Our expertise is focussed through four research groups: Language and Experience in 20th Century Philosophy; Ethics, Law and Justice in Private and Public Life; Speculative Futures; and the Social Imagination Collective. Find out more on our Research Pages.
Our wide-ranging interests are reflected in our teaching provision, with students able to select from both traditional topics (e.g. metaphysics, philosophy of mind, political philosophy) and more innovative modules (philosophy of the future, philosophy of games, philosophy of race). Find out more on our Study with Us.
Facts at-a-glance |
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Our department is based in Gillian Howie House, home to our student common room, department library, seminar rooms and dedicated spaces for postgraduate researchers. We work closely with many partners (Tate Liverpool, National Museums Liverpool, Open Eye, NHS North-West and more) to create work opportunities for our students and to find applications for our work. Our research and teaching draws inspiration from the amazing city of Liverpool with its rich history of commerce, culture, protest, industry and migration.
We are committed to being environmentally responsible and have adopted the British Philosophy Association environmental travel guidelines. We are a subscribing institution to the BPA/SWIP Good Practice Scheme. The Scheme aims to assist UK philosophy departments, learned societies and journals in ensuring that they have policies and procedures in place that encourage the representation of women in philosophy.
Our history
In 1878 the Scottish Merchants of Liverpool gifted £10,000 to create the Chair of Logic, Mental & Moral Philosophy, and Political Economy at University College Liverpool. This was the beginning of our department. The faculty of Arts was created in 1899, and by the end of the nineteenth century there were three philosophers at Liverpool. The price for a single term’s course was £1-7s-6d (approx. £100).
Over the years the department has been home to many important philosophers, including Casimir Lewy, Anthony Kenny, Stephen Clark, Mark Sacks and Gillian Howie. In 1989, Clark set up Philos-L, arguably the most important philosophy mailing list, which now boasts 15,000 members worldwide.
Throughout its history, the department has welcomed those who think beyond disciplinary limits. Pamela Huby, the department’s first female philosopher was both a specialist in ancient Greek philosophy and conducted research in group telepathy and clairvoyance. Olaf Stapledon wrote his PhD on ethical theory before becoming a pacificist campaigner, social reformer and writer of visionary science fiction. Find out more about our history here.
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