals, professional logicians and perhaps child prodigies bored with their deferential calculus homework.
There are 249 contributors, contemporary philosophers, most holding academic positions at prestigious institutions of higher learning throughout the world, who wrote the 2,230 entries arranged alphabetically from "abandonment" (a term used by existential philosophers) to Zoroastrianism (the ancient Persian religion). In-between, the entries range from the whimsical to the esoteric to the downright impenetrable. An example of the whimsical might be "cat, Schrodinger's" from quantum mechanics. An example of the esoteric (as least to my mind) could be the entry on "corpuscularianism"--which I won't attempt to define. As for the downright impenetrable, how about, "logical theory," which, according to Christopher Kirwan of the University of Oxford who wrote the entry, "is best seen as a vaguely delimited and shifting group of problems." (All the entries are signed with the initials of the author who wrote the entry. These contributors are listed near the beginning of the book.) Or if that isn't enough how about the various entries entitled on the "history of the philosophy of" which includes "language, history of the philosophy of"; "law, history of the philosophy of"; "mind, history of the philosophy of," etc.
There are entries on the philosophers themselves of course. All the great Western philosophers, Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Hobbes, Descartes, "the blessed Hume" (p. vii) (I agree with Honderich's exalted designation!), Kant, Hegel, etc. appear in lengthy entries. There is also a smattering of greats from the non-Western world, Buddha, Lao Tzu and others in shorter entries. Clearly the emphasis is on Western philosophy, but Eastern philosophy, I am happy to say, is not neglected. Also not neglected is religious philosophy. While there is no entry on Christian philosophy as such, many of the great Christian philosophers have entries. There are entries on "Hindu philosophy" and "Buddhist philosophy" and even an entry on Jainism. National philosophies, in so far as such a thing can be discerned or identified, are presented, including entries on "Japanese philosophy," "Russian philosophy," "American philosophy," etc.
Additionally there are entries on the ideas and problems of philosophy such as "universals"; the "problem of evil"; "scepticism" and many others. Many of the fallacies of philosophy such as the "undistributed middle" or "denying the antecedent" appear with (sometimes difficult) explanations. There are entries on the history of various ideas, such as "epistemology, history of"; "metaphysics, history of," etc. There are even black and white photos of various philosophers, or in the case of the ancients, photos of statues of the philosophers.
I have only one problem with this book. Many of the entries assume too much knowledge and understanding on the part of the general reader. This is because the book is "directed partly to general readers for whom philosophy has a fascination greater than, or at least as great as, any other part of our intellectual and cultural existence," and partly "to those who study and practise the subject, and are scrupulous about their guides." (p. viii) In other words, this is a book aimed at professionals or the nearly so. As such it is a challenging book both to read and to understand. At least it was for me.
There are three appendices, one on logical symbols; another on "Maps of Philosophy," which presents groups or categories of philosophic ideas in pictorial or schematic form; and a third, "A Chronological Table of Philosophy" lists philosophers and important philosophic events alongside other historical people and events beginning with the "First flourishing of Greek philosophy" about 2600 years ago and the birth of Zoroaster to moral philosopher T. M. Scanlon's publication of "What We Owe to Each Other" and (ironically, it would appear) the slaughter of Rwandans in the 1990s.
Bottom line: a must for the professional academic philosopher and for the dedicated amateur, but decidedly not for dilettantes.
--Dennis Littrell, author of “The World Is Not as We Think It Is”
Read
February 23, 2023tom I
A-K
FILOZOFIA zawsze mnie ciekawiła. To bardzo szeroka dziedzina, ma wiele nurtów, przedstawicieli, ma bogatą historię i stara się objaśniać świat, czynić go zrozumialszym. Nie zawsze się to udaje, czasem można oszaleć od rożnych koncepcji, ale na pewno nikt nie może powiedzieć, że jest nudno. Człowiek już tak ma - zadaje pytania, ale odpowiedzi czasem nie sposób sformułować. FILOZOFA zajmuje się właśnie tymi, trudnymi pytaniami, które nas nurtują i dzięki którym jesteśmy gatunkiem dość wyjątkowym. Te odpowiedzi zawsze obarczone są błędem, ale wtedy można zadać kolejne pytanie i kolejne.
