Howard Caygill

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.… (lisätietoja)