The

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

was the birthplace of the 'Analytical' School of Philosophy in the early 20th century. The department is located in the Raised Faculty Building on the

Sidgwick Site The Sidgwick Site is one of the largest sites within the University of Cambridge, England. Overview and history The Sidgwick Site is located on the western side of Cambridge city centre, near the Backs. The site is north of Sidgwick Avenue an ...

and is part of the Cambridge School of Arts and Humanities. The Faculty achieved the best possible results from The Times 2004 and the QAA Subject Review 2001 (24/24). In the UK as of 2020, it is ranked second by

the Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

, second by the Philosophical Gourmet Report, and fifth by the

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History of Philosophy at Cambridge

In 1848 under the direction of

William Whewell William Whewell ( ; 24 May 17946 March 1866) was an English polymath, scientist, Anglican priest, philosopher, theologian, and historian of science. He was Master of Trinity College, Cambridge. In his time as a student there, he achieved dist ...

, two new honour examinations, one in natural sciences (relating to physical science), the other in moral sciences (in the sense of mores or social sciences) were introduced. Moral Sciences was interdisciplinary and included five subjects: moral philosophy, political economy, modern history, general jurisprudence and the laws of England. Moral Sciences was not popular as it did not lead to a degree, and in 1860 no candidates took the examinations. In 1861 following recommendations made by John Grote and Joseph Mayor, the Senate upgraded the status of Moral Sciences to become a three-year Undergraduate honours course in its own right. The Board of Moral Sciences Studies (a precursor to the Faculty) was also set up. Law became a separate subject and was replaced on the Moral Sciences Tripos by Mental philosophy (psychology). In 1867 the Board of Moral Sciences Studies recommended that History should also be omitted from the tripos. This was passed by the Council of the Senate, leaving four subjects: moral philosophy, logic, economics and psychology. At this time,

J.N. Keynes John Neville Keynes ( ; 31 August 1852 – 15 November 1949) was a British economist and father of John Maynard Keynes. Biography Born in Salisbury, Wiltshire, Keynes was the child of John Keynes (1805–1878) and his wife Anna Maynard Neville ...

and

James Ward James Ward may refer to: Military *James Ward (Medal of Honor, 1864) (1833–?), American Civil War sailor * James Ward (Medal of Honor, 1890) (1854–1901), American Indian Wars soldier *James Allen Ward (1919–1941), New Zealand pilot and Vi ...

graduated with honours in Moral Sciences and its reputation grew. The increase in quality and to a lesser extent, in quantity, was assisted by the expansion of the teaching staff assisting the two Moral Sciences professors (Political Economy and Moral Philosophy). From the late 1860s a number of College lecturers in the Moral Sciences were appointed from St. John's, Trinity, Caius, and St. Catharine's who included Henry Sidgwick, Joseph Mayor, John Venn, Thomas Woodhouse Levin, and

Alfred Marshall Alfred Marshall (26 July 1842 – 13 July 1924) was an English economist, and was one of the most influential economists of his time. His book '' Principles of Economics'' (1890) was the dominant economic textbook in England for many years. I ...

. Due to the efforts of

, Economics was also dropped from the Moral Sciences Tripos, becoming a separate subject in 1903. This left a syllabus of

analytic philosophy Analytic philosophy is a branch and tradition of philosophy using analysis, popular in the Western world and particularly the Anglosphere, which began around the turn of the 20th century in the contemporary era in the United Kingdom, United Sta ...

. Although Psychology remained nominally part of the Moral Sciences Tripos until after the Second World War, in practice it was an increasingly separate subject in the early part of the twentieth century. In the first half of the twentieth century

Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British mathematician, philosopher, logician, and public intellectual. He had a considerable influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, linguistics, ...

, G.E. Moore, and

Ludwig Wittgenstein Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein ( ; ; 26 April 1889 – 29 April 1951) was an Austrian-British philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. He is considere ...

were all at work in Cambridge. They were largely responsible for the rise of modern logic and the methods and results of analytic philosophy. Moral sciences was renamed philosophy in 1970.

Constance Maynard Constance Louisa Maynard (9 February 1849 – 26 March 1935) was the first principal of Westfield College (1882–1913) and a pioneer of women's education. She was the first woman to read Moral Sciences (philosophy) at the University of Cambridge. ...

was the first woman to read Moral Sciences at Cambridge, completing her studies in 1875.

Philosophers currently at Cambridge

The list includes bot

and also research-active philosophers who play a significant role in the faculty's intellectual life. * Arif Ahmed *

Alexander Bird Alexander James Bird (born 1964) is a British philosopher and Bertrand Russell Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge. Career In 2020, Bird was elected to the Bertrand Russell Professorship of Philosophy, succeeding Huw Price ...

