Philosophy Research Guide

  Encyclopedias and Reference Works |  Find Books |  Find Articles
Web Sites |  Citing Sources |  Help

 

"Plato is dear to me, but dearer still is truth"

Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)

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Encyclopedias and Reference Works

Subject Encyclopedias

These can be helpful for obtaining an overview of a subject and related topics.  An entry in an encyclopedia will often contain a bibliography which can lead you to more sources on that topic.

Here are several we have:

    Macmillan Encyclopedia of Philosophy   8 vols.  Reference B 41 .E5  1967
    Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy   10 vols.  Reference B 51 .R68  1998
    Oxford Companion to Philosophy  Reference B 51 .O94  1995

Subject Dictionaries

    The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy    Reference  B 41 .C35 1999
    The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy   Reference  B 41 .B53  1994
    The Oxford Companion to the Mind   Reference  BF 31 .O94  1987

Handbooks, Manuals and Guides

    Handbook of Metaphysics and Ontology   2 vols.  Reference  BD 111 .H225 1991
    World Philosophy: Essay-Reviews of 225 Major Works  10 vols.  Reference B 29 .W68

 The following are shelved in the General Collection on second floor, and can be checked out:

    The Blackwell Guide to Philosophy of Mind   BD 418.3 .B57  2003
    The Blackwell Guide to Social and Political Philosophy   JA 71 .B52 2002
    The Blackwell Guide to the Philosophy of Science   Q 175 .B56  2002
    The Blackwell Guide to Metaphysics  BD 111 .B57  2002
    The Blackwell Guide to Philosophical Logic  BC 71 .B565  2001

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Find Books

There are several types of searches you can do in the library catalog to locate books. Library catalogs contain subject headings used by the Library of Congress and most library users are not familiar with these official headings.  Therefore it is always best to begin with a keyword search rather that a subject search when first going to the online catalog.   Combine several terms that describe your topic.  Use and to narrow your results, or to broaden your results:

       Plato AND virtue                            stoics OR sceptics
        natural law AND stoicism             (stoic* OR sceptics) and freedom
        philosophy AND presocratic*       
       
       
A few tips on the keyword searches above:

The asterisk * truncates a term and will retrieve all forms of the word that follow the truncation symbol.  For example, presocratic* will retrieve presocratic, presocratics.  Stoic* will retrieve stoic, stoics, stoicism.   The parentheses allows you to search for concepts similar in meaning and then combine these with a different term(s).  Remember to always place your similar terms within parentheses when using AND & OR in one search statement.  Click here for more tips.

Results from your keyword searches will help you identify appropriate subject headings that you can search under.  These can help you get even more relevant books on your specific topic. 
 
If you cannot find a particular title or a sufficient number of books on your topic, be sure to check the MOBIUS online catalog.  When you find a book in MOBIUS, just click on the "request" button and complete the online form.  You will receive an e-mail notice once the book is here, which usually takes 2-3 business days.

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Find Articles

Databases in this section are restricted to use on the Truman network unless otherwise indicated.

*  denotes peer-reviewed journal

B-BJ	Philosophy
	B1 A214	Journal of the history of philosophy*
	B1 A3	Vivarium*
	B1 A65	American philosophical quarterly*
	B1 J59	Journal of applied philosophy*
	B1 J62	The journal of philosophy*
	B1 J75	Journal of the history of ideas*
	B1 M65	Mind*
	B1 M675	The Modern schoolman*
	B1 M7	The Monist*
	B1 N62	Noûs*
	B1 P5	The Philosophical review*
	B1 P57	Philosophy and phenomenological research*
	B1 P572	Philosophy & rhetoric*
	B1 P573	Philosophy East & West*
	B1 P576	Philosophy today*
	B1 P59	Phronesis*
	B1 P76	Proteus*
	B1 R34	The Review of metaphysics*
	B130 J67	Journal of Indian philosophy*
	B132.Y6 Y64	Yoga journal
	B821 A1 H8	The Humanist
	B840 E85	Etc
	B841.A1	Spiritus
	BC1 J6	The Journal of symbolic logic*

