Faculty of Philosophy, University of Oxford
The Faculty of Philosophy, University of Oxford was founded in 2001. It is part of Oxford's Humanities Division.[1] The faculty is located next to Somerville College on Woodstock Road. As of 2020, it is ranked 1st in the UK and 2nd in the English-speaking world by the Philosophical Gourmet Report, as well as 2nd in the world by the QS World University Rankings.[2][3] It is additionally ranked first in the UK by the Complete University Guide, the Guardian, the Times, and the Independent.[4][5][6][7]
History of the Faculty of Philosophy at Oxford
The present-day Faculty was formerly a sub-faculty of the Faculty of Literae Humaniores (founded in 1913), though the teaching of philosophy at Oxford dates back to medieval times. The Faculty boasts over 50 full-time philosophers in permanent posts, with at least another 50 fixed-term, emeritus and associate members.[8] Today, it is housed within Oxford's Humanities Division.
Some of the world's greatest philosophers have studied (and taught) at Oxford, including Duns Scotus, Thomas Bradwardine, William of Ockham, John Wycliffe, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, John Norris, Jeremy Bentham, Henry Longueville Mansel, Thomas Hill Green, F. H. Bradley, Edward Caird and in more recent times Peter Strawson, A.J. Ayer, Mary Midgley, Iris Murdoch, Thomas Nagel, Gilbert Ryle, Genevieve Lloyd, Isaiah Berlin, J. L. Austin, Celia Green, Bernard Williams, Philippa Foot, Michael A. Smith, Onora O'Neill, Derek Parfit, and Elizabeth Anscombe.
A large number of eminent philosophers have also taught at Oxford, including Robert Grosseteste, Amartya Sen, and still others, including Noam Chomsky, Saul Kripke and Hilary Putnam have come to Oxford to deliver the John Locke Lectures,[9] the Gareth Evans Memorial Lectures and other established lectures and lecture series.
The Faculty has the following statutory professorships in philosophy:
- The White's Professorship of Moral Philosophy (founded in 1621)[10]
- The Waynflete Professorship of Metaphysical Philosophy (founded in 1859)
- The Wykeham Professorship of Logic (founded in 1859)
- The Nolloth Professorship of the Philosophy of the Christian Religion (founded in 1920)
- The Professorship of Ancient Philosophy (founded in 1966)
- The Wilde Professorship of Mental Philosophy (founded in 2000); formerly the Wilde Readership in Mental Philosophy (founded in 1898)
- The Uehiro Professorship of Practical Ethics (founded in 2003).
Research centres
The faculty houses three research centres: Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, Future of Humanity Institute, and Global Priorities Institute.[11]
Notable current members
Notable past members
- Michael Ayers
- Isaiah Berlin
- Simon Blackburn
- David Charles
- Sir Michael Dummett
- Ronald Dworkin
- Philippa Foot
- Peter Geach
- John Hawthorne
- Stuart Hampshire
- R.M. Hare
- J.L. Mackie
- Iris Murdoch
- Christopher Peacocke
- W.D. Ross
- Amartya Sen
- Colin McGinn
- Derek Parfit
- Sir Geoffrey Warnock
- Mary Warnock, Baroness Warnock
- David Wiggins
- Bernard Williams
- Sybil Wolfram
References
- "Humanities Division Faculties and Units".
- "Philosophy". Top Universities. 2020-02-25. Retrieved 2020-08-09.
- "Top UK University League Tables and Rankings 2018". Complete University Guide. Retrieved 2018-01-29.
- "University guide 2011: Philosophy | Education". theguardian.com. 2010-06-08. Retrieved 2018-01-29.
- "The Times & The Sunday Times". Timesonline.co.uk. 2017-12-31. Retrieved 2018-01-29.
- "News | UK and Worldwide News | Newspaper". The Independent. Retrieved 2018-01-29.
- "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-10-22. Retrieved 2009-12-28.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-07-20. Retrieved 2011-07-23.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- The History of the University Of Oxford, Volume IV : The Seventeenth Century, ed. N.Tyacke,Oxford, 1997, p.10)
- "Research centres". philosophy.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 18 November 2018.