ENCYKLOPEDIA FILOZOFII tom I od A do K, to wyjątkowe, bogate kompendium filozoficznych zagadnień. Co tu znajdziemy? Epikura, dualizm, "byt" i "powinność", ideały moralne, komizm, Bóg argumenty za istnieniem, Bertranda Russela.... i wiele, wiele więcej - zainteresowani? Bo ja bardzo. Mamy do czynienia z naprawdę szerokim spektrum zagadnień i każde z nich jest ciekawie opracowane.
Profesor Ted Honderich podarował nam profesjonalne opracowanie, prawdziwą ENCYKLOPEDIĘ, która jest pracą wielu światłych umysłów. To co wyróżnia tę pozycję, to jej styl. każde z haseł jest wytłumaczone nie na "sztywno", tylko łagodnie, zrozumiale i zachęcająco. Zdziwiła mnie ta łatwość w przyswajaniu trudnych pojęć. Uważam, że redakcja Hondericha zaowocowała językiem świetnego nauczyciela.
ENCYKLOPEDIA FILOZOFII poza hasłami posiada także wstawki fotograficzne, ilustratorskie. Portrety filozofów, to zawsze inspirująca ciekawostka. Zakres pojęć jest wielki, bi nie omawiamy tylko prądów filozoficznych, ale także poznajemy biografie filozofów, konkretne zagadnienia, a nawet słowa, które na pierwszy rzut oka nie kojarzą się z filozofią np. duch.
Książka została ładnie wydana, może czcionka jest trochę za mała, ale to w końcu encyklopedia. Liczę na tom II. Bardzo chcę mieć całość, bo to niezła zabawa tak od czasu do czasu przeczytać coś poszerzającego horyzonty i wzbogacającego naszą egzystencję.
QOL czyli JAKOŚĆ ŻYCIA
tom I
A-K
Wydawnictwo Zysk i S-ka
A-K
FILOZOFIA zawsze mnie ciekawiła. To bardzo szeroka dziedzina, ma wiele nurtów, przedstawicieli, ma bogatą historię i stara się objaśniać świat, czynić go zrozumialszym. Nie zawsze się to udaje, czasem można oszaleć od rożnych koncepcji, ale na pewno nikt nie może powiedzieć, że jest nudno. Człowiek już tak ma - zadaje pytania, ale odpowiedzi czasem nie sposób sformułować. FILOZOFA zajmuje się właśnie tymi, trudnymi pytaniami, które nas nurtują i dzięki którym jesteśmy gatunkiem dość wyjątkowym. Te odpowiedzi zawsze obarczone są błędem, ale wtedy można zadać kolejne pytanie i kolejne.
ENCYKLOPEDIA FILOZOFII tom I od A do K, to wyjątkowe, bogate kompendium filozoficznych zagadnień. Co tu znajdziemy? Epikura, dualizm, "byt" i "powinność", ideały moralne, komizm, Bóg argumenty za istnieniem, Bertranda Russela.... i wiele, wiele więcej - zainteresowani? Bo ja bardzo. Mamy do czynienia z naprawdę szerokim spektrum zagadnień i każde z nich jest ciekawie opracowane.
Profesor Ted Honderich podarował nam profesjonalne opracowanie, prawdziwą ENCYKLOPEDIĘ, która jest pracą wielu światłych umysłów. To co wyróżnia tę pozycję, to jej styl. każde z haseł jest wytłumaczone nie na "sztywno", tylko łagodnie, zrozumiale i zachęcająco. Zdziwiła mnie ta łatwość w przyswajaniu trudnych pojęć. Uważam, że redakcja Hondericha zaowocowała językiem świetnego nauczyciela.
ENCYKLOPEDIA FILOZOFII poza hasłami posiada także wstawki fotograficzne, ilustratorskie. Portrety filozofów, to zawsze inspirująca ciekawostka. Zakres pojęć jest wielki, bi nie omawiamy tylko prądów filozoficznych, ale także poznajemy biografie filozofów, konkretne zagadnienia, a nawet słowa, które na pierwszy rzut oka nie kojarzą się z filozofią np. duch.
Książka została ładnie wydana, może czcionka jest trochę za mała, ale to w końcu encyklopedia. Liczę na tom II. Bardzo chcę mieć całość, bo to niezła zabawa tak od czasu do czasu przeczytać coś poszerzającego horyzonty i wzbogacającego naszą egzystencję.
