Reference Books

B 41 B53 1994
Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy
With brevity in mind, this dictionary does not attempt to provide any substitute for the full explanations. The editor has attempted to indicate where the central explorations are headed, and the points of dispute that have attracted reflection. He has chosen to introduce terminology from other sciences where such terminology is heavily embedded in philosophical discussion. It contains extensive cross-referencing.

B 41 C35 1999
Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy
Widely acclaimed as the most authoritative and accessible one-volume dictionary of philosophy available in English (and now with translations into Chinese, Italian, Korean, Russian, and Spanish), this work was written by an international team of 440 contributors. In addition to rather comprehensive entries on major philosophers, it offers extensive coverage of rapidly developing fields such as the philosophy of mind and applied ethics (bioethics and environmental, medical, and professional ethics). It has more entries on non-Western and non-European philosophy than any comparable volume.

B 41 U7 1960
The Concise Encyclopedia of Western Philosophy and Philosophers
Acknowledging that there is no set of agreed results to which all experts would subscribe, the editor contends that "an encyclopedia of philosophy cannot set out to give authoritative answers to philosophical problems without either deceiving its readers by representing as the agreed answer what is in reality a contending opinion or confusing them with a series of inconsistent answers; this being so it has seemed better not to try to answer these questions at all." He does hope to provide explanations of the key technical terms used by philosophers of all shades of opinion, as well as an account of the main answers to philosophical questions. The work and opinion of individual philosophers is summarily described, "certainly not as an adequate substitute for a reading of the philosopher himself, but either to provide background information or as a preliminary guide to the reading of his works."

B 51 E49 V. 1 - 8 and Supplement [1967]
The ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PHILOSOPHY
This work, which aimed to be more ambitious than its predecessors by filling the need for a "truly encyclopedic presentation of philosophical theories and concepts," designs to cover the whole of philosophy as well as many of the points of contact between philosophy and other disciplines. This encyclopedia treats Eastern and Western philosophy; it deals with ancient, medieval, and modern philosophy; and it discusses the theories of mathematicians, physicists, biologists, sociologists, psychologists, moral reformers, and religious thinkers where these have had an impact on philosophy. Offering "reasonably comprehensive" treatments of all of its topics, with "small book-sized" articles accompanying many of them, the editor believes that "there is no philosophical concept or theory of any importance that is not identified and discussed."

Selected Noteworthy Circulating Books

Aesthetic, as science of expression and general linguistic
by Benedetto Croce; translated from the Italian by Douglas Ainslie. New York : Noonday Press, Farrar, Straus, 1965

The conditions of philosophy; its checkered past, its present disorder, and its future promise
by Mortimer J. Adler. New York, Atheneum, 1965

The Impulse to philosophise
edited by A. Phillips Griffiths. Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 1992

Legitimation of belief
by Ernest Gellner. [London, New York] Cambridge University Press [1974]

Masterpieces of world philosophy / edited by Frank N. New York : HarperCollins, 1990

Non-linguistic philosophy
by A. C. Ewing. New York, Humanities, 1968

The philosophy of time; a collection of essays
edited by Richard M. Gale. Garden City, N.Y., Anchor Books [1967]

Pragmatic philosophy: an anthology
edited by Amelie Rorty. Garden City, N.Y., Anchor Books, 1966

The rise of scientific philosophy
by Hans Reichenbach Berkeley, University of California Press, 1951