* Simon Blackburn (emeritus) * Angela Breitenbach * Clare Chambers *

Tim Crane Timothy Martin Crane (born 17 October 1962) is a British philosopher specialising in the philosophy of mind, philosophy of perception, philosophy of psychology and metaphysics. His contributions to philosophy include a defence of a non-physical ...

Raymond Geuss Raymond Geuss, FBA (; born 1946) is a political philosopher and scholar of 19th and 20th century European philosophy. He is currently Emeritus Professor in the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Cambridge. Geuss is primarily known for three r ...

(emeritus) *

Jane Heal Barbara Jane Heal (''née'' Kneale, born 21 October 1946) is a British philosopher, and since 2012, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge. Biography Heal is daughter of a pair of notable Oxford philosophers William Calv ...

(emeritus) *

Richard Holton Richard Holton is a British philosopher and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge and a fellow of Peterhouse. He is known for his works on moral psychology and action theory. Holton is a Fellow of the British Academy Fell ...

* Rae Langton * John Marenbon * Alex Oliver *

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 ...

(emeritus) * Michael Potter *

Huw Price Huw Price (; born 17 May 1953) is an Australian philosopher, formerly the Bertrand Russell Professor in the Faculty of Philosophy, Cambridge, and a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. He was previously Challis Professor of Philosophy and Di ...

(emeritus) *

Timothy Smiley Timothy John Smiley FBA (born 13 November 1930) is a British philosopher, appointed Emeritus Knightbridge Professor of Philosophy at Clare College, Cambridge University. He works primarily in philosophy of mathematics and logic. Life and care ...

(emeritus)

Past Cambridge philosophers

Various philosophers have been Knightbridge Professor of Philosophy. The Knightbridge Chair was founded in 1683 and is one of the oldest established chairs in the university. Philosophers who either worked or studied in Cambridge—including some Knightbridge Professors—include: *

Desiderius Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (; ; English: Erasmus of Rotterdam or Erasmus;''Erasmus'' was his baptismal name, given after St. Erasmus of Formiae. ''Desiderius'' was an adopted additional name, which he used from 1496. The ''Roterodamus'' wa ...

Francis Bacon Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626), also known as Lord Verulam, was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Bacon led the advancement of both ...

*The Cambridge Platonists, including Ralph Cudworth,

Benjamin Whichcote Benjamin Whichcote (4 May 1609 – May 1683) was an English Establishment and Puritan divine, Provost of King's College, Cambridge and leader of the Cambridge Platonists. He held that man is the "child of reason" and so not completely deprave ...

and Henry More *

* John Grote * Henry Sidgwick *

John Neville Keynes John Neville Keynes ( ; 31 August 1852 – 15 November 1949) was a British economist and father of John Maynard Keynes. Biography Born in Salisbury, Wiltshire, Keynes was the child of John Keynes (1805–1878) and his wife Anna Maynard Neville ...

George Frederick Stout George Frederick Stout (; 1860–1944), usually cited as G. F. Stout, was a leading English philosopher and psychologist. Biography Born in South Shields on 6 January 1860, Stout studied psychology at the University of Cambridge under Ja ...

J. M. E. McTaggart John McTaggart Ellis McTaggart (3 September 1866 – 18 January 1925) was an English idealist metaphysician. For most of his life McTaggart was a fellow and lecturer in philosophy at Trinity College, Cambridge. He was an exponent of the philo ...

William Ritchie Sorley William Ritchie Sorley, FBA (; 4 November 1855 – 28 July 1935), usually cited as W. R. Sorley, was a Scottish philosopher. A Gifford Lecturer, he was one of the British Idealist school of thinkers, with interests in ethics. He was opposed to ...

G. E. Moore George Edward Moore (4 November 1873 – 24 October 1958) was an English philosopher, who with Bertrand Russell, Ludwig Wittgenstein and earlier Gottlob Frege was among the founders of analytic philosophy. He and Russell led the turn from ideal ...

Alice Ambrose Alice Ambrose Lazerowitz (November 25, 1906 – January 25, 2001) was an American philosopher, logician, and author. Early life and education Alice Loman Ambrose was born in Lexington, Illinois and orphaned when she was 13 years old. She ...

Helen Knight (Elsie) Helen Knight (née Weil, 24 November 1899 – 1984) was a British philosopher. She was one of few women active in the early days of Analytic philosophy, analytic aesthetics. Life and education Knight was born in Swiss Cottage, London and ...

Margaret MacDonald (philosopher) Margaret MacDonald (9 April 1903 – 7 January 1956) was a British analytic philosopher. She worked in the areas of philosophy of language, political philosophy and aesthetics. Life and education Margaret MacDonald was born in London and abando ...