QOL czyli JAKOŚĆ ŻYCIA
tom I
A-K
Wydawnictwo Zysk i S-ka
December 16, 2023
The Oxford Companion to Philosophy is an unfortunate example of a genuinely excellent resource being displaced by something better having come along. Many of the essays in this collection are lovely, but it remains the case that the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (an online resource) trumps it in every way. The Stanford Encyclopedia updates its articles regularly and does not need to restrict the length of articles to fit all its content into a single volume. These two facts turn it into something akin to a *highly* centralized, moderated Wikipedia for philosophy, and I do not think a traditional encyclopedia can reasonably compete with this approach. I cherish my copy, which I've consulted regularly since high school, but I just cannot recommend it as the best resource of its kind anymore.
February 2, 2024
In the age of Google, I often find little use for physical dictionaries and encyclopedias. This reference is different! Compared to a Google or Wikipedia or even an SEP search, the entries in this text offer a far more succinct and immediately useful explanation of terms that one is likely to become perplexed by while reading philosophy.
This book contains a bit more than 1000 pages of insightful and informative dictionary entries on philosophical terms and famous philosophers. I have yet to think of a philosophical term that I wanted more information about that I haven't been able to find an entry for in this book. The sheer comprehensiveness is impressive.
This book contains a bit more than 1000 pages of insightful and informative dictionary entries on philosophical terms and famous philosophers. I have yet to think of a philosophical term that I wanted more information about that I haven't been able to find an entry for in this book. The sheer comprehensiveness is impressive.
October 4, 2025
To me, this is quite possibly the most useless reference book on philosophy I own. I did not find it helpful as I can get online and find several philosophy references or dictionaries that do better. Many of the Latin philosophy terms I ran across in my readings often were just not in this book. So, why bother with it. I do not recommend it.
April 15, 2022
Its a reference book so I did read it in its entirety but I got from the library & it was interesting. I read probably a couple dozen entries plus the reference graphics also helped frame philosophy's sub-discplines.
February 6, 2024
It's like reading an encyclopedia, didn't read the whole book ofcourse.
Not for beginners, there are other books which deals with philosophy more simply.
Still it's a great book which has everything about philosophy.
Not for beginners, there are other books which deals with philosophy more simply.
Still it's a great book which has everything about philosophy.
July 19, 2017
I love this book. It so essential for me.
December 17, 2017
Used for college course.
March 16, 2022
جميل أن تتصفح أوراق تحمل أفكار المئات من الفلاسفة ممن غيروا أو وجهوا شعوب و أمم نحو الحياة و أفكار قدمت سبل و طرق نحو التعايش الانساني.
March 12, 2023
Very thorough. I made good use of it in the era before the Web. However it by now just a bit dated. Worse, its fundamental bias, though not quite logical positivism, is still certainly analytical.
February 13, 2024
After a few months of digging into this, I can say this may be my favorite book.
Highly recommended. I reference it often.
Highly recommended. I reference it often.
July 29, 2024
i have genuinely read this book front to back and enjoyed it so much. i love philosophy
July 18, 2019
I absolutely love this book. I am not an awfully clever person but am fascinated by philosophy. This book enables me to learn little snippets of philosophy in easily digestible and understandable narratives. You can pick this book up and put it down, it's not a 'read at once' book. It covers a massive range of topics, facts, data and information, including the great philosophers, religions, definitions and arguments. I wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone studying or with an avid interest in the subject.
Read
September 12, 2008While I haven't read it in it's whole it is useful as an encyclopedia. Very helpful when looking up basic information on backgrounds of philosophers, movements, and specific ideas or occurrences within the philosophical world.
Currently reading
October 10, 2008Very interesting so far. I am not someone who has studied philosophy and became interested in it because of Cornel West. It is surprisingly easy to read and enjoy. I am going to read it chronologically.
February 6, 2009
This is my philosophical bible. I have read this cover-to-cover and still flip open to random pages to just get a little dose of philosophy. The Oxford Philosophy Dictionary acts as a good supplicant when the entries are a little too heady.
June 8, 2011
Awesome reference book with a lot of good information. If your a fan of philosophy, this is a must have.
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