The Faculty of Philosophy, University of Oxford was founded in 2001. It is part of Oxford's Humanities Division. 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. It is additionally ranked first in the UK by the ''Complete University Guide'', the ''Guardian'', the ''Times'', and the ''Independent''.

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. 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 Thomas Bradwardine (c. 1300 – 26 August 1349) was an English cleric, scholar, mathematician, physicist, courtier and, very briefly, Archbishop of Canterbury. As a celebrated scholastic philosopher and doctor of theology, he is often call ...

, William of Ockham, John Wycliffe, Thomas Hobbes,

John Locke John Locke (; 29 August 1632 – 28 October 1704) was an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment thinkers and commonly known as the "father of liberalism ...

, John Norris, Jeremy Bentham, Henry Longueville Mansel, Thomas Hill Green,

F. H. Bradley Francis Herbert Bradley (30 January 1846 – 18 September 1924) was a British idealist philosopher. His most important work was ''Appearance and Reality'' (1893). Life Bradley was born at Clapham, Surrey, England (now part of the Greater ...

, Edward Caird and in more recent times Peter Strawson,

A.J. Ayer Sir Alfred Jules "Freddie" Ayer (; 29 October 1910 – 27 June 1989), usually cited as A. J. Ayer, was an English philosopher known for his promotion of logical positivism, particularly in his books ''Language, Truth, and Logic'' (1936) an ...

, Mary Midgley, Iris Murdoch, Thomas Nagel, Gilbert Ryle, Genevieve Lloyd,

Isaiah Berlin Sir Isaiah Berlin (6 June 1909 – 5 November 1997) was a Russian-British social and political theorist, philosopher, and historian of ideas. Although he became increasingly averse to writing for publication, his improvised lectures and talks ...

, J. L. Austin, Celia Green, Bernard Williams,

Philippa Foot Philippa Ruth Foot (; née Bosanquet; 3 October 1920 – 3 October 2010) was an English philosopher and one of the founders of contemporary virtue ethics, who was inspired by the ethics of Aristotle. Along with Judith Jarvis Thomson, she is cre ...

Michael A. Smith Michael Smith or Mike Smith may refer to: Arts * Michael E. Smith (artist) (born 1977), American sculptor * Michael Paul Smith (born 1950), American artist and photographer *Michael Smith (performance artist) (born 1951), American performance ar ...

Onora O'Neill Onora Sylvia O'Neill, Baroness O'Neill of Bengarve (born 23 August 1941) is a British philosopher and a crossbench member of the House of Lords. Early life and education Onora Sylvia O'Neill was born on 23 August 1941 in Aughafatten. The dau ...

, Michael Dummett,

Derek Parfit Derek Antony Parfit (; 11 December 1942 – 1 or 2 January 2017) was a British philosopher who specialised in personal identity, rationality, and ethics. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential moral philosophers of ...

, and Elizabeth Anscombe. A 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 Hilary Whitehall Putnam (; July 31, 1926 – March 13, 2016) was an American philosopher, mathematician, and computer scientist, and a major figure in analytic philosophy in the second half of the 20th century. He made significant contributions ...

have come to Oxford to deliver the John Locke Lectures, 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 The White's Chair of Moral Philosophy was endowed in 1621 by Thomas White (benefactor), Thomas White (c. 1550–1624), Canon of Christ Church, Oxford, Christ Church as the oldest professorial post in philosophy at the University of Oxford. In 2021 ...

(founded in 1621) *The Waynflete Professorship of Metaphysical Philosophy (founded in 1859) *The

Wykeham Professor The University of Oxford has three statutory professorships named after William of Wykeham, who founded New College. Logic The Wykeham Professorship in Logic was established in 1859, although it was not known as the Wykeham chair until later. I ...

ship 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

Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics

The Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics was founded in 2003 by Eiji Uehiro, with the intention to "encourage and support debate and deeper rational reflection" on practical ethics. Annually, it hosts the Uehiro Lectures in Practical Ethics, a series of three lectures. The centre works to raise public awareness and engagement with ethical issues, through public lecturing and engagement, commenting and consulting in the media, in the United Kingdom and internationally. It is affiliated with the charities 80,000 Hours and Giving What We Can. The director of the centre is

Julian Savulescu Julian Savulescu (born 22 December 1963) is an Australian philosopher and bioethicist of Romanian origins. He is Uehiro Chair in Practical Ethics at the University of Oxford, Fellow of St Cross College, Oxford, director of the Oxford Uehiro Cen ...

Future of Humanity Institute

The Future of Humanity Institute (FHI) was founded in 2005 to "assess how dangerous AI and other potential threats might be to the human species".

Global Priorities Institute

The Global Priorities Institute was founded in 2018, to investigate the question of "how to do the most good".

Notable current members

Nick Bostrom Nick Bostrom ( ; sv, Niklas Boström ; born 10 March 1973) is a Swedish-born philosopher at the University of Oxford known for his work on existential risk, the anthropic principle, human enhancement ethics, superintelligence risks, and the rev ...

