Choice 评论

To cover philosophy and religion in the Eastern and Western world is obviously an extremely ambitious undertaking. This dictionary, the author notes in his preface, intends to provide a reliable and informative but hardly exhaustive treatment of the topics. The preface also promises coverage of all major philosophers and religious leaders. Cross-references from entries that treat philosophical movements to individual philosophers and religious figures is, perhaps, the most helpful feature of the dictionary. This work has the limitations of a single volume that attempts to compress the extremely complex arguments of a philosopher like Heidegger or a religious thinker like Augustine into a page or two and to summarize their major ideas in a few phrases. Such brief coverage for each thinker makes oversimplification or misrepresentation inevitable. The volume has value as a quick reference guide or to provide introductions to philosophical or religious concepts. Recommended only for general readers and lower-division undergraduates. S. P. Foster Central Michigan University