Philosophy and Humanities




We are committed equally to excellence in research and in teaching at both the Philosophy graduate and undergraduate levels. In addition to our undergraduate major and minor in Philosophy, we offer a certificate program in Ethics, Law, and Society as well as a wide range of courses suitable for students who have never taken a philosophy course, who want to improve their critical thinking skills, or who desire to take a careful look at foundational issues in another field of study. Our master's degree program is world-renowned and is perennially rated the leading stepping-stone graduate program in the United States by The Philosophical Gourmet Report. The research interests of Department faculty members range broadly, from analytic metaphysics to the history of ethics to philosophy and film. We have special strengths in political and social philosophy (including feminism and philosophy of race), philosophy of mind, philosophy of science, philosophy of language, ethics, aesthetics, metaphysics and epistemology, and continental philosophy. If you can't find the information you need on our website pages, please don't hesitate to contact us. For information on how to apply to our programs, or to access philosophy resources at Tufts, in the Boston area, and online, please visit our Online Resources.

Graduate students will discover a vibrant philosophical community at UC. We offer two tracks to the PhD, one taking advantage of our strength in philosophy and the life sciences, the other emphasizing our broad resources in core areas of philosophy. Our students are active researchers and many have expertise in multiple disciplines. We're proud of our recent placement record. Undergradaute students benefit from our small class sizes and accomplished and supportive faculty. Many of our graduates go on to successful careers in academia, social work, entrepreneurship, law, and medicine. Students may take advantage of focused tracks within the curriculum, including biohumanities and law and ethics. In addition, our majors have the option of completing their BA and MA degrees in five years via our 4+1 BA/MA program. View our course listings to see what we are currently offering. Each year, the department hosts a major colloquium that brings together philosophers from all over the world to present papers on a topic of mutual interest. Past topics have included Naturalism and the Nature of Philosophy, Race in the Age of Genomic Medicine, and Perspectives on the Animal Mind. Philosophy faculty, students, alumni and friends enjoy this informative and enjoyable event each year. We publish an annual newsletter for alumni and friends of the Philosophy Department updating them on our current adventures. To update your address with us, please complete this form.

In Dr. Morrow's Social and Political Philosophy course, students are required to write short arguments on current social-political issues. Some of those essays were published in al.com (the on-line news site for The Birmingham News, The Hunstville Times, and the Press-Register). Alex Soper wrote "A utilitarian's stance on Obamacare" in favor of the legislation. Joseph Obie Norris wrote "A libertarian's stance on Obamacare" in opposition to the legislation. Andrew Romnie wrote "HB56 is bad for Alabama" arguing in favor of repealing the law as the "facts" upon which the law is based are not true. Edmund Semmes wrote "Occupy: How to bring about positive change" outlining pragmatic solutions to the social and political issues highlighted by the Occupy movement.

CU Philosophy Achieves Highest Ranking to Date The Blackwell Philosophical Gourmet Report for 2011-13 has just been released. The Report is the most influential ranking of graduate programs in philosophy in the English-speaking world. In the new edition, the Philosophy program at CU Boulder is ranked 24th= among American programs (29th= worldwide, 11th= for U.S. state universities), which is the highest ranking the program has achieved to date, and reflects a significant improvement since its 2004 ranking of 36th. The Report also ranks programs in various specialties. The CU Boulder program was placed in the top group for Applied Ethics, along with Duke, Georgetown, Harvard, Oxford, Princeton, and Rutgers. It was also placed in the top group for Feminist Philosophy, along with MIT, Sheffield, and the University of Washington. In addition, it was strongly ranked in a wide range of other specialties, including Metaphysics, Ethics, and various areas in the history of philosophy. [12/12/11] The Department of Philosophy at the University of Alabama at Birmingham invites applicants for a tenured, full-time, position of Chair at the rank of Professor to begin in August, 2012. The UAB Philosophy Department has special strengths in the areas of medical, research, and biomedical ethics. All of these strengths have been instrumental in the work at UAB of the Center for Ethics and Values in the Sciences. Seeking to build on the national recognition of the University in medicine and health affairs, the department desires a faculty member with AOS/AOC credentials in biomedical ethics. The department seeks an applicant with accomplished and committed interdisciplinary teaching as well as research in biomedical ethics.