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Encyclopaedia of Ethics, second edition (3 vols)

Lawrence C. Becker and Charlotte B. Becker (eds)

2001 London: Routledge. pp. xxxv + 1997 ISBN 0-415-93672-1 (hb) £240

Practical Philosophy  (Book Reviews) Spring 2002Volume 4.2

Reviewed by: Trevor Curnow

There has always seemed something implausible to me about the idea of an encyclopaedia of philosophy. With few exceptions, each entry is bound to be contentious, for that is the nature of the subject. On the other hand, there is something highly desirable about the idea too. The prospect of being able to go to a handful of volumes in order to at least get one’s first bearings on a topic constitutes a considerable temptation. Those who produce such works are presumably aware of these competing considerations, and one of the measures of their success is the skill with which they resolve them. Given that few, if any, are able to produce such works alone, the competence of the contributors is a highly significant factor in this enterprise. On this particular count, the Beckers are to be congratulated in putting together an impressive team. While I doubt if anyone except the editors is familiar with all of its members, the list is peppered with some of the very best names in the field.

In general, and probably wisely, the editors have opted for a thematic treatment of the subject. This means that relatively few individuals receive entries in their own right, and of those who do, many are of comparatively recent vintage. Some of the modern choices for this accolade are unexceptionable, but I doubt if they will all pass the test of time. The editors should have followed their own instincts and excluded the living. The division of such a complex and extensive subject as ethics into a fixed number of discreet themes is both an impossible and a necessary task in a work of this kind. How successfully it has been carried out depends on whether one finds what one is looking for. Fortunately, the provision of extensive cross-referencing as well as a substantial subject index means that if something is in the encyclopaedia it should be possible to find it without too much wasted effort. I decided to test the system by finding out what it had to say about synderesis. Given that the book addresses not only ethical theory as such but also the history of the subject, I was a little surprised to find that it had no entry of its own. Although a forgotten concept today, it was an important one in medieval moral thought. The subject index gives one reference for synderesis, directing the reader to the item on Duns Scotus. However, a perusal of the entry on conscience reveals that it is also mentioned there, as indeed it should be. (It is always easier to find what you are looking for when you know where to look for it.) I imagine this particular failing will bother few readers, but it is there, and I imagine there are others.

Although its core concern is declared to be the ‘coverage of ethical theory as pursued among English-speaking philosophers’ (p. vii), the encyclopaedia strays beyond this brief in a number of ways. Most welcome are the forays into Islamic thought and some of the philosophies of Asia. It is good to see the importance of such individuals as Nagarjuna and Wang Yang-ming recognised. Less compelling are the numerous entries relating to topics within practical ethics. While acknowledging the editors’ point that many ‘contemporary moral issues have become crucial test cases for theory’ (p. vii), I would question the decision to allot Bentham only one more page than blackmail, for example. Bentham is a seminal figure, while blackmail (except to those on the receiving end of it) is a relatively minor issue, not even rated an entry in the first edition. Given the importance attached to practical ethical issues in contemporary moral thought, it might seem strange and artificial to exclude them altogether, but the balance could be better arranged. The appearance of the Encyclopaedia of Applied Ethics (San Diego: Academic Press, 1998) in the period between the first and second editions of the Encyclopaedia of Ethics reinforces the case for the balance to be more heavily weighted in the direction of theory here.

As a second edition, the book is to some extent a prisoner of its first one, published in 1992. Most of its original entries have been retained, and they have been joined by a third as many again. All have been revised and where appropriate updated, but this seems to have been patchily done. The entry on Peter Abelard, for example, contains no mention of a 1995 edition of his ethical writings. The entry on intuitionism contains no reference to a 1999 book on the subject (which just happens to be mine).

However, perhaps all these comments reflect the problem with reviewing an encyclopaedia. We are all most likely to home in on those areas in which we have a special interest, and because of our greater knowledge in these areas we are more likely to be critical of the ways in which they are treated. But specialists (in the narrow sense) are not an encyclopaedia’s target audience. I would not go to such a book for information on synderesis, because I would expect to know more about the subject already than an encyclopaedia of this kind is likely to tell me. But on opening volume II at random I find an entry on Japan, which proceeds to tell me far more about Japanese ethical theory than I ever knew before, and in an interesting and accessible way. If I want to find out about Japanese ethical theory in the future, I will turn here first. The bibliographical references at the end of each entry (in many cases with helpful annotations) provide signposts for further exploration.

I suggested at the beginning of this review that a test of a good encyclopaedia of philosophy is the balance it achieves between providing a useful point of initial entry into a topic and the natural contentiousness of the subject. Despite the many reservations I have voiced in the interim, I think that the Encyclopaedia of Ethics generally succeeds in this task and that it is a valuable resource for anyone interested in this area of philosophy. The price is likely to be a deterrent for many, but given the price of philosophy books these days it can still look like a bargain. Those already in possession of the first edition will probably not be tempted, though.

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