Philosophy Research Guide

(Access to most of the electronic resources among the items listed below is limited to Emory University faculty, students, and staff. See Information on Accessing Databases)

Bibliographie de la Philosophie (1937-1953)
General Reference Z7125 I5
Covers books and journals in Western European languages. Includes an alphabetical author listing, subject index, an index of philosophers and an index of concepts and terms. Continued by the Bibliographie de la Philosophie/Bibliography of Philosophy (see below).

Bibliographie de la Philosophie/Bibliography of Philosophy (1954- )
General Reference Z7125 I54
Theology Reference Mezzanine Z7127 IN8.2
Continuation of the Bibliographie de la Philosophie (see above) but covers books only. Includes signed abstracts.

Bibliography of Philosophical Bibliographies (1977)
General Reference Z7125 A1 G83
International coverage of bibliographies from 1450 to 1974. Divided into two sections: "Bibliographies of Individual Philosophers" and "Subject Bibliographies."

International Philosophical Bibliography/Repertoire Bibliographique de la Philosophie (1949- )
General Reference Z7127 R42
Focus is on books and journals in Western European languages. One issue per year is devoted to book reviews.

Philosopher's Index (1967- )
Print version also available in the stacks at Z7128 P5
The preeminent indexing and abstracting tool for philosophy. Indexes all major philosophy journals in English, French, German, Spanish and Italian as well as selected journals in other languages and related disciplines. Since 1980, also includes coverage of books in English.

Biographical Dictionary of Twentieth-century Philosophers (1996)
General Reference B804 B52 1996
International in scope. Includes bibliographies of major publications and secondary literature and indexes by name, subject, nationality, fields of interest, and influences. Also includes a section devoted to the brief overview and basic bibliography of major schools and movements, primarily of the western world.

British philosophers, 1500-1799 (2002)
General Reference B1111 .B75 2002
Leading scholars write career biographies and selected bibliographies for 33 philosophers, from Mary Atell to Mary Wollstonecraft. Includes illustrations and photographs.

British philosophers, 1800-2000 (2002)
General Reference B72 .B693 2002
Leading scholars write career biographies and selected bibliographies for 32 philosophers, from G.E.M. Anscombe to Ludwig Wittgenstein. Includes illustrations and photographs.

Update of Thirty-five Oriental Philosophers. An introduction to the most prominent figures in Eastern thought, from Confucius and Zoroaster to Fung Youlan and the present Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso. Features introductions discussing the major Eastern philosophical traditions, and a glossary of key terms.

Fifty Key Contemporary Thinkers: from structuralism to postmodernity (Lechte, 1994)
General B804 .L37 1994
Lechte surveys the major thinkers of the post-war era, including Chomsky, Foucault, Irigaray, Derrida, Bataille, Baudrillard, Adorno and Habermas.

Fifty Major Philosophers: A Reference Guide
General B72 C59 1987
Coverage extends from philosophers of the ancient world to the 20th century, but excludes living philosophers. In addition to biographical information, entries contain lists of the philosopher's major writings and a selected bibliography. Also includes a glossary of basic philosophical concepts.

Medieval Philosophers (1992)
General Reference B721 M45 1992
Essay-length treatments by leading scholars of 41 philosophers representative of Christian, Islamic, and Jewish thought from the period 345 - 1464. Includes lists of works and editions in the original language as well as English and lists of references to secondary literature.

Thinkers of the twentieth century: a biographical, bibliographical and critical dictionary (Devine et al, 1983)
General B804 .T456 1983
The entry for each thinker consists of a biography, bibliography, a listing of critical studies on the entrant, and a signed critical essay.

Women Philosophers: A Bio-critical Source Book (1989)
General Reference B105 W6 K47 1989
Covers 150 women philosophers from ancient times to about 1920. Includes bibliographies of works by the philosophers and references to secondary literature. Also includes an introductory survey on the history of women in philosophy.

A Companion to the philosophers (Arrington, 1999)
General B72 .C595 1999
African philosophers -- Chinese philosophers -- European and American philosophers -- Indian philosophers -- Japanese philosophers -- Islamic and Jewish philosophers

Exploring Phenomenology: A Guide to the field and its literature (Stewart 1990) General Reference B829 .S67 1990
A good introduction to phenomenology and existential phenomenology. With extensive lists of suggested reading for further study.

