To make the second edition of the Guide as convenient to consult as possible, we have adopted throughout certain uniform conventions:

Cross references are indicated by small caps (hypertext links in the online version), but only when the name or phrase exactly matches an entry title (for example, rené descartes is cross-referenced, while " Cartesian " is not).

Parenthetical " see " references within entries and more general " see also " indications at the end of each entry direct readers to related discussions elsewhere in the volume.

A cross reference is provided only at the first appearance in each entry of another entry title.

Translations of non-English texts are by the entry authors unless a parenthetical reference points to a published translation listed in the bibliography.

For non-English titles, we have tried to give both the original and an English translation in the entries and in the bibliographies.

To save space in the references, we call attention to italics only where the author of an entry has introduced them into a quotation; where no indication follows italicized words in a quotation, the italics appear in the original text.

Quotations are referenced in accordance with the system adopted by the Modern Language Association of America.

Abbreviations are the conventional ones or are otherwise self-evident.

The bibliographies that appear immediately after the body of each entry offer selected lists of primary sources (first paragraph) and secondary ones (second paragraph). These bibliographies also include sources for quotations that appear in the entries, unless full references are given within the entry. Lists of entries and of contributors may be found immediately after the last Guide entry. The indexes that follow these lists reference names and topics treated at substantial length within one or more entries (we mean by " substantial " a full paragraph or the equivalent). The indexes list names and topics that are not discussed so often that their inclusion would be meaningless. Names and topics in small caps are themselves full entries. Finally, the indexes direct readers to entries by title.