Library: Philosophy: Books and other resources

Reading lists

Most modules have a reading list to support your studies with essential and recommended books and articles. Our new Reading Lists Online system allows you to easily access electronic content on the list and find out the latest status of print books - and request these through our Click and Collect service.

You should find a link to your reading list through Blackboard (or MS Teams if that is used for your module). You can also access the system through the link below. On the Find Lists page you can search by your module title, module code or the name of your module leader.

Reading Lists Online

Books for your subject

We organise books on the shelves in subject order using the Dewey Decimal System. Books on the same subject have the same number (the class number) and this tells you exactly where the item will be located.

The books are arranged in numerical order first by class number, then in alphabetical order by author. Each book has a label on its spine displaying the number followed by the first three letters of the author's last name.

The majority of the books for Philosophy will be located between 100 and 299:

100	Philosophy	110	Metaphysics
120	Epistemology	130	Parapsychology and occultism
140	Philosophical schools of thought	150	Psychology
160	Logic	170	Ethics
180	Ancient, medieval and eastern philosophy	190	Modern western philosophy
200	Religion	210	Philosophy and theory of religion
230	Christianity	290	All other religions

You can find specific books related to your subject area using Library Search (you can also select the Searching for information tab from the contents list of this page).

Library Core (formerly Ashley 1 lecture theatres) houses our core collection which covers most subjects excluding creative/arts subjects. Nearly all of the English and Creative Writing books are housed here. Any print book can be reserved for collection here.

Library Creative (Blackstone ground floor) houses our creative collection (most items with ‘700’ shelf numbers on the library catalogue but includes fashion also). It is open 24/7 and is located here so it is convenient for most creative subject delivery. Any print book can be reserved for collection here.

Library Centre for Excellence (Stafford BHL). Any print book can be reserved for collection here.

Library Catalyst (Click & Collect). Any print book can be reserved for collection here.

Highlighted books in philosophy

Kant's Philosophy of the Unconscious

The unconscious raises relevant problems in the theory of knowledge as regards non-conceptual contents and obscure representations. In the philosophy of mind, it bears on the topic of the unity of consciousness and the notion of the transcendental Self. It is a key-topic of logic with respect to the distinction between determinate-indeterminate judgments and prejudices, and in aesthetics it appears in connection with the problems of reflective judgments and of the genius. Finally, it is a relevant issue also in moral philosophy in defining the irrational aspects of the human being. The purpose of the present volume is to fill a substantial gap in Kant research while offering a comprehensive survey of the topic in different areas of research, such as history of philosophy, philosophy of mind, aesthetics, moral philosophy, and anthropology.

Reading Nietzsche

"Beyond Good and Evil" is a concise and comprehensive statement of Nietzsche's mature philosophy and is an ideal entry point into Nietzsche's work as a whole. Pithy, lyrical and densely complex, "Beyond Good and Evil" demands that its readers are already familiar with key Nietzschean concepts - such as the will-to-power, perspectivism or eternal recurrence - and are able to leap with Nietzschean agility from topic to topic, across metaphysics, psychology, religion, morality and politics. "Reading Nietzsche" explains the key concepts, the range of Nietzsche's concerns, and highlights Nietzsche's writing strategies that are the key to understanding his work and processes of thought. In its close analysis of the text, "Reading Nietzsche" reassesses this most creative of philosophers and presents a significant contribution to the study of his thought. In setting this analysis within a comprehensive survey of Nietzsche's ideas, the book is a guide both to this key work and to Nietzsche's philosophy more generally.

The Romantic Sublime

Originally published in 1976. In The Romantic Sublime Thomas Weiskel investigates the concept of the sublime in the poetry of English Romantic writers. His work infuses elements of structuralism and psychological thought in his attempt to describe and demystify the sublime experience--or, in his words, to "desublimate the sublime." In doing so, he demonstrates that the sublime is largely mystified, and he contrasts those with faith in the awesomeness of sublimation and those who remain skeptical of the sublime's mystifying power. In working to demystify the sublime, Weiskel emphasizes the task of intelligence by assigning morality and intellect the value of mistrust in sublimation.

Heidegger

Heidegger is a classic introduction to Heidegger's notoriously difficult work. Truly accessible, it combines clarity of exposition with an authoritative handling of the subject-matter. Richard Polt has written a work that will become the standard text for students looking to understand one of the century's greatest minds.

Phenomenology and Existentialism

Originally published in 1967. Focusing on key philosophers and the tenants of their thought, Phenomenology and Existentialism forms a wide-ranging introduction to two important movements in modern philosophy. Included are essays by Roderick M. Chisholm on Brentano, Aron Gurwitsch on Husserl, E.F. Kaelin on Heidegger, J. Glenn Gray on Heidegger, George L. Kline on Hegel and Marx, James M. Edie on Sartre, Frederick A. Olafson on Merleau-Ponty,Herbert Spiegelberg on Phenomenology and psychology, and Albert William Levi on the alienation of man.

Concepts, Frames and Cascades in Semantics, Cognition and Ontology

This open access book presents novel theoretical, empirical and experimental work exploring the nature of mental representations that support natural language production and understanding, and other manifestations of cognition. One fundamental question raised in the text is whether requisite knowledge structures can be adequately modeled by means of a uniform representational format, and if so, what exactly is its nature. Frames are a key topic covered which have had a strong impact on the exploration of knowledge representations in artificial intelligence, psychology and linguistics; cascades are a novel development in frame theory. Other key subject areas explored are: concepts and categorization, the experimental investigation of mental representation, as well as cognitive analysis in semantics. This book is of interest to students, researchers, and professionals working on cognition in the fields of linguistics, philosophy, and psychology.

Michel Foucault

This book explores the theoretical contribution of Michel Foucault to the fields of criminology, law, justice and penology. It surveys both the ways in which the work of Foucault has been applied in criminology, but also how his work can be used to understand and explain contemporary issues and policies. Moreover, this book seeks to dispel some of the common misconceptions about the relevance of Foucault's work to criminology and law. Mariana Valverde clearly explains the insights that Foucault's rich body of work provides about different practices found in the fields of law, security, justice, and punishment; and how these insights have been used or could be used to understand and explain issues and policies that Foucault himself did not write about, including those that had not yet emerged during his lifetime. Drawing on key texts by Foucault such as Discipline and Punish, and also lectures he gave at the College de France and Louvain Criminology Institute which offer a more nuanced account of the development of criminal justice, Mariana Valverde offers the essential text on Foucault and his contribution and continued relevance to criminology. This book will be important reading for students and scholars of criminology, law, sociolegal studies, security studies, political theory and sociological theory.

Foucault and Nietzsche

Foucault's intellectual indebtedness to Nietzsche is apparent in his writing, yet the precise nature, extent, and nuances of that debt are seldom explored. Foucault himself seems sometimes to claim that his approach is essentially Nietzschean, and sometimes to insist that he amounts to a radical break with Nietzsche. This volume is the first of its kind, presenting the relationship between these two thinkers on elements of contemporary culture that they shared interests in, including the nature of life in the modern world, philosophy as a way of life, and the ways in which we ought to read and write about other philosophers. The contributing authors are leading figures in Foucault and Nietzsche studies, and their contributions reflect the diversity of approaches possible in coming to terms with the Foucault-Nietzsche relationship. Specific points of comparison include Foucault and Nietzsche's differing understandings of the Death of God; art and aesthetics; power; writing and authorship; politics and society; the history of ideas; genealogy and archaeology; and the evolution of knowledge.

Epistemology and Metaphysics for Qualitative Research

This clearly written and provocative text outlines the wide range of epistemological and metaphysical pillars of research.In a clear, easy to follow style, the reader is guided through an array of concepts that are defined, explained and made simple. With the aid of helpful examples and case studies, the book challenges the prevailing modes of thinking about qualitative inquiry by showcasing an immense variety of philosophical frameworks. Armed with a strong understanding of this philosophical backbone, students will be able to choose and defend a 'pick and mix' of research methods that will uniquely complement their research. Empiricism Rationalism Realism Skepticism Idealism Positivism Post-positivism Idea-ism Hermeneutics Phenomenology Social Ontology Quantum Mechanics Essential reading for new and experienced researchers, this 'must' for any social science bookshelf will help unlock a new level of research creativity.

Michel Serres

Christopher Watkin provides a true overview of Serres' thinking. Using diagrams to explain Serres' thought, the first half of the book carefully explores Serres' 'global intuition' - how he understands and engages with the world - and his 'figures of thought', the repeated intellectual moves that characterise his unique approach. The second half explores in detail Serres' revolutionary contributions to the areas of language, objects and ecology. All told, Watkin shows that Michel Serres has produced a cross-disciplinary body of work that provides a crucial and as yet under-exploited reference for current debates in post-humanism, object oriented ontology, ecological thought and the environmental humanities.

The Bloomsbury Handbook of Posthumanism

As our ideas of the human have come under increasing challenges - from technological change, from medical advances, from the existential threat of climate crisis, from an ideological decentering of the human, amongst many other things - the 'posthuman' has become an increasingly central topic in the Humanities. Bringing together leading scholars from across the world and a wide range of disciplines, this is the most comprehensive available survey of cutting edge contemporary scholarship on posthumanism in literature, culture and theory. The Bloomsbury Handbook of Posthumanism explores: - Central critical concepts and approaches, including transhumanism, new materialism and the Anthropocene - Ethical perspectives on ecology, race, gender and disability - Technology, from data and artificial intelligence to medicine and genetics - A wide range of genres and forms, from literary and science fiction, through film, television and music, to comics, video games and social media.

Online books

As well as printed books, we also have thousands of online books available. These are high-quality academic texts that supplement our print collection.

Most online books can be found using Library Search (you can also select the Searching for information tab from the contents list of this page).

To see if there is an online book on a subject you are looking for, you can refine your search by:

Selecting Books from the Content type options
Selecting Available online from the Format available as options

For more information on finding, accessing and using online books, please refer to our guide.

Going beyond your reading list

The ability to find additional appropriate resources for yourself is a skill that will help you to become a more independent learner. A deeper understanding of your subject will give you confidence when tackling your assignments and should lead to better grades.

Look at the guide Academic reading which will help you to develop and perfect your reading skills.

Can't find the book that you are looking for?

Sometimes when doing research you may come across a book that you are unable to find using Library Search.

You can usually request the loan of a book that is not currently stocked by our libraries through our Document Delivery service.

If you only need a specific chapter of a book, you could also try our Request a Digital Copy service.

Guide to using ebooks

Ebooks are electronic versions of print texts and are available to you 24/7 from any device which is connected to the internet, so can be used anytime and anywhere both on and off campus. When we buy books we have a 'digital first' approach so you will find we have access to thousands of ebooks and many of the recommended resources on your reading lists will be available electronically.

Ebooks have a range of features to allow you to make notes, highlight text and change appearance to help make them more accessible to you.

Look at our detailed ebooks guide to learn more about the various ebook platforms we subscribe to and how you can make best use of each of these.