The Institute of Philosophy () is the faculty of philosophy at the

KU Leuven KU Leuven (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) is a Catholic research university in the city of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium. Founded in 1425, it is the oldest university in Belgium and the oldest university in the Low Countries. In addition to its mai ...

in the Belgian city of

Leuven Leuven (, , ), also called Louvain (, , ), is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipalit ...

. It was founded in 1968 when the ''Institut supérieur de Philosophie - Hoger Instituut voor Wijsbegeerte'' of the Catholic University of Leuven (1835–1968) was split into a Dutch-speaking entity and a French-speaking entity. Its main buildings are located in the center of Leuven at the Kardinaal Mercier Square, named for the founder of the original institute.

History

The ''Institut supérieur de Philosophie'' was founded by Cardinal Mercier on 8 November 1889 with the intent to be a beacon of Neo-Thomist

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

, although Philosophy and Theology have been taught at the universities of Leuven since 1425. The institute initially taught programs in French and started courses in Dutch in 1933. After the language split of 1968, the ''Hoger Instituut voor Wijsbegeerte'' became part of the newly independent ''Katholieke Universiteit te Leuven'', offering programmes in Dutch with little and at times no content taught in French, while the French-speaking '' Institut supérieur de Philosophie'' of the ''

Université catholique de Louvain UCLouvain (or Université catholique de Louvain , French for Catholic University of Louvain, officially in English the University of Louvain) is Belgium's largest French-speaking university and one of the oldest in Europe (originally establishe ...

'' continued in the new city of

Louvain-la-Neuve Louvain-la-Neuve (; French for "New Leuven"; ) is a planned town in the municipality of Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve, Wallonia, Belgium, situated 30 km southeast of Brussels, in the province of Walloon Brabant. The town was built to house th ...

. In 1993, the institute became the faculty of philosophy.

Programs offered

The institute offers both taught and research degrees (B.A., M.A., MPhil and PhD) as well as pre-doc and post-doc programs, both in Dutch and English. Students can take classes in both languages if desired.

Departments

* Cultural Philosophy * Ethics, Social and Political Philosophy * Logic and Philosophy of Science * Metaphysics and Modern Philosophy * Ancient, Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy * Phenomenology

Husserl Archives Leuven

The Institute, together with its French-speaking counterpart in

, are well known as the home of the Husserl Archives, the research center responsible for the publication of the philosophical work of

Edmund Husserl Edmund Gustav Albrecht Husserl (; 8 April 1859 – 27 April 1938) was an Austrian-German philosopher and mathematician who established the school of Phenomenology (philosophy), phenomenology. In his early work, he elaborated critiques of histori ...

. After the death of the founder of the phenomenological movement, fearing for the destruction of his ''

Nachlass ''Nachlass'' (, older spelling ''Nachlaß'') is a German language, German word, used in academia to describe the collection of manuscripts, notes, correspondence, and so on left behind when a scholar dies. The word is a compound word, compound in ...

'' at the hands of the

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

s, Father Herman Van Breda (

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...

), PhD student at the institute, saved Husserl's manuscripts, library and widow and smuggled them to

via diplomatic channels.

Research and publications

The Institute publishes a Dutch-language philosophy journal, called the , an interdisciplinary journal in both and English: '' Ethical Perspectives'' and the ''Bibliographical Directory of Philosophy'' (published jointly with the UCLouvain's ). It also organizes several major publication efforts, including the Husserliana (Husserl-Archives), the ''Aristoteles Latinus'' (De Wulf-Mansion centre), the Latin editions of

Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...

's works known to the medieval philosophers.

Numbers

* Ranks 24th in the QS World Philosophy Rankings (2014) * More than 30

lecturer Lecturer is an academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. They may also conduct re ...

s and

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

s * 80 researchers in 5 departments * more than 100 graduate students * Circa 750 students (of which 50% international students)

Renowned emeriti

* (1868–1955) * (1932–2015) * (1911–1981) * * André Léonard * Herman Van Rompuy * Rudolf Bernet * William Desmond

Guest researchers and lecturers

Internationally renowned professors who have lectured at the institute: *

Étienne Gilson Étienne Henri Gilson (; 13 June 1884 – 19 September 1978) was a French philosopher and historian of philosophy. A scholar of medieval philosophy, he originally specialised in the thought of Descartes; he also philosophized in the tradition ...

Jacques Lacan Jacques Marie Émile Lacan (, ; ; 13 April 1901 – 9 September 1981) was a French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist. Described as "the most controversial psycho-analyst since Sigmund Freud, Freud", Lacan gave The Seminars of Jacques Lacan, year ...

* Paul Ricœur *

Emmanuel Levinas Emmanuel Levinas (born Emanuelis Levinas ; ; 12 January 1906 – 25 December 1995) was a French philosopher of Lithuanian Jewish ancestry who is known for his work within Jewish philosophy, existentialism, and phenomenology, focusing on the rel ...

