Philosophy

Welcome to the Subject Guide for Philosophy 

This guide includes resources that will assist you in completing your class assignments and research. Most of these resources are freely available online; however, only WSU students, staff and faculty may access resources with the  icon. If you have any questions, please get in touch with your librarian via the contact information on the left.

Related Guides:

PHIL 385: Engineering Ethics

PHIL 300: Science and the Modern World

PHIL 540: Theory of Knowledge

PHIL 590: Environmental Ethics

• Research as Inquiry: Researching is a complex and messy human activity in relation to the world.  It is a process of discovering questions and asking them in increasingly complex ways (with others!) in order to develop new questions and lines of inquiry in any field...
• Searching Strategically: Locating information requires a combination of exploration, inquiry, discovery, serendipity and dialogue.  Information discovery is nonlinear and iterative, requiring use of a broad range of information sources, critical openness, and flexibility.
• Authority is Constructed & Contextual: Authority depends upon the source and origin of the resources, the information needs, and the contexts in which the information will be used.  This authority is viewed with an attitude of informed skepticism and openness to new perspectives.
• Information Creation is a Process: The production of information, its communities of practice, discourses and methods, formats, access and dissemination are creative, collaborative and influential processes for research, scholarship, and evaluation.
• Information has Value: The creation of information requires commitments of time, complexity of thought and a variety of resources.  Information may be valued more or less based on its creators, its audience and community, its format and message.  In light of the complexity of questions, resources, "authorities" and world, evaluating information is an essential and ongoing aspect of research.
• Scholarship is Conversation: Scholarship is sustained discourse within communities, a participatory and collaborative dialogue searching new insights and discoveries among competing and converging perspectives and interpretations.