Dictionary of Ideas (Hutchinson) (Brockhampton) 1860195032, 9781860195037

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Brockhampton DICTIONARY OF

Thinkers, theories and concepts in philosophy, science, religion, politics history and the arts

Unlike many other subjects, ideas are difficult to define. Whether we can explain them or not, ideas are responsible for everything important in our lives - from the system of government under which we live, the ethics we respect, the literature and painting we value, to the names we use to label things. Until now there existed no single volume which brought together the many strands and multiplicity of subjects which together make up the world of ideas. Nowhere but in The Dictionary of Ideas will you find both the people (biographical entries) and the ideas themselves (subject entries) in one volume. Details of key terms (allocation of resources, biofeedback, chaos theory, nature-nurture controversy) are given as well as biographies (Freud, Kierkegaard, Stephen Hawking), movements (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, liberation theology) and hundreds of -isms and -ologies which have puzzled all but the most encyclopedic of minds. Some of these are: • absolutism • behaviourism • deontology • existentialism • group psychology • hedonism • Jansenism • lamaism • neocolonialism • organicism • phenomenology • quietism • shamanism and much more. Along with 4,000 entries, the Dictionary contains specially commissioned articles on contemporary topics of concern such as ‘Animal Rights and Vivisection’, ‘Euthanasia’, ‘Moral Evil and Human Nature’, chronologies and extensive indexes. There are also over 350 specially selected, relevant quotes said by or about people in the Dictionary, as well as quotes by theme, e.g. aggression, faith, women. The Dictionary of Ideas is a one-volume compendi¬ um of the concept and beliefs which have shaped our world. It is international in scope with hundreds of non-European and non-Western belief systems included. Written by over 50 specialist contributors in a highly informative and contemporary style, the Dictionary will be referred to again and again.

£25.00

Other titles of interest from Brockhampton Press: The Dictionary of the Arts A celebration of the achievements of human creativity throughout time, this dictionary has over 6,000 entries covering literature, cinema, theatre, mythology, dance, music, photography, painting, craft and design, architecture, and fashion. Also included are quotations and chronologies. This is the only dictionary in print which covers all the arts. The Dictionary of Science The essential scientific terms clearly and accurately described, plus features and tables of general interest both for the general reader and for the student. From astronomy to zoology, the 5,000 entries cover not only the essential facts and figures of modern science, but also explain and illustrate the basic scientific terms in language that does not assume formal scientific training. The Dictionary of World History With over 4,000 entries from prehistory to present day, and packed with maps, chronolo¬ gies, feature articles, quotations, and tables, this is an A-Z of the story of our world including the key people, events, major movements, and a detailed history of every country.

Picture credits: clockwise from top left Jeremy Bentham (Michael Nicholson); J Robert Oppenheimer (Sachem); Abraham Lincoln (Sachem); Richard Feynman (Coltech Photo Archives)

Brockhampton Press 20 Bloomsbury Street London WCIB 3QA

Brockhampton

The Dictionary of Ideas is a comprehensive guide to the concepts and beliefs which have shaped our world. What we think is important, beautiful, right, and just all have their basis in ideas. Not only philosophical, religious and aesthetic beliefs, but scientific, artistic, historical and political ideas are all included. Biographical entries (people) as well as terms (-isms and -ologies) are all contained in a single volume. Updated, and including dozens of revisions for this paperback edition 4,000 entries Key people

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Major movements Terms Tables of the books of the Bible, great economists, major thinkers, great philosophers, computer programming, languages, the seven virtues, and others Chronologies of Islam, western music, psychology, the women’s movement, and others Specially commissioned articles on abortion, conservation, evil, post-modernism, romanticism, town planning, and others Specially selected quotes by individual and by theme Thematic indexes

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Other titles of interest from Brockhampton Press Dictionary of the Arts Dictionary of Science Dictionary of World History

DICTIONARY

Brockhampton Press London

Copyright © Helicon Publishing Ltd 1994 Helicon Publishing Ltd 42 H5nlie Bridge Street Oxford 0X1 2EP Typeset by TechType All rights reserved Printed and bound in Great Britain by The Bath Press Ltd, Bath This edition published 1997 by Brockhampton Press Ltd 20 Bloomsbury Street London WC1B3QA ISBN 1-86019-503-2 British Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Contents List of Contributors and Editors Introduction List of Feature Articles List of Tables, Chronologies, and Boxes A-Z Text

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Index Contents

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Index of Subjects

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Index of People

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Introduction What does the book contain? What are ‘ideas’? Most people would recognize such examples as existentialism, the free market, glasnost and nationalism. There is, however, underpinning these theories another kind of human imagining that can be called concepts. Examples of these would be justice, evil, the supernatural, gravity. It seemed to the editors when compiling The Dictionary of Ideas that what was wanted was both the theories and concepts as well their visible (and invisible) manifestations. We also believed that the reader would value having, in one volume:^ both the people (biographical entries) who gave us these concepts and beliefs along with the ideas themselves (subject entries). So what can the reader expect to find in The Dictionary of Ideas? There are more than 4000 entries cutting across 21 distinct disciplines. People and concepts from philosophy, religion, economics, psychology, mathematics, computing science, chemistry, political theory, life sciences, education and the women’s movement are all included.

