Product Description

In this new lexical survey of Kant's works, Howard Caygill presents Kantian concepts and terminology in terms that will introduce and clarify his ideas for students and general readers alike.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #517760 in Books
• Published on: 1995-07-12
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 464 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780631175353
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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From Library Journal
This volume, the fifth in a series that also covers Locke, Hegel, Rousseau, and Descartes, differs somewhat from its more straighforward predecessors in content. After an introductory essay entitled "Kant and the 'Age of Criticism,'" which provides background on Kant's intellectual and writing history, Caygill (coeditor, The Fate of the New Nietzsche, Ashgate, 1993) launches into a dictionary proper. But this is not a dictionary of terms in the conventional sense; the entries are not simply definitions but are more like mini-encyclopedia entries in that they provide analysis and link the terms to other relevant terms in Kant's works. In preparing the dictionary entries this way, Caygill offers a far more useful tool to readers of Kant than the standard dictionary. The bibliographies provide a chronological list of Kant's published writings, a bibliography of works referred to in the dictionary itself, and a list of recommended further readings. One interesting addition is an index that ties the names of philosophers to the dictionary entries in which they appear. This volume deserves a place in all libraries with holdings on philosophy, as do the other volumes in the series.?Terry Skeats, Bishop's Univ. Lib., Lennoxville, Quebec
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
" Howard Caygill is a find Kant scholar and a superb reader of the history of philosophy, which makes him well-qualified to carry out the unenviable task of constructing a Kant Lexicon. What he has come up with is an immensely readable and instructive text, written with great lucidity and acumen, and executed with a clear sense of purpose and commitment." Keith Ansell Pearson, Journal of Nietzsche Studies, Issue 11

" Howard Caygill is a find Kant scholar and a superb reader of the history of philosophy, which makes him well-qualified to carry out the unenviable task of constructing a Kant Lexicon. What he has come up with is an immensely readable and instructive text, written with great lucidity and acumen, and executed with a clear sense of purpose and commitment." Keith Ansell Pearson, Journal of Nietzsche Studies, Issue 11

From the Back Cover
In this new lexical survey Howard Caygill presents Kantian concepts and terminology in terms that will introduce and clarify his ideas for students and general readers alike. The book takes as its starting point the historical nature of philosophical language, and shows how Kant set about redefining certain key concepts and terms. It then shows the profound effect that Kant’s interpretation of the philosophical tradition continues to have upon contemporary philosophical debates.

In addition to his reconstruction of Kant’s philosophical vocabulary, Howard Caygill presents a contextual essay on Kant and his place in ‘the age of criticism’. The book has extensive cross-references, and offers valuable scholarly aids in an appendix of philosophers, bibliographies of Kant’s work and secondary sources, and a comprehensive index.

Each Blackwell Philosopher Dictionary presents the life and work of an individual philosopher in a scholarly yet accessible manner. Entries cover key ideas and thoughts, as well as the main themes of the philosopher’s works. A comprehensive biographical sketch is also included.

Customer Reviews

The 5 stars are for usefulness
This book would be very useful to you if you are taking an undergraduate course in Kantian philosophy. If you're having trouble remembering what Kant means when he uses the words "transcendentalism" and "ethics" and "pure reason" and stuff like that, this book will be a good resource. And the definitions aren't just a few words, many are more than a page. The only warning I would place on this book is that many of the definitions provided are interpretive of the philosophy rather than just descriptive. So that could cause a problem if you have a professor who is fully persuaded in his own interpretation. But overall this is a good and helpful book to have to quickly reacquaint yourself with most of Kant's main philosophical ideas and terms.

Don't read Kant without this.
While the writings of Immanuel Kant stand at the zenith of philosophical greatness, nobody believes they set the standard for clarity. The unwary reader of Kant finds himself drowning under a tsunami of undefined terms. Survivors often find the same word used differently in a confusing conglomeration of contexts. Untangling the mess takes weeks.

Howard Caygill's _A Kant Dictionary_ greatly diminishes the dimensions of these challenges. The clearly written entries (sometimes a paragraph, sometimes a few pages) explicate many different contexts and meanings. The discussion within the entries frequently situate key ideas within the entire output of Kant, adding considerable value to the dictionary -- one can learn how an idea evolved or get a feel for why its introduction was warranted. Some entries go beyond this and contain historical relationships of an idea with those who came before and after Kant.

What a miracle! Documentation pervades this dictionary, making cross-referencing with Kant's writings extremely easy. The book also includes an essay on Kant by Caygill, a list of works referenced, books recommended for further reading, an index of philosophers, and bringing even more unity to the book -- an index of concepts.

Cliff notes for Kant this book is not. It consolidates Kant's output in a serious and professional way. If one studies or plans to study Kant at *any* level, one will find this book worth every penny.

Solid and Quite helpful Dictionary on Kant's Philosophy
From A to Z, here is a dictionary on Kant's philosophy which, surprisingly enough, is quite helpful. For someone who is trying to gain a better understanding of Kant's philosophy this text is an invaluable tool to have handy. It is easy to use (since it is an A to Z topical dictionary) and contains a few extra features such as an Introduction on Kant and the Language of Philosophy, an article on Kant and the 'Age of Criticism,' a very handy chronology of Kant's published writings, a section called "Works Referred to in the Text" which sites all the works used to put this dictionary together, a recommended reading list (quite nice feature), and an index of philosophers and philosophical concepts.

Thus, for a text dealing with Kant, the reader gets not only great information on Kant's philosophy, but on his actual works, his concepts, his time period, and information on those philosophers who preceded and followed him.

What is more, a student can use this text to branch out into deeper study on Kant's philosophy due to the recommended reading, but also by way of the text itself. What I mean is, the entries include cross references, text abbreviations where the information (or concept) can be found in Kant's work, and the German origin of the entry/word/concept itself.

Overall, this is a very nice edition to anyone's philosophical library. Moreover, it is one of the better reference works I have seen or used in my research of Immanuel Kant. I highly recommend this text.