Collection Guidelines: Philosophy: Subject Information

Image: By en:Lyubov Popova [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

These are the guidelines by which materials are purchased for the Philosophy collection of the UW Libraries (Seattle Campus).  For questions or more information, please contact the Philosophy Studies Librarian.

The UW Libraries is committed to providing convenient and timely access to collections and information resources that are outstanding with respect to their quality, depth, diversity, format and currency to support the research and teaching missions of the University of Washington.

Philosophy is the study of thought concerning nature, metaphysics, ethics, aesthetics, being, knowledge, logic, and all manner of theory.  “Philosophy” comes from Greek words meaning “love of wisdom.”  Philosophy uses the tools of logic and reason to analyze the ways in which humans experience the world.  It teaches critical thinking, close reading, clear writing, and logical analysis; it uses these to understand the language we use to describe the world, and our place within it (from the UW Philosophy Dept. website).

Library of Congress Classification:

• B1-107    General philosophy
• B 108-708    Ancient
• B 720-785    Medieval & Renaissance
• B 790-5802    Modern
• BC 1-199    Logic
• BD 95-131    Metaphysics
• BD 418    Philosophy of Mind
• BD 143-237    Epistemology
• BH 1-301    Aesthetics
• BJ 1-1725    Ethics
• Q 175    Philosophy of Science

Dewey Decimal Classification (Dewey materials are all located in remote storage):

• 100's Philosophy
• 109 Historical treatment of philosophy
• 110 Metaphysics
• 120 Epistemology, causation, humankind
• 170 Ethics (Moral philosophy)
• 172 Political ethics
• 190 Modern Western philosophy