The following appeared in Volume 98, Number 2 (Spring, 1999) of the APA Newsletters

EpistemeLinks is a general purpose philosophy website, though its name might induce one to think that it focuses on epistemological matters. It is an excellent site: mountains of information and further links have been clearly organized in an intelligible fashion. The face of the index page is not super fancy with graphics, so it loads relatively quickly. The main sections of EpistemeLinks.com are:

One can also search the entire EpistemeLinks site.

The headings cover most everything a philosopher could be interested in, but the webmaster seems quite open to suggestions. There is copious material under each of the headings, and it is usually well organized. For instance, clicking on "Philosophers" brings one to a page where one can link to

1) a listing of websites for professors and graduate students in philosophy (and access to a form that enables one to register a site for the listing),

2) 66 listed philosophers,

3) a list of additional philosophers who haven’t (yet) made the front page list.

Clicking on one of the listed philosophers (e.g., C. S. Peirce) brings one to another page on which is an organized list of relevant sites, beginning with available electronic encyclopedia entries, other relevant websites, a biography, and then related links within EpistemeLinks. Where applicable, relevant websites for societies and institutes will also be listed.

A fair amount of thought has clearly gone into the structure of the site, and that is a definite plus, for it helps decrease the amount of blind flailing that web surfing can sometimes amount to. As I poked about, I did occasionally hit dead or missing websites. I e-mailed the webmaster to ask how often the site is purged of dead ends, and he responded within hours that he periodically ran a program that sought out and eliminated them. Looking for philosophy departments in other countries was somewhat successful, but some sites were not listed (e.g., University of Amsterdam) and others were not where the link led (e.g., University of Bielefeld). International sites are the hardest to find, and a reliable source for them would be greatly appreciated.

There is a fair amount of information about the site itself available in its pages. It was created and is maintained by Thomas Ryan Stone, a former graduate student in philosophy who has moved into computing, I gather, as his employment. He has recruited a Board of Advisors consisting of an interestingly eclectic mixture of people in philosophy and/or philosophy publishing and seems to welcome suggestions.

Stone also e-publishes two newsletters connected to the site: an update letter sent monthly listing the changes made in the site, and a list of recently published books in philosophy. Stone is also up front about the commercial support received by EpistemeLinks. The site is an Amazon Associate and a Powell’s Partner, which means that advertisements for books available through those two retailers appear on almost all of its pages. If a visitor then follows a link from EpistemeLinks to either of those bookstore sites and makes a purchase, EpistemeLinks receives a commission. According to Stone, the site receives no other support, and the amount received from book commissions is sufficient only to cover the website space and incidental costs. Stone’s time, in other words, is unrecompensed. The advertisements are generally unobtrusive, and list only books relevant to philosophy.

But I did encounter one difficulty with them: on the page listing e-text resources, the advertisement by Amazon.com overlay part of the list. It did not make the list unusable, but it did make reading it difficult. (However, this difficulty appears to be browser dependent, since it did not occur in more recent browsers.) EpistemeLinks does ask its users to link to the two bookstore sites through EpistemeLinks whenever possible, for any book then purchased, whether philosophy or not, helps support the site.

Another advertisement seems questionable, one that doesn’t stem from either Amazon or Powell’s. An advertisement for the "American Freedom Library CD-ROM" (from laissezfaire.org) claims to contain virtually everything relevant to the concepts of freedom and liberty, both classical and contemporary. A closer perusal of the contents, however, shows that besides the admitted classics, such as Plato, Locke, Hobbes, and the Federalist Papers, the contemporary pieces have a definite very conservative political bias. For instance, the only piece listed on feminism is Phyllis Schlafly’s "The Power of the Positive Woman," on abortion "Abortion and the Constitution: Reversing Roe v. Wade Through the Courts," and on law and order, LaPierre’s "Guns, Crime, and Freedom." There is also a substantial section on significant Republicans, but none on any Democrats or independents. Because this CD-ROM has pretty clear propagandistic aims, the advertisement doesn’t seem quite consistent with the current policy of the site: "At this time Episteme Links does not have an active program for accepting direct advertising. All color sidebar "advertisements" for books and CD-ROMs are created for their information value and/or to promote the Amazon.com and Powell’s partnerships." (quote from the FAQ)

EpistemeLinks is an EDSITEment site, which means it has passed muster before a panel of educators. EDSITEment is a project of the NEH, MCI, and the Council of the Great City Schools and seeks to single out reliable and convenient gateway sites to the humanities for the use of students, parents, and teachers.