ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 284 / C&RL News ■ A p r il 2000 INTERNET RESOURCES Philosophy Scholarly research abounds by Kelly M. Broughton L ocating scholarly materials on philosophi­ cal topics can be extremely difficult us­ ing a large search engine, such as AltaVi or even a smaller one, such as Yahoo. As with any search, results are dependent on the quality of the search statement, the capa­ bilities of the search engine, and the content of the database. You might as well forget locating infor­ mation on teaching the discipline of philoso­ phy in one of the big engines. For example, if you were to search “philosophy and teach­ ing,” you would retrieve plenty of materials about the philosophy of teaching. How many entries are you willing to look through to find ones about teaching courses in the dis­ cipline? The academic world of philosophy seems to have overcome this problem with numer­ ous quality metasites and a limited-area search engine. Moreover, the development and so­ phistication of these sites continue to evolve. In fact, there are so many directories and metasites that only a few can be mentioned here. This bibliography focuses on the most comprehensive and easiest-to-use directories and metasites for Western philosophy, gives a taste of some of the best sites for scholarly research, and highlights a few unique and interesting sites. Begin by searching or browsing • Hippias: Limited Area Search o f Phi­ lo so p h y o n th e Internet. This site searches sta, across eight metasites, called “associate sites,” which are all peer-reviewed (see the “About Hippias” section of the site for further infor­ mation on this process). These sites include many of those listed below and are all edited and maintained by professional philosophers, some of whom also serve on the site’s edito­ rial board. Hippias’ searching lacks sophisti­ cation. It does allow for truncation and substring searching. However, you cannot search for phrases or use Boolean operators. Imprecise results here are not as problem­ atic as they would be using a large search engine, such as AltaVista. You can be sure H I P P I A S LIM ITED AREA SEARCH OF PHILOSOPHY O N t h e in t e r n e t the vast majority of the 133 links retrieved by searching “question begging” in Hippias will relate closely to the topic of circular argu­ mentation. In contrast, the search in AltaVista “+question +begging” retrieved more than 5,000 hits, and only 5 of the top 10 related to the philosophical argument. Browsing is not available here, but if you want to perform a search, this is the place to start. Access: http:// hippias.evansville.edu/. • Noesis: P h ilosop h ical Research On­ line. This site includes scholarly research (es­ says, primary texts, course resources, reviews, etc.), the indexing of about 20 online phi­ losophy journals, 2 encyclopedias, and 1 die- About the author Kelly M. Broughton is reference coordinator at Bowling Green State University, e-mail: kmoore@bgnet.bgsu.edu hippias.evansville.edu/ mailto:kmoore@bgnet.bgsu.edu C&RL N ew s • A p r il 20 00 / 285 tionary. It is browsable by topic, author, and journal title. It is also searchable. One may specify any o f eight format types, or search filters, included in the database. In most in stances, librarians will want to use this fea ture to deselect the type “published books,” which offers partial bibliographic informa tion and a link to Amazon.com for each book title. Currently, there is no search help avail able. It does appear, at least from this author’s trials, to allow simple Boolean queries and phrase designation with quotation marks. Phi losophy Ph.D.s and A.B.D.s who register with the site may endorse Internet resources to be added to Noesis and may also contribute content. Access: http://noesis.evansville. edu/. • Guide to Philosophy on the Internet. This site, by Peter Suber (Earlham College, general editor o f Hippias and associate edi tor of Noesis), is a comprehensive, browsable guide to philosophy materials on the Internet. The site’s scope and relationship to Hippias and Noesis are readily available in the “About this Guide” section. The table of contents con tains 16 categories, such as mailing lists, guides, or philosophers, which lead to lists o f links on virtually every philosophical topic imaginable. Everything included in this site is also in Hippias by virtue o f the Guide be ing an associate site o f Hippias. Browse through this site to give yourself an idea of the extent o f materials available to philosophy researchers on the Internet. Access: http:// www.earlham.edu/~peters/philinks.htm. To make things even easier for the re searcher in