Philosophy: Handbooks and Companions

The Blackwell Guide to Aesthetics is the most authoritativesurvey of the central issues in contemporary aesthetics available.The volume features eighteen newly commissioned papers on theevaluation of art, the interpretation of art, and many other formsof art such as literature, movies, and music. Provides a guide to the central traditional and cutting edgeissues in aesthetics today. Written by a distinguished cast of contributors, includingPeter Kivy, George Dickie, Noël Carroll, Paul Guyer, TedCohen, Marcia Eaton, Joseph Margolis, Berys Gaut, NicholasWolterstrorff, Susan Feagin, Peter Lamarque, Stein Olsen, FrancisSparshott, Alan Goldman, Jenefer Robinson, Mary Mothersill, DonaldCrawford, Philip Alperson, Laurent Stern and Amie Thomasson. Functions as the ideal text for undergraduate and graduatecourses in aesthetics, art theory, and philosophy of art.

The Blackwell Guide to American Philosophy offers the most ambitious survey to date of American philosophical thought. Provides a comprehensive history of philosophical thought in America. Brings together 24 newly commissioned essays written by leading scholars in American philosophy. Covers all of the major eighteenth-, nineteenth- and twentieth-century philosophical movements in America including idealism, pragmatism and naturalism. Examines the major figures and themes in American philosophical thought. Includes useful bibliographies.

Written by an international assembly of leading philosophers, this volume includes seventeen newly-commissioned full-length survey articles on the central topics of epistemology.

Ranging from moral realism to virtue ethics, this superb volume presents a complete state-of-the-art survey of ethical theory. Written by an international assembly of leading moral philosophers, each of the twenty-one newly-commissioned papers develop the main tenets, arguments, themes, and problems of the main normative and meta-ethical philosophical outlooks.

The Blackwell Guide to Feminist Philosophy is a definitiveintroduction to the field, consisting of 15 newly-contributedessays that apply philosophical methods and approaches to feministconcerns. Offers a key view of the project of centering women?sexperience. Includes topics such as feminism and pragmatism, lesbianphilosophy, feminist epistemology, and women in the history ofphilosophy.

Through a collection of new, previously unpublished essays,The Blackwell Guide to Kant?s Ethics addressesdiverse topics crucial to our understanding of Kant's moralphilosophy and its implications for the modern age. Provides a fresh perspective on themes in Kant?s moralphilosophy Addresses systematically Kant?s foundational work,Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals and his morespecific treatment of justice and virtue in The Metaphysics ofMorals Includes essays by both established scholars and risingstars Identifies common misperceptions of Kant's thought andchallenges some prevailing interpretations Shows how Kant developed and supplemented his earlier ethicalthought with specific discussions of practical issues in law,international relations, personal relations, and self-regardingvirtues and vices

The Blackwell Guide to the Philosophy of Law and LegalTheory is a handy guide to the state of play in contemporaryphilosophy of law and legal theory. Comprises 23 essays critical essays on the central themes andissues of the philosophy of law today, written by an internationalassembly of distinguished philosophers and legal theorists Each essay incorporates essential background material on thehistory and logic of the topic, as well as advancing thearguments Represents a wide variety of perspectives on current legaltheory

The Blackwell Guide to the Philosophy of Religion featuresfourteen new essays written by some of the most prominentphilosophers working in the field. Contributors include Linda Zabzeski, Hugh McCann, Brian Leftow,Gareth B. Matthews, William L. Rowe, Elliott Sober, Derk Pereboom,Alfred J. Freddoso, William P. Alston, William J. Wainwright, Petervan Inwagen, Philip Kitcher and Philip Quinn. Features fourteen newly commissioned essays. Provides a comprehensive treatment of the major problems in thephilosophy of religion. Surveys the field and presents distinctive arguments.

The Western tradition of philosophy began in Greece with a cluster of thinkers often called the Presocratics, whose influence has been incalculable. They include the early Ionian cosmologists, Pythagoras, Heraclitus, the Eleatics (Parmenides, Melissus, and Zeno), Empedocles, Anaxagoras, the atomists and the sophists. All these thinkers are discussed in this 1999 volume both as individuals and collectively in chapters on rational theology, epistemology, psychology, rhetoric and relativism, justice, and poetics. A chapter on causality extends the focus to include historians and medical writers.

