Research Help: Philosophy Research Guide: How to Search

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Searching for sources is very rarely a straight line. What is far more common is a search that entails looking in the library's catalog for books and other resources, searching article databases, and trying different terms to yield different results. Don't be discouraged if you first search returns too many or too few results. The guides at the right can help you structure a search to get the best results.

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An easy-to-use database providing dictionary and encyclopedia entries on subjects in all academic disciplines; a scholarly alternative to Wikipedia. Provides access to over 1,000 reference books.

Cite Your Sources in APA Style
Purdue OWL's APA Formatting and Style Guide
*APA 6th Edition*

Branches of Philosophy

Aesthetics
The branch of philosophy that is concerned with the nature of art and the criteria of artistic judgment.
Deconstruction
In linguistics, philosophy, and literary theory, the exposure and undermining of the metaphysical assumptions involved in systematic attempts to ground knowledge, especially in academic disciplines such as structuralism and semiotics.
Dialectical Materialism
Official philosophy of Communism, based on the writings of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, as elaborated by G. V. Plekhanov, V. I. Lenin, and Joseph Stalin.
Epistemology
The branch of philosophy that is directed toward theories of the sources, nature, and limits of knowledge.
Ethics
In philosophy, the study and evaluation of human conduct in the light of moral principles.
Existentialism
Page Any of several philosophic systems, all centered on the individual and his relationship to the universe or to God.
Humanism
Philosophical and literary movement in which man and his capabilities are the central concern. The term was originally restricted to a point of view prevalent among thinkers in the Renaissance.
Idealism
The attitude that places special value on ideas and ideals as products of the mind, in comparison with the world as perceived through the senses.
Logic
The systematic study of valid inference. A distinction is drawn between logical validity and truth.
Logical Positivism
Also known as logical or scientific empiricism, modern school of philosophy that attempted to introduce the methodology and precision of mathematics and the natural sciences into the field of philosophy.
Materialism
In philosophy, a widely held system of thought that explains the nature of the world as entirely dependent on matter, the fundamental and final reality beyond which nothing need be sought.
Metaphysics
Branch of philosophy concerned with the ultimate nature of existence.
Nihilism
Derived from the Latin nihil, “nothing,” nihilism in ethical discourse is generally defined as the absolute denial or negation of values.
Objectivism
Objectivism is the philosophical view that all objects of knowledge have a reality of their own.
Phenomenology
Modern school of philosophy founded by Edmund Husserl. Its influence extended throughout Europe and was particularly important to the early development of existentialism.
Pragmatism
Method of philosophy in which the truth of a proposition is measured by its correspondence with experimental results and by its practical outcome.
Rationalism
In philosophy, a theory that holds that reason alone, unaided by experience, can arrive at basic truth regarding the world.

Subject Guide

Renée Fratantonio

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