To Find Books
Use the MERLIN Library Catalog and the MOBIUS Union Catalog to find resources relevant to your research. Relevant works can be found using subject headings (Library of Congress) such as:
- Philosophy Ancient
- Philosophy Ancient History
- Philosophy Modern
- Philosophy Modern 19th Century
- Skeptics Greek Philosophy
- Descartes Rene (1596-1650)
- Hume, David (1711-1776)
- Ethics History
The (Library of Congress) subject heading Philosophy is broken down into hundreds of subtopics and related subjects. If you do not wish to browse the headings, do a keyword search on your topic and follow the subject heading links at the bottom of the relevant record(s) to find additional resources.
If you do not find what you are looking for in the Miller Nichols Collection or if what you want is checked out, try the suggestions found on our FAQ page under the heading "What I need is not at the UMKC Libraries. What do I do?" You will find out a lot more basic information about the University Libraries on this page also.
If you still are not finding what you need, then you will probably need to use our Interlibrary Loan service. (But keep in mind that requesting items out of state can take three days to three weeks for delivery.) Also keep in mind that the time of check out will be determined by the library sending the item(s), so check out times can vary.
B-BD is the primary call number range where books on philosophy are shelved. General circulating books that can be checked out in this call number range can be found on the Fourth Floor of the Miller Nichols Library. Reference materials, which are not checked out, in this call number range can be found in the Information Commons on the First Floor of the Library. Philosophy bibliographies are often shelved in the Z8100's through Z8400's. These can be found in the reference collection on the First Floor and books for check out in this range can be found on the Second Floor. Books on philosophy of science or philosophy of literature may be shelved in the philosophy, science or literature areas of the collection, depending upon their coverage.
To find the location of a book in Miller Nichols Library, see the Location Guide.
To Find Articles
Remote (off-campus) access to databases is available only to UMKC students, faculty, and staff. All other users must access online resources within the Libraries. Begin searching by selecting a database. After selection you will be prompted to provide a UMKC Single Sign-On user name and password OR a 9-digit UMKC ID number followed by the letter k (example: 0123456789k) and last name, as needed.
- Philosopher's Index (FirstSearch) 1940 - present.
Save to del.icio.us
Indexes scholarly research in books and journals in fifteen fields of philosophy. Many citations include brief abstracts. - ATLA Religion Database (FirstSearch) 1949 - present. Save to del.icio.us
ATLA Religion Database provides information on topics such as biblical studies, world religions, church history, and religion in social issues. This database is the definitive index for religious and theological literature. ATLA Religion Database contains more than 1.4 million bibliographic records covering the research literature of religion in over 60 languages. Most coverage spans from 1949 to the present, while an ambitious retrospective indexing project provides citations of select titles back to their original publication date. [Source: EBSCOhost ATLA Religion Database information page, accessed June 8, 2006.] Link to EBSCOhost web user's guide. - Project MUSE (Premium Collection) Save to del.icio.us
Full text 1993 - present.
New Additional journals are now available with the upgrade to Project MUSE Premium Collection.
Supplies full-text articles from scholarly journals in literature and criticism, history, the visual and performing arts, cultural studies, education, political science, and gender studies. Around 200 journals are indexed. - JSTOR 1838 - present. Save to del.icio.us
Full text. Coverage varies by title.
Contains fully searchable scanned articles from selected journals in a broad range of disciplines, including African-American studies, art, ecology, economics, education, history, law, literature, music, general science, sociology, and statistics. (To see a complete list of discipines and journal titles, link to the JSTOR browse list.) Covers the full run of journals from the first issue of volume one; however, the most recent three to five years of journals are not generally available. - Current Contents (Ovid) July 1993 - present. Save to del.icio.us
Links to full text 1998 - present. Scans the tables of contents and provides abstracts of articles from over 7,600 of the world's leading scientific and scholarly journals. Includes agriculture, biology, environmental sciences, arts and humanities, social and behavioral sciences, clinical medicine, life sciences, physical sciences, chemistry, earth sciences, engineering, computing, and technology. Link to Ovid Web user's guide. - Arts & Humanities Citation Index viaISI Web of Science
Note: This database is no longer be available..
Permits multidisciplinary searching for articles from international academic journals in the sciences, social sciences, and the arts and humanities. This combined database for the Science Citation Index, the Social Sciences Citation Index, and the Arts & Humanities Citation Index offers cited reference searching. Link to ISI Web of Science user's guide. - MLA International Bibliography (Chadwyck-Healey) 1884 - present. Save to del.icio.usAn index to scholarship in literature, linguistics, film, folklore, and cultural
studies. The print version of this bibliography is available in the Miller Nichols
Library and
covers 1921 - 1999. The location and call number are Reference Index Wall Z7006
.M64. See the MLA
Directory of Periodicals for a list of periodicals indexed.
