Department of Philosophy, King's College London
The Department of Philosophy is an academic division in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at King's College London. It is one of the largest and most distinguished centres for the study of philosophy in the United Kingdom.[1][2][3][4][5]
![]() King's College buildings on Surrey Street | |
Established |
|
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Parent institution | Faculty of Arts and Humanities, King's College London |
Head of Department | Bill Brewer |
Academic staff | 40 |
Students | 450 |
Location | Surrey Street, Westminster, London, United Kingdom |
Website | Department of Philosophy |
History
For over half a century since the Anglican foundation of King's College in 1829, the study of philosophy was restricted to courses within the Department of Theology and the Department of English Literature. In 1906 a separate Department of Philosophy and Psychology was explicitly established, and in 1912 Philosophy split to form its own department.[6][7]
The department is located in the Philosophy Building on Surrey Street, a set of three adjacent townhouses joined through a series of corridors and forming part of the Strand Campus of King's College.[8][9][10] The vaults along the back of the building are those containing the old Roman Baths on Strand Lane.[11][12]
In 1989, Sir Richard Sorabji founded the King's College Centre for Philosophical Studies at the department with the aim of promoting philosophy to the wider public.[13][14][15]
The Head of Department is currently Bill Brewer, Susan Stebbing Professor of Philosophy at King's.[16][17]
Traditions
The Department of Philosophy owns a historic bar on its premises in Surrey Street, officially the King's College Sports & Social Club Bar but referred to informally as simply the Philosophy Bar. Management of the bar was taken over by the King's College London Students' Union in 2016.[18]
Academic staff and students of the department also make an annual trip to Cumberland Lodge, a Grade II listed country house in Windsor Great Park.[19] There is a programme of lectures, communal meals and other activities, including an annual football match played between staff and students.[20]
Student life in the department is administered mainly by the King's College London Philosophy Society.[21]
Rankings
The Department of Philosophy at King's ranks highly in both national and global rankings.[22][5][23]
The Philosophical Gourmet Report lists the department at 4th in the UK and 26th in the English-speaking world.[24]
QS World University Rankings places the department at 5th in the UK and 10th globally in 2019.[25]
Current faculty
- Guy Aitchison, Teaching Fellow in Political Philosophy
- Peter Adamson, Professor of Ancient and Medieval Philosophy
- Maria Alvarez, Professor of Philosophy
- Maria Rosa Antognazza, Professor of Philosophy
- Joachim Aufderheide, Lecturer in Philosophy
- Michael Beaney, Professor of Philosophy
- Alexander Bird, Peter Sowerby Professor of Philosophy and Medicine
- Bill Brewer, Susan Stebbing Professor of Philosophy
- Patrick Butlin, Teaching Fellow in Philosophy
- John Callanan, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy
- Julien Dutant, Lecturer in Philosophy
- Sarah Fine, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy
- Alexander Franklin, Teaching Fellow in Philosophy
- Ellen Fridland, Lecturer in Philosophy
- David Galloway, Lecturer in Philosophy
- Sacha Golob, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy
- John Heron, Teaching Fellow in Philosophy
- Thomas Hodgson, Teaching Fellow in Philosophy
- Christopher Hughes, Professor of Philosophy
- Samuel Kimpton-Nye, Teaching Fellow in Philosophy
- Eleanor Knox, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy
- Jessica Leech, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy
- Clayton Littlejohn, Professor of Philosophy
- Matteo Mameli, Reader in Philosophy
- Eliot Michaelson, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy
- Carlo Nicolai, Lecturer in Philosophy
- David Owens, Professor of Philosophy
- David Papineau, Professor of Philosophy of Science
- Thomas Pink, Professor of Philosophy
- Will Rasmussen, Matilal Lecturer in Indian philosophy
- Jasper Reid, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy
- Andrea Sangiovanni, Professor of Philosophy
- Matthew Soteriou, Chair in Philosophy of Mind
- James Stazicker, Lecturer in Philosophy