the future, these sites are in the process o f merging. According to Suber, the technology behind Noesis is better suited than Hippias to continue gathering sites for index ing as the Internet expands. Even more im portant and interesting is that once the merger is completed, Noesis will have more search filters available, including one based on phi losophers’ endorsements. Another enhancement for the future will include the capability for philosophers to “carve out a subset o f the content, give it a unique name and URL, and conduct full-text searches on just its contents. [The database] will soon support more than one such sub set per user. Then faculty can make one for each course they teach, one for each research project, one for their own online writings, and so on.”1 Encyclopedias • Stanford Encyclopedia o f Philoso phy. All librarians should investigate this in teresting “dynamic encyclopedia,” whether or not they have any interest in philosophy. The article “Why Philosophy Needs A ‘Dynamic’ Encyclopedia o f Philosophy,” by John Perry and Edward N. Zalta, available at the encyclopedia’s “editorial information” site, explains the need and purpose behind a dy namic encyclopedia. The rationale (includ ing the lag time and costs o f other formats) is not unique to this discipline and many oth ers would be well served by such a publica tion, as would our library’s budgets. Experts author all the essays in the encyclopedia. Editions are archived and available on the Web site. Although the project began in 1995, it is still incomplete; about one-sixth o f the approximately 600 or so planned entries ap pear to be complete. It is searchable and in dexed, although the index can be somewhat confusing, since there is still no encyclope dia entry available for many o f the terms in the index. This project is worth keeping an eye on. If they can successfully complete it, keep it up-to-date, and keep it free, then it may prove precedent setting. Access: http:// plato.stanford.edu/. • The Internet Encyclopedia o f Phi losophy. Unlike the Stanford site, this encyclopedia’s entries come not only from professional philosophers, but also from the public domain and the editor, James Fieser (University o f Tennessee at Martin). He indi cates that he hopes to have all entries authored by professionals. This encyclopedia makes no mention of updates or archives, but does include many topics not yet covered by the Stanford site. Most entries are much more elementary than the Stanford site and are suitable for under graduates or laypeople. For example, the Stanford site has authors working not only on an overview entry on René Descartes, but also four subtopics. Only one o f these as signed entries is completed, “Descartes’ Epistemology.” http://noesis.evansville http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/philinks.htm 2 8 6 / C&RL N ew s • A p ril 2000 This subtopic alone contains nearly 127,000 characters. The Internet En cyclopedia o f Philosophy has one entry on Descartes and it totals just less than 59,000 characters. It also includes specific entries on the categorical imperative, hedonism, solip sism, and many others that can be helpful for lower-level students. Access: http://www.utm. edu/research/iep/. Other interesting research-oriented sites • Noema: The Collaborative Bibliogra phy o f Women in Philosophy. This biblio graphic database contains over 16,000 works by more than 5,000 women authors. The print equivalent o f this title was last published in 1997 as The Collaborative Bibliography of Women in Philosophy, and included 11,000 records.2 It is searchable by author, title, words, year, and subject and includes entries for all types o f publications, including books, articles, chapters, and dissertations. Search help is readily available, although appeared to be incomplete. Some entries also link to the author’s personal or professional Web page, if available, as well as an occasional online abstract. Access: http://billyboy. iu s.in dian a.edu /w om en in ph ilosoph y/ womeninphilo.html. • The International Directory o f On- Line Philosophy Papers. This is a search able directory o f bibliographical information on nearly 500 philosophy research papers available all over the Internet. The site also offers browsing by topic. All the papers are authored by academics and are written in English. Access: http//w w w .hku.hk/ philodep/ directory/. • The Paideia Project On-Line. This is the official site o f the Twentieth World Con gress o f Philosophy, held in Boston in Au gust 1998. You can order the proceedings and keep abreast o f what’s new, but probably the most useful fea ture o f the site is the