Subject Specific Database

Philosopher's Index

"The Philosopher's Index provides indexing and abstracts from books and journals of philosophy and related fields. It covers the areas of ethics, aesthetics, social philosophy, political philosophy, epistemology, metaphysics, and logic as well as material on the philosophy of law, religion, science, history, education, and language." NOTE: Due to database browser requirements, you must use Internet Explorer 5.0 and above or Netscape 6.2 and above.

SEARCH TIP: In this database, it is a good idea to type a hyphen after a subject or author in order to focus your search results. For example, if you type in the word "Frege" in the search box you will get about 1,628 results; however, if you type "Frege-" in the search box you will get around 622 results. This is because the people who create the database entries have determined that the articles under "Frege-" address Frege in a substantial way.

General or Related Databases

Academic Search Elite

You access this database through EBSCOhost. It is a good inter-disciplinary database and has a large number of full-text articles.

SEARCH TIP: Advanced Search is the search that philosophy researchers should use. The Advanced Search offers more ways to focus your search, such as limiting to peer reviewed journals or books as well as limiting to certain dates and more. Be sure to click on the Field Codes link in order to receive the most relevant results; for example, if you wanted to find articles in philsophical journals about the environment, you would type "SU philosophy and environment*." The "SU" lets the database know that you want to search philosophy as a subject and "environment*" as a keyword.

Arts and Humanities Citation Index

This database indexes articles from 101 top philosophy journals as well as over 1,000 other journals that cover the humanities. There is no full text option, so you will have to check UM's catalog to see whether we subscribe to the journal that contains the article in which you are interested.

SEARCH TIP: You must type the author's name exactly like: "Marx K*" if you want to get results. In the first search box type "philosophy" and then select "Subject" from the drop-down menu. You can then type your keywords, author, etc. in the other search boxes. This method ensures that you are only searching the philosophy journals.

International Index to Black Periodicals

"IIBP Full Text includes current and retrospective bibliographic citations and abstracts from over 150 scholarly and popular journals, newspapers and newsletters from the United States, Africa and the Caribbean--and full-text coverage of 40 core Black Studies periodicals (1998 forward)."

SEARCH TIP: For the best search results when looking for philosophy articles, type the two words "EXACT 'Philosophy'" in the Subject Terms search box. You can search on just this subject and narrow your results from there. Remember that while some articles in this database are full text, many others are not.

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Electronic Journals

Electronic journal issues are available through the online catalog. Simply do a journal title or keyword search for the journal you wish to find and then click on the links provided. You can also click on the "Electronic Journals" link from the library's home page, type "philosophy" in the search box, and then select "subject" from the drop-down menu. This will display all the e-journals that the library files under philosophy.

Sometimes there may be a gap between two electronic formats that the paper version will bridge. For an example, see the record for the journal Mind. JSTOR covers through 1994, Oxford Journals Online begins with 1996, but the library has the paper version for 1994/95.

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Print Materials

General Bibliographies

Philosophical Books

[Main Library] Z 7127 .P48 catalog record

Detailed and high-level book reviews by experts in their specific fields. These reviews are much more extensive and critical than the annotations in the other bibliographies listed here. The formats for this resource are print from 1990 - present and online from 1997 - present.

Bibliographie de la philosophie / Bibliography of Philosophy

[Main Library] Z 7127 .B5 catalog record

This serial ran from 1954 - 1990. The signed annotations are pithy, substantive, and tend to be descriptive rather than critical. Annotation languages are French, German, English, and Italian and are not translated.

A Bibliography of Philosophical Bibliographies

[Main Library] Z 7125 .A1 G83 catalog record

References span the years 1450 - 1974. Some of the entries are briefly annotated. The book is divided into two parts: one on philosophers and another on philosophical topics. Subjects in both parts are cross-indexed and there is an alphabetical index in the back.

The History of Ideas: A Bibliographical Introduction

[Main Library] Z 7125 .T58 catalog record

Includes references to books on science, literature, technology, and religion in addition to philosophy in medieval and early modern Europe. This approach provides an excellent way to observe how these diciplines influenced and informed each other during this time period.

The Philosopher's Guide to Sources, Research Tools, Professional Life, and Related Fields

[Main Library] Z 7125 .D445 catalog record

Although the serials section of this book from 1980 is probably out-of-date, the resources on specific branches and figures in philosophy are still of use. It also contains resouces for the related fields of religion, other humanities disciplines, and mathematics.

A Bibliographical Survey for a Foundation in Philosophy

[Main Library] Z 7125 .J6 catalog record

Covers both Asian and western philosophy resources to 1978. In addition to the author, the annotations are from publications such as Choice, Books for College Libraries, and Readers' Advisor.

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General Dictionaries and Encyclopedias

The Encyclopedia of Philosophy

[Main Library] B 41 .E5; 8 vol. plus supplement and cumulative index catalog record

This encyclopedia, first published in 1966 and supplemented in 1996, was the first comprehensive reference work on philosophy of the last century. Each entry is signed and has a brief bibliography. Considered the standard philosophical reference work.

Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy

[Reference] B 51 .R68 1998; 9 vol. plus index catalog record

Published in 1998, the Routledge encyclopedia is the successor to the EP above. Its more recent date ensures coverage of topics not addressed in the earlier encyclopedia, such as feminism, African philosophy, ethics and applied ethics, and political philosophy. Excellent cross-references and suggestions for further reading. All entries are signed.

