The Philosophy Site

Philosophy Directories

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There are substantial philosophy directories on the web, which can give focus to the general browser, and save time for the researcher. Certainly, my experience so far is that word searches in this subject throw up hundreds and even thousands of sites, many of which prove to be second rate or irrelevant to what I am looking for.

A directory is designed to make your web experience more focussed and less time-consuming. A team of editors, many in a voluntary capacity, collate and evaluate thousands of websites, grouping them into categories and subcategories, e.g. philosophers, homepages, philosophy subdisciplines, etc. The advantage of this system is that there is nearly always a coherent, edited description of each link, and sites are supposed to meet some sort of editorial standard (though in some cases this may only mean that the site has been verified as active!). Some directories will highlight or recommend certain sites for their exceptional quality or comprehensiveness. I certainly find directories a more 'friendly' browsing environment than the cold, undiscriminating word search.

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• Yahoo

Rating: excellent. No. of links: approx. 1856.

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• AOL

Rating: excellent. No. of links: approx. 2488

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• Google

Rating: excellent. No. of links: approx. 3547

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• AltaVista

Rating: respectable. No. of links: AltaVista does not provide link counts.

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• Hotbot
  
  Rating: excellent. No. of links: approx. 3,378.
  
  

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• Looksmart
  
  Rating: fair. No. of links: Looksmart does not provide link counts.
  

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• Lycos
  
  Rating: excellent. No. of links: approx. 3,629.
  
  

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• Netscape
  
  Rating: excellent. No. of links: approx. 2,613
  
  

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• Open Directory Project
  
  Rating: excellent: No. of links: approx. 2,767
  
  

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