Resources for Philosophy

 
↓ ↓ ↓ Skip to Useful Links on this subject ↓ ↓ ↓

What is Philosophy?

Most people find it hard to understand exactly what philosophy is. A quick glimpse at the history of philosophy will reveal that philosophical questions, and philosophy in general, have been dismissed for being vague and irrelevant. In simple terms, philosophy is the study of truth, ethics, the nature of existence, and knowledge. It involves trying to find answers to some of the most fundamental questions about who we are. Philosophy intently examines philosophical

thoughts and ideas throughout history up to the present day.

To say that philosophy enhances our ability to think logically is an understatement. Studying philosophy augments one’s ability to reason and form sound arguments as well as write persuasively. Philosophy challenges one’s understanding of common concepts such as human nature and the existence of God.

Philosophy is also extremely diverse.

Why study Philosophy

There exist two main reasons why people study philosophy. The first one is pure curiosity. This is a common reason ranging across all types of philosophy students, from masters degree students to first-year undergraduates and even to philosophy majors.

The second reason is that philosophy equips one with an impressive set of highly transferable skills. This has been attributed to the fact that philosophy is quite diverse, and ends up touching on numerous other subjects. Philosophy equips students with a wide range of skills that are essential in several other disciplines and projects. For instance, students in Law school may at some point have to take a philosophy course to enhance their ability to form persuasive arguments.

You may want to visit the Department of Philosophy at your university of choice to learn more about the learning outcomes you can expect should you decide to take a degree in Philosophy.

What you can do with a degree in Philosophy

The real question here is “what can’t you do with a degree in philosophy?”. As indicated earlier, Philosophy graduates are equipped with a wide range of transferable skills that are highly valuable to most employers. Skills acquired on a philosophy degree, such as effective reasoning, analytical thinking, and innovative questioning provide graduates with a strong foundation for entering the workforce. Additionally, these skills are extremely beneficial especially in careers that require problem-solving and analyzing information.

Attractive career options for Philosophy graduates include:

Lecturing

Public Relations

Politics

Human Resource

Communications

Advertising

Publishing

Law

Business

If you wish to pursue a course in philosophy, you should expect lots of essays and numerous debates on different philosophical theories by great philosophers.

In addition to this, remember that you will be earning numerous skills that will be of use not only in your career but also in your personal endeavors.

Check our useful sources for Philosophy subject:

• • Gateways
    Academic Info: Philosophy

    http://www.academicinfo.net/phil.html

    British Academy Portal: Philosophy

    http://www.britac.ac.uk/portal/bysection.asp?section=H12

    EpistemeLinks.com

    http://www.epistemelinks.com/index.aspx

    Philosophy resources on the Internet

    Intute: Philosophy

    http://www.intute.ac.uk/philosophy/

    web resources for philosophy, and online tutorial Internet for Philosophy

    Philosophical Society

    http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/cite/staff/philosopher/philsocindex.htm

    your online guide to the best of the web

    Philosophy around the Web

    http://users.ox.ac.uk/~worc0337/phil_index.html

    a guide and a gateway to philosophy resources on the Internet, maintained by Dr Peter King, visiting lecturer at the University of North London, PT lecturer at Reading, and lecturer at the Oxford University Department of continuing Education

    Voice of the Shuttle: Philosophy Page

    http://vos.ucsb.edu/browse.asp?id=2724
• • Discussion groups
    JISCmail

    http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/index.htm

    national academic mailing list service facilitating discussion, collaboration and communication within the UK academic community and beyond

