Cambridge Companions are a series of authoritative guides, written by leading experts, offering lively, accessible introductions to major writers, artists, philosophers, topics, and periods. The first two titles in the Companions series were the Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare and the Cambridge Companion to Chaucer, which were both published in 1986 and have since been updated with new editions. Now, over 600 titles have been published with the intention not only to offer a comprehensive overview of their chosen topic, but to display and provoke lively and controversial debate. Cambridge Core hosts the online version of the printed series and includes over 600 Companion titles, over 4,000 essays, as well as bibliographies and further reading. It is fully searchable by author, title, topic, or theme. (Provided by Publisher).
China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) E-Books Service
The Library is excited to announce its subscription to the CNKI E-Books service, offering full-text access and the option to download entire books. With over 9,000 high-quality academic titles from China’s most authoritative scholarly publishers, this service covers a wide range of subject areas, including Art, Language & Literature, History, Nationality & Geography, and Philosophy & Religion. It provides invaluable resources for both research and learning.
The CNKI E-Books collection covers a variety of specialized topics, such as:
This invaluable resource enhances access to authoritative Chinese scholarly content, significantly enriching China-related studies. It is also essential for students working on dissertations and theses that require Chinese-language sources.
The Cambridge Histories series is one of the most respected reference collections in academia. Now extending to over 400 volumes, titles nominally encompass 10 subject areas: American History; Ancient History & Classical Studies; Asian History; British & European History; Global History; Literature; Middle East & African Studies; Music & Theatre; Philosophy & Political Thought and Religion. However, it is worth noting that the topics addressed extend across the full range of the humanities, encompassing longstanding series, such as those documenting the history of the major global religions, but also recent innovations such as the World History series, which traces the development and chronology of fields as diverse as Food, Medical Ethics, Sexualities and Slavery.
Often incorporating contributions by University of Manchester academics, the collections offer invaluable contextual introductions for first-time researchers as well as regular monthly updates on developing areas of scholarship. The library has recently undertaken a review exercise to ensure online access to all available electronic titles and instituted a subscription for the addition of annual releases to ensure consistent and comprehensive access to this flagship reference series.
The Cambridge Histories also complement other recent state-of-the art and regularly updated reference material recently added to the Library’s holdings – most notably Oxford Bibliographies and Oxford Research Encyclopedias
Oxford Bibliographies Online is a comprehensive, multidisciplinary resource encompassing material from 43 diverse discipline areas across the humanities, social sciences and sciences.
Developed in collaboration with scholars worldwide, this database offers authoritative and updated research guides that blend the features of an annotated bibliography with those of a high-level encyclopaedia. Each article serves as an up-to-date, reliable guide to current scholarship across a wide array of disciplines, complete with original commentary and detailed annotations.
The platform's advanced discoverability tools help users locate the content they need—be it chapters, books, journal articles, websites, blogs, or data sets. Users can sign in to save searches, create personalised lists of citations, and access links to full-text content in print and online.
Additionally, email alerts notify users of updates to articles and bibliographies.
With its multidisciplinary scope, Oxford Bibliographies Online is an invaluable resource for teaching and research across the humanities, social sciences, and sciences and complements our access to Oxford Research Encyclopaedias in providing accurate, peer reviewed and regularly updated summaries.
Routledge Encyclopaedia of Philosophy Online (REP)
The Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy Online (REP Online) is the largest and most comprehensive resource available for all those involved in the study of philosophy. It is a trusted source of quality information, providing access to over 2,800 articles that have been edited for level and consistency by a team of renowned subject experts.
Regularly updated with new and revised articles it is the ideal entry point for further discovery and research, clearly organised and with over 25,000 cross-references linking themes, concepts and philosophers. It is also an ideal reference source for those in subjects related to philosophy, such as politics, psychology, economics, anthropology, religion and literature (Provided by Publisher).
The following are important databases for this subject area, however if you don't see what you're looking for, please go to the Database Directory for Philosophy to browse a wider selection.
Follow the links below to browse databases for specific types of resources.
You can use our Database Directory to browse a broader range of databases that are relevant to Philosophy as well as other subjects. The directory also allows you to identify databases that provide access to specific types of resources (e.g. Full Text Articles, Streaming Video, Patents, Theses and Dissertations, and much more).
The University of Manchester's research is internationally recognised. Go to Research Explorer, Manchester's research database, to discover the breadth of research produced by staff across the University.
Browse research publications from the Department of Philosophy (please note: whilst many of the publications listed are available to access/Open Access, some records are for forthcoming titles awaiting publication).
