The Bloomsbury Companion to Analytic Philosophy

According to their overview, coauthors Dainton (philosophy, Univ. of Liverpool; Self: Philosophy in Transit) and Robinson (philosophy, Central European Univ., Budapest; Matter and Sense) aim to provide "a guide to analytic philosophy's past, present, and future." Following that introduction and a brief preface, the book is divided into three parts. As promised, the first part delves into the history and issues of analytic philosophy ("Wittgenstein and the Tractatus," "Developments and Ethics"); the second part discusses current research ("Philosophy of Science," "Personal Identity: Are We Ontological Trash?"); and the third section looks to the future of the field ("Specialization and Science," "Crisis?"). Each part contains several chapters; Dainton and Howard have written most of the material in the first and third parts while the chapters in the second section are by various contributing scholars. The work also offers a useful dictionary of key terms as well as a chronology of events.