What is the connection between philosophy as studied in universities and those general views of man and reality which are commonly considered "philosophy"? Through his attempt to rediscover this connection, Craig offers a view of philosophy and its history since the early 17th century. Craig discusses the two contrary visions of man's essential nature that dominated this period--one portraying man as made in the image of God and required to resemble him as closely as possible, the other depicting man as the autonomous creator of his own environment and values--and uses this context to clarify...

In this illuminating study Craig argues that the standard practice of analyzing the concept of knowledge has radical defects--arbitrary restriction of the subject matter and risky theoretical presuppositions. He proposes a new approach similar to the "state-of-nature" method found in political theory, building the concept up from a hypothesis about its social function and the needs it fulfills. Shedding light on much that philosophers have written about knowledge, its analysis and the obstacles to its analysis, and the debate over skepticism, this compelling work will be of interest to...

This reference book on philosophy brings the subject up to date with entries on new concepts, new thinking about older themes, and entries relating to developing schools such as feminist philosophy and post-structuralism. All the entries aim to reflect the state of the art in philosophy scholarship. The encyclopedia contains than 2000 thematic, biographical and national entries ranging from 500 to 15,000 words in length, and is bound in 10 volumes consisting of over 5 million words of text, with considerable bibliographic material. It has contributions from 1200 international authors. It...