Philosophy Resources

The Stanford Libraries' Catalog offers numerous resources, chief among them are their databases. Check out these philosophy specific ones from SUL,  plus a few from outside the university.

Historisches Wörterbuch der Philosophie 

Past Masters 

Philosophers' Imprint

The Philosopher's Index 

Philosophy of Science Archive

Philosophy Online 

PhilPapers 

Dictionaries and encyclopedias tailored to all one's philosophical needs.

Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy

Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy 

Need some general pointers on how best to approach philosophical texts? Want to strengthen your discussions skills? Want help on how to structure that mid-term paper? Check out these nifty philosophy guides.

Guidelines for Philosophical Discussion (compiled by David Chalmers)

Guidelines on Reading Philosophy (created by Prof. Jim Pryor, University of NC Chapel Hill)

Guidelines on Writing a Philosophy Paper (created by Prof. Jim Pryor)

The Pink Guide to Philosophy (created by Prof. Helena de Bres, Wellesley College)

Philosophical Writing Manual (created by Prof. Martin Young)

The internet can overwhelm even the most thorough and diligent academic. Here's a narrowed-down list of useful websites on philosophy, some for work and some for fun. 

1000 Word Philosophy 

Ask Philosophers

Daily Nous

Existential Comics

Philosophy Documentation Center

Philosophy Mapped

Smart Scholar

Podcasts abound and collected here are some of the best concerning philosophy.

History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps 

The Partially Examined Life

Philosophy Bites

Philosophy Talk (created and hosted by Stanford faculty)

A few useful videos of discussions, lectures, and bite-size analyses on all things philosophy.

Carneades

The Great Philosophers with Bryan Magee

Immanuel Kant Lectures (more lectures on School of H&S YouTube Channel here)

Wireless Philosophy 

If you need a break from study, but still want to engage with philosophy, check out this curated list of films and TV series that address issues ranging from artificial cognition to Nietzsche's 'eternal return'. 

Philosophically-Themed Films

1. Rope (1948) dir. Alfred Hitchcock (ethics, justice, morality)
2. Ikiru (1952) dir. Akira Kurosawa (memory, existence, death)
3. The Seventh Seal (1957) dir. Ingmar Bergman (faith, religion, good/evil)
4. Cleo from 5 to 7 (1962) dir. Agnes Varda (mortality, identity, spirituality)
5. Being There (1979) dir. Hal Ashby (faith, identity, ontology)
6. Stalker (1979) dir. Andrei Tarkovsky ( identity, ontology, faith)
7. My Dinner with Andre (1981) dir. Louis Malle (aesthetics, communication, culture)
8. Blade Runner (1982) dir. Ridley Scott (consciousness, AI, free will)
9. Monty Python and The Meaning of Life (1983) dir. Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam (religion, evolution, education)
10. Do the Right Thing (1989) dir. Spike Lee (race, identity, politics, culture)
11. Eve's Bayou (1992) dir. Kasi Lemmons (identity, race, memory, free will)
12. Groundhog Day (1993) dir. Harold Ramis (free will, psychology, temporality)
13. The Addiction (1995) dir. Abel Ferrara (morality, choice, free will)
14. Ghost in the Shell (1995) dir. Mamoru Oshii (technology, law, consciousness, AI)
15. Beau Travail (1999) dir. Claire Denis (memory, sexuality, epistemology)
16. The Matrix (1999) dir. Lana and Lilly Wachowski (consciousness, AI, ontology)
17. Talk to Her (2002) dir. Pedro Almodovar (ethics, sexuality, identity)
18. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring (2003) dir. Kim Ki-duk (spirituality, morality, choice)
19. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) dir. Michel Gondry (epistemology, identity, memory)
20. No Country for Old Men (2007) dir. Ethan and Joel Coen (good/evil, free will, probability)
21. Inception (2010) dir. Christopher Nolan (ontology, psychology, paradoxes)
22. The Tree of Life (2011) dir. Terrence Malick (identity, evolution, temporality)
23. Inside Out (2015) dir. Pete Docter (identity, free will, emotion)
24. Arrival (2016) dir. Denis Villeneuve (linguistics, semiotics, temporality)
25. The Power of the Dog (2021) dir. Jane Campion (morality, ethics, identity)

Philosophically-Themed TV

1. The Twilight Zone (1959-1964) (ontology, morality, psychology)
2. Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994) (technology, ontology, epistemology)
3. Black Mirror (2011-) (technology, morality, bioethics)
4. The Good Place (2016-2020) (faith, morality, good/evil)
5. Westworld (2016-2022) (AI, free will, ontology)

Countless works by countless authors engage in philosophical issues and ideas. This list compiles a few titles that investigate philosophy through a fictional lens.

Fiction with Philosophical Themes

1. Candide (1759) Voltaire (free will, God, morality)
2. Jacques the Fatalist (1785) Denis Diderot (free will, ontology, education)
3. Frankenstein (1818) Mary Shelley (science, bioethics, death)
4. Crime & Punishment (1866) Fyodor Dostoevsky (justice, sociology, morality)
5. The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890) Oscar Wilde (identity, morality, aesthetics)
6. Siddhartha (1922) Hermann Hesse (spirituality, identity)
7. The Trial (1925) Franz Kafka (absurdism, freedom, justice)
8. Orlando (1928) Virginia Woolf (gender identity, aesthetics)
9. Brave New World (1932) Aldous Huxley (science, government, evolution)
10. The Stranger (1942) Albert Camus (justice, ethics, identity)
11. The Little Prince (1943) Antoine de Saint-Exupery (education, freedom, ontology)
12. Ficciones (1944) Jorge Luis Borges (aesthetics, ontology, identity)
13. Animal Farm (1945) George Orwell (government, law, morality)
14. Invisible Man (1952) Ralph Ellison (race, sociology, identity)
15. Lord of the Flies (1954) William Golding (biology, morality, devolution)
16. Things Fall Apart (1958) Chinua Achebe (identity, morality, sociology)
17. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961) Muriel Spark (aesthetics, education, ethics)
18. The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea (1963) Yukio Mishima (morality, justice, ontology)
19. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968) Philip K. Dick (epistemology, technology, AI)
20. The Left Hand of Darkness (1969) Ursula K. Le Guin (gender identity, sociology)
21. Song of Solomon (1977) Toni Morrison (race, identity, psychology)
22. The Name of the Rose (1980) Umberto Eco (epistemology, aesthetics, morality)
23. The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1984) Milan Kundera (existentialism, sexuality, politics)
24. The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) Margaret Atwood (gender, freedom, sociology)
25. Sophie’s World (1991) Jostein Gaarder (education, history of philosophy, epistemology)