Subject Guides: Philosophy: Find resources

Books

Philosophy books are located in the A section on the second floor of the JB Morrell Library. Many books will also be available online as e-books. Look for the links in YorSearch, under the View It section of each book.

Accessing past Philosophy MA theses

You can access past MA theses which have been selected by the Philosophy department in our Digital Collections, which you can find linked to in the top pane in YorSearch.

Arts and Humanities databases

Arts & Humanities Citation Index (Web of Science) This link opens in a new window
Arts & Humanities Citation Index is a multidisciplinary index covering the journal literature of the arts and humanities.

For help using this resource for bibliometrics see Bibliometrics: a practical guide.

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Project MUSE This link opens in a new window
Project MUSE, founded by Johns Hopkins University Press, is a database of over 380 full text scholarly journals in the arts, humanities and social sciences from over 70 (mainly university press) publishers.

For help with this resource, take a look at our Quick Guide.

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JSTOR This link opens in a new window
For alumni access please contact the University of York Alumni Association.

Due to COVID-19 the provider has made additional journal content available until 30th June 2023.
A digital archive collection of core scholarly journals starting with the first issues (many of which date from the 1800s). See JSTOR's online help guide for further information.

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MLA International Bibliography (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
This bibliography contains citations for journal articles, books, book chapters and theses in literature, language, linguistics and folklore. It is the major literature bibliography.

The publication years covered by this resource are from the 1920s onwards.

For help with this resource, take a look at our Quick Guide.

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Key electronic resources

Philosopher's Index (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
A current and comprehensive bibliographic database covering scholarly research in all major fields of philosophy published in journals and books (including contributions to anthologies and book reviews) from 1940 onwards. The Philosopher's Index includes citations and abstracts from over 620 journals published in 43 countries.

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PhilPapers This link opens in a new window
PhilPapers is a directory of online philosophy articles and books by academic philosophers. It monitors almost 300 philosophy journals, as well as online archives and personal websites, and takes submissions from users.

Free online resources

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy This link opens in a new window
Contains more than 500 entries in 35 subject areas, including philosophy of science, aesthetics, history of ideas, feminism, ethics (theoretical and applied), social and political philosophy, and logic. New entries and updates are added on a regular basis.

Online reference works

Oxford Bibliographies Online: Philosophy This link opens in a new window
Provides authoritative guidance and recommendations about potentially useful and significant sources for a range of topics in philosophy. Sources include primary texts, journal articles, reference works, monographs and book chapters.

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Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy This link opens in a new window
This online version of the 10 volume print edition has over 2,000 articles covering all areas of philosophy. It is regularly revised and updated and more 100 new articles have been added in the last eight years.

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Oxford Reference Online: Premium Collection This link opens in a new window
A fully-indexed, cross-searchable database of over 100 dictionaries, companions, language reference, and subject reference works published by Oxford University Press.

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Oxford Scholarship Online: Philosophy This link opens in a new window
Online books covering all areas of contemporary philosophy and the history of philosophy, published by Oxford University Press.

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Cambridge Companions Online: Philosophy, Religion and Culture This link opens in a new window
Specially-commissioned collections of essays addressing topics and figures ranging from Plato through Kant to Habermas, and philosophical movements such as the Scottish Enlightenment and German Idealism.

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Cambridge Histories Online This link opens in a new window
The full-text of volumes from the Cambridge Histories series. The volumes are grouped into topics covering: American History; British History; Economic History; General History; History of Science; History of the Book; Language and Linguistics; Literary Studies; Music; Philosophy; Political and Social Theory; Regional History; Religious Studies; Theatre Studies and Performing Arts; Warfare.

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Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO) This link opens in a new window
Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO) is the most ambitious single digitisation project ever undertaken which offers wide access not only to a century of the nation's intellectual heritage, but also works from earlier periods which were valued and printed or reprinted during the eighteenth century.

A library of over 180,000 eighteenth-century printed books, with more than 33 million scanned facsimile pages. Each title has a full citation record from the English Short Title Catalogue and is fully searchable - including full-text and illustrations multi-disciplinary. A research resource for all disciplines.

For help with this resource, take a look at our Quick Guide.

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Using operators

If you decide to run an in-depth literature search on some of our larger databases there are some tips below on how the different search functions work.

Most databases allow you to enter elaborate controlled searches using special words and characters ("operators")...

Plurals and variations in spelling:
Truncation and wildcards (tutorial)

Problems finding resources?

Tips on what to try if we don't have access via the Library:

Try Google Scholar
Google Scholar includes links to freely available PDFs and alternate versions of articles.
Search institutional repositories
If the article you need was written by someone at a university, they might have placed a copy in their institutional repository. Look at their website for more details.
Apply for it using our free Interlending Service
We can source articles and books from elsewhere.
Visit other libraries
You can access items at other libraries. Apply to the Library for a SCONUL Access card so that you can access other UK university libraries or visit the British Library at Boston Spa. Book a place on our free weekly minibus.
Contact your Academic Liaison Librarian
Stuck? Email lib-philosophy@york.ac.uk for advice.