full text o f nearly 700 o f the papers pre sented at the Congress. Searching and brows ing 45 topics are available. Access: http:// www.bu.edu/wcp/PaidArch.html. • Poiesis: Philosophy Online Serials. This fee-based database, produced by Intelex and the Philosophy Documentation Center (PDC), indexes the full texts o f approximately 30 philosophy journal titles, has 30 more un der contract, and will eventually contain 100 titles, as well as dissertation abstracts. In ad dition to being able to search words in the entire articles using Boolean operators and view key words in context, subscribers can also display the full text o f many o f the titles for which they already subscribe in print. O f the 18 titles currently available to view full text, only 3 o f them are available from other full-text vendors such as JSTOR, Project MUSE, or the Proquest products. Issue currency is a slight problem, with many o f the titles being more than two issues behind the paper. This is not surprising considering the majority o f these publishers are not supplying Intelex and the PDC with electronic texts in the first place, unlike the information that is regularly supplied to Lexis-Nexis or other searchable, full-text databases. Pricing is based on the number o f professional philosophers em ployed at your institution and ranges from $300 to $1,500 a year. Access: http:// www.nlx.com/posp/index.htm. • Books in Philosophy. This database offers philosophy books and other media from more than 130 publishers for sale via the Philosophy Documentation Center (PDC). The advanced searching capabilities o f this database are much more robust than what you’ll find in other Internet bookstores and allows for searching by author, title, format, publisher, publication date, ISBN, keywords and subject category, and even offers sorting capabilities. Brief descriptions are available for many titles. Access: http:// booksinphilosophy.bgsu.edu/default.asp. For fun and learning • Philosophy News Service. This is an extremely interesting site that offers a variety of current information for philosophers. You can locate awards, new books, calls for pa pers, jobs, discussion lists, join a chat group, and even sign up for free e-mail so that your address is @philosophers.net. Perhaps the most interesting feature is the actual news http://www.utm http://billyboy http://www.hku.hk/ http://www.bu.edu/wcp/PaidArch.html http://www.nlx.com/posp/index.htm C&RL N ew s ■ A p r il 2 0 0 0 / 28 7 service. News items relating to philoso phers or philosophy in any manner from all over the Internet are gathered together here. Sources o f stories range from originals written specifically for the “WHiP Archive” (What’s Happening in Philosophy) to stories from the Los Angeles Times and Africa News Online. Three to six stories are added each day, with about two months’ worth o f news available at the hom epage. The “WhiP Archive features regular updates about the most recent and important developments in philosophy.” The “PhilosophEye” section in cludes reprints o f articles from mainstream periodicals that offer “philosophical perspec tives on matters o f public interest.” Access: http://www.philosophynews.com/. • Zeno’s Coffeehouse. This site, by Ron Barnette (Valdosta State University), offers new “challenges” on an ongoing basis. These challenges are problems o f logic, rational choice, and critical thinking, e.g., “Using stan dard hourglass-type measuring devices, what is the quickest way to measure nine minutes with a four-minute glass and a seven-minute glass?” New challenges are posted every so often and you can view all the previous chal lenges and the solutions submitted. Access: http://www.valdosta.edu/~rbarnett/phi/ zeno.html. The rankings • The Philosophical Gourmet. Brian Leiter (University o f Texas at Austin) ranks the graduate philosophy departments across the country, and around the world, primarily based on the quality o f the tenured faculty. Perhaps even more helpful to the aspiring graduate student is the report’s “breakdown o f programs by area o f strength,” where a pro spective student can get an indication o f the strength o f a particular school in terms o f the student’s individual interests. Access: http:// www.blackwellpublishers.co.uk/gourmet/. Note 1. E-mail correspondence from Peter Suber to author on January 27, 2000. 2. Noel Hutchings and William D. Rumsey, eds., The C olla bora tive B ibliography o f Women in Philosophy (Bowling Green, Ohio: Philosophy Documentation Center, 1997). ■ http://www.philosophynews.com/ http://www.valdosta.edu/~rbarnett/phi/ http://www.blackwellpublishers.co.uk/gourmet/ 28 8 / C&RL N ew s • A p ril 2000