Part 9: Making Sense in the Stacks, 100s

Philosophy and Psychology

What do you see?

Rorschach at Wikimedia Commons

The 100s in the Dewey Decimal System have the honor of the primary place in education at Amherst College in Massachusetts in the second half of the nineteenth century.  The top field of scholarship in a Classical education was philosophy, ranging from Metaphysics (110s) and Paranormal phenomena (130s) to Logic (260s) and Ethics (170s).

As a student, I am often confused by morals and ethics.  It turns out Ethics means the study of morals and morals are the "rules or habits of conduct...with reference to standards of right and wrong." That may explain why Ethics is also called "moral philosophy."

Even though Paranormal phenomena are found in the 130s, the books on UFOs are in 001.942, which will be explained further next week.  Perhaps the two fields surrounding the 130s will shed some light on what to find here.  The 120s cover epistemology, causation, and humankind.  The 140s look at specific schools of philosophy, such as Transcendentalists; however, ancient, medieval, and oriental philosophies (Plato or Confucius) are in the 180s and modern western philosophies (Nietzsche or Rand) are in the 190s.

If Psychology is more your interest, check the 150s.

Sigmund Freud at Wikimedia Commons