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Type of site | Online encyclopedia of philosophy |
|---|---|
| Owner | The Metaphysics Research Lab,Center for the Study of Language and Information,Stanford University |
| Created by | Edward N. Zalta |
| Editor |
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| URL | plato |
| Launched | 1995; 30 years ago (1995) |
| ISSN | 1095-5054 |
| OCLC number | 643092515 |
TheStanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP) is a freely available onlinephilosophy resource published and maintained byStanford University, encompassing both anonline encyclopedia of philosophy and peer-reviewed original publication.[1][2] Each entry is written and maintained by an expert in the field, includingprofessors from many academic institutions worldwide.[3] Authors contributing to the encyclopedia give Stanford University the permission to publish the articles, but retain thecopyright to those articles.[4]
As of August 5, 2022, theSEP has 1,774 published entries. Apart from its online status, the encyclopedia uses the traditional academic approach of most encyclopedias andacademic journals to achieve quality by means of specialist authors selected by an editor or an editorial committee that is competent (although not necessarily considered specialists) in the field covered by the encyclopedia andpeer review.[5]
The encyclopedia was created in 1995 byEdward N. Zalta,[2] with the explicit aim of providing a dynamic encyclopedia that is updated regularly, and so does not become dated in the manner of conventional print encyclopedias.[1][6] The charter for the encyclopedia allows for rival articles on a single topic to reflect reasoned disagreements among scholars. Initially, theSEP was developed with U.S. public funding from theNational Endowment for the Humanities and theNational Science Foundation. A long-term fundraising plan to preserveopen access to the encyclopedia is supported by many university libraries and library consortia. These institutions contribute under a plan devised by theSEP in collaboration with theScholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition, theInternational Coalition of Library Consortia, and theSoutheastern Library Network, with matching funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities.[3]
The logo depicts the initials ofSEP in the shape ofThe Thinker, an original copy of which is co-owned by Stanford and which features across the university's iconography and culture.[7]
