Faculty of Philosophy, University of Cambridge

Faculty of Philosophy, University of Cambridge
Name	Faculty of Philosophy, University of Cambridge
Established	13th century (formalised 19th century)
Type	Faculty
City	Cambridge
Country	United Kingdom
Parent	University of Cambridge

Contents

Faculty of Philosophy, University of Cambridge The Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge is a major centre for philosophical teaching and research within the collegiate university. It traces intellectual lineages through figures associated with Trinity College, Cambridge, King's College, Cambridge, St John's College, Cambridge, Peterhouse, Cambridge, and other colleges, while engaging with traditions linked to Aristotle, Plato, Immanuel Kant, David Hume, G. E. Moore and Ludwig Wittgenstein. The faculty plays a central role in British and international philosophy, connecting to institutions such as the British Academy, Royal Society, European University Institute, and participating in debates involving scholars from Harvard University, University of Oxford, Princeton University, Yale University, and University of Chicago.

History

The faculty's history is rooted in medieval scholasticism at Peterhouse, Cambridge and evolved through Renaissance and Enlightenment influences exemplified by alumni associated with Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, Pembroke College, Cambridge, and Gonville and Caius College. Nineteenth-century reforms paralleled developments at King's College London, University College London, and the London School of Economics, while twentieth-century transformations were shaped by philosophers linked to Trinity College, Cambridge and Newnham College, Cambridge, including figures involved with the Cambridge School of Analytic Philosophy, the Vienna Circle, Logical Positivism, and exchanges with continental scholars connected to Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger. The faculty contributed to wartime and postwar intellectual life with members involved in initiatives tied to the BBC, Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), and public life through connections with statespeople associated with House of Commons of the United Kingdom and House of Lords.

The faculty is administered within the University of Cambridge governance structure alongside departments such as the Faculty of Classics, Faculty of Law, Faculty of History, and the Department of Psychology. Leadership roles have been held by academics affiliated with colleges including Christ's College, Cambridge and St Catharine's College, Cambridge, with oversight from bodies like the University Council and the General Board of the Faculties. Committees coordinate undergraduate and postgraduate affairs, admissions processes drawing applicants from secondary institutions such as Eton College, Harrow School, and international schools connected to United World Colleges, while external examiners are drawn from universities including University of Edinburgh, University of Glasgow, King's College London, and University of St Andrews.

The faculty offers the undergraduate Philosophy Tripos and graduate degrees such as the Master of Philosophy in Philosophy (MPhil), Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), and various certificate programs. Courses span topics historically associated with works like Ethics (Aristotle), Critique of Pure Reason, A Treatise of Human Nature, and Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, with supervision by faculty linked to research themes found in programmes at Columbia University, Stanford University, University of California, Berkeley, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Tripos admissions and scholarship schemes interact with trusts and awards such as the Gates Cambridge Scholarship, Marshall Scholarship, Rhodes Scholarship, and fellowships from the Leverhulme Trust and Wellcome Trust.

Research clusters include areas overlapping with centres like the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities, the Institute for Advanced Study, and collaborations with the Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge. Active groups examine themes associated with thinkers such as Saul Kripke, W. V. O. Quine, Bertrand Russell, John Stuart Mill, Thomas Hobbes, René Descartes, Søren Kierkegaard, and Friedrich Nietzsche. Cross-disciplinary projects partner with institutes including the Cambridge Neuroscience, the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence, and international networks linked to UNESCO, European Research Council, and the John Templeton Foundation.

The faculty supports and contributes to publications associated with editorial boards and journals like Mind (journal), Analysis (journal), Philosophical Quarterly, Philosophical Review, Journal of Philosophy, and periodicals connected to presses such as Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, Routledge, Blackwell Publishing, and the British Journal for the Philosophy of Science. Faculty also edit series and collections published by institutions including the Cambridge Histories, the Pelican Books imprint, and collaborate with learned societies such as the Mind Association and the Royal Institute of Philosophy.