The ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' (''SEP'') is a freely available online

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

resource published and maintained by

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

, encompassing both an

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of philosophy and peer-reviewed original publication. Each entry is written and maintained by an expert in the field, including

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

s from many academic institutions worldwide. Authors contributing to the encyclopedia give Stanford University the permission to publish the articles, but retain the

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to those articles.

Approach and history

As of August 5, 2022, the ''SEP'' has 1,774 published entries. Apart from its online status, the encyclopedia uses the traditional academic approach of most encyclopedias and

academic journal An academic journal (or scholarly journal or scientific journal) is a periodical publication in which Scholarly method, scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. They serve as permanent and transparent forums for the ...

s to achieve quality by means of specialist authors selected by an editor or an editorial committee that is competent (although not necessarily considered specialists) in the field covered by the encyclopedia and

peer review Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work (:wiktionary:peer#Etymology 2, peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the ...

. The encyclopedia was created in 1995 by

Edward N. Zalta Edward Nouri Zalta (; born March 16, 1952) is an American philosopher who is a senior research scholar at the Center for the Study of Language and Information at Stanford University. He received his BA from Rice University in 1975 and his PhD f ...

, with the explicit aim of providing a dynamic encyclopedia that is updated regularly, and so does not become dated in the manner of conventional print encyclopedias. The charter for the encyclopedia allows for rival articles on a single topic to reflect reasoned disagreements among scholars. Initially, the ''SEP'' was developed with U.S. public funding from the

National Endowment for the Humanities The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...

and the

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. A long-term fundraising plan to preserve

open access Open access (OA) is a set of principles and a range of practices through which nominally copyrightable publications are delivered to readers free of access charges or other barriers. With open access strictly defined (according to the 2001 de ...

to the encyclopedia is supported by many university libraries and library consortia. These institutions contribute under a plan devised by the ''SEP'' in collaboration with the

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, the International Coalition of Library Consortia, and the

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, with matching funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The logo depicts the initials of ''SEP'' in the shape of ''

The Thinker ''The Thinker'' (), by Auguste Rodin, is a bronze sculpture depicting a Heroic nudity, nude male figure of heroic size, seated on a large rock, leaning forward, right elbow placed upon the left thigh, back of the right hand supporting the chin ...

'', an original copy of which is co-owned by Stanford and which features across the university's iconography and culture."Hmmm . . . Where Did He Go?"
''Stanford Magazine'', April 2002. Retrieved 2024.

References

External links

* * Official

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s: *
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy mirror
from the Institute for Logic, Language and Computation of the

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, ) is a public university, public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Established in 1632 by municipal authorities, it is the fourth-oldest academic institution in the Netherlan ...

*
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy mirror
from University of Sydney Library {{Stanford University Encyclopedias of philosophy

Internet properties established in 1995 1995 establishments in the United States American online encyclopedias Articles containing video clips 20th-century encyclopedias Philosophy websites

Approach and history

See also

References

External links