To search for books, you need to use the library catalog for either keyword or subject searches. Depending on how much time you have, there are additional options beyond our holdings within the University Library.

Books at Cal State San Marcos

Library Catalog
Search our local collection of about 250,000 books. Some possible subject headings and subdivisions are listed here. Note Philosophy can be both main subject and a subdivision of another topic.

• Philosophy (general subject area which can include historical thought, general overviews, and much more)
• Philosophy, African (subdivision by a large geographic area)
• Philosophy, Ancient (subdivision by time period)
• Philosophy And Religion (focused on a specific application of philosophy)
• Civilization, Western--Philosophy (philosophy as subdivision of a larger topic)
• Crow Indians--Philosophy
• Education, Higher--Philosophy
• Philosophy--Dictionaries (particular type of reference work)
• Philosophy In Literature
• Philosophy, Marxist
• Philosophy Of Mind
• Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich, 1770-1831 (note lastname, firstname format for either an author in philosophy or individual philosopher as a subject)
• Blake, William, 1757-1827 -- Philosophy (philosophical thinking of a particular person including someone not known as a philosopher)

Other Options

Some examples of related areas of study are ethics, applied ethics, aesthetics, religion, theology, logic, and metaphysics. The following are titles found in our Reference Collection which can help you get started:

Encyclopedia of Philosophy REF B41 .E5 1972
Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy REF B 51 .R68 1998
Encyclopedia of Aesthetics REF BH56 .E53 1998
Encyclopedia of Applied Ethics REF BJ63 .E44 1998
Encyclopedia of Ethics REF BJ63 .E45 2001
Encyclopedia of Eastern Philosophy and Religion: Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Zen REF BL1005 .L4813 1989
Encyclopedia of Bioethics REF QH332 .E52 1995 (note the QH location as it deals with bioscience)

Browse the Book Stacks
Sometimes, just looking through the shelves can turn up works you would not have considered otherwise. Using the Library of Congress subject system, Philosophy is generally shelved in the B call number area with other related fields in BC-BJ. The Library of Congress provides a detailed online list of the subclasses in these areas so you can see how this is organized. Traditional philosophy and related topics can be found primarily in the following call number areas:

B -- General Philosophy, including history
BC--Logic, formal and informal
BD--Metaphysics and epistemology
BF--Philosophy of mind (known as psychology)
BH--Aesthetics
BJ--Ethics

Circuit (1-3 day delivery)
Search the collections of other San Diego area libraries -- about 3,000,000 books. Find and request books directly online; pick them up at our Library in 1-3 days.

WorldCat (5-10 day delivery)
Search the collections of libraries world-wide -- about 52,000,000 books. Find a book in this database, and fill-out an Interlibrary Loan delivery request. Book will be delivered to Library for pickup.

Special Collections in Other Libraries

You may find a catalog entry or finding list online that tells you that an item or collection exists, but it may not have been digitized and if rare or fragile will be held 'Special Collections'. This means you might not be able to borrow the materials, but have to visit the collection for access. To locate archive and manuscript collections, use NUCMC (National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections.)