The Blackwell Guide to Mill?s Utilitarianism volume isan ideal commentary for students on Mill?s classic essay. Contains the complete text of Utilitarianism and twelve relatedessays. Essays cover the background to Mill?s classic essay,analyses of the arguments, and contemporary debates within theutilitarian tradition. Also includes a case study demonstrating the application ofutilitarian theory to military or non-violent responses toterrorism. Each contribution is an original essay written by a specialistat the cutting edge of philosophical scholarship.

Comprising a series of specially commissioned chapters by leading scholars, this comprehensive volume presents an up-to-date survey of the central themes in the philosophy of mind. It leads the reader through a broad range of topics, including Artificial Intelligence, Consciousness, Dualism, Emotions, Folk Psychology, Free Will, Individualism, Personal Identity and The Mind-Body Problem. Provides a state of the art overview of philosophy of mind. Contains 16 newly-commissioned articles, all of which are written by internationally distinguished scholars. Each chapter reviews a central issue, examines the current state of the discipline with respect to the topic, and discusses possible futures of the field. Provides a solid foundation for further study.

The Blackwell Guide to Social and Political Philosophy brings together a collection of newly commissioned essays which examine fundamental issues in social and political theory. Written by leading social and political philosophers, each essay provides a map to the history of the issue at hand and a judicious assessment of the main arguments that have been brought to bear upon that issue.

Plato stands as the fount of our philosophical tradition, being the first Western thinker to produce a body of writing that touches upon a wide range of topics still discussed by philosophers today. In a sense he invented philosophy as a distinct subject, for although many of these topics were discussed by his intellectual predecessors and contemporaries, he was the first to bring them together by giving them a unitary treatment. This volume contains fourteen essays discussing Plato's views about knowledge, reality, mathematics, politics, ethics, love, poetry, and religion. There are also analyses of the intellectual and social background of his thought, the development of his philosophy throughout his career, the range of alternative approaches to his work, and the stylometry of his writing.

This Companion provides a comprehensive account of this outstanding work, which remains among the most frequently read works of Greek philosophy, indeed of Classical antiquity in general. The sixteen essays, by authors who represent various academic disciplines, bring a spectrum of interpretive approaches to bear in order to aid the understanding of a wide-ranging audience, from first-time readers of the Republic who require guidance, to more experienced readers who wish to explore contemporary currents in the work's interpretation. The three initial chapters address aspects of the work as a whole. They are followed by essays that match closely the sequence in which topics are presented in the ten books of the Republic. Since the Republic returns frequently to the same topics by different routes, so do the authors of this volume, who provide the readers with divergent yet complementary perspectives by which to appreciate the Republic's principal concerns.

In this volume, some of today's most distinguished philosophers survey the whole field of ethics, from its origins, through the great ethical traditions, to theories of how we ought to live, arguments about specific ethical issues, and the nature of ethics itself. The book can be read straight through from beginning to end; yet the inclusion of a multi-layered index, coupled with a descriptive outline of contents and bibliographies of relevant literature, means that the volume also serves as a work of reference, both for those coming afresh to the study of ethics and for readers already familiar with the subject.

Including over 50 newly-commissioned survey articles, this outstanding volume represents the first truly comprehensive guide to feminist philosophy.

Fully extended and revised, A Companion to Metaphysics 2ndEdition includes a section of detailed review essays fromrenowned metaphysicians, and the addition of more than 30 newencyclopedic entries, taking the number of entries to over 300. Includes revisions to existing encyclopedic entries Features more than 30 all-new "A to Z" entries Offers a section of in-depth, essays from renownedmetaphysicians Provides the most complete and up-to-date reference guide forstudents and professionals alike

A Companion to the Philosophers surveys the major philosophical thinkers in Western and non-Western traditions. Multicultural in its approach, it provides authoritative coverage of the major Chinese, Indian, Japanese, African, Jewish, and Islamic philosophers, as well as European and American thinkers.

A Companion to the Philosophy of Action offers a comprehensive overview of the issues and problems central to the philosophy of action. The first volume to survey the entire field of philosophy of action (the central issues and processes relating to human actions) Brings together specially commissioned chapters from international experts Discusses a range of ideas and doctrines, including rationality, free will and determinism, virtuous action, criminal responsibility, Attribution Theory, and rational agency in evolutionary perspective Individual chapters also cover prominent historic figures from Plato to Ricoeur Can be approached as a complete narrative, but also serves as a work of reference Offers rich insights into an area of philosophical thought that has attracted thinkers since the time of the ancient Greeks

In 85 new and updated essays, this comprehensive volume provides an authoritative guide to the philosophy of religion. Includes contributions from established philosophers and rising stars 22 new entries have now been added, and all material from the previous edition has been updated and reorganized Broad coverage spans the areas of world religions, theism, atheism, , the problem of evil, science and religion, and ethics

A Companion to the Philosophy of Education is acomprehensive guide to philosophical thinking about education. Offers a state-of-the-art account of current and controversialissues in education, including issues pertaining tomulticulturalism, special education, sex education, and academicfreedom. Written by an international team of leading experts, who aredirectly engaged with these profound and complex educationalproblems. Serves as an indispensable guide to the field of philosophy ofeducation.

