Typical questions

• • Where can I find out about utilitarianism?

• • I need recent articles on moral philosophy.

Starting points

• • Large numbers of classic (out-of-copyright) philosophy texts can now be found online. However, check carefully details of the edition and/or translation before use. Local subscription services may contain authoritative versions!

• • This section lists general resources. Explore the links provided by the organisations to trace specialist sites for individual philosophers. Also relevant are the Political Science and Classical Studies chapters.

Recommended resources

Key organisations

The websites of these scholarly societies provide access to careers advice for students, events listings, journal tables of contents and teaching resources. Some full text access is limited to members only.

American Philosophical Association

www.apaonline.org

Professional organisation founded in 1900.

British Philosophical Association

www.bpa.ac.uk

Royal Institute of Philosophy

www.royalinstitutephilosophy.org

Charity renowned for its publications and lectures. Information (and the full text) of some of these can be viewed online. Senate House Library, University of London acts as its library – www.senatehouselibrary.ac.uk/our-collections/ research-collections/philosophy. Search its website for information on collections that are strongest in Western philosophy.

Study guides

Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy [Basic]

www.iep.utm.edu

Open access peer-reviewed articles on theories and individual philosophers.

Philosophy Learning and Teaching Organization (PLATO) [Basic]

www.plato-philosophy.org

Promotes philosophy to pre-college students. Has a useful toolkit of lesson plans and links to basic resources suitable for learners.

Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy Online (Subscription)

www.rep.routledge.com

Over 2,700 articles by experts. Contains succinct introductions to the work of leading philosophers with references to guide further reading. Search by theme, period, region or religion.

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy [Specialist]

plato.stanford.edu

Free access to this well-regarded academic resource that is updated regularly and contains extensive bibliographies to guide further reading.

Journal articles

Philosopher's Index (Subscription) [Specialist]

philinfo.org

Authoritative service indexing journal articles and books covering all aspects of philosophy and related disciplines. Some records date back to 1902.

PhilPapers [Specialist]

philpapers.org

Unmissable free site maintained by an editorial board of philosophers. Search thousands of references to journal articles, books, open access archives and personal websites maintained by academics.

Digital Libraries

See also the main E-books chapter for other free libraries.

InteLex Past Masters (sUBSCRIPTION)

www.nlx.com

Full text classic texts and translations for students of the history of philosophy.