{"product_id":"a-world-of-ideas-isbn-9780345437068","title":"A World of Ideas","description":"THE THINKERS, THE THOUGHTS, AND THE THEORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW TO UNDERSTAND THE WORLD WE LIVE IN.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWith A World of Ideas, you can get to the bottom of the big bang theory; find out where Freud's ideas were coming from, and where Einstein's might take us; demystify surrealism and structuralism, communism and capitalism. Prepared with the assistance of an academic board of leading scholars, this invaluable reference includes\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- Hundreds of entries, alphabetically arranged, with key words and concepts highlighted and cross-referenced--more than two thousand in all\u003cbr\u003e- A special emphasis on multicultural influences and contemporary thought \u003cbr\u003e- A comprehensive index giving easy access to all essential terms and names\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA World of Ideas is an indispensable resource for the curious reader.Chris Rohmann is the former editor and project manager for The Oxford Guide to Classical Mythology in the Arts.  He lives in Northampton, Massachusetts.It all began with dialectical materialism. I was aware of the term, had seen or\u003cbr\u003eheard it used a hundred times. But one day, finding it mentioned in a magazine\u003cbr\u003earticle, I realized I had no idea exactly what it is and couldn't accurately\u003cbr\u003edefine it. The brief dictionary definition didn't help much, and it didn't appear at all \u003cbr\u003ein my desk encyclopedia.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt occurred to me that lots of other concepts, old and new, were vaguely\u003cbr\u003efamiliar but elusive: ideas I'd heard of or learned something about in school\u003cbr\u003ebut now had a faded impression of, at best.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWouldn't it be great to have a dictionary of ideas, I thought--not things\u003cbr\u003eor events, but those intangibles that fuel our thoughts: theories, philosophies,\u003cbr\u003ebeliefs, ideologies, and the thinkers who have articulated them. That set me\u003cbr\u003eon a search through bookstores and libraries for the volume I had in mind: a\u003cbr\u003ecompact, alphabetical guide to significant ideas and thinkers, with entries\u003cbr\u003elong enough to enlighten but short enough to digest, covering all fields of\u003cbr\u003ethought and written in ordinary English.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI couldn't find it, so I wrote it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe book you are holding represents the fruits of what I now think of as\u003cbr\u003emy second college education, one pursued outside a formal institution (but\u003cbr\u003ewith the crucial assistance of numerous scholars) and which took as long as\u003cbr\u003ethe first one. My ambition was not only to get a grasp on a world's worth of\u003cbr\u003econcepts but to explain them in terms that I, a nonacademic, and others like\u003cbr\u003eme could understand. It was a daunting but exhilarating challenge.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIdeas, I appreciated anew, are the foundations of our culture. They inspire\u003cbr\u003eour thoughts and inform our beliefs. Many of them form the very basis of our\u003cbr\u003eidentity. Some, such as those from non-Western traditions, are only now entering our awareness as our society becomes more genuinely multicultural. \u003cbr\u003eWhile the ideas of the past have shaped the social, political, and religious institutions of today's world, new concepts continually challenge our perceptions, fuel debate, and pave our way to the future.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe topics of A World of Ideas' 444 entries were chosen in \u003cbr\u003econsultation with a number of respected scholars in the various fields covered. The process, of course, was one of exclusion as much as selection from a nearly\u003cbr\u003elimitless field of possibility. In making our decisions on which ideas and\u003cbr\u003ethinkers to include in this relatively small volume, we were guided by two\u003cbr\u003emain criteria: their influence on human thought and their continuing relevance\u003cbr\u003ein today's discourse. The fields of knowledge gathered here include philosophy, psychology, politics, history, economics, sociology, religion, science, and the arts. Entries on ideas in these areas define them and briefly explain their history, implications, and wider significance. The 111 profiles of major thinkers provide outlines of their most influential ideas rather than purely biographical sketches.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHundreds of additional, related ideas and thinkers are discussed in the text\u003cbr\u003eand referenced in the Index. What is an \"idea\" in this book? Theoretically, \u003cbr\u003ethe term could cover everything from a philosophical argument to a nifty new invention. I've left gadgets and other \"bright ideas\" out of \u003cb\u003eA World of Ideas\u003c\/b\u003e, while keeping my definition of an idea as broad as possible: a theoretical construct, a belief or guiding tenet, an essential concept in a field of study, an ideological proposition, an influential thought or opinion. I'm personally attracted to the theoretical and propositional--debatable, questionable, or unprovable notions--but not exclusively. Primarily descriptive terms are excluded, but general concepts, fields of theory, schools of thought, and similar broad categories are covered here.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA note about some of the things you will and won't find in this book. You\u003cbr\u003ewill find that a majority of the entries reflect European culture, the Greek\u003cbr\u003ephilosophical tradition, Judeo-Christian religion, etc. This simply \u003cbr\u003eacknowledges the way things are: despite a growing awareness of other cultures and traditions, the ideas that are our cultural currency are still \u003cbr\u003epredominantly those of \"Western civilization.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYet this book also reflects recent changes in our world-views. Where they\u003cbr\u003ehave wide relevance, concepts and beliefs from Asian, African, and Middle\u003cbr\u003eEastern traditions are included. You will also find more women and nonwhite\u003cbr\u003ethinkers than many works of this sort recognize--people whose contributions\u003cbr\u003e(and even access) to the history of ideas have for too long been neglected.\u003cbr\u003eYou will also find a somewhat greater emphasis on contemporary thought\u003cbr\u003ethan might be expected in a broad survey of ideas. This is largely because\u003cbr\u003emodern theorists and their ideas are among those most currently discussedand most likely to be overlooked in other reference works. While the classic\u003cbr\u003eideas and figures in \u003cb\u003eA World of Ideas\u003c\/b\u003e have had a decisive influence on modern thought, the newer concepts and contemporary thinkers will shape the future.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAlthough I have tried to be scrupulous about using gender-neutral \u003cbr\u003eterminology (\"he or she,\" \"humanity\") when referring to people in general, and\u003cbr\u003eavoiding the discredited sexist convention of the generic masculine \u003cbr\u003e(\"man-kind,\" \"he\"), you will find exceptions. These are in cases when to imply the feminine would misrepresent a thinker's outlook, because women have been\u003cbr\u003e(and are) so often excluded from consideration. When Jefferson, for example,\u003cbr\u003ewrote that \"all men are created equal,\" he was talking about men. The same\u003cbr\u003econsideration applies to almost all references to the God of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, who is traditionally conceived as male. You will not find main entries on any primarily literary figures or artists; no Shakespeare or Goethe, Michelangelo or Picasso (though all of these geniuses appear at least briefly in the book). This restriction was forced by the limited space between these covers, and I hope to be able to include these thinker-artists in a later edition. For the same reason, you will probably not find every idea that might be of interest to you; the world of ideas is as expansive as the world itself. However, I believe you will discover here an intriguing and useful array of concepts and consequential thinkers. And, yes, you will find dialectical materialism.","brand":"Ballantine Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46302680547557,"sku":"NP9780345437068","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780345437068.jpg?v=1767720931","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/a-world-of-ideas-isbn-9780345437068","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}