There is no doubt that the Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy is an excellent resource, with over 2000 long entries and 8680 pages.  Its online version, Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy Online (which requires paid registration), is even more useful since it has new articles added on a regular basis.  The work under review here is the Shorter version, with less than 1000 entries, many of which are very abbreviated versions of the full entries, spanning 1077 pages.  Some of the entries are the new or revised versions that appear in the online REP rather than the original 1998 edition. 

The 119 long entries on major philosophers or topics are substantive works in themselves.  Daniel Garber's entry on Descartes is 17 pages, Tom Sorrell's piece on Hobbes is 18, and Malcolm Schofield's piece on Plato is 19.  The other "long" entries on specialist subfields are rather shorter: Jeremy Butterfield's piece on Descriptions is 5 pages; David Rosenthal's entry on Dualism is also 5 pages.  Each long entry has its own internal structure with subheadings.  The quality of writing is high, and the authors are experts on their topics. 

The major question for a specialized encyclopedia is what readership it is aiming at.  The introduction explains that the Shorter REP is 'Western' in its selection, since undergraduates are more likely to be studying Western philosophy.  This is definitely the right decision, since undergraduate philosophy students are most likely to benefit from an encyclopedia such as this.  I have had this book at hand for about 18 months and I found that I used it rarely.  When I did consult it, such as when I needed to prepare to teach a class session on a topic that I did not know much about, I hardly ever found it useful.  Either there was too much detail, or not enough.  People who have their PhDs in philosophy will already be familiar with much of the information in the main long entries.  So the book is far more suitable for those who are engaged in learning the basics of philosophy in a detailed way, such as students in upper level undergraduate courses or graduate courses. 

One small complaint: sometimes the cross-references to articles are really to the long versions of the articles, rather than the short versions that appear in this book.  For example, if looking up what "perlocutionary" means, one is referred to the entry on Speech Acts.  However, the short version of that entry contains no discussion of perlocutionary acts. 

Although some will cringe on reading this, it may well turn out that for those looking for a quick understanding of a technical topic rather than an overview of a major philosopher, that for all its faults Wikipedia is a more useful resource.  As a contributor, I cannot claim much objectivity, but I prefer using the online Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.  Nevertheless, The Shorter REP is an excellent resource at a reasonable price.  I find the small print unfriendly to my eyes, and the online version is actually a little more user friendly.  Others may prefer to have physical book to consult, and may be more comfortable with the small print.  For such readers, this book would work well. 

© 2007 Christian Perring. All rights reserved.

Christian Perring, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Dowling College, Long Island. He is also editor of Metapsychology Online Reviews.  His main research is on philosophical issues in medicine, psychiatry and psychology.

Categories: Philosophical