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Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
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<h2 id="history">History</h2> <p>The <i>IEP</i> was founded by philosopher <a href="/facts/James_Fieser/FKHL91u9">James Fieser</a> in 1995, operating through a <a href="/facts/Non-profit/AmXu2c85">non-profit</a> organization with the aim of providing accessible and scholarly information on philosophy.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a> The current general editors are philosophers James Fieser and <a href="/facts/Bradley_Dowden/uYhVVAQJ">Bradley Dowden</a> (since 1999) with a staff of thirty faculty members as subject-area editors plus numerous volunteers.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5"><sup>5</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6"><sup>6</sup></a> The entire website was redesigned in 2009, moving from static HTML pages to the <a href="/facts/Open_source/7X9rCdz4">open-source</a> <a href="/facts/Content_management_system/CCk4vIxV">content management system</a> <a href="/facts/WordPress/mrrCX1Fx">WordPress</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7"><sup>7</sup></a> In 2024, it contained 880 articles. </p> <h2 id="organization">Organization</h2> <p>The general editors supervise thirty subject-area editors, who help recruit authors and referees. The area editors supervise the blind-refereeing process. The intended audience for the <i>IEP</i> is philosophy students and faculty who are not specialists within the field, and thus articles are written in an accessible style. Articles consist of a brief survey or overview, followed by the body of the article, and an annotated bibliography. Articles are searchable either by an alphabetical index or through a Google-power search mechanism.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8"><sup>8</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="usage">Usage</h2> <p>During any twelve month period it receives 6.9 million unique viewers, making it the most visited encyclopedia of professionally written philosophy articles. <a href="/facts/Similarweb/kMuDQXYz">Similarweb</a> analytics<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:9" href="#fn:9"><sup>9</sup></a> and Google Analytics say 75% of this usage is through internet searches, 18% is through direct access, and 5% through referral, with the referring websites including other reference websites and university library guides.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:10" href="#fn:10"><sup>10</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="recognition">Recognition</h2> <p>The <i>IEP</i> is included by the <a href="/facts/American_Library_Association/3jVtqULk">American Library Association</a> in its listing of Best Free Reference Sites;<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:11" href="#fn:11"><sup>11</sup></a> listed as an online philosophy resource by the Federation of Australasian Philosophy in Schools Associations;<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:12" href="#fn:12"><sup>12</sup></a> listed by EpistemeLinks as one of the "outstanding resources" in philosophy on the internet;<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:13" href="#fn:13"><sup>13</sup></a> and listed as a reliable resource in many university philosophy guides.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:14" href="#fn:14"><sup>14</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="see-also">See also</h2> <ul><li><i><a href="/facts/Routledge_Encyclopedia_of_Philosophy/3aH025Y7">Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/facts/Stanford_Encyclopedia_of_Philosophy/LDuL5HW4">Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy</a></i></li> <li><i><a href="/facts/The_Encyclopedia_of_Philosophy/oJTxQV59">The Encyclopedia of Philosophy</a></i></li> <li><a href="/facts/List_of_online_encyclopedias/5wMFtF0e">List of online encyclopedias</a></li></ul> <h2 id="external-links">External links</h2> <ul><li><a href="http://www.iep.utm.edu/">Official website</a> </li></ul> <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>"Oxford University ARCH Project". Archived from the original on 16 May 2018. Retrieved 2017-09-10. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20180516050520/http://arch.oucs.ox.ac.uk/detail/87371/index.html" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20180516050520/http://arch.oucs.ox.ac.uk/detail/87371/index.html</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:2"><p>"Oxford University ARCH Project". Archived from the original on 16 May 2018. Retrieved 2017-09-10. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20180516050520/http://arch.oucs.ox.ac.uk/detail/87371/index.html" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20180516050520/http://arch.oucs.ox.ac.uk/detail/87371/index.html</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:3"><p>Kooy, B. (2015). "Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy". Reference Review. Vol. 29, no. 4. p. 12. <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:4"><p>Kooy, B. 2015. 'Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy', in Reference Review, Vol. 29, No. 4, p. 12; see also "About the IEP". Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. <a href="http://www.iep.utm.edu/home/about/" target="_blank">http://www.iep.utm.edu/home/about/</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:5"><p>"Law in Free Internet Encyclopedias of Philosophy (SEP & IEP)". The University of Chicago Library News. The University of Chicago Library. <a href="https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/about/news/law-in-free-internet-encyclopedias-of-philosophy-sep-iep/" target="_blank">https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/about/news/law-in-free-internet-encyclopedias-of-philosophy-sep-iep/</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:6"><p>Kooy, B. (2015). "Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy". Reference Review. Vol. 29, no. 4. p. 12. <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:7"><p>"Welcome to the New IEP". Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved 2023-07-29. <a href="https://iep.utm.edu/home/new-iep/" target="_blank">https://iep.utm.edu/home/new-iep/</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:8"><p>Kooy, B. (2015). "Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy". Reference Review. Vol. 29, no. 4. p. 12. <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:9"><p>Similarweb data on IEP, at www.similarweb.com, accessed 18 September 2017. <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:10"><p>Similarweb data on IEP, at www.similarweb.com, accessed 18 September 2017. <a href="#fnref:10" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:11"><p>"Best Free Reference Web Sites 2016 18th Annual List RUSA Emerging Technologies Section (ETS)". Reference & User Services Association (RUSA). December 29, 2016. <a href="http://www.ala.org/rusa/sections/ets/pubs/bestfreewebsites2016" target="_blank">http://www.ala.org/rusa/sections/ets/pubs/bestfreewebsites2016</a> <a href="#fnref:11" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:12"><p>"Online guides to Philosophy". FAPSA. <a href="http://fapsa.org.au/resources/guides-to-philosophy/" target="_blank">http://fapsa.org.au/resources/guides-to-philosophy/</a> <a href="#fnref:12" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:13"><p>"EpistemeLinks: Philosophy Resources on the Internet". Archived from the original on May 30, 2016. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160530195639/http://epistemelinks.com/" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20160530195639/http://epistemelinks.com/</a> <a href="#fnref:13" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:14"><p>"Philosophy: Philosophy eresources". LibGuides. Cambridge University Libraries. <a href="http://libguides.cam.ac.uk/philosophy/eresources" target="_blank">http://libguides.cam.ac.uk/philosophy/eresources</a> <a href="#fnref:14" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> </ol>