Dictionary of Philosophy and Religion: Eastern and Western Thought (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

For thorough treatments of Ajivikas and the Apologists, the derivation and meaning of "angst" and "anthropopathism," and profiles of Apollo, Al-Kindi, and Antiochus of Ascalon, William Reese's Dictionary of Philosophy and Religion is the tome of preference. And it does a fine job with B through Z, as well. With more than 4,000 entries, the dictionary delves into Continental and Asian philosophies and religions, and provides biographies of more than 900 ancient, medieval, and modern philosophers. It's erudite, inclusive, accessible, and covers the major philosophers, gods, tenets, and terms of both the Eastern and Western worlds. --Stephanie Gold --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Review

"...a convenient and well-organized desktop reference." -- Ethics

"...a very good book -- probably the best one of its kind now available." -- Philosophy East and West

"...one of the few dictionaries to include a large number of terms and figures from Eastern thought." -- Teaching Philosophy

"Carefully planned and executed--thorough, accurate and painstaking to a high degree." -- American Reference Book Annual

"Truly informative. An outstanding book." -- Journal of the History of Philosophy

Outstanding Reference Work -- American Library Association

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Product Details

• Paperback: 856 pages
• Publisher: Prometheus Books; Expanded edition (August 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1573926213
• ISBN-13: 978-1573926218
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #174,885 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent way to cross-reference many basic ideas!, July 17, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Dictionary of Philosophy and Religion: Eastern and Western Thought (Paperback)

I haven't read this book for a while, but I can say that it's the most extensively cross-referenced dictionary of philosophical and religious concepts I've personally seen. This makes it very easy to compare disparate sources of opinion on many concepts, including the most basic ideas such as truth, knowledge, reality, etc., as well as very specific ideas that are associated with one person or group. Each entry contains a somewhat limiting, but very convenient, numbered list of different perspectives and ideas on the subject-- and each item on each list usually contains a reference to another section of the dictionary. The commentary isn't always as detailed or perhaps QUITE as professional as, say, The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy... However, the holistic approach of this work probably contributed more to my personal sense of the interconnectedness of human thought than anything I've ever seen.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must-have for anyone interested in philosophy/religion, January 18, 2002

By	Stoppinby "mohannah" (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dictionary of Philosophy and Religion: Eastern and Western Thought (Paperback)

This book saw me through many a philosophy course, and 8 years later I still find the need to use it for quick, concise cross-referencing of the major tenets of philosophy and religion. I actually won it in a bet while in college. It was the best bet I ever made, which speaks poorly of my gambling ability, but highly of this book.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly Readable and Useful, October 6, 2006

By	Justin Ennis "christian reader" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is one of the most readable books that I own, which seems out of character for a "Dictionary of Philosophy and Religion" but it is very true. I can sit down with this book for hours at any given time. I think a big part of that is the excellent cross-reference system, so you can start anywhere and then see the linkages between different thoughts; which means that every reading of the book is like a journey. Another great feature of the book is that it covers both ideas and the people who forwarded them in the linking system so you can start with a study on epistemology and then end up ranging over half the book because you link to the people with the ideas and then back to the other ideas that the particular philospher had.

The drawbacks to such an approach are clear. After all, the book has to have some limitation to its length and it is covering many authors who wrote many thousands of pages on their own ideas, so the articles have to do quite a bit of summing up. Since it is absurd to expect deeper coverage from such a book anyway, I feel just fine highly recommending it.