The Oxford Companion to Philosophy - New Edition

This companion first came out 10 years ago, and has now been updated with an additional 300 entries. It contains all that one might expect from such a volume - intellectual biographies of major philosophers, definitions of terms and explanations of major themes and areas. A new addition is the entries on contemporary philosophers - the only gap I could find was John Macmurray (and arguably his predecessor at Edinburgh A.E. Taylor). At the end there is not only a comprehensive index and list of entries but also a series of informative maps of philosophy (e.g. philosophy of mind, realism, metaphysics) giving definitions as well as possible positions and their relationships. Altogether a must for the library of anyone seriously interested in philosophy and good value at £30 for over 1,000 pages.