- Columbia University Department of Philosophy
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Columbia University Department of Philosophy 
Established 1890 Location New York City, New York
40°48′26.8″N 73°57′39.6″W / 40.807444°N 73.961°WCoordinates: 40°48′26.8″N 73°57′39.6″W / 40.807444°N 73.961°WWebsite www.columbia.edu/cu/philosophy The Columbia University Department of Philosophy is ranked 13th in the US and 14th in the English-speaking world, in the 2009 ranking of philosophy departments by The Philosophical Gourmet Report[1] (whereas it was ranked 9th and 10th in the previous 2006–2008 ranking). This fall is explained as follows by Brian Leiter: "Columbia lost the political philosopher Thomas Pogge to Yale, and also saw a number of regular and cognate faculty enter the "over 70" category as of 2009 (including Haim Gaifman and Joseph Raz). Still, I'm inclined to think Columbia's slip is a bit of a statistical blip, rather than a fundamental change in the department."[2] It still has particular strength in philosophy of mind, political philosophy, philosophy of law, philosophy of biology, general philosophy of science, philosophy of social sciences, 17th-century early modern philosophy, and 20th-century continental philosophy.
The department is distinguished by its being prone to promote philosophical domains not considered as "mainstream" in other philosophy departments. Not only does it offer advanced research in the wide range of subjects in analytical philosophy but it also has particular strengths in the history of Western philosophy. It also benefits from the presence or activity nearby of other departments' faculty such as Souleymane Bachir Diagne from French and Romance Philology, Joseph Raz and R. Kent Greenawalt from Law School or Jon Elster from Political Science. Many cross-registered courses allow students to enlarge their scopes in other departments.
The philosophy departments of City University of New York, which is a few blocks away, and New York University have close relations with the faculty. Enrolled graduate students are able to take courses offered at these universities.[3] The Graduate School is also a member of the Inter-University Doctoral Consortium (IUDC) which provides for cross-registration among member institutions. Participating schools are CUNY Graduate Center, Fordham University, New School for Social Research, New York University (including the Institute of Fine Arts), Princeton University, Rutgers University, and Stony Brook University.
Every year Columbia University and NYU philosophy graduate students organize the Annual NYU/Columbia Graduate Student Philosophy Conference.[4]
Columbia University is also the home publisher of the Journal of Philosophy.
Faculty
A short list of department faculty:
- David Albert, specializing in philosophy of physics and philosophy of science.
- Akeel Bilgrami, specializing in philosophy of Mind, philosophy of Language, political philosophy and moral philosophy.
- Taylor Carman, specializing in 19th and 20th century European philosophy, especially Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty.
- John D. Collins, specializing in metaphysics, epistemology, and decision theory.
- Haim Gaifman, specializing in probability theory, logic, philosophy of language, and early 20th Century Analytic Philosophy. He has worked personally with Rudolf Carnap and earned his Ph.D. under Alfred Tarski.
- Lydia Goehr, specializing in philosophy of music, aesthetics, critical theory, philosophy of history, and 19th and 20th Century Philosophy.
- Jeffrey N. Helzner, specializing in decision theory and logic.
- Patricia Kitcher, specializing in Kant, philosophy of psychology and Freud.
- Philip Kitcher, specializing in philosophy of science, biology, and mathematics.
- Wolfgang Mann, specialization in ancient philosophy.
- Christia Mercer, specializing in early modern philosophy with special focus on sixteenth century platonism and humanism, history of science, metaphysics.
- John Morrison, specializing in early modern philosophy and philosophy of mind.
- Frederick Neuhouser, specializing in modern European philosophy, especially Rousseau.
- Christopher Peacocke, specializing in philosophy of mind, biology, and mathematics.
- Carol Rovane, specializing in metaphysics, philosophy of language, philosophy of mind. In history of philosophy: Descartes, Kant, the pragmatists.
- David Sidorsky, specializing in political philosophy and ethical theory.
- Achille Varzi, specializing in logic and metaphysics.
- Katja Vogt, specializing in ancient philosophy and ethics.
References
- ^ "The Philosophical Gourmet". Blackwell Publishing Philosophy. 2009. http://www.philosophicalgourmet.com.
- ^ ""Biggest Drops in "Overall" Ranking in the New PGR", Leiter Reports: A Philosophy Blog". http://leiterreports.typepad.com/blog/2009/01/biggest-drops-in-overall-ranking-in-the-new-pgr.html.
- ^ Graduate Program Handbook, distributed by Columbia University Department of Philosophy (last update: August 28, 2008), unpublished
- ^ "NYU/Columbia Graduate Student Philosophy Conference". 2009. http://www.philcolumbia.com/gradconf/.
Categories:- Columbia University
- Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
- University departments in the United States
- Philosophy education
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