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Philosophy

Collection Policy Statement Index

(Classes B, BC, BD, BH, BJ, and Z7125-Z7130)

I. Introduction
II. Scope
III. Research
IV. General Policy
V. Collection levels for Philosophy

I. Introduction

This collections policy statement refers to those materials which pertain to the subject of philosophy, i.e., works which investigate "the most general facts and principles of reality and of human nature and conduct" (Webster's 2nd Unabridged Dictionary). Philosophy as a whole seeks to deal with those why questions that can be answered by appeal to reason rather than physical causes.¹ Traditionally, philosophical inquiry has been divided into such subfields as metaphysics, ontology, logic, epistemology, ethics, political philosophy, and aesthetics. It has also been traditional to speak of the philosophies of the various individual disciplines, which seek to determine for each what areas of inquiry and methodological goals are appropriate, as well as what counts as evidence.

II. Scope

The core materials covered by this statement comprise the collections in Classes B, BC, BD, BH, BJ, and Z7125-Z7130. The collections policy set forth in this statement is closely linked to the treatment of philosophy in the Library's classification scheme, which incorporates a traditional Western framework of categorizations and distinctions. Philosophy, however, cannot be easily captured or limited by the terms of these categorizations alone, and this is particularly true of non-Western philosophies. The great works of philosophical significance in non-Western societies are often in forms unlike traditional Western monographs and treatises; these philosophies may be expressed in biographies, epics, dream narratives, folk tales, aphorisms, and other forms.² In East Asia, for example, philosophical values and understandings are often recorded in individual biographies rather than in treatises or monographs. Recommending officers are, therefore, encouraged to allow a wide latitude of relevance in seeking non-Western works of philosophical significance.

Works relating to the philosophy of specific disciplines are considered to be part of the intellectual corpus of that discipline and are classified with materials in that discipline. They are, accordingly, covered by the corresponding Collections Policy Statements.

III. Research strengths and comparison with collections in other major libraries

The largest group of materials in the field of philosophy is to be found in the Library's general classified collections. Many valuable resources, however, can also be found in the Rare Books and Special Collections, Manuscript, Hebraic, Near Eastern, Asian, and Microform collections. Within the Microforms collection, for example, the Library systematically collects American doctoral dissertations, including those on philosophy.

Most major American research libraries have strong collections in philosophy, although the Library's collections are the largest in almost all areas.

The philosophy collection is maintained at an overall RLG Conspectus level of 4 (research level). Areas of special strength include history and systems (all periods), Islamic, Jewish, and European philosophers, the philosophy of language, logic, metaphysics, epistemology, ontology, cosmology, aesthetics, and ethics. For collection levels of the various branches and subtopics of philosophy, see Section V below.

IV. General Policy

The Library shall acquire:

All of the important current reference works, monographs, and serials, in all languages in the major branches of philosophy as outlined in the Library of Congress Classification (Class B), with its subclasses BC (Logic), BD (speculative Philosophy, inlcuding Metaphysics, Epistemology, Methodology, Ontology and Cosmology), BH (Aesthetics), and BJ (Ethics);
All significant written human expressions, in all languages and from all cultures, and time periods, which seek to provide answers to the great why questions of life which appeal directly or indirectly to reason or perspectival hypotheses as justifications, regardless of the areas of the class scheme into which they may ultimately fall;
All relevant subject bibliographies and indexes in philosophy, in classes Z7125-Z7130 (Subject bibliography: Philosophy).

Note: The Library selectively acquires U.S. published and foreign textbooks on philosophy and its branches written at the college level. Texts published in the U.S. on the methodology of teaching philosophy below the college level are also acquired.

V. Collecting levels for philosophy

The following list is arranged according to the major subclasses of Classes B, BC, BD, BH, BJ and Z of the Library of Congress Classification.

A. Philosophy (General)
Class	Subject	Intensity	Comments
B1-B20	Periodicals, serials, societies, congresses	4
B40-B51	Dictionaries and encyclopedias	4
B52.8	Study and teaching, Research	3	see NOTE, Section IV above
B69-B99	General works	4
B108-B708	Ancient philosophy (600 B.C.E. - 430 C.E.)	4
B720-B765	Medieval philosophy (430-1450)	4
B770-B785	Renaissance philosophy	4
B790-B5739	Modern philosophy (1450/1600-)	4
B. Logic
Class	Subject	Intensity	Comments
BC1-BC5	Periodicals, serials, societies, congresses	4
BC9	Dictionaries and encyclopedias	4
BC11-BC39	History	4
BC60-BC99	General works, treatises and advanced textbooks	4
BC121	Genetic and evolutionary logic	4
BC122	Transcendental logic	4
BC126	Many-valued logic	4
BC128	First-order logic	4
BC131-BC135	Symbolic and mathematical logic	4
BC137-BC138	Mechanical logical methods and systems	4
BC141-BC143	Logic of chance, probability, plausibility	4
BC145	Deontic logic	4
BC151-BC161	Logic for Professional classes	4
BC171-BC199	Special Topics	4
C. Speculative philosophy
Class	Subject	Intensity	Comments
BD10-BD28	Introductions to philosophy	4
BD95-BD131	Metaphysics	4
BD143-BD236	Epistemology (Theory of knowledge)	4
BD240-BD255	Methodology	4
BD300-BD450	Ontology	4
BD411-BD417	Finite and infinite	4
BD419-BD428	The soul, spirt, immorality	4
BD430-BD435	Life	4
BD493-BD701	Cosmology	4
BD530-BD595	Teleology, causation, etc.	4
BD620-BD655	Space, time, matter and motion	4
D. Aesthetics
Class	Subject	Intensity	Comments
BH1-BH19	Periodicals, serials, societies, congresses	4
BH56	Dictionaries and encyclopedias	4
BH61-BH63	Study and teaching. Research	3	See NOTE, Section IV above
BH81-BH208	History	4
BH221	By region or country	4
BH301	Special topics	4
E. Ethics
Class	Subject	Intensity	Comments
BJ1-BJ19	Periodicals, serials, societies, congresses	4
BJ63	Dictionaries and encyclopedias	4
BJ66-BJ68	Study and teaching. Research	3	See NOTE, Section IV above
BJ71-BJ977	History and systems of ethics	4
BJ101-BJ224	Ancient ethics	4
BJ231-BJ255	Medieval ethics	4
BJ271-BJ285	Renaissance ethics	4
BJ301-BJ977	Modern ethics	4
BJ991-BJ1185	General works, treatises and advanced textbooks	4
BJ118-BJ1295	Religious ethics	4
BJ1400-BJ1500	Special topics	4
BJ1518-BJ1697	Individual ethics, character, virtue	4
BJ1725	Professional ethics	4
BJ1801-BJ1295	Social usages, etiquette	4
F. Subject bibliography: Philosophy
Class	Subject	Intensity	Comments
Z125-Z7130	Subject bibliography: Philosophy	4

Notes:

(1) It concerns itself, too, especially with perspective hypotheses more than entity hypotheses, i.e., it seeks to explain data or experience by viewing them from a certain perspective as to their mutual juxtapositions and relations, rather than by proposing the existence of missing or hidden entities as explanations.

(2) These generalizations, however, do not apply to the work of the Jewish and Islamic philosophical traditions, the literature of which, in the main, like traditional Western philosophical treatises, is rigorously systematic and expository, and shares a basis in classical, and especially, Aristotelian and Hellenistic logic and categorizations.

January 2000

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