* John Broome * Harvey Brown *

Roger Crisp Roger Stephen Crisp (born 23 March 1961) is fellow and tutor in philosophy at St. Anne's College, Oxford. He holds the university posts of Professor of Moral Philosophy and Uehiro Fellow and Tutor in Philosophy. His work falls principally wit ...

A. C. Grayling Anthony Clifford Grayling (; born 3 April 1949) is a British philosopher and author. He was born in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) and spent most of his childhood there and in Nyasaland (now Malawi). In 2011 he founded and became the first Mast ...

* Terence Irwin *

Brian Leftow Brian Leftow (born 1956) is an American philosopher specializing in philosophy of religion, medieval philosophy, and metaphysics. He is the William P. Alston Professor for the Philosophy of Religion at Rutgers University. Previously, he held the N ...

* A.W. Moore * William MacAskill * Jeff McMahan *

Stephen Mulhall Stephen Mulhall (; born 1962) is a British philosopher and Fellow of New College, Oxford. His main research areas are Ludwig Wittgenstein and post-Kantian philosophy. Education and career Stephen Mulhall received a BA in Philosophy, Politics, ...

* Toby Ord * Janet Radcliffe Richards *

Gonzalo Rodríguez Pereyra Gonzalo Rodriguez-Pereyra (born 7 August 1969) is a philosopher. He is currently a lecturer at the University of Oxford, where he has the title of Professor of Metaphysics, and a Tutorial Fellow at Oriel College. Rodriguez-Pereyra has previously ...

* Richard Sorabji * Ralph C. S. Walker *

Timothy Williamson Timothy Williamson (born 1955) is a British philosopher whose main research interests are in philosophical logic, philosophy of language, epistemology and metaphysics. He is the Wykeham Professor of Logic at the University of Oxford, and fell ...

Mark Wrathall Mark Wrathall (born 1965) is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Oxford and a fellow and tutor at Corpus Christi College, Oxford. He is considered a leading interpreter of the philosophy of Martin Heidegger. Wrathall is featured in Tao ...

Notable past members

Ronald Dworkin at the Brooklyn Book Festival

* Michael Ayers *

* Simon Blackburn * David Charles *Sir Michael Dummett *

Ronald Dworkin Ronald Myles Dworkin (; December 11, 1931 – February 14, 2013) was an American philosopher, jurist, and scholar of United States constitutional law. At the time of his death, he was Frank Henry Sommer Professor of Law and Philosophy at New Yo ...

Peter Geach Peter Thomas Geach (29 March 1916 – 21 December 2013) was a British philosopher who was Professor of Logic at the University of Leeds. His areas of interest were philosophical logic, ethics, history of philosophy, philosophy of religion and t ...

* John Hawthorne *

Stuart Hampshire Sir Stuart Newton Hampshire (1 October 1914 – 13 June 2004) was an English philosopher, literary critic and university administrator. He was one of the antirationalist Oxford thinkers who gave a new direction to moral and political thought ...

* R.M. Hare *

J.L. Mackie John Leslie Mackie (25 August 1917 – 12 December 1981) was an Australian philosopher. He made significant contributions to the philosophy of religion, metaphysics, and the philosophy of language, and is perhaps best known for his views on ...

* Iris Murdoch * Christopher Peacocke *

W.D. Ross WD may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''The Walking Dead'' (TV series) * ''White Dwarf'' (magazine) Businesses and organizations Government agencies * Royal Canadian Air Force Women's Division * War Department (United Kingdom) Ot ...

* Amartya Sen *

Colin McGinn Colin McGinn (born 10 March 1950) is a British philosopher. He has held teaching posts and professorships at University College London, the University of Oxford, Rutgers University, and the University of Miami. McGinn is best known for his wor ...

*Sir

Geoffrey Warnock Sir Geoffrey James Warnock (16 August 19238 October 1995) was an English philosopher and Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University. Before his knighthood (in the 1986 New Year Honours), he was commonly known as G. J. Warnock. Life Warnock was born ...

Mary Warnock Helen Mary Warnock, Baroness Warnock, (née Wilson; 14 April 1924 – 20 March 2019) was an English philosopher of morality, education, and mind, and a writer on existentialism. She is best known for chairing an inquiry whose report formed the ...

, Baroness Warnock *

David Wiggins David Wiggins (born 1933) is an English moral philosopher, metaphysician, and philosophical logician working especially on identity and issues in meta-ethics. Biography David Wiggins was born on 8 March 1933 in London, the son of Norman and D ...

* Bernard Williams *

Sybil Wolfram Sybil Wolfram (born Sybille Misch; 1931–1993) was an English philosopher and writer, of German Jewish origin. She was a Fellow and Tutor in philosophy at Lady Margaret Hall at University of Oxford from 1964 to 1993. Work She published two boo ...

References

{{Authority control Departments of the University of Oxford 2001 establishments in England Philosophy departments in the United Kingdom