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The Faculty of Philosophy, University of Oxford was founded in 2001. It is part of Oxford's Humanities Division.[1] The faculty is located next to Somerville College on Woodstock Road. As of 2021, it is ranked 1st in the UK and 2nd in the English-speaking world by the Philosophical Gourmet Report, as well as 4th in the world by the QS World University Rankings.[2][3] It is additionally ranked first in the UK by the Complete University Guide, the Guardian, the Times, and the Independent.[4][5][6][7]
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.[8] Today, it is housed within Oxford's Humanities Division.[9]
Some of the world's most prominent philosophers have studied (and taught) at Oxford, including Duns Scotus, Thomas Bradwardine, William of Ockham, John Wycliffe, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, John Norris, Jeremy Bentham, Henry Longueville Mansel, Thomas Hill Green, F. H. Bradley, Edward Caird and in more recent times Peter Strawson, Galen Strawson, A. J. Ayer, Mary Midgley, Iris Murdoch, Thomas Nagel, Gilbert Ryle, Genevieve Lloyd, Isaiah Berlin, J. L. Austin, Celia Green, Bernard Williams, Philippa Foot, Michael A. Smith, Onora O'Neill, Michael Dummett, Derek Parfit, and Elizabeth Anscombe.
Eminent philosophers have taught at Oxford, including Robert Grosseteste, Amartya Sen, and still others, including Noam Chomsky, Saul Kripke and Hilary Putnam have come to Oxford to deliver the John Locke Lectures,[10] 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 (founded in 1621)[11]
- The Waynflete Professorship of Metaphysical Philosophy (founded in 1859)
- The Wykeham Professorship 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).
The Henry Wilde Prize in Philosophy is awarded annually annually for an outstanding performance in Philosophy.[12]
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.[13] 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.[14] The director of the centre is Roger Crisp.[15]
Future of Humanity Institute
The Future of Humanity Institute (FHI) was founded by Nick Bostrom in 2005 to "assess how dangerous AI and other potential threats might be to the human species".[16] It was closed down on 16 April 2024, having "faced increasing administrative headwinds within the Faculty of Philosophy".[17][18] The Institute's final report described a "gradual suffocation by Faculty bureaucracy", noting that "[t]he flexible, fast-moving approach of the institute did not function well with the rigid rules and slow decision-making of the surrounding organization".[19] In May 2024, the independent Oxford student newspaper, Cherwell, described shuttering of FHI with the headline "Institute accused of ‘eugenics on steroids’ shut down by Oxford University".[20]
Global Priorities Institute
The Global Priorities Institute was founded in 2018, to investigate the question of "how to do the most good".[21]
- Michael Ayers
- Isaiah Berlin
- Simon Blackburn
- Nick Bostrom
- David Charles
- Sir Michael Dummett
- Ronald Dworkin
- Philippa Foot
- Peter Geach
- John Hawthorne
- Stuart Hampshire
- R.M. Hare
- J.L. Mackie
- Iris Murdoch
- Christopher Peacocke
- W.D. Ross
- Amartya Sen
- Colin McGinn
- Derek Parfit
- Sir Geoffrey Warnock
- Mary Warnock, Baroness Warnock
- David Wiggins
- Bernard Williams
- Sybil Wolfram
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