Great Thinkers of the Eastern world: The Major Thinkers and the Philosophical and Religious Classics of China, India, Japan, Korea, and the World of Islam (1995)
General B5005 G74 1995
In signed articles by noted scholars, summarizes key ideas of major Eastern philosophical and religious thinkers. Includes selected annotated bibliographies.

Great Thinkers of the Western World: The Major Ideas and Classic Works of More Than 100 Outstanding Western Philosophers, Physical and Social Scientists, Psychologists, Religious Writers, and Theologians (1992)
General B72 G74 1992
In signed articles by noted scholars, summarizes key ideas of major Western philsophical thinkers. Includes selected annotated bibliographies.

Key Ideas in Human Thought (1993)
General Reference B41 K48 1993
Alphabetically arranged entries on important "ideas" of intellectual inquiry. Philosophy is a significant component, but entries range widely through fields such as religion, the arts, economics, and anthropology. Numerous cross-references emphasize important connections between fields of thought.

Oxford Companion to Philosophy (1995)
General B51 O94 1995
Covers Western and non-Western traditions. Includes brief bibliographies (with many articles) and portraits of major philosophers. Contributors include many leading contemporary scholars in philosophy.

Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy (1995)
General Reference B41 C35 1995
Provides broad coverage in entries by noted scholars, but excludes living philosophers.

Dictionary of concepts in the philosophy of science (Durbin, 1988)
General Q174.7 .D87
Brief but substantive discussions of the etymological development and contemporary use of significant concepts in the philosophy of science.

Dictionary of Philosophy (Lacey, 1996)
General Reference B41 L32 1996
Covers only Western philosophic traditions. Noteable for its bibliographies.

Dictionary of Philosophy (Mautner, 1996)
General Reference B41 M38 1996
Primarily covers Western philosophic traditions. More dictionary-like in its approach compared with other sources listed here, one unique feature of this work is the inclusion of guidance on pronunciation of non-English and less familiar terms and names.

Dictionary of Philosophy and Religion: Eastern and Western Thought (Reese, 1980)
General Reference B41 .R43 1996
Includes cross references, brief bibliographies, and biographical entries.

Dictionary of world philosophy (Iannone, 2001)
General Reference B41 .I26
Covers terminology, concepts, schools and traditions of the vast field of world philosophy. Entries come from West African, Arabic, Chinese, Indian, Japanese, Jewish, Korean, Latin American, Maori and Native American philosophy, including the field of Pre-Hispanic thought: Nahua philosophy.

The New Fontana Dictionary of Modern Thought (Bullock, 2nd ed., 1999)
General Reference AG5 .N76 1999
Contains over 4000 entries by 326 expert contributors. Nearly 1000 entries are entirely new; and most of those that survive from the previous (1988) edition have been substantially revised or newly written for this edition. New entries on God, perestroika, afrocentricity, ebonics, third wave feminism, hypertext, virtual reality, culture jamming, cloning, post-colonialism, fuzzy logic, artificial life.

Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy (1994)
General Reference B41 B53 1994
Available online through Netlibrary
Covers Western and non-Western traditions. Noteable for its coverage of women philosophers.

Philosophisches Woerterbuch (Brugger, 1976)
General Reference B43 .B69 1976
Contains signed articles on philosophical, theological, and related terms, concepts, and movements, particularly emphasizing Christian concerns. Includes an outline of the history of philosophy from ancient times to the present day.

Philosophical dictionary (Baker, 1972)
General Reference B43 .B713 1972
A translation of Brugger's Philosophisches Woerterbuch (see above) for American readers. Some articles from the original have been omitted and others in areas of interest to Anglo-American philosophers added. The bibliographies and outline of the history of philosophy included in the original have also been omitted. Here too the emphasis in on Christian, and particularly Catholic, thought.

The Routledge critical dictionary of postmodern thought (Sim 1999)
General B831.2 R68 1999
Combines a series of 14 in-depth background chapters with a body of A-Z entries. Following full-length articles on Postmodernism and philosophy, politics, feminism, lifesyles, television, and other postmodern essentials, readers will find a wide range of alphabetically-organized entries on the people, terms and theories connected with postmodernism.

Foreign Language Dictionaries

A Concise dictionary of Indian philosophy: Sanskrit terms defined in English (Grimes, 1989)
General B131 .G76

An "introduction to the basic terms found in the major schools of Indian philosophy." (Preface) Headwords, printed in Sanskrit and in transliteration, are listed in alphabetical order with literal translations and, when necessary, furhter explanations of usage in various philosophical systems or schools. Includes transliteration and pronunciation guides, and anindex of major terms.