Margaret Masterman Margaret Masterman (4 May 1910 – 1 April 1986) was a British linguist and philosopher, most known for her pioneering work in the field of computational linguistics and especially machine translation. She founded the Cambridge Language R ...

* C. D. Broad * Richard Braithwaite *

A. C. Ewing Alfred Cyril Ewing (; 11 May 1899 – 14 May 1973), usually cited as A. C. Ewing, was an English philosopher and a sympathetic critic of idealism. Biography Ewing studied at Oxford, where he gained the John Locke Lectureship and the Green Priz ...

* Frank P. Ramsey * Georg Henrik von Wright * Susan Stebbing *

Casimir Lewy Casimir Lewy ( pl, Kazimierz Lewy; 26 February 1919 – 8 February 1991) was a Polish philosopher of Jewish descent. He worked in philosophical logic but published scantly. He was an influential teacher; several of his students went on to be pro ...

* Jonathan Lear * Iris Murdoch *

John Wisdom Arthur John Terence Dibben Wisdom (12 September 1904, in Leyton, Essex – 9 December 1993, in Cambridge), usually cited as John Wisdom, was a leading British philosopher considered to be an ordinary language philosopher, a philosopher of mind an ...

* Elizabeth Anscombe *

Bernard Williams Sir Bernard Arthur Owen Williams, FBA (21 September 1929 – 10 June 2003) was an English moral philosopher. His publications include ''Problems of the Self'' (1973), ''Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy'' (1985), ''Shame and Necessity'' ...

Amartya Sen Amartya Kumar Sen (; born 3 November 1933) is an Indian economist and philosopher, who since 1972 has taught and worked in the United Kingdom and the United States. Sen has made contributions to welfare economics, social choice theory, econom ...

* Jonathan Bennett * Judith Jarvis Thomson *

Ian Hacking Ian MacDougall Hacking (born February 18, 1936) is a Canadian philosopher specializing in the philosophy of science. Throughout his career, he has won numerous awards, such as the Killam Prize for the Humanities and the Balzan Prize, and been ...

* Roger Scruton *

Kwame Anthony Appiah Kwame Akroma-Ampim Kusi Anthony Appiah ( ; born 8 May 1954) is a philosopher, cultural theorist, and novelist whose interests include political and moral theory, the philosophy of language and mind, and African intellectual history. Appiah wa ...

Alain de Botton Alain de Botton (; born 20 December 1969) is a Swiss-born British author and philosopher. His books discuss various contemporary subjects and themes, emphasizing philosophy's relevance to everyday life. He published ''Essays in Love'' (1993), w ...

Quassim Cassam Quassim Cassam, (born 31 January 1961) is professor of philosophy at the University of Warwick. He writes on self-knowledge, perception, epistemic vices and topics in Kantian epistemology. As blurbed for his book, ''Vices of the Mind'' (2019) ...

Alfred North Whitehead Alfred North Whitehead (15 February 1861 – 30 December 1947) was an English mathematician and philosopher. He is best known as the defining figure of the philosophical school known as process philosophy, which today has found applicat ...

Renford Bambrough John Renford Bambrough (29 April 1926 – 17 January 1999) was a British philosopher. He was fellow of St John's College, Cambridge from 1950-1999, where he held the positions of Dean (1964–1979) and President (1979–1983). Life John Renfor ...

Hugh Mellor David Hugh Mellor (; 10 July 1938 – 21 June 2020) was a British philosopher. He was a Professor of Philosophy and Pro-Vice-Chancellor, later Professor Emeritus, of Cambridge University. Biography Mellor was born in London on 10 July 1938, ...

Jimmy Altham James Edward John Altham (born 1944), known as Jimmy Altham and normally cited as J. E. J. Altham, is a British philosopher and a Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ...

*Eric Olson *Dominic Scott *Serena Olsaretti *

Hallvard Lillehammer Hallvard Lillehammer is a professor of philosophy at Birkbeck College, University of London. His research relates to "the interpretation and criticism of basic ideas in contemporary moral and political thought, including reason, objectivity, impa ...

* Susan James *

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 ...

William MacAskill William David MacAskill (; born 24 March 1987) is a Scottish philosopher and author, as well as one of the originators of the effective altruism movement. He is an Associate Professor in Philosophy and Research Fellow at the Global Priorities ...

* David Papineau * A.W. Moore * Arthur Balfour

References

External links

Faculty website
{{Coord, 52.2011, 0.1096, type:edu_region:GB-CAM, display=title Analytic philosophy Philosophy, Faculty of Philosophy departments in the United Kingdom

History of Philosophy at Cambridge

Philosophers currently at Cambridge

Past Cambridge philosophers

See also

References

External links