The audience The book is not aimed at the specialist, nor is it for anyone requiring detailed information within their own discipline. Although some of the entries deal with ideas which are by definition difficult, they have been written with the general reader in mind. The average length of an entry is about fifty words, giving a basic definition and the most important facts.

What is in, what is out The key to good reference book publishing is selection. It was extremely difficult to decide what to bring in and what to leave out given the deliberately inclusive nature of the Dictionary. The main criteria were to include major thinkers as well as important figures from the world stage, both past and present, along with the concepts, institutions, theories, beliefs, movements and even attributes they inspired. While -isms and -ologies clearly had a place in the book, what about mythological figures or political groups? Should we have included all scientists when they were responsible for inventing something or only if they discovered a principle? In all of the disciplines listed above the reader will find the basic principles included. For those subjects that are clearly central to the history of ideas such as philosophy, religion, psychology, sociology, political and economic theory there is a much wider range of entries.

X

INTRODUCTION

And why Historical figures are included when they have been associated with great movements,, e.g. Mikhail Gorbachev, Napoleon, Bismark, Cromwell and F D Roosevelt, even if they themselves were not responsible for the theories upon which they based their actions. F D Roosevelt did not create the economic theories upon which The New Deal was built, but he is forever linked with it and earns a place in the book. It was much more difficult to decide which literary and artistic figures to include. Our criterion was to include those who are so identified with a trend or movement that they have come to personify it for most people, such as Pablo Picasso for Cubism, Arnold Schoenberg for twelve-tone music, George Bernard Shaw for progressive thinking and pamphlet-writing. Others are in not just because they were esteemed practitioners of their art, but because they were highly regarded critics as well, for example, Filippo Brunelleschi (architecture), T S Eliot (writer) and Wassily Kandinsky (artist). Cultural terms if they are strictly literary or artistic in application, for example bel canto, Sturm und Drang, Pointillism are not in. When, however, a term covers many fields of endeavour and has a wider resonance in society, such as structuralism or Postmodernism, then it is in. Mythological figures when noted for a concept they inspired, for example Narcissus for narcissism. Pandora and her box are included, as are those represented over many centuries in artistic and creative activity such as Thor, Isis and Ra. We have included a wide range of scientists if they invented something (Andrei Markov), developed something (Alexander Fleming) or won a Nobel Prize (Marie Curie).

International in scope Many entries in the Dictionary were commissioned specifically for their nonWestern content. There are hundreds of entries on aspects of Hinduism, Buddhism, ancient religions, native American religion and much more.

Special features Quotes There are over 350 specially selected quotes included. The quotes are of two sorts: one type is a direct quote as spoken or written by the individual whose entry features; the second kind is a thematic quotation relating to the concept or belief given. Examples are aggression, faith, love, war. Feature Articles In the Dictionary there are 21 specially written pieces which address a major issue or controversy in science, the arts or ethics. The range is wide and includes ‘Animal Rights and Vivisection’, ‘Romanticism: An Idea and its Legacy’ and ‘Urban Design in the Twentieth Century: The City of Tomorrow?’

INTRODUCTION

xi

The features have been placed as near as possible to relevant entries in the Dictionary as the following list shows: Headword

Title of feature

abortion animal liberation conservation Enlightenment euthanasia evil evolution humours, the four individualism

ABORTION: NO MORAL CONSENSUS ANIMAL RIGHTS AND VIVISECTION THE RACE TO PREVENT MASS EXTINCTION THE ENLIGHTENMENT EUTHANASIA MORAL EVIL AND HUMAN NATURE ‘OUT OF AFRICA’ AND THE EVE HYPOTHESIS ILLNESS: HEALTH, DISEASE AND THE HUMOURS PERSONAL HAPPINESS AND THE CULT OF THE INDIVIDUAL LOVE MADNESS MEDICAL ETHICS: THE CROSSROADS REACHED? MIND-BODY DUALISM AND THE RIDDLE OF HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS PATRONAGE: STILL ALIVE AND WELL? POLITICAL POWER: DOES IT INEVITABLY CORRUPT? POST-MODERNISM: THE BEGINNING OF THE END? PROGRESS AND THE IDEA OF PERFECTABILITY SCIENCE AND RELIGION: ENEMIES OR PARTNERS? ROMANTICISM: AN IDEA AND ITS LEGACY URBAN DESIGN IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY: THE CITY OF TOMORROW? THE CITY AND UTOPIA

love madness medical ethics mind body problem patronage politics post-modernism progress religion romanticism town planning utopianism

Tables, Chronologies and Boxes The Dictionary has 27 useful listings of information across many subject areas. Examples are: the Books of the Bible; Major Debtor Nations; Islamic calendar; Main Language Groups (and Number of Speakers); Major Political Thinkers and Patron Saints. Indexes There are 33 pages of indexes, organized in two ways, one of all the subjects in the book and one of the individuals. Cross References These are shown by a symbol immediately preceding the reference. Cross-referencing is selective: a cross reference is shown when another entry contains material that is relevant to the subject matter of an entry, and which the reader might not otherwise think of consulting. There are no cross-references in the feature articles, since to include them would have meant, in most cases, several symbols per line of text. Anne-Lucie Norton

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