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Web Links A-Z

D. Anthony Storm's Commentary of Kierkegaard--"Storm's commentary on Kierkegaard is an exceptional piece of combined scholarship and Web design. . .Storm's commentary is idiosyncratic at times--the mark of the amateur working in isolation--but meticulous in showing the context and interconnectedness of Kierkegaard's life and thought. . .Storm's site is a work in progress, but very close to being a complete, finished product of high scholarly merit.  Highly recommended."  CHOICE, Feb. '05
A Dictionary of Philosophical Terms and Names--Over 1,000 entries, cover "terms and names undergraduates are like to encounter when studying philosophy. . .many biographical entries include portraits.  Most entries include suggested readings and generous cross-references and link to other online sources such as Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.  Updated several times a year.  Highly recommended."  CHOICE, May, 2003.
The Husserl Page--According to CHOICE Reviews (January, 2006), this page is "expertly constructed and carefully maintained by Bob Sandmeyer, University of Kentucky."  The site provides "exhaustive coverage of the available and relevant online materials about 20th-century German phenomenologist, Edmund Husserl."  Users will be taken to biographical information and published and unpublished material, "including an index to his Nachlass materials, and to many online texts of Husserl's writings (in English and German)"   CHOICE, Jan. '06
pSearch --"pSearch is a customized search engine dedicated to philosophy-related web pages.  It is powered by Google Co-op and maintained by Joe Lau at the University of Hong Kong.  pSearch provides search results more relevant to academic philosophers by searching only those web sites with online academic philosophy papers and authoritative reference sites." From the pSearch home page.
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy 
The Isaiah Berlin Virtual Library--Hosted by Wolfson College, Oxford and maintained by Henry Hardy, Berlin's editor and one of his "literary trustees. . .Highly recommended."  CHOICE, Nov. '05
Philosophy in Cyberspace--Meta site with great topics links and useful information.
Philosophy Research Base--Meta-index of Internet philosophy resources that links to large philsophy sites and to specific subjects in those sites.  Sites are indexed by individual philosophers, subjects and historical periods.   Variety of virtual resources for beginning, intermediate and advanced students.
PHILWEB: Theoretical Resources Off- and On-Line--"With sections devoted to 15 branches of philosophy, 21 philosophical methodologies, 4 historical eras, 22 regions, and hundreds of philosophers and other theorists, PHILWEB is a massive pathfinder to print and electronic information in philosophy. . .There is overlap between PHILWEB  and the venerable philosophy Web portal EpistemeLinks, but each includes enough material lacking in the other so as to make the two sites complementary rather than redundant.  Highly recommended." Reviewed by C.S. Seymour, Wayland Baptist University, for CHOICE, July/August 2006.
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy -- A "dynamic encyclopedia," allowing entries to be updated as research dictates.  This is a "work in progress"  with Stanford University Department of Philosophy serving as advisory board.

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Citing Sources
 

There are several style manuals available in the library:

Chicago/Turabian Style

A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses and Dissertations 
    General Collection LB 2369 .T8 1996
    Reference  LB 2369 .T8 1996

APA Style

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association
    General Collection   BF 76.7 .P83 2001
    Reserve  BF 76.7 .P83 2001
    Reference  BF 76.7 .P83 2001

MLA Style

         MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers
                General Collection  LB 2396 .G53 2003
                Reserve  LB 2369 .G53
                Reference  LB 2369 .G53 2003

For additional style guides and information on citing Web sites and other electronic sources, click here.

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For further assistance, visit or call the Reference Desk (660) 785-4051 or contact the Reference Librarian for Philosophy:

Lisa M. Glaubitz, Reference Librarian
(660) 785-7412
glaubitz@truman.edu

lmg
 

Last Modified 16 June 2008