Department of Philosophy

We serve the general undergraduate community through the Liberal Arts Core Curriculum and the university-wide Bridges Common Learning Experience in order to form intellectually deep, civically engaged, globally aware and ethically minded students who accept the challenge to be distinctive, thoughtful, skilled and service-oriented critics of society and agents of change as they faithfully pursue justice and peace in their individual lives, communities and the world.

We serve our majors and minors by providing an intensive course of study through which they rigorously engage in logical analysis, conceptual interpretation and critique of texts, arguments and ideas. We help them develop a broad competence in the history of philosophy and a thorough understanding of diverse philosophical positions, so that they may reflectively pursue whatever path in life they choose.

As part of our Ph.D. program, you will be immersed in advanced philosophical training and pursue high-quality independent research under the mentorship of faculty. You’ll be equipped to become an independent member of the international philosophical community and to find full-time academic employment or a satisfying career beyond the professoriate.

If you have a strong background in philosophy or allied fields, our M.A. program will prepare you to obtain admission to more advanced degree programs (especially doctoral programs in philosophy and related areas) or to launch a career in other fields.

The Department of Philosophy—its staff, faculty and graduate students—is committed to cultivating a welcoming, inclusive and just community that supports all its members regardless of sex, gender, gender identification, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, caste, nationality, citizenship, religion, political opinion, age, socioeconomic background, marital or family status, disability or military service.

We recognize that bias, whether overt or concealed, is an obstacle to justice, inclusiveness and productivity in philosophy as a discipline, and we attempt to combat it in the composition of our department, the courses we teach and the events we organize and sponsor.

This includes recruiting students from underrepresented groups to join our department, training graduate students in the design of inclusive syllabi, offering courses each year on non-Western philosophy and gender studies at both the undergraduate and graduate levels and scheduling talks each year on minority issues. In addition, the department will continue to take concrete steps to address issues of justice and inclusion.