Key Concept
In Philosophy, primary sources can include: Philosophical texts, treatises, meditations, personal narratives, diaries, memoirs, correspondence, letters. Most frequently the works of the philosopher him/herself, though letters, lectures, and contemporary criticism may also be useful primary materials depending on your exact interest.
Don't understand the difference between primary and secondary sources? Watch this video that provides explanations of differences.
- Primary vs. Secondary Sources (Full Video)This video explains primary and secondary sources and provides tips on determining what a source would be classified as. (Opens a new tab)
Primary Sources Online
There is an increasing amount of digitized primary source material available in library databases and on the web from libraries, museums, educational institutions, and more. Explore these resources to find texts, images, and much more on this topic.
- JSTOR - Primary Source LinkThis link is used to search for only primary sources in the library database JSTOR. (You must login using your TTC credentials.)
- HathiTrust Digital LibraryHathiTrust is a large-scale collaborative repository with over 10 million volumes including content digitized via the Google Books project, Internet Archive, and by local libraries. Public domain content is full-text; non-public domain content (post-1923) is for full-text searching only. Since Tufts is a member, those with a Tufts login can download the pdf of pre-1923 materials and can build a personal collection. TTC doesn't have a login but you can utilize sources that are labeled as "Public Domain".
- Internet ArchiveInternet Archive is a non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, and much more.
- Philosophy Bookshelf (Project Gutenberg)Project Gutenberg is an online library of free eBooks.
- World Digital LibraryDigitized primary source documents from countries and cultures around the world. From the Library of Congress.
Primary Sources Books
Here are a few examples of books:
The Problem of the Color Line at the Turn of the Twentieth Century by ISBN: 9780823254545Publication Date: 2014-12-03This volume assembles essential essays some published only posthumously, others obscure, another only recently translated by W. E. B. Du Bois from 1894 to early 1906. They show the first formulations of some of his most famous ideas, namely, "the veil," "double-consciousness," and the "problem of the color line." Moreover, the deep historical sense of the formation of the modern world that informs Du Bois's thought and gave rise to his understanding of "the problem of the color line" is on display here. Indeed, the essays constitute an essential companion to Du Bois's masterpiece published in 1903 as The Souls of Black Folk.
The Correspondence of Hannah Arendt and Gershom Scholem by ISBN: 9780226924519Publication Date: 2017-11-17Few people thought as deeply or incisively about Germany, Jewish identity, and the Holocaust as Hannah Arendt and Gershom Scholem. And, as this landmark volume reveals, much of that thinking was developed in dialogue, through more than two decades of correspondence.
