Philosophy
Policy Last Updated:
Subject: Philosophy
Purpose
The Collection Development policy serves as a guide to shape relevant collections and to ensure consistency in collection development. Decisions to purchase library materials is primarily the responsibility of the Collections Librarian in consultation with faculty in the Department.
Focus
To support teaching, study and research up to the Master‟s level. Secondary critical studies will be selected in relation to specific research and teaching needs of the faculty in the department.
Scope
- Language: the collection will contain all works of important philosophers, at least in English translation. Major philosophers will be represented in the best critical standard editions; and, in the case of non-English writers, in the language of origin, as well as in English translation. The exception to this guideline would be for languages not written in the Roman alphabet. Secondary critical studies will be preferably in English. Such non-English works, if unavailable in translation, will be collected in the language of origin, if their importance is commonly acknowledged (e.g., as indicated in book reviews,standard bibliographies, etc).
- Chronological Period: all periods
- Geographical Areas: all areas
- Publishers: emphasis on academic publishers
Types, formats, and readership of material collected
- Materials aimed at academic-level readership are selected
- Web-based formats for reference sources, journals and indexing sources are preferred. Print and microform are considered for reasons of cost, availability,expected use or long-term access.
- Single copies of books in print formats are generally selected. Web-based formats are selected on a title-by-title basis, especially if the title is of interest to users at multiple Laurier campuses. Duplication of print across Laurier campuses is generally avoided.
- Excluded types generally include textbooks, abridgements, study aids, limited editions, works by vanity presses, juvenile literature, audio-visual materials,reprints and partial contents (e.g., single issues of journals, electronic versions of single chapters of books).
Subjects collected and collecting priorities
Collecting priorities are categorized into 3 levels:
A - highest emphasis
The collection includes major published materials required to support the core teaching and research at the highest degree level offered by the Department.
B - secondary emphasis
The collection includes a selection of materials to complement the discipline as a whole, although it may not be a primary focus for courses.
C - selective emphasis
Materials, including reference materials and basic journals and indexes are collected to introduce and define an area.
Subjects collected | Classification | Collecting priority |
---|---|---|
General Areas | ||
Buddhist philosophy | B162 | A |
Ethics, theoretical and applied | BJ1-BJ1725 | A |
Existentialism | B819 | A |
Greek philosophy | B165 - B491.W6 | A |
Indian philosophy | B130 - B133 | A |
Language, philosophy of | B840; P101 - P120 | A |
Logic | BC1 - BC199 | C |
Medieval philosophy | B720-B785 | B |
Metaphysics and epistemology | BD95 - BD131; BD143 - BD237 | A |
Modern philosophy | B790 - B5802 | A |
Modern philosophy, Early (17th - 19th) | B790 - B5802 | A |
Science, philosophy of | Q174 - Q175.3 | A |
Social, political and legal philosophy | B63; B65; H61 - H61.15; HM479.2 - HM499; JM1 - JA84; JC11 -JC273; K230 - K264 | A |
Special Ares of Concentration | ||
Action, philosophy of | BD450 | A |
Advaita vedanta | B132.V3 | A |
Autonomy | B808.67 | A |
Communities | B105.C46 | B |
