# Philosophy Research > Search philosophy literature across SEP, IEP, PhilPapers, Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, CORE, arXiv, and NDPR. Supports paper discovery, citation traversal, content enrichment, and recommendations. Verifies citations via CrossRef. Use when this capability is needed. - Skill: `tomevault-io/philosophy-research` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 2 files) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add tomevault-io/philosophy-research` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/tomevault-io/philosophy-research/raw - Safety review: pending (external: skill-scanner PASS, skillspector PASS) - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: Product & Planning - Author: tomevault-io (https://skillmd.com/u/tomevault-io) - Updated: 2026-09-17 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/tomevault-io/philosophy-research --- # Philosophy Research Skill Search and retrieve academic philosophy literature using structured APIs instead of WebSearch. ## When to Use This Skill Use this skill when: - Searching for philosophy papers, articles, or concepts - Accessing SEP (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) content - Finding citations and references for papers - Verifying that a paper exists with correct metadata - Building bibliographies for literature reviews ## Search Workflow ### Phase 1: SEP & IEP (Most Authoritative) ```bash # Discover relevant SEP articles $PYTHON scripts/search_sep.py "free will" # Extract structured content from an SEP entry $PYTHON scripts/fetch_sep.py freewill --sections "preamble,1,2,bibliography" $PYTHON scripts/fetch_sep.py freewill --bibliography-only # Discover relevant IEP articles (different coverage from SEP) $PYTHON scripts/search_iep.py "free will" # Extract structured content from an IEP entry $PYTHON scripts/fetch_iep.py freewill --sections "1,2,3,bibliography" $PYTHON scripts/fetch_iep.py freewill --bibliography-only ``` Parse the bibliographies for foundational works, then search for those papers. ### Phase 2: PhilPapers ```bash # Philosophy-specific paper search $PYTHON scripts/search_philpapers.py "epistemic injustice" $PYTHON scripts/search_philpapers.py "virtue epistemology" --recent ``` ### Phase 3: Extended Academic Search ```bash # Semantic Scholar - broad academic search $PYTHON scripts/s2_search.py "moral responsibility" --field Philosophy --year 2015-2025 # OpenAlex - 250M+ works, cross-disciplinary $PYTHON scripts/search_openalex.py "consciousness" --year 2020-2024 --min-citations 10 # CORE - 431M+ research outputs, 46M full texts, excellent for abstracts $PYTHON scripts/search_core.py "epistemic injustice" --year 2020-2024 $PYTHON scripts/search_core.py --doi "10.1111/nous.12191" $PYTHON scripts/search_core.py --title "Freedom of the Will" --author "Frankfurt" # arXiv - preprints, AI ethics, recent work $PYTHON scripts/search_arxiv.py "AI alignment ethics" --category cs.AI --recent ``` **Note**: CORE API is rate-limited to 5 requests per 10 seconds (free tier, no API key required). ### Phase 4: Citation Traversal ```bash # Get references and citations for a paper $PYTHON scripts/s2_citations.py PAPER_ID --both --influential-only # Find recommendations based on seed papers $PYTHON scripts/s2_recommend.py --positive "PAPER_ID1,PAPER_ID2" ``` ### Phase 5: Batch Details ```bash # Efficiently fetch metadata for multiple papers $PYTHON scripts/s2_batch.py --ids "PAPER_ID1,PAPER_ID2,DOI:10.xxx/yyy" ``` ### Phase 6: Content Enrichment Enrich entries that lack abstracts. Two sub-steps: **6a. Abstract Resolution** — Resolve abstracts from academic APIs (S2 → OpenAlex → CORE fallback): ```bash # Single paper $PYTHON scripts/get_abstract.py --doi "10.1111/nous.12191" $PYTHON scripts/get_abstract.py --title "Freedom of the Will" --author "Frankfurt" --year 1971 $PYTHON scripts/get_abstract.py --s2-id "abc123def" ``` For batch processing, use `enrich_bibliography.py` (in literature-review scripts): ```bash $PYTHON .claude/skills/literature-review/scripts/enrich_bibliography.py input.bib ``` **6b. NDPR Enrichment** — For `@book` entries that still lack an abstract after step 6a and have **High or Medium importance** (as noted in the `keywords` field), use NDPR (Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews) to extract opening summary paragraphs from book reviews: ```bash # Discover NDPR reviews for a book $PYTHON scripts/search_ndpr.py "book title or author" # Extract content from an NDPR review $PYTHON scripts/fetch_ndpr.py REVIEW_URL ``` NDPR extracts are tagged with `abstract_source = {ndpr}` in BibTeX entries. Note: NDPR content is primarily descriptive of the book's arguments but may include reviewer evaluation. The batch `enrich_bibliography.py` script