-
Dissertations
& Theses (ProQuest) 1861 - present. Save to del.icio.us
Selected full text 1963 - present (Includes UMKC dissertations and theses only).
"The ProQuest Dissertations & Theses database is the world's most comprehensive collection of dissertations and theses. It is the database of record for graduate research, with over 2.3 million dissertations and theses included from around the world. Each dissertation published since July 1980 includes a 350-word abstract written by the author. Master's theses published since 1988 include 150-word abstracts. Bibliographic citations are available for dissertations dating from 1861, and more than 60,000 new citations are added to the database every year." Selected full text for UMKC dissertations and theses is available. [Source: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Database information page; accessed January 3, 2007.] - 19th Century Masterfile (Paratext) 1786 - 1922. Save to del.icio.us
This database indexes nineteenth and early twentieth century magazines, journals, and newspapers in several languages. -
Academic Search Premier (EBSCOhost) 1975 - present. Save to del.icio.us
Selected full text 1975 - present.
This multidisciplinary database indexes and abstracts journals in a broad range of subjects. Full text is available for a large proportion of the titles. A high percentage of titles are peer-reviewed. Dates of coverage vary widely by title. All content of Academic Search Elite is included in this resource. - Historical Abstracts (EBSCOhost) 1954 - present. Save to del.icio.us
Selected full text 1954 - present.
Indexes and abstracts articles on the history of the world from 1450 to the present (excluding the United States and Canada). Link to History Abstracts user's guide. - WorldCat (FirstSearch) Current edition. Save to del.icio.us
The world's most authoritative online resource for finding library materials. Search over 60,000 libraries worldwide, including the Library of Congress, with this powerful search tool. Use the free web version, WorldCat.org, for quick, easy searching.
University Libraries Photocopying and Printing Services
Selected Journals
This list includes journals available in the University Libraries (check the MERLIN Library Catalog for holdings and location information). To identify additional related journals, search MERLIN by subject or keyword.
- American Philosophy Quarterly (1964- )
- Journal of Philosophy (1921- ) continues Journal of Philosophy, Psychology, and Scientific Methods
- Journal of Philosophy, Psychology, and Scientific Methods (1904-1920), continued by Journal of Philosophy
- Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal (1996 – )
- MIND (1876 - )
- Philosophy and Literature (1988 – )
- Philosophy and Phenomenological Research (1940 – )
- Philosophy, Psychiatry & Psychology (1996 – )
- Philosophical Review (1892- )
- The Review of Metaphysics (1947- )
Reference Sources: Encyclopedias, Dictionaries and Histories
Reference sources are useful for locating background information, definitions, general descriptions, and basic facts. Use these books to help you select or focus your research topic.
All call numbers in this guide refer to the UMKC Miller Nichols Library, unless otherwise noted. Titles are linked to the corresponding MERLIN Library Catalog record.
Encyclopedias and Dictionaries
| Philosopher's Index | Fourth Floor Index Z7127 .P47 |
| The Encyclopedia of Philosophy | B41.E5 |
| Bibliographie de la Philosophie | Ref Z7127 .B49 |
| Philosophy: A Guide to the Reference Literature | Ready Ref B72. B97 |
| Bibliography of Philosophy | Ref Z7127 .B5 |
| Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy | Ref B51 .R68 |
| Concise Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy | Electronic Resource |
| The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy | Ref B41 .C35 |
| The Oxford Companion to Philosophy | Ready Ref B51.O94 or Electronic Resource |
| Encyclopedia of Classical Philosophy | Ref B163 .E53 |
| Resources in Ancient Philosophy | Ref B171 .B39 |
| The Presocratic Philosophers | Ref B187.5 .N38 |
| From the Beginning to Plato | Ref B187.5 .R68 |
| Plato Dictionary | Ref B351 .S7 |
Histories
| A History of Modern Philosophy | B791.D7 |
| A
History of Philosophy |
B72 .C62 |
| A History of Western Philosophy, and its Connection with Political and Social Circumstances from the Earliest Times to the Present Day | B72 .R8 |
| The History of Philosophy | B77 .B723 |
| The Great Philosophers | B82 .J313 |
| Masterpieces of World Philosophy | Ref B75 .M37 |
| The Philosopher's Guide to Sources, Research Tools, Professional Life, and Related Fields | Ref Z7125 .D445 B53 |
| Philosophy:A Guide to the Reference Literature | Ready Ref B72 .B97 |
| The Cambridge Companion to Hobbes | B1247.C26 |
For further assistance, please contact the
Miller Nichols Library Reference Desk at (816) 235-1534.
