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Anonymous
Posted January 2, 2002
The Oxford dictionary of Philosophy has been the best reference book I have ever bought. As a Philosophy student I use it everyday and it never fails me. It is very compact and handy and yet it can successfully compete with any larger Philosophy dictionary. Thanks to its numerous cross-references it can serve as a great guide through Philosophy. It¿s certainly an item that I can depend on.
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More About This Textbook
Overview
Comprehensive and authoritative, the Dictionary of Philosophy contains over 2,500 entries, including biographies of nearly 500 influential philosophers. The dictionary provides wide-ranging and lively coverage of not only Western philosophical traditions, but also themes from Chinese, Indian, Islamic, and Jewish philosophy. This clear and easy to use reference also contains in-depth analysis of philosophical terms and concepts, and a chronology of philosophical events stretching from 10,000 BC to the present day.
The Gambler's Fallacy, the Dirty Hands Argument, Wittgenstein's Beetle in the Box--philosophical terms can be both intriguing and baffling. Now, eminent philosopher Simon Blackburn offers the most authoritative and up-to-date dictionary of philosophy available in a single volume. Nearly 3,000 entries cover everything from Aristotle to Zen. Line drawings.
Editorial Reviews
Library Journal
Almost 3000 entries-many extensively cross-referenced-cover Eastern and Western philosophy (with emphasis on the latter), all the main subdivisions of philosophy, terminology from other disciplines that is significant in philosophical discussion, and major historical figures. Occasionally, information in a definition coupled with its cross references make the term's meaning unnecessarily murky (e.g., compare the "validity"-"follow"-"entailment" sequence to the definition of "validity" in a standard elementary logic text). Some definitions are idiosyncratic (e.g., that of "straw man"), and some omit something necessary for correctness (e.g., the common knowledge condition in defining D. Lewis's "convention"). On the whole, however, the definitions are clear, correct, and useful, and the subjects of biographical entries are generally chosen sensibly. Blackburn covers more than A.R. Lacey in A Dictionary of Philosophy (Routledge, 1990) and a bit more than Antony Flew in A Dictionary of Philosophy (St. Martin's, 1984. 2d ed.), though Flew is somewhat clearer. Since these three dictionaries have different emphases, they complement one another nicely. Recommended for academic libraries.-Robert Hoffman, York Coll., CUNYSchool Library Journal
YA-A wondrous study of the concepts that structure our thinking. The 25,000 entries include the traditional ancient Eastern and Western philosophers, statesmen, and theologians as well as the modern influences in literary, social, political, math, and scientific movements. From Plato to Turing, this dictionary explains the ideas in language that students can understand and enjoy. Each definition explores the origin, current thought, and philosophers most associated with the concept. Cross-references are included. At just over 400 pages, this volume is easily used and not as intimidating as many specific-knowledge dictionaries. Blackburn describes his dictionary as a ``playground for browsers and a resource for anyone interested in general intellectual movements...'' YAs are likely to find themselves browsing compulsively day after day.-Cecelia Blotkamp, R.E. Lee High School, Springfield, VAFrom The Critics
Blackburn designed "The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy" "as a playground for browsers and a resource for anyone interested in general intellectual movements, as well as a simple work of reference." He was editor of the journal "Mind" from 1984 through 1990 and is currently a distinguished professor of philosophy at the University of North Carolina. He is author of "Essays in Quasi-Realism" (1993) and "Spreading the Word: Groundings in the Philosophy of Language" (1984). Blackburn operates in the Anglo-American analytic philosophical tradition, as opposed to the existentialist or phenomenological traditions of Europe The work is a distinctly personal one, though Blackburn's assessments of philosophical positions and discussions are objective and expository in tone. For example, of Immanuel Kant, he states, "his place as the greatest philosopher of the last 300 years is well assured.. . . [w]hilst his confidence in the a priori and the structure of his idealism have been widely rejected, it is not too much to say that all modern epistemology, metaphysics, and even ethics, is implicitly affected by the architecture he created. The nearly 3,000 entries cover a wide variety of topics. Biographical entries include Aquinas, Russell, Isaiah Berlin, Michel Foucault, Darwin, and Keynes. While philosophers such as Plato and Nietzsche receive a page or more of treatment, those included for a peripheral contribution to philosophy, such as Keynes or Einstein, receive about half a column. Other entries run from a few lines to a page in length. Topics range back to the beginnings of Western and Eastern philosophy and across fields to discuss philosophical insights or approaches to economics, love, dreams, biology, and so forth. Yet the bulk of the dictionary consists of concise, focused definitions of terms used by analytic philosophers and philosophy students: "falsifiability", "protocol statements", "liar paradox", "subjectivism/objectivism", and "prisoners' dilemma". Blackburn writes in an interesting and easy-to-follow style. He has made liberal use of cross-references (marked by asterisks within the text) and "see" and "see also" references at the end of entries. Some entries include bits of symbolic logic; a two-page appendix defines most of the symbols used. This book is the most recent dictionary of philosophy. Dagobert Runes edited numerous editions of his "Dictionary of Philosophy" between 1942 and 1984 (Littlefield). Antony Flew's "Dictionary of Philosophy" came out in 1979 and 1984 (St. Martin's). Peter Angeles wrote his "Dictionary of Philosophy" in 1981; a revised edition was published in 1992 as "The HarperCollins Dictionary of Philosophy". "The Oxford Dictionary" is uniquely broad in its coverage. It is accessible to the general reader, while at the same time being useful for the scholar or student. It is recommended for all academic and public libraries.Booknews
Reprint of the 1994 edition with a new chronology. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)Product Details
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Meet the Author
Simon Blackburn is Edna J. Koury Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the University of North Carolina. He was a fellow and Tutor at Pembroke College, Oxford from 1969 to 1990. The author of Spreading the Word (1984) and Essays in Quasi-Realism, he edited the journal Mind from 1984 to 1990.
Table of Contents
Preface