Philosophers are often assigned a unique classification number (and sometimes even a range of numbers) by the Library of Congress classification schedule. Very often, the first Cutter number for books by and about such individuals are derived from the nature of the contents of their works, rather than from the author and title.
German philosopher, Immanuel Kant, for example, has an entire range of numbers dedicated to him and his writings — B 2750 – B 2799.
Because of this arrangement, there’s no point in using “Kant” to devise a Cutter number for a book by or about Kant. We already know from the class number range that an item either has Kant as its author or is about him. So “K36” would not get items on the same topic to be any closer to each other on the shelf than they already will be.
The LC schedule offers alternative methods of constructing Cutter numbers for philosophical works. In some cases, the Cutter number is based on the title of the book (often the title in the original language). But sometimes it’s based on the topic of the book, especially in cases of a work of interpretation or criticism.
For example, G.E. Michalson’s, The historical dimensions of a rational faith: the role of history in Kant’s religious thought, has this call number:
Note that the first Cutter number (R4) is based on the topic, religion. If all cataloguers in our library carefully follow the LC schedule, all books dealing with Kant’s theory of religion will end up together on the shelf, making it easy to browse the shelves for related works.
Again, always consult the LC schedule to determine the Cutter numbers for works by or about philosophers. Not all philosophers have their own class number. In this case, the usual method of devising a call number should be followed. But checking the schedule should help us catch those works which are an exception to the rule and enable us to classify them consistently.
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