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Concise Routledge encyclopedia of philosophy
2000: by Routhledge - To students everywhere this book is indispensable to all but the most solitary of philosophers, to historians of thought and culture.
Hardcover
First published December 1, 1999
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 21, 2012
I suppose the one thing more difficult to write a concise summary of almost every philosophical system and philosopher is to write a review about a book on the topic. Given that it is an encyclopedia one cannot form the review around various loci. Further, no one individual is trained in every philosophical arena. I am familiar with various models of Western and Christian philosophy. However, I am not capable of evaluating and judging Eastern models.
With those caveats in mind, I can say this book succeeds because of the following reasons: the format of the articles, the presumably gifted individuals writing the articles, and the surprisingly broad scope of the articles.
1. Obviously with any encyclopedia, some articles are going to be longer than others. Men like Plato and Spinoza can expect quite a few columns or even pages. What separates this volume from others is that each article has a very small *annotated* bibliography for further review. The annotation almost makes it worth the price of the book.
2. While I haven't followed up on every contributor, I did immediately peruse the articles related to my field of study and recognized many of the names as leading philosophers. This lends credibility to the project.
3. I was surprised at just who they included. Leading authors like Dostoevsky were rightly acknowledged as key philosophers. More importantly, to continue with Dostoevsky as an example, these articles were cross-referenced to other similarities and figures (though I suppose this is quite common for encyclopedias). The net result is that fifteen minutes of careful reading can make one reasonably familiar with a certain field (say, Russian philosophy). While I am pleased with the broad scope, as is to be expected, many of the welcome additions were in fact too shallow in analysis (the article on "Byzantine Philosophy," for example). Somewhat surprisingly, though, the section on Hegel missed many key aspects of his thought.
Conclusion:
Although I am no expert in the philosophy of science or Eastern models, given that the Western contributors were experts in their fields, I can only assume this is largely the case for other branches. The cost of the book does appear prohibitive at first, and I suppose a book of this size can never sell for cheap, it does appear that used versions are popping up at affordable prices.
With those caveats in mind, I can say this book succeeds because of the following reasons: the format of the articles, the presumably gifted individuals writing the articles, and the surprisingly broad scope of the articles.
1. Obviously with any encyclopedia, some articles are going to be longer than others. Men like Plato and Spinoza can expect quite a few columns or even pages. What separates this volume from others is that each article has a very small *annotated* bibliography for further review. The annotation almost makes it worth the price of the book.
2. While I haven't followed up on every contributor, I did immediately peruse the articles related to my field of study and recognized many of the names as leading philosophers. This lends credibility to the project.
3. I was surprised at just who they included. Leading authors like Dostoevsky were rightly acknowledged as key philosophers. More importantly, to continue with Dostoevsky as an example, these articles were cross-referenced to other similarities and figures (though I suppose this is quite common for encyclopedias). The net result is that fifteen minutes of careful reading can make one reasonably familiar with a certain field (say, Russian philosophy). While I am pleased with the broad scope, as is to be expected, many of the welcome additions were in fact too shallow in analysis (the article on "Byzantine Philosophy," for example). Somewhat surprisingly, though, the section on Hegel missed many key aspects of his thought.
Conclusion:
Although I am no expert in the philosophy of science or Eastern models, given that the Western contributors were experts in their fields, I can only assume this is largely the case for other branches. The cost of the book does appear prohibitive at first, and I suppose a book of this size can never sell for cheap, it does appear that used versions are popping up at affordable prices.
Want to read
November 22, 2008Wow, I just discovered this the other day. I love Routledge. This is probably the most up to date encyclopedia of philosophy that I've seen so far.
June 4, 2020
Keep on your shelf and refer to often
March 23, 2024
An exceptional A to Z on philosophical concepts throughout humanity including but not limited to Aesthetics, ethics, epistemology, logic, politics, theology, psychology all to name a few. This is a reference book with useful information on philosophy, which has a Western focus but is not exclusively Western in its worldview. Exceedingly useful for philosophers and non-philosophers alike.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews