LibGuides: Medieval Philosophy: Background Info

Credo Reference Articles

Albertus Magnus (1193 - 1280)
From The Columbia Encyclopedia
Scholastic philosopher, Doctor of the Church, called the Universal Doctor. MORE
John Duns Scotus (1265 - 1308)
From Philosophy of Education: An Encyclopedia
Franciscan philosopher and theologian, whose thought represents the last great synthesis of the high Middle Ages. Through his doctrines on freedom, epistemology, and anthropology, among others. MORE
Peter Abelard (1079 - 1142): Topic Page
Theologian, born near Nantes, W France. He studied under Roscellinus and Guillaume de Champeaux (c.1070–1171). MORE
St. Anselm (1033 - 1109)
From Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy
Saint, called Anselm of Canterbury, Italian-born English philosophical theologian. MORE
St. Thomas Aquinas (1225 - 1274): Topic Page
Italian theologian, scholastic philosopher, and Dominican friar, whose works include Summa contra Gentiles (1259-64) and Summa Theologiae (1267-73), the first attempt at a comprehensive theological system. MORE

Medieval Multitasker

Dante Alighieri of Florence

Andrea del Castagno, ca. 1450

Credit: Wikipedia Commons

Social Ethics

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Getting a Background

Encyclopedia of Medieval Philosophy
Online resource from SpringerLink
Cambridge History of Medieval Philosophy
Link is online version. Print Version at:
MAIN STACKS B 721 .C355 2010 (2 vols.)
Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2nd ed.
Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Link is to online version. Print Version at REF B 51 .R68
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
A cooperative, non-profit venture to create a freely available scholarly encyclopedia of philosophy. It has filled out nicely over the years.
Historical Dictionary of Medieval Philosophy and Theology
Blackwell Dictionary of Western Philosophy
Dictionary of the Middle Ages
A 13 volume encyclopedic work
Talking Philosophy: A Wordbook
Encyclopedia of Ethics (Salem)
Encyclopedia of Ethics (Routledge)
Westminster Dictionary of Christian Ethics
Encyclopedia of Biblical and Christian Ethics
An Encyclopedia of War and Ethics
Blackwell Encyclopedia of Modern Christian Thought

REF: Individual Philosophers & Schools

Medieval Philosophers
Dictionary of Literary Biography series, no. 115
Augustine Through the Ages
Cambridge Companion to Aristotle
Cambridge Companion to Anselm
(See box below for more Cambridge Companions for individual medieval philosophers!)

E-Reference: Sample titles and uses

These sample titles are among the dozens of Reference books and sets available electronically on campus, or off-campus using your OneCard name and Library/barcode number.

For additional electronic reference works, see compilation databases like Credo Reference and individual titles in clusters like the Gale Virtual Reference Library and Oxford Reference Online. The Cambridge Companions to Philosophy, Religion and Culture, most of which are also available in paper by title, are anthologies of essays on a particular philosopher or area of study.

New Catholic Encyclopedia, 2nd ed.
Wide range of articles, including specific articles on aspects of Catholicism.
Encyclopedia Judaica
Second edition of this classic and comprehensive work.
Print available at REF DS 102.8 .E496 2007
Encyclopedia of Bioethics, 3rd ed., 5 vols. (Post)
Online. Print at REF QH 332 .E52 2004
Note: if this is an area of special interest, see our Bioethics LibGuide at http://libguides.lmu.edu/bioethics
Cambridge Companion to Abelard
... to Aquinas
... to Arabic Philosophy
... to Augustine
... to Boethius
... to Duns Scotus
... to Francis of Assisi
... to Maimonides
... to Medieval Jewish Philosophy
... to Medieval Philosophy
... to Muhammad
... to Ockham
... to Plato's Republic
... to Plato

Oxford Handbooks
Subjects: MANY
Description: General e-book collection containing full text. Focuses on Humanities, Social Sciences, and Business disciplines.
Contents: Book Chapters; E-books

... to Aquinas
... Medieval Jewish Philosophy in Arabic
Another subscribed title.

But note that the online descriptions of the Oxford Handbooks and their articles that we don't have can be useful in picking out resources the print ones contain, i.e. as an index to the individual articles in the print handbooks.

OxBridge HandPanions

Good places to look for individual philosophers and philosophical and historical schools of thought:

Cambridge Companions to Philosophy, Religion and Culture

Individual volumes on philosophers from (alphabetically) Abelard to Wittgenstein. Available online and in print.

Oxford Handbooks Online: Philosophy

Handbooks on 35 discrete philosophical areas, from Aesthetics to World Philosophy. Some also available in print.

Handbooks, Bibliographies, etc.

Oxford Bibliographies
Subjects: Philosophy, Ethics, Biblical Studies
Description: Research database containing full text. Written 2010-present, these are guides to scholarly works on a topic. Each consists of overview paragraphs and annotated bibliographies.
Contents: Bibliographies

Sinner, Saint ... Philosopher!

Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis

Artist: Sandro Botticelli