Consciousness | B105.C477; B808.9 | A |
Critical race theory | KF4755 | B |
Critical theory | B809.2; B3183.5 | B |
Death | BD443.8 - BD445 | A |
Dialogue (language and logic) | BC57 | A |
Duty, obligation, responsibility | BJ1450 - BJ1458 | A |
Emotions | B105.E46 | A |
Epicureanism | B512 | B |
Freedom and determinism | BJ1461 | A |
Friendship | B105.F75; BJ1533.F8 | A |
Gender, feminist theory | HQ1190 | A |
Identity (Philosophical Concept) | BC199.I4; BD236 | A |
Informal logic | BC60 - BC78 | A |
Intercultural political philosophy | JA71; JA76 | B |
Literature, philosophy of | PN49 | B |
Love | BD436 | A |
Mind, philosophy of | BD418 - BD418.8 | A |
Mind-body problem | B105.M55; BD418.3; BF161 | A |
Modal Logic | BC199.M6 | B |
Multiculturalism | BD175.5.M84; HM1271 | A |
Personal / self / narrative / identity | BD331; BD438.5; BF697 | A |
Materialism / physicalism | B825 | A |
Phenomenology | B829.5 | A |
Pragmatism | B832 | A |
Pre-socratics (in particular, Democritus, Parmenides, Heraclitus) | B187.5 - B305 | A |
Pyrrhonism (see also skepticism) | B525 | A |
Qualia | BD418.3 | A |
Realism | B835 | B |
Relativism | BH301.R43 | B |
Self, philosophy of; self-knowledge | BD450 | A |
Sex, philosophy of; sexual ethics | BD436; HQ12 | A |
Skepticism | B1499.S4 | A |
Stoicism | B538 | A |
Truth | BH301.T77 | A |
The will | BF608 - BF635; BJ1460 - BJ1468 | A |
Philosophers | Note: Main call number is given, although it is recognised that individual works may be classified under specific subjects. | |
Aristotle | B400-B491 | A |
Berkeley, George | B1347-B1349 | A |
Carnap, Rudolph | B945.C16 | B |
Davidson, Donald | B945.D384 | A |
Descartes, Rene | B1830-B1848 | A |
Dewey, John | B945.D4 | A |
Epicurus | B570-B573; PA3970.E2 | A |
Foucault, Michel | B2430.F722 | B |
Frege, Gottlob | B3245.F2 | A |
Habermas, Jurgen | B3258.H32 | A |
Hegel, G.W.F | B2900 - B2949 | A |
Hobbes, Thomas | B1203 - B1248 | A |
Hume, David | B1450 - B1499.5 | A |
James, William | B945.J2 | A |
Kant, Immanuel | B2750-B2799 | A |
Leibniz, Gottfried | B2550-B2599 | A |
Locke, John | B1250-B1298 | A |
Nietzche, Friedrich | B3310 - B3318 | A |
Ockham, William of | B765.O3 | B |
Parfit, Derek | B1649.P37 | A |
Rawls, John | B945.R28 | A |
Russell, Bertrand | B1649.R9 | B |
Sartre, Jean Paul | B2430.S3 | A |
Schmitt, Carl | JC263.S34 | A |
Socrates / Plato | B310 - B318; B350 - B398 | A |
Spinoza, Baruch | B3950-B3999 | A |
Taylor, Charles | B995.T3 | A |
Wittgenstein, Ludwig | B3376.W56 | A |
Addendum
Faculty in the Department of Philosophy have indicated that the works of the following authors should also be acquired.
Alcoff, Linda Martin | Frankfurt, Harry | Nussbaum, Martha |
Appiah, Anthony | Fraser, Nancy | Putnam, Hilary |
Bordo, Susan | Friedman, Marilyn | Quine, W. V. |
Beauvoir, Simone de | Goldie, Peter | Ramsay, Frank |
Butler, Judith | Hempel, Carl | Rosenthal, David |
Chalmers, David | Horgan Terence | Seager, William |
Christman, John | Huxley, Thomas Henry | Searle, John |
Churchland, Paul & Patricia | Irigaray, Luce | Shankara, Adi |
Dennett, Daniel | Jackson, Frank | Shelby, Tommie |
De Sousa, Philip | Kim, Jaegwon |
|
Dretske, Fred | Levine, Joseph |
|
Dworkin, Gerald | Melnyk, Andrew |
|
Dworkin, Ronald | Meyers, Diana T. |
|
Flanagan, Owen | Mills, Charles |
|
Fodor, Jerry |
|
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Related programs and support
Consortial purchases with the TriUniversity Group of Libraries (Guelph, Waterloo, Laurier university libraries), with the Ontario Council of University Libraries, and on a national level, are pursued.