    The Philosop list

    http://www.louisiana.edu/Academic/LiberalArts/PHIL/philosop.html

    the largest internet e-mail list of professional philosophers in the world, from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette
• • Organisations
    American Philosophical Society

    http://www.amphilsoc.org/

    Arts and Humanities Research Council

    http://www.ahrb.ac.uk/

    supporting research into the arts and humanities

    Association of British Theological and Philosophical Libraries (ABTAPL)

    http://www.newman.ac.uk/abtapl/index.html

    Birkbeck College Philosophy Society

    http://bbkphilsoc.org/default.aspx

    British Academy

    http://www.britac.ac.uk/

    the national academy for the humanities and the social sciences

    British Philosophical Association

    http://www.bpa.ac.uk/

    Institute of Philosophy

    http://www.philosophy.sas.ac.uk/home.php

    School of Advanced Study, University of London

    The Royal Institute of Philosophy

    http://www.royalinstitutephilosophy.org/

    Subject Centre for Philosophical and Religious Studies

    http://www.prs.heacademy.ac.uk/index.html

    from the Higher Education Academy
• • Other sites of interest
    Alex Catalogue of Electronic Texts

    http://www.infomotions.com/alex/

    a collection of public domain documents, including Western philosophy

    Applied Ethics Resources

    http://www.ethicsweb.ca/resources/index.html

    from EthicsWeb.ca

    AskPhilosophers

    http://www.askphilosophers.org/

    the skills and knowledge of trained philosophers at the service of the general public

    Contemporary Philosophy, Critical Theory and Postmodern Thought

    http://carbon.cudenver.edu/~mryder/itc_data/postmodern.html

    from the School of Education, University of Colorado at Denver

    A Dictionary of Philosophical Terms and Names

    http://www.philosophypages.com/dy/

    a concise guide to technical terms and personal names from Philosophy Pages

    English Server: Philosophy

    http://philosophy.eserver.org/

    this collection contains canonical philosophic texts and links to scholarly philosophic organizations, from the University of Washington.

    Ethics updates

    http://ethics.sandiego.edu/index.asp

    from Lawrence M Hinman at the University of San Diego, providing updates on current literature relating to ethics

    Everything Postmodern

    http://www.ebbflux.com/postmodern/?PHPSESSID=61911d834e2dfe714ccfbffd15a7a3ac

    EP strives to be the most comprehensive guide to postmodern theory on the web today.

    The existential primer

    http://www.tameri.com/csw/exist/exist.html

    Site created by C.S.Wyatt to encourage further research into existential and phenomenological philosophies.

    Herb Tandree Philosophy Books

    http://www.philosophy-books.co.uk/

    second-hand philosophy titles, the history of ideas, and related subjects.

    In our time: Philosophy

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/in-our-time/archive/philosophy/all

    from BBC Radio 4 – Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the history of ideas

    The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

    http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/

    Articles are currently from three sources (1) adaptations from public domain sources, (2) adaptations of material written by the editor for classroom purposes, and (3) original contributions by professional philosophers around the internet

    Subject Centre for Philosophical and Religious Studies

    http://prs.heacademy.ac.uk/philosophy/

    from the Higher Education Academy

    Marxists Internet Archive

    http://www.marxists.org/index.htm

    divided into three major sections: Marxist writers, Marxist history, and reference materials.

    The Online Books Page: Philosophy

    http://digital.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/subjectstart?B-BD

    more than 200 English works in various formats – all should be free for personal, noncommercial use.

    The Perseus Digital Library

    http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/about

    Primary and secondary sources for the study of ancient Greece and Rome, including Aristotle, Plato etc.

    Philosophers’ Imprint

    http://www.philosophersimprint.org/

    series of original papers in philosophy, edited by the philosophy faculty at the University of Michigan

    Philosophy

    http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelpsubject/phliosrel/philosophy/index.html

    a guide to resources from the British Library

    Philosophy Talk

    http://www.philosophytalk.org/

    a weekly one-hour radio series

    Project Archelogos

    http://www.archelogos.com/

    a database which will contain all the philosophical arguments of the works of Plato and Aristotle represented according to a method which makes explicit their logical interconnections.

    Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

    http://www.science.uva.nl/~seop/contents.html

    the first dynamic encyclopedia: each entry is maintained and kept up to date by an expert or group of experts in the field

    The Tanner lectures on human values

    http://www.tannerlectures.utah.edu/

    from the University of Utah, full text

    Worldwide Philosophy Resources

    http://www.erraticimpact.com/site_index.htm

    from erraticimpact.com