LibGuides: Philosophy: Home

Best Databases for Philosophy

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Continually revised encyclopedia with contributions by philosophers, including scholars from the University of Virginia.

Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
Large general database of articles from scholarly journals and a few newspapers covering a wide range of topics. Millions of full-text articles, many with images
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Full-text backfiles of many important scholarly journals. Coverage is usually from the first issue to 3-5 years before the present. Humanities and social science articles are also listed in Periodicals Index Online and Periodicals Archive Online which hav

Dictionary of the History of Ideas
A really good overview of the the development of ideas over time.

Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
Large general database of articles from scholarly journals and a few newspapers covering a wide range of topics. Millions of full-text articles, many with images.
Bibliography of Asian Studies (1971-present) This link opens in a new window
Lists journal articles and book chapters on all subjects related to Asia. Most articles are in western languages. Includes book reviews.

Dissertations and Theses Full Text
Full text (PDF) of most dissertations accepted from 1997 on, some earlier works and some master's theses. Also lists dissertations and theses accepted from 1861 on in the US and at some Canadian, British, and other European universities.

IMB: International Medieval Bibliography This link opens in a new window
Lists articles from books and journals on any topic relating to the European Middle Ages (ca. 400-1500).
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Full-text backfiles of many important scholarly journals. Coverage is usually from the first issue to 3-5 years before the present. Humanities and social science articles are also listed in Periodicals Index Online and Periodicals Archive Online which hav
L'Année Philologique This link opens in a new window
Indexes articles on the literature, languages, and history of ancient Greece and Rome from journals, books and conference proceedings. Coverage in the online version begins with 1949 and goes up to 2-3 years before the current year.
NexisUni This link opens in a new window
News and business information from sources around the world; book reviews, biographical, and other reference sources; U.S. Code, constitution, and court cases. Includes many newspapers. Most entries are full-text, some updated daily.

Merriam Webster Dictionary
Handy online dictionary and thesaurus. Has online audio pronunciations and includes the Abbreviations, Foreign Words and Phrases, Biographical Names, and Geographical Names sections from the print version.
Oxford Companion to Philosophy
A UVa portal to Philosophy resources

Oxford English Dictionary This link opens in a new window
as definitions for most of the words in the English language but also information on their origins and quotations showing their range of meanings from the time they entered the language to the present
Oxford Reference Online This link opens in a new window
A large collection of basic information on many subjects drawn from reference books published by Oxford University Press.
Past Masters This link opens in a new window
Searchable full-text electronic editions in philosophy
Philosopher's Index This link opens in a new window
Lists and abstracts books and articles in over 300 journals from philosophy and related disciplines.
WorldCat.org This link opens in a new window
Online listing with locations of books, videos, manuscripts, and other materials in thousands of libraries worldwide. This version has all WorldCat holdings and provides the full bibliographic citation for each item.