The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy

[Main Library] B 41 .C35 1999 catalog record

Edited by Robert Audi. A team of contributers wrote the entries.

The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy

[Main Library] B 41 .B53 1994 catalog record

Simon Blackburn wrote all the entries in this dictionary. There are helpful asterisks in the entries by all the terms that are defined in the dictionary.

Dictionary of Philosophy and Religion : Eastern and Western Thought

[Reference] B 41 .R43 1996 catalog record

Defines key concepts and people in the disciplines of philosophy and religion. By William Reese.

The Oxford Companion to Philosophy

[Reference] B 51 .O94 1995  catalog record

Similar to the Audi dictionary of philosophy, with signed entries serving as good brief introductions to figures, movements, and ideas in philosophy. It has an Anglo-American focus.

A Dictionary of Philosophical Quotations

[Reference] B 21 .D54 1992  catalog record

Begun by A.J. Ayer and finished by Jane O'Grady, this reference book attempts to convey "a sense of philosophy as a shared and cumulative dispute." Includes both analytic and Continental philosophers.

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Directories

Directory of American Philosophers

[Reference] B 935 .D5  catalog record

International Directory of Philosophy and Philosophers

[Main Library] B 35 .I55 catalog record

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Specialized Reference Sources

Companion Encyclopedia of Asian Philosophy

[Reference] B 121 .C66 1997  catalog record

The Encyclopedia of Eastern Philosophy and Religion : Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Zen

[Main Library] BL 1005 .L4813 1994  catalog record

Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies : Advaita Vedanta up to Samkara and his pupils

[Main Library] B 132.A3 E52  catalog record

Guide to Chinese Philosophy

[Main Library] Z 7129.C5 F8  catalog record

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Encyclopedia of Classical Philosophy

[Reference] B 163 .E53 1997  catalog record

Greek Philosophical Terms: A Historical Lexicon

[Reference] B 49 .P4  catalog record

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Encyclopedia of Empiricism

[Main Library] B 816 .E53 1997  catalog record

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A Companion to Epistemology

[Main Library] BD 161 .C637 1992  catalog record

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A Companion to Ethics

[Main Library] BJ 1012 .C62 1991 catalog record

Encyclopedia of Ethics

[Reference] BJ 63 .E45 2001  catalog record

Bibliography of Bioethics

[Main Library] Z 6675 .E8 W34  catalog record

Encyclopedia of Bioethics

[Reference] Z 6675 .E8 W34  catalog record

The Blackwell Encyclopedic Dictionary of Business Ethics

[Reference] HF 5387 .B55 1997  catalog record

Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics

[Reference] BL 31 .E4  catalog record

The Westminster Dictionary of Christian Ethics

[Reference] BJ1 199 .W47 1986  catalog record

Encyclopedia of Values and Ethics

[Main Library] BJ 63 .H47 1996  catalog record

The Ethics CD: a collection of Federal executive branch ethics laws, executive orders, regulations, advisory opinions, and program administration aids

[Federal Documents] Y 3.ET 3:16/YEAR  catalog record

CD-ROM

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A Companion to Feminist Philosophy

[Main Library] HQ 1190 .C665 1998  catalog record

The Dictionary of Feminist Theory

[Main Library] HQ 1115 .H86 1995  catalog record

Women Philosophers : A Bio-Critical Source Book

[Main Library] B 105 .W6 K47 1989 catalog record

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The Cambridge History of Seventeenth-Century Philosophy

[Main Library] B 801 .C35 1998  catalog record

A Catalogue of Renaissance Philosophers (1350-1650)

[Main Library] Z 7125 .C3 1982 catalog record

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Medieval Philosophers (part of Dictionary of Literary Biography series)

[Reference] PS 221 .D5 v.115  catalog record

A Dictionary of Scholastic Philosophy

[Reference] B 50.S35 W8 1966  catalog record

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A Companion to Contemporary Political Philosophy

[Main Library] JA 71 .C565 1993  catalog record

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A Companion to the Philosophy of Language

[Main Library] P 106 .C5945 1997  catalog record

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Free Internet Resources

Guide to Philosophy on the Internet

[WWW] www.earlham.edu/~peters/philinks.htm

Peter Suber, from Earlham College in Indiana, provides an exhaustive guide with topics that include links to associations, online bibliographies, web sites devoted to every branch of philosophy, guides to teaching and writing philosophy, e-texts on philosophical subjects, and much more. You can also search Hippias and Noesis from this site.

Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

[WWW]www.utm.edu/research/iep/

Philosophy professors from many different locations edit and maintain this online encyclopedia. The entries are signed and they are written by philosophy PhD students or professors. This resource is a great way to become familiar with a new philosophical topic.

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

[WWW]http://plato.stanford.edu/contents.html

Stanford invites the top people in each field of philosophy to write entries for this encyclopedia. The search engine is a bit strange so it is best to simply browse topics in the alphabetical list.

Philosophy Research Base

[WWW]www.erraticimpact.com/

Analytical, continental, and critical theory branches of philosophy are all covered in considerable depth in this meta-index by Danne Polk (Villanova University). To access the print and online resources for the topic that interests you, click on "Major Topics" under the heading "Webs."