Arts & Photography
Audio CDs
Audiocassettes
Biographies & Memoirs
Business & Investing
Children's Books
Christianity
Comics & Graphic Novels
Computers & Internet
Cooking, Food & Wine
Entertainment
Gay & Lesbian
Health, Mind & Body
History
Home & Garden
Horror
Literature & Fiction
Mystery & Thrillers
Nonfiction
Outdoors & Nature
Parenting & Families
Professional & Technical
Reference
Religion & Spirituality
Romance
Science
Science Fiction & Fantasy
Sports
Teens
Travel
Women's Fiction
|
 |
The Oxford Companion to Philosophy |
List Price: $65.00
Your Price: $50.12 |
 |
|
|
Product Info |
Reviews |
Rating:  Summary: "A Philosophers Second Best Friend" Review: This book is invaluable in its entirety. It covers with an intricate simplicity the problematic. It is shrouded by a synthesis of sheer genius. From the preface to the index, my mouth watered as I turned from page to page. This edition expounds with granduer the extent of human thought throughout antiquity. To put to in a nutshell the 'Oxfords Companion to Philosophy' is the "magnum opus" of reference materials.
Rating:  Summary: Very good source of information Review: This compendium is phenomenal! In a firm, handy hardcover edition, you get the essentials of philosophy from A to Z. Entries are clear, informative, and concise. AND they are numerous! I recommend this book to any philosophy student who needs more than just a philosophical dictionary but can't (obviously) afford an entire encyclopedia. It's smack in the middle and, I think, worth the price.
Rating:  Summary: Great for the autodidact in your family Review: This is a tremendously helpful work. I recommend it over the Cambridge version of the same subject. It has to be said, though, that both the Cambridge and the Oxford volumes are both written from the point of view of analytic philosophy, and thus tend to give short shrift to many thinkers in the continental stream. Still, the "fathers" of continental thought (Kant through Hegel, into Nietzche and Heidegger) are well represented and their philosophical works are amply dicussed and fairly treated. That said, the articles are all that one might want from a "companion to philosophy" (and yes, they are actually good reading, though perhaps not Sunday morning fare after all). I pull the beast (1000+ pages, thank God mine is paperback, and yes, paperback is out there somewhere) down from the shelf almost every day; that is the best thing I can say about it. You will not regret owning this book, no matter your philosophical bent. If you are a student, I cannot imagine how you have made it this far without it. Put it on your Christmas list, your parents will be pleased (at least it looks like you are studying, which you might actually do, since this book is so readable). Good job, Oxford Press.
Rating:  Summary: Great for the autodidact in your family Review: This is a tremendously helpful work. I recommend it over the Cambridge version of the same subject. It has to be said, though, that both the Cambridge and the Oxford volumes are both written from the point of view of analytic philosophy, and thus tend to give short shrift to many thinkers in the continental stream. Still, the "fathers" of continental thought (Kant through Hegel, into Nietzche and Heidegger) are well represented and their philosophical works are amply dicussed and fairly treated. That said, the articles are all that one might want from a "companion to philosophy" (and yes, they are actually good reading, though perhaps not Sunday morning fare after all). I pull the beast (1000+ pages, thank God mine is paperback, and yes, paperback is out there somewhere) down from the shelf almost every day; that is the best thing I can say about it. You will not regret owning this book, no matter your philosophical bent. If you are a student, I cannot imagine how you have made it this far without it. Put it on your Christmas list, your parents will be pleased (at least it looks like you are studying, which you might actually do, since this book is so readable). Good job, Oxford Press.
Rating:  Summary: Excellent if occasionally dense Review: This is my first source for philosophical questions. Exhaustive and discriminating at the same time; it includes a nice paragraph on utilitarian Peter Singer while properly ignoring crack-pot philosophical wannabe Ayn Rand. My only complaint is that the writing can be uneven. Some article authors lose themselves (and me) in excessively dense philosophical prose. This is only an occasional fault; most authors are clear, concise, and very informative. The short bibliographies after most articles are also nice.
Rating:  Summary: The Best Review: This is the best single volume philosophy reference in the English language. Any serious student of philosophy would benefit in using it. It has plenty of in-depth articles on major philosophers and major philosophical ideas. In addition the text has some pleasant quirks: articles are written with a point of view, some topics are off the wall (but fun). Any comparison with the new Routledge Concise Encyclopedia of Philosophy leaves the Routledge in the dust. I own and use both, but I greatly prefer my Companion. The major fault of the Oxford Companion is the less than full treatment of non-Western phil. Overall a very scholarly text.
Rating:  Summary: Comprehensive and In-Depth Review: This volume has the power to make you look like a philosophical genius! In my own research as a PhD student in religion and education, I am constantly in need of "refresher reviews" on various philosophers. For this the Oxford Companion to Philosophy is a tremendous aid! It is quite broad in its reach and it includes not only individual philosophers, but cultural and religious movements as well. From "abandonment" to "Zoroastrianism" and from "Aristotle" to "Wittgenstein,"this volume is a fine resource. Its appendix even includes helpful material on the symbols used in logic, outlines of the "families" of philosophy, and a helpful chronological chart.
Rating:  Summary: Encyclopedic yet pithy one-volume overview of the discipline Review: This volume is a must-own for any enthusiast of the humanities, and immensely helpful for philosophy students and instructors. The articles cover topics mostly in Western philosophy (though fair treatment is given to non-Western thought), and are clear enough for the general reader to understand. Longer articles cover major thinkers and schools, while shorter articles treat topics ranging from the arcane to the absurd. My one complaint is its bias toward the Anglo-American idiom of philosophy. Though European thought is covered sufficiently, there is an irritating tendency (depending on the contributor) to not take the Continent as seriously. But all in all, this is the best volume of its kind that I have come across.
|
|
|
|