This volume provides a survey of contemporary philosophy of language. As well as providing a synoptic view of the key issues, figures, concepts and debates, each essay makes new and original contributions to ongoing debate.

This outstanding new volume provides a comprehensive and authoritative survey of the theories, topics, subjects, and discources that now feature in the law school and undergraduate legal studies curricula.

The philosophy of mind is one of the fastest-growing areas in philosophy, not least because of its connections with related areas of psychology, linguistics and computation. This Companion is an alphabetically arranged reference guide to the subject, firmly rooted in the philosophy of mind, but with a number of entries that survey adjacent fields of interest. The book is introduced by the editor′s substantial Essay on the Philosophy of Mind which serves as an overview of the subject, and is closely referenced to the entries in the Companion. Among the entries themselves are several "self-profiles" by leading philosophers in the field, including Chomsky, Davidson, Dennett, Dretske, Fodor, Lewis, Searle and Stalnaker, in which their own positions within the subject are articulated. In some more complex areas, more than one author has been invited to write on the same topic, giving a polarity of viewpoints within the book′s overall coverage. All main entries have a full bibliography, and the book is indexed to the high standards set by other volumes in the Blackwell Companions to Philosophy series.

Drawing on essays from leading international and multi-disciplinary scholars, A Companion to the Philosophy of Technology is the first comprehensive and authoritative reference source to cover the key issues of technology's impact on society and our lives. Presents the first complete, authoritative reference work in the field Organized thematically for use both as a full introduction to the field or an encyclopedic reference Draws on original essays from leading interdisciplinary scholars Features the most up-to-date and cutting edge research in the interdisciplinary fields of philosophy, technology, and their broader intellectual environments

A Companion to the Philosophy of Time presents thebroadest treatment of this subject yet; 32 specially commissionedarticles - written by an international line-up of experts ?provide an unparalleled reference work for students and specialistsalike in this exciting field. The most comprehensive reference work on the philosophy of timecurrently available The first collection to tackle the historical development ofthe philosophy of time in addition to covering contemporarywork Provides a tripartite approach in its organization, coveringhistory of the philosophy of time, time as a feature of thephysical world, and time as a feature of experience Includes contributions from both distinguished,well-established scholars and rising stars in the field

This outstanding volume offers students, teachers and general readers a complete introductory survey of the major non-western philosophical traditions.

A distinguished international assembly of 291 philosophers have contributed over 2,000 entries to the second edition of The Oxford Companion to Philosophy. This comprehensive and authoritative reference addresses key concepts, doctrines, schools of thought, discussion of practical issues, individual thinkers and philosophical terms as applied to a fascinating range of current topics. With over 300 new entries discussing topical issues such as terrorism, corporate responsibility, animal consciousness, cloning and globalisation, and contributions from world-famous thinkers including Peter Singer, Simon Blackburn, and Isaiah Berlin, the new edition of Oxford Companion to Philosophy serves as a stimulating introduction for general readers and as an indispensable guide for students.

Ernie Lepore and Barry Smith present the definitive reference work for this diverse and fertile field of philosophy. A superb international team contribute forty brand-new essays covering topics from the nature of language to meaning, truth, and reference, and the interfaces of philosophy of language with linguistics, psychology, logic, epistemology, and metaphysics. It will be an essential resource for anyone working in the central areas of philosophy, for linguists interested in syntax, semantics, and pragmatics, and for psychologists and cognitive scientists working on language.

The Blackwell Guide to Philosophy of Language is acollection of twenty new essays in a cutting-edge and wide-rangingfield. Surveys central issues in contemporary philosophy of languagewhile examining foundational topics Provides pedagogical tools such as abstracts and suggestionsfor further readings Topics addressed include the nature of meaning, speech acts andpragmatics, figurative language, and naturalistic theories ofreference