From Booklist
*Starred Review* The first edition of Encyclopedia of Philosophy,
published in eight large volumes in 1967, was the standard philosophy
reference for more than a generation. Though it has aged gracefully, the
passing years nevertheless called for updated bibliographies,
revisions, and new articles, culminating in the 1996 one-volume Supplement.
Now, in the face of significant competition since the late 1990s, comes
the second edition, which integrates most of the 1967 and 1996 material
with hundreds of new articles, addenda to earlier articles, and updated
bibliographies. Section editors were given the task of reviewing the
earlier entries and deciding which could be retained, with perhaps only
bibliographical updates, and which required addenda or completely new
material.
The new edition and 1996 Supplement alike have been
the occasion for many articles on philosophers, new subfields of
philosophy, and other topics not appearing at all in the first edition.
The high proportion of earlier articles and addenda retained is
testament to the quality of those entries and to the philosophical
enterprise that builds upon the monuments of its past. To prevent
confusion, each 1967, 1996, and 2005 entry and bibliographical update is
dated. This practice is repeated in the list of contributors and their
articles, revealing a number of contributors to both the 1967 and 2005
editions.
The more than 2,100 entries include, according to the
publisher, some 1,000 biographical entries and "more than 450 new
articles." Biographical entries range from less than a page (Francesco
Bonatelli, Cheng Hao) to more than 20 pages (Aristotle, John Locke,
Bertrand Russell). The 10 separately authored overviews under Chinese
philosophy (Buddhism, Confucianism, etc.) together run 90 pages. Gene Blocker's merely 8-page Japanese philosophy
justifies in part its relative briefness with this opening: "The first,
and perhaps the most interesting, question regarding Japanese
philosophy is whether there is such a thing." Other solid overviews
include Human Genome Project, Medical ethics, Neuroscience, and Philosophy of chemistry.
The combined articles on the history and varieties of logic are a small
book, concluding with a 27-page glossary of logical terms. Lengthy
articles such as Computability theory, Infinity in mathematics and logic, and Information theory,
laden with logical and mathematical symbols, will perhaps be beyond the
grasp of the average undergraduate philosophy major; such articles are
by far the exception, and most will be comprehensible to the informed
general reader. Volume 10 opens with 13 articles that missed the
deadlines for being included in volumes 1 through 9. These are followed
by a thematic outline of contents; extensive bibliographies, in many
languages, of philosophy dictionaries and encyclopedias, journals, and
bibliographies published since 1965; and a 545-page index.
The competition is significant. The 10-volume Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, published to acclaim in 1998, appeared to be the Encyclopedia of Philosophy
's logical successor and quite possibly, in a new age of online
resources, the last wholly new philosophy encyclopedia of such scope we
would see in print. Its online counterpart, available through
subscription, Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy Online, has added more than 100 new articles to the print version and will continue to add more. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
[http://plato.Stanford.edu], launched in 1995 as a freely accessible
online-only undertaking, is comparable in scope, depth, and authority to
Encyclopedia of Philosophy and REP Online; new articles continue to be added, while earlier articles are updated as necessary. The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
[http://www.iep.utm.edu], also launched in 1995 as a free dynamic
online resource, continues to grow. It lags behind the other products
mentioned only in number of articles; original articles will eventually
replace a number of temporary or "proto articles." It and Stanford
both remain free. Outstanding single-volume philosophy encyclopedias
from Cambridge, Oxford, and Routledge published since the late 1990s are
low-cost print alternatives. Every encyclopedia mentioned privileges
the Western philosophical tradition, with greater or lesser nods to
non-Western traditions.
Encyclopedia of Philosophy,
second edition, is highly recommended for academic and public libraries
and will be indispensable to most. Don't be too quick to retire your
first edition, unless you are willing to do without such entries as
Walter Kaufmann's Nietzsche and its opening section, "Life and
Pathology"; it has been replaced in the second edition by Alan Schrift's
article. Likewise, new articles on Plato by Charles Kahn and on
Aristotle by Stephen Menn replace 1967 entries by Gilbert Ryle and G. B.
Kerferd, respectively. Craig Bunch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
