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Welcome to the Department of Philosophy at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. We are one of the oldest departments on campus, celebrating our 130th year in 2022. 

Plato Academy | Plato founded his Academy in 387 B.C. follow…
"The School of Athens" by Raphael. This is a painting of Plato's Academy, a major source of philosophical inspiration and traditions of higher education.

Who We Are

Our faculty specialize in a broad range of areas, including moral, legal, and social philosophy; philosophy of science; philosophy of physics; philosophy of humor; philosophy of race; philosophy of computation, technology, and artificial intelligence; metaphysics; epistemology; social and political philosophy; rational choice theory; theories of justice, community, and fraternity; philosophy of mind and cognition; philosophy of economics; and moral psychology. We have eminent scholars who trace the history of these ideas and draw on them to provide useful interventions into modern debates.

The Department of Philosophy Has Four Core Missions 

  1. Research & Scholarship: We seek to pursue research and scholarship that advances knowledge and understanding across a wide range of philosophical disciplines - sometimes through careful focus on the questions that animate these philosophical disciplines and sometimes by exposing interconnections among them and with other fields throughout the academy.
  2. Undergraduate Education: We seek to educate undergraduates with a rich curriculum that prepares them for a wide range of careers and graduate studies; helps make them more effective citizens; and teaches them to think clearly, creatively, rigorously, and with great flexibility, so they can adapt easily to a rapidly changing world.
  3. Graduate Education: We seek to train philosophers through a vibrant graduate program, thus helping ensure that philosophical ideas, insights, and education continue to have wide impact, where needed, throughout the state, the nation, and the world.
  4. Impact: We seek—throughout all these activities—to ensure that philosophy continues to serve as a critical, constructive hub for foundational thinking that connects many disciplines, from the humanities to the sciences, often adding special methods and insights to help produce ideas critical for the public good.

 We invite you to explore our website for more insight and information about who we are, what we do, and how you can be part of our community by studying one of the most connected and expansive fields on campus.

Undergraduate program  Graduate Program Our faculty