Welcome to the Philosophy Department at Northwestern University. We are currently in the process of overhauling our web site, which we hope to have completed by some time in early 2009. Until that time, the current site remains active. Here one can find information regarding our undergraduate and graduate programs in philosophy, the research profiles of our faculty, and the various activities going on in our department.

The Northwestern Philosophy Department is dedicated to providing an outstanding education in philosophy to all of its students. In addition to an outstanding array of extracurricular philosophical events, we offer a range of courses in philosophy at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Many of these reflect the department’s particular research strengths in Metaphysics and Epistemology (including Philosophy of Language and Philosophy of Mind), Ancient Philosophy, Continental Philosophy (German and French Philosophy, Critical Race Theory), Value Theory (Ethics, Aesthetics, and Political Philosophy), and Modern Philosophy (especially Descartes, Spinoza, and Kant).

We are justifiably proud of our philosophical community. Our undergraduate majors have been extremely successful in their post-college pursuits, and those who have gone on to do further academic work have gotten into some of the very best law and graduate schools in the country. Our PhD students have been consistently successful in finding tenure-track academic positions in philosophy departments throughout the country. We are committed to maintaining a strong sense of community among all of our students.

The Department is able to draw on the strengths of its many affiliated faculty, whose research interests in other disciplines have a strong philosophical component. In addition, we have recently developed new interdisciplinary clusters of graduate studies.  We encourage applicants to our graduate program to consider these affiliations. Members of the Department maintain formal and informal ties to other philosophical groups meeting throughout the Chicago area, such as the Chicago Area Consortium in Ancient Greek and Roman Philosophy.

Feel free to contact me or the staff in philosophy if you have further questions.

Sandy Goldberg
Chair

The Northwestern Philosophy Department is currently running searches in Metaphysics and Epistemology and in German Philosophy.  See the October 2008 JFP for more details.

Please refer also to these direct links for often requested information:

• Further Department Officers (Admissions, Placement, Directors of Graduate and Undergraduate Studies)
• Committee on Institutional Cooperation (links our program & our students options to other Big Ten universities & U of Chicago)