The Oxford Companion to Philosophy is an authoritative, alphabetically arranged encyclopedia. Honderich has assembled a distinguished roster of 240 contributors, including Isaiah Berlin, Anthony Kenny, Michael Dummett, Alasdair MacIntyre, W. V. Quine, and John Searle. Contributors and affiliations are listed in the front matter. The 1,931 signed entries are directed toward general readers fascinated with philosophy as well as philosophy students and professional philosophers. Shorter biographies focus on others prominent in the field, including some 150 contemporary philosophers.
Short bibliographies follow most entries.
The index directs readers to related entries. The diversity of contributors has resulted in a wide variety of interesting, idiosyncratic articles. It boasts much longer articles but is necessarily silent on the last quarter-century of philosophy. The Oxford Companion to Philosophy is highly recommended for academic, public, and high-school libraries. MA This is a tremendously helpful work.