Maurice Merleau-Ponty Maurice Jean Jacques Merleau-Ponty. ( ; ; 14 March 1908 – 3 May 1961) was a French phenomenological philosopher, strongly influenced by Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger. The constitution of meaning in human experience was his main interes ...

* Jan Patočka *

Jacques Derrida Jacques Derrida (; ; born Jackie Élie Derrida;Peeters (2013), pp. 12–13. See also 15 July 1930 – 9 October 2004) was a French Algerian philosopher. He developed the philosophy of deconstruction, which he utilized in a number of his texts, ...

Jean-François Lyotard Jean-François Lyotard (; ; 10 August 1924 – 21 April 1998) was a French philosopher, sociologist, and literary theorist. His interdisciplinary discourse spans such topics as epistemology and communication, the human body, modern art and p ...

* Charles Hartshorne *

Michel Foucault Paul-Michel Foucault ( , ; ; 15 October 192625 June 1984) was a French History of ideas, historian of ideas and Philosophy, philosopher who was also an author, Literary criticism, literary critic, Activism, political activist, and teacher. Fo ...

Karl Popper Sir Karl Raimund Popper (28 July 1902 – 17 September 1994) was an Austrian–British philosopher, academic and social commentator. One of the 20th century's most influential philosophers of science, Popper is known for his rejection of the ...

John Searle John Rogers Searle (; born July 31, 1932) is an American philosopher widely noted for contributions to the philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, and social philosophy. He began teaching at UC Berkeley in 1959 and was Willis S. and Mario ...

* P. F. Strawson *

Umberto Eco Umberto Eco (5 January 1932 – 19 February 2016) was an Italian Medieval studies, medievalist, philosopher, Semiotics, semiotician, novelist, cultural critic, and political and social commentator. In English, he is best known for his popular ...

Roger Scruton Sir Roger Vernon Scruton, (; 27 February 194412 January 2020) was an English philosopher, writer, and social critic who specialised in aesthetics and political philosophy, particularly in the furtherance of Conservatism in the United Kingdom, c ...

* Donald Davidson *

Martha Nussbaum Martha Nussbaum (; Craven; born May 6, 1947) is an American philosopher and the current Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago, where she is jointly appointed in the law school and the philos ...

Richard Rorty Richard McKay Rorty (October 4, 1931 – June 8, 2007) was an American philosopher, historian of ideas, and public intellectual. Educated at the University of Chicago and Yale University, Rorty's academic career included appointments as the Stu ...

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

Ian Hacking Ian MacDougall Hacking (February 18, 1936 – May 10, 2023) was a Canadian philosopher specializing in the philosophy of science. Throughout his career, he won numerous awards, such as the Killam Prize for the Humanities and the Balzan Prize, ...

John Milbank Alasdair John Milbank (born 23 October 1952) is an English Anglo-Catholic theologian and is an Emeritus Professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Nottingham, where he is President of the Centre of Theolo ...

* Don Cupitt

Notable former students

* Hans Lindahl, professor and former student * Bruce Ellis Benson, professor, Wheaton College, USA * Babette Babich (professor), professor of philosophy at Fordham University * Thomas D. Carroll, priest and former student (PhD, and PhL) * Marin Gillis, professor and former student * Marc Sebrecht, professor and former student * Joseph J. Kockelmans, professor, Pennsylvania State University, USA * Renee Kohler-Ryan, senior lecturer, The University of Notre Dame, Sydney, Australia * Wha-Chul Son, professor, Handong Global University, Korea * John Hymers, associate professor, La Salle University, Philadelphia, USA * Tanya Loughead, Professor of Philosophy, Canisius College, Buffalo, NY, USA * Richard Chung Kee Lee assistant professor, Hong Kong Baptist University * Damian C. Ilodigwe lecturer in Philosophy, SS Peter & Paul Major Seminary, Ibadan, Nigeria * Nikolaj Zunic associate professor, St. Jerome's University, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada * Jeffrey Bloechl, associate professor, Boston College, USA * Stephan Lake, associate professor, Trinity Christian College, IL, USA * Jovino G. Miroy, associate professor, Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines * Michael Newman, professor of art writing, Goldsmiths University of London, UK * Stuart Rennie, professor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA * Jeb Bishop, musician (BA 1985)

References

External links

* (English)
Site of the ''Tijdschrift voor Filosofie''

Journal Ethische Perspectieven
(NL) an
Ethical Perspectives
(EN) {{coord, 50.87599, 4.70667, type:edu_globe:earth_region:BE, display=title KU Leuven Education in Leuven Universities and colleges established in 1889 1889 establishments in Belgium Philosophy departments