• For one theme, list themes alphabetically, or explore the structure
• For one philosopher, alphabetical or chronological list
• For one text, alphabetical by author or chronological
• To combine themes • To combine philosophers • To combine texts
• For one idea, if you know the number, insert it here:
So far this has been a solo project, but I am now inviting collaborators. I have compiled 14,000 ideas for this website, at the rate of about 1000 ideas per year. With a few enthusiastic collaborators, the project could become a serious player in the world of online philosophy. If you are a regular reader of philosophy and this interests you, then download my guidelines on how to contribute. I have found the compilation process hugely useful to my own education, as well as leading to some interesting results. My dream scenario is a team of readers like James Murray’s, who compiled the Oxford English Dictionary. Please note that there is no money to be made here. You don’t need to be a top level philosopher, as we want ideas at all levels of the subject. Professors are welcome, but so are undergraduates and keen amateurs (and as a retirement project, it is a gift from the gods). I don’t mind if you glean ideas from a text I have already done, as duplicates can easily be weeded out later. Great texts need dozens of visits. Because compression is required, I don’t aim for the highest standards of scholarship, but I am keen to get the references accurate and full, so that true scholars can find the originals.
The database is compiled in Microsoft Access, which is an unfriendly piece of software, not much used by philosophers. If you email an idea roughly following my rules, I will paste your stuff into Access, and standardise it. You can enter the idea in our online form, or paste our Word table, or design your own way of doing it. All that is essential is the idea (fitted into 255 characters), and full details of where it comes from. If you are tempted, email me a few ideas, following these rules, and see what results we can achieve. If it strikes you as promising, then contribute regularly, and we may achieve great things. Regular contributors could become involved in the structure, aims and presentation of the website.
Anyone becoming a regular contributor will have their name cited on the website. If you add a ‘reaction’ to the idea, your remarks will be initialled, since these will be rather individual. Email me if you have problems (petermagibson@gmail.com). I live near London, but welcome contributors from anywhere on the planet.
Load Guidelines for collaborators (Word format)
View Guidelines for collaborators (pdf format)
Ideas compiled by Peter Gibson | Implemented by Martin Berry |
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