Adler's Philosophical Dictionary: 125 Key Terms for the Philosopher's Lexicon
Indomitable and, now well into his nineties, seemingly eternal, America's foremost public philosopher produces his fifty-eighth book and one of the most useful. It consists of reasonably thorough definitions of some 125 terms (a few are just cross references to others) that reflect Adler's famous adherences to the Aristotelian mainstream of Western philosophy (if anything, Adler is downright anti-Kantian), to democracy and socialism (but not communism: Adler very cogently explains why communism is antithetical to socialism) as the political and economic practices most in accordance with the principles of justice, and to world government. The defined terms do not include philosophy's hardware words--ontology, epistemology, phenomenology, heuristics, etc.--but rather are its meat and potatoes--art, beauty, God, idea,etc. If, now and then, a definition seems to overlook crucial aspects of its term, Adler appends a list of sources of further elucidation in his own other books. A helpful and, aptly, thought-provoking little resource, perhaps even at the reference desk.Ray Olson