German dictionary of philosophical terms = Wörterbuch philosophischer Fachbegriffe englisch (Waibl, 1997)
General Reference B43 .W35 1887 volumes 1 and 2

Greek Philosophical Terms: A Historical Lexikon (Peters, 1967)
General Reference B49 P4
"Not . . . the usual chronological and historical approach . . ., but rather from the direction of the problematic as revealed by a consecutive treatment of some of the basic concepts." (Preface). Intended for the intermediate student of Greek philosophy rather than for the beginner or the advanced scholar. Cross-references are used throughout, as are textual citations to the philosophers. English-Greek index.

Historisches Wörterbuch der Philosophie (Ritter, 1971-)
General Reference B43 .R59
This lexicon has been called the most comprehensive philosophical dictionary in any language. Includes terms from branches of the sciences relevant to philosophy, cybernetics, psychology, mathematics, etc. Includes bibliographies.

Lexicon philosphicum terminorum philosphis usitatorum (Micraelius, Reprint of 1662 ed, 1966)
General B48 .L3 M5
Contains Latin definitions of Latin philosophical terms as used by philosophers in the late Middle Ages, but unfortunately does not provide examples of usage. Has a systematic index and an index of Greek terms included in the definitions.

Vocabulaire technique et critique de la philosophie (Lalande, 16th ed, 1960)
General B42 .L3
Contains definitions of terms, with examples of use of philosophers and bibliographic notes, etymologies and equivalents in German, English, and Italian. The best French dictionary of philosophy.

Top of Section

Directory of American Philosophers
General Reference B935 D5 V.19 1998/1999

International Directory of Philosophy and Philosophers
General Reference B35 I58 1999/2000

Dissertation Abstracts

1861 to present
Contains references to doctoral dissertations completed at over 800 North American colleges and universities since 1861. Dissertations from over 300 foreign universities are also listed in the database. Summaries are provided for dissertations completed since 1980.

Dissertations in Philosophy Accepted at American Universities, 1861-1975
General Reference Z7125 B38
Lists 7,503 dissertations from 120 universities. Supplements Dissertations Abstracts (see above), especially for dissertations completed prior to 1912.

Concise Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2000)
General B51 .C58 2000
Brings together over 2000 thematic and biographical from the original work in a shortened, accessible format. Extensively cross-referenced and indexed. Ttreatments of philosophies from all over the world, including India, Africa and Latin America, as well as Chinese, Arabic and Jewish philosophy. Medieval philosophy, philosophy of science, gender, postmodernism, and other key concepts are covered.

Edinburgh Encyclopedia of Continental Philosophy (1999)
General Reference B803 .E45 1999
Covers key authors and movements, from Kant, Hegel and Sartre, to Derrida and Baudrillard. Its scope is broad, ranging from Classical Idealism through Existentialism, Phenomenology, and Psychoanalysis, to Structuralism and Post-Structuralism. Organized into chronological and thematic areas.

Encyclopedia of Applied Ethics (Chadwick, 1998)
General Reference BJ63 .E44 1998 volumes 1-4

Encyclopedia of Asian Philosophy (Leaman, 2001)
General Reference B121 .E53 2001
Incorporating cultural and religious contexts, provides a guide to the main concepts and thinkers in Asian philosophy - from Abhidharma through to Zurvan. The main philosophical trends and thinkers in each geographical area are featured, with an emphasis on contemporary developments and movements.

Encyclopedia of Classical Philosophy ( Zeyl, 1997)
General Reference B163 .E53 1996
Includes subjects and figures from the dawn of philosophy in Ionia in the 6th century BC to the demise of the Academy in Athens in the 6th century AD. While the majority of the articles are devoted to individual figures, many of the articles are thematic surveys of broad areas such as epistemology, ethics, and political thought.

Encyclopedia of Ethics (1992)
General BJ63 E45 1992 (copies are in Reference and Stacks)
Covers chiefly Western philosophical thought. All articles include bibliographies.

Encyclopedia of Feminist Theories (Code, 2000)
General Reference HQ1190 .E63 2000
Multidisciplinary essays in the field of feminist thought. Contains over 500 entries commissioned from an international team of contributors. Each entry contains cross references and a bibliographic guide to further reading; over 50 biographical entries as well.

Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies: Bibliography (Potter, rev. ed. 1995)
General B131 .E5 1995 V.1A, B
The Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies is an ongoing project to assemble and summarize all that is currently known about the various systems (darsana) of Indian philosophy. The entire series is planned to consist of some 25 volumes, 23 of which deal with particular philosophical systems, together with an introductory Bibliography and a concluding Glossary/Index. (This Bibliography is kept up to date and available online and is available on the web at http://faculty.washington.edu/kpotter/)

Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Edwards, 1967)
General Reference B41 E5
Aims at comprehensive coverage of the field.

General Reference B831.2 .E63 2001
Alphabetically-listed, cross-referenced entries covering academic disciplines, critical terms and central figures relating to the vast field of postmodern studies.

Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics (Hastings, 1927)
General BL 31 .E4 volumes 1-12
A somewhat dated encyclopedia of theology and philosophy, covering all religions and all great philosophical systems of the world. Articles are by specialists and deal with persons, ideas, concepts, customs, etc. Includes bibliographies. Volume 13 contains a general subject index, as well as separate indexes to foreign words, scripture passages, and authors of articles.

Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Sources for articles include adaptations from public domain sources, adaptations of material written by the editors for classroom purposes, and original contributions by professional philosophers. Also includes a selection of classic philosophical texts contained in HTML, text, and RTF formats.

Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy (1998)
Reference B51 R68 1998
Electronic Access: on order
Aims at comprehensiveness with an emphasis on interdisciplinary approaches to the philosophy of many cultures. Online version can be browsed by philosophical themes, philosophies, historical periods, and religions. Full text entries can be searched by keyword, title, contributor, or bibliography.

Women philosophers: a bibliography of books through 1990 (Barth, 1992)
General B72 .B34 1992
Brings together women's works, ideas, and theories from all branches of philosophy and compiles them into a comprehensive bibliography. More than 2,800 monographs, series, and volumes written or edited by women are listed. An author index is also included.

World philosophers and their works (Roth, 2000)
General B104 .W67 2000 volumes 1-3
Biographical essays and overviews of representative works relating to 226 philosophers.

World Philosophy : Essay-Reviews of 225 Major Works (1982)
General Reference B29 W68 1982
Volume 1: Sixth century B.C.-third century B.C.; Vol. 2: Third century B.C.-A.D. 1713; Vol. 3: 1726-1896; Vol. 4: 1896-1932; Vol. 5: 1932-1971.

Guidebook for Publishing Philosophy (1997)
General PN160 G85 1997
Includes discussions on presenting papers, electronic publishing, and avoiding rejection by journals as well as directories of publishers and philosophy journals.

The Philosopher's Guide to Sources, Research Tools, Professional Life and Related Fields (De George, 1980)
General Reference Z 7125 D445
Successor to De George's earlier volume: Guide to Philosophical Bibliography and Research. This is a complete reworking of the previous edition, with many added entries and a systematic arrangement by subject. English language materials predominate. Annotations are generally descriptive, with some evaluative comments. Includes sections on materials covering philosophical applications in education, law, and medicine.

Library Research Guide to Philosophy (1990)
B52 L57 1990
Intended primarily for the undergraduate student engaging in research, this source guides the user through the typical steps in the research process from compiling a bibliography to advice on writing.

Philosophy: A Guide to the Reference Literature (1997)
Reference Z7125 B97 1997
Extensively annotated listing of sources important to the field.

Philosophy in Cyberspace: A Guide to Philosophy-Related Resources on the Internet
Reference B35 P54 1996
Updates are available at http://www-personal.monash.edu.au/~dey/phil/
Includes information on mailing lists and newsgroups, philosophy home pages, listings of college and university philosopher departments and programs, and a section on journals.

Repertoire bibliographique de la philosophie. v. 1, 1949-
General Reference Z7127 R47
Published quarterly under the auspices of the International Institute of Philosophy and with the patronage of UNESCO; the first 3 numbers of each volume cite books and articles, while the 4th issue lists book reviews and contains an author index for the volume. Over 400 journals are indexed. Continues "Repertoire bibliographique" which appeared quarterly as a supplement to the Revue philosophique de Louvain, 1934-1948.

Dictionary of Philosophical Quotations (1992)
B21 .D54 1992
Noteable quotations from 340 Western philosophers throughout history.