The Department of Philosophy at Boston University has long been committed to pluralism in philosophy and harbors an exceptionally wide spectrum of philosophical views and positions. The Department has strong faculty representation in the major historical periods, the principal approaches, and the basic problem areas of classical and contemporary philosophy.

Our students acquire a broad competence in the history of Western philosophy and a thorough understanding of the systematic foundations of philosophical views. Students also learn logic, languages, and the exegesis of texts and arguments. These are skills indispensable to the fruitful practice of philosophy understood as the cultivation of dialogue and informed reflection on the fundamental and perennial issues of human life.

The Department is committed to excellent teaching at both undergraduate and graduate levels, and considerable effort is devoted to training graduate students to become excellent teachers in their own right.

The program is particularly strong in the History of Philosophy; the History and Philosophy of Science, Mathematics, and Logic; and the Philosophy of Religion. While all major periods and thinkers are represented, our faculty is especially prominent in Ancient, Early Modern, the Scottish Enlightenment, German Idealism, Phenomenology, Continental Philosophy, Analytic Philosophy, American Philosophy, and the Philosophy of Logic and Mathematics. Our philosophers of science combine scientific with philosophical and historical education. The Philosophy of Religion is pursued with special emphasis on metaphysics and on the comparative study of religions.

The Department's philosophical life is significantly enriched by its close association with Boston University's Center for Philosophy and History of Science (and its Colloquium); the Institute for Philosophy and Religion (and its Colloquium); and the Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen (Vienna). Information about all three, as well as about other departmental colloquia, will be found in these pages.

The Philosophy Department offers programs leading to the B.A., M.A., Ph.D. Philosophy/M.A. Classics, and Ph.D. degrees. In addition, it offers a B.A./M.A. program, as well as (in conjunction with the Law School) a J.D./M.A. degree program. For further details on the J.D./M.A. program, please contact Dr. Hugh Baxter (Philosophy and the Law School) or Dr. David Lyons (Philosophy and the Law School). For further information on the Ph.D. Philosophy/M.A. Classics program, please contact Dr. Klaus Brinkmann (Philosophy) or Dr. Stephen Scully (Classical Studies). The department also participates in Boston University's Law, Medicine, and Ethics Program. For further details, please contact the Program's Director, Dr. Michael Grodin.

The Department is also pleased to announce the creation of a concentration in the Philosophy of Science in its Master of Arts degree. Please contact Dr. Alfred Tauber for further details.

The Philosophy Department also hosts a number of Visiting Scholars every year. Scholars come from around the world to conduct research at Boston University. For more information, please contact Kerri French.

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