Reference
As with most other subjects, the reference collection is an excellent starting point when looking for information on philosophy or philosophers. Reference materials will often give you sufficient background information so that you may proceed with greater understanding to other sources of information on your subject. They may also include bibliographies to help you find additional sources of information. Listed below are some of the reference materials at RVCC on the subject of philosophy. These items must be used in the library.
- Cambridge History of Philosophy, 1870-1945
Ref B72.C35 2003 - Dictionary of Philosophy and Religion
Ref B41 R43 1980 - Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Ref B41 E5 - Encyclopedia of Ethics
Ref BJ63 .E45 - Encyclopedia of Applied Ethics
Ref BJ63 .E44 1998 - World Philosophy
Ref B29 .W68 1982 - Masterpieces of World Philosophy
Ref B21 M3 1961a - Women Philosphers
Ref B105 .W6 K47 1989
Online Catalog
The Online catalog is used to locate books in the RVCC collection and in other libraries in Somerset County. To locate books in Hunterdon County consult its online catalog.
If you are looking for a book with a specific title, do n Title search.
If you are looking for a book by a specific author, do an Author search.
If you are looking for a book on a subject you may use a philosopher's name as a subject or you may consult the Library of Congress Subject Headings and do an Subject Search. The best work around, if you do not have an accurate subject heading is a Word or Advanced Boolean search. Some typical Library of Congress Subject Headings are:
Philosophy
Philosophers
Philosophers, Ancient
Philosophers, Modern
Plato
Locke, John
Ethics
Knowledge, Theory of
Reality
Truth
Capital punishment -- Moral and ethical aspects
Animal experimentation -- Moral and ethical aspects
Periodical Indexes
Periodical Indexes are used to locate articles in journals, magazines and newspapers. Periodical Indexes come in several formats including online indexes and paper indexes.
- Online Indexes: These are Web accessible periodical indexes to which the library subscribes. They may be accessed from the list of Articles Databases. on the RVCC Library home page.
- The database most useful for philosophy research is the Humanities Index which is part of the WilsonOmnifile.
- Ethical issues are also discussed in Proquest Research Library and in Academic Search Premier.
- JSTOR provides complete full-text of articles from the backfiles of selected arts and science journals.
When accessing these databases from off campus RVCC faculty students and staff will be asked to provide their campus network login. All others may access these databases from within the library.
Paper Indexes: These are located on the Index Tables in the Periodicals area and are most useful for finding citations to older articles.
Humanities Index (1974-) A typical excerpt from the paper Humanities index is shown below:
- Virtue See also Vice, Virtues, Worth
- Acting from virtue. R. Audi, bibl. Mind v104 p449-71 Jl '95
Aristotelian virtue and its limitations. C. Cordner Philosophy v69 p291-316 Jl '94
Socratic knowledge and Socratic virtue. S. Yonezawa. bibl Ancient Philos v115 p349-58 Je '95
Why is virtue naturally pleasing? J.Jacobs Rev.Metaphys v49 p21-48 S '95
Internet Resources
- American Philosophical Association
http://www.udel.edu/apa/ - Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
http://www.utm.edu/research/iep - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
http://plato.stanford.edu/ - Guide to Philosophy on the Internet
http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/philink.htm - Philosophy Sites on the Internet
http://www.tau.ac.il/humanities/philos/links.htm - Applied Ethics Resources on WWW
http://www.ethicsweb.ca/ - Ethics Updates
http://ethics.acusd.edu/index.html
For further information about this guide, please contact Robert Egan
Last Updated - August, 2005