handles both 6a and 6b automatically. ### Phase 7: Encyclopedia Context Extraction (Optional) For important papers, extract how they're discussed in authoritative philosophy encyclopedias: ```bash # Extract SEP citation context for a specific paper $PYTHON scripts/get_sep_context.py freewill --author "Frankfurt" --year 1971 $PYTHON scripts/get_sep_context.py freewill --author "Fischer" --year 1998 --coauthor "Ravizza" # Extract IEP citation context $PYTHON scripts/get_iep_context.py freewill --author "Frankfurt" --year 1971 ``` ### Phase 8: Verification ```bash # Verify a paper exists via CrossRef $PYTHON scripts/verify_paper.py --title "The Title" --author "Smith" --year 2020 $PYTHON scripts/verify_paper.py --doi "10.1093/mind/fzv123" ``` ## SEP Content Access **Use `fetch_sep.py` instead of WebFetch for SEP articles.** `fetch_sep.py` provides structured extraction: - Preamble (abstract/introduction) - Individual sections by number - Bibliography with parsed author/year/title - Author and publication dates ```bash # Get specific sections $PYTHON scripts/fetch_sep.py compatibilism --sections "preamble,1,2" # Get bibliography only $PYTHON scripts/fetch_sep.py freewill --bibliography-only ``` ## IEP Content Access **Use `fetch_iep.py` for Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy articles.** `fetch_iep.py` provides structured extraction similar to SEP: - Preamble, individual sections, bibliography, author information ```bash $PYTHON scripts/fetch_iep.py compatibilism --sections "1,2,3" $PYTHON scripts/fetch_iep.py freewill --bibliography-only ``` **Note**: IEP has different coverage than SEP. Use both for comprehensive encyclopedia coverage. ## Available Scripts | Script | Purpose | Key Options | |--------|---------|-------------| | `s2_search.py` | Paper discovery | `--bulk`, `--year`, `--field`, `--min-citations` | | `s2_citations.py` | Citation traversal | `--references`, `--citations`, `--influential-only` | | `s2_batch.py` | Batch paper details | `--ids`, `--file` | | `s2_recommend.py` | Find similar papers | `--positive`, `--negative`, `--for-paper` | | `search_openalex.py` | Broad academic search | `--year`, `--doi`, `--id`, `--cites`, `--oa-only` | | `search_arxiv.py` | arXiv preprints | `--category`, `--author`, `--recent`, `--id` | | `search_sep.py` | SEP discovery | `--limit`, `--all-pages` | | `fetch_sep.py` | SEP content extraction | `--sections`, `--bibliography-only`, `--related-only` | | `search_iep.py` | IEP discovery | `--limit`, `--all-pages` | | `fetch_iep.py` | IEP content extraction | `--sections`, `--bibliography-only` | | `search_philpapers.py` | PhilPapers search | `--limit`, `--recent` | | `verify_paper.py` | DOI verification | `--title`, `--author`, `--year`, `--doi` | | `search_core.py` | CORE API (431M papers) | `--doi`, `--title`, `--author`, `--year` | | `get_abstract.py` | Multi-source abstract resolution | `--doi`, `--s2-id`, `--title`, `--author` | | `get_sep_context.py` | SEP citation context extraction | `--author`, `--year`, `--coauthor` | | `get_iep_context.py` | IEP citation context extraction | `--author`, `--year`, `--coauthor` | | `search_ndpr.py` | NDPR book review discovery | `--limit` | | `fetch_ndpr.py` | NDPR content extraction | `--sections` | | `check_setup.py` | Environment check | (no options) | ## Output Format All scripts output JSON with consistent structure: ```json { "status": "success|partial|error", "source": "script_name", "query": "search query", "results": [...], "count": 5, "errors": [] } ``` Exit codes: 0=success, 1=not found, 2=config error, 3=API error ## WebFetch Usage **Use WebFetch only when scripts don't provide the needed content:** - PhilPapers entry pages for additional metadata - Publisher pages for paper details not in S2 - DOI resolution verification (`https://doi.org/{doi}`) **Do NOT use WebFetch for:** - SEP articles: use `fetch_sep.py` (structured output) - Paper abstracts: use `s2_search.py` or `s2_batch.py` ## Verification Requirements - **Never fabricate citations** - only include papers found via scripts - **Verify DOIs** via `verify_paper.py` when S2 lacks DOI - **Omit DOI field** if verification fails (never invent DOIs) - **Report gaps** if expected papers are not found ## Environment Required environment variables (set in `.env` at the project root — takes priority over shell environment): ```bash BRAVE_API_KEY # Required for SEP/PhilPapers discovery CROSSREF_MAILTO # Required for CrossRef polite pool S2_API_KEY # Recommended for Semantic Scholar OPENALEX_EMAIL # Recommended for OpenAlex polite pool ``` Check setup with: ```bash $PYTHON scripts/check_setup.py ``` --- > Converted and distributed by [TomeVault](https://tomevault.io/claim/ai-4-phi) — claim your Tome and manage your conversions.