Subject Guide -- Philosophy

The Philosophy subject area is wide in scope, including Aesthetics, Ancient Philosophy, History of Philosophy, Logic, Moral Philosophy and Philosophy of Mind, to name a few specific subjects within this discipline. Maag Library provides access to information on Philosophy in a variety of formats to which this subject guide provides basic access. For further assistance, contact the Maag reference desk, chat with a librarian online via the Maag Library home page or contact the above named librarian.

Reference Resources

Reference resources are a good place to start your research as they provide general coverage of a subject area, and often include bibliographical references to expand on your research.

  • World Philosophy: Essay-Reviews of 225 Major Works REF B21.W67
    Five chronologically arranged volumes of reviews of philosophical essays, each accompanied by a list of principal ideas advanced as well as bibliographical references for further research.
  • The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy REF B41.C35 1999
    Includes biographical information on philosophers and defines philosophical terms.
  • The Oxford Companion to Philosophy REF B51.O94 1995
    A survey of worldwide philosophy. Provides alphabetically arranged entries defining terms and concepts within the subject area as well as brief biographical sketches of individuals in the field.
  • Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy REF B51.R68 1998
    A comprehensive encyclopedia of philosophical terms, subjects, people, and ideas. Each entry provides description along with references for further reading.
  • Key Ideas in Human Thought REF B41.K48 1993
    Explanatory essays for the non-specialist on the most important philosophical concepts that have shaped the modern world.
  • Fifty Major Philosophers: a Reference Guide REF B72.C59 1987
    A biographical guide to some key figures in philosophy.
  • Masterpieces of World Philosophy REF B75.M37 1990
    A critical examination of major philosophical works focusing on themes and key points.
  • Great Thinkers of the Western World REF B72.G74 1992
    The articles on the 116 individuals featured in this book are arranged chronologically for an understanding of the evolution of western ideas and thought throughout history. Includes bibliographical references for further research on each individual.
  • Dictionary of American Philosophy REF B851.N3
    A biographical dictionary of contributors to the field of American philosophy.
  • Dictionary of Philosophical quotations REF B21.D54 1992
    Arranged alphabetically by author, this resource offers an extensive list of quotations drawn from published works. Bibliographical references to the written works accompany each quotation.

Finding Books

Books can be found by searching the Maag Library or OhioLINK catalogs. OhioLINK books are available through inter-library loan, and generally arrive within three days.

Academic library collections are organized using Library of Congress Classification which organizes books within similar subject areas in the same general area of the collection.

The following are general Library of Congress classes under which books on Philosophy are found.

  • B General Philosophy
  • BC Logic
  • BD Speculative Philosophy
  • BH Aesthetics
  • BJ Ethics

Searching by subject heading is the most effective way to conduct research. Once you find a relevant resource, click on the attached subject headings in the catalog record to find other resources in the same subject area.

The following is a list of subject headings under which you may find useful resources.

Finding Articles

Students rely heavily on online subscription databases to conduct searches for scholarly articles. Maag Library also maintains some print subscriptions to journals. Should you not find the full text for a specific article online, it may be available through the Maag Library print serial collection or the print serial collection of another OhioLINK library.

The following online databases are key to your Philosophy research however, you should be encouraged to sample any of the numerous online databases available through the Maag Library home page.

Key Databases

  • Philosopher's Index(ERLWebSPIRS/SilverPlatter)

    Indexing and abstracts to books and articles on philosophy, ethics, logic and related disciplines. As this is a citation index, there is no full text available. You must select an article and then find it using Electronic Journal Finder or the Maag Library catalog for print journal titles.

    Philosopher's Index is accessible via campus network only.

  • Electronic Journal Center (EJC)

    The Electronic Journal Center includes the full text of more than 6000 online research journals covering many subject areas.

  • Academic Search Premier

    Academic Search Premier is the world’s largest scholarly, multi-discipline, full text database designed specifically for academic institutions. This resource indexes over 4300 periodicals and contains the full text for over 3400 scholarly publications. This scholarly collection provides full text journal coverage for nearly all academic areas of study.

  • JSTOR (Journal Storage)

    The content of JSTOR spans many disciplines, including Philosophy. It's purpose is to provide wide spread access to an archive of high quality scanned images of articles printed in important scholarly journals. Be advised that this is a retrospective resource, and that there will be a 1-5 year gap between the most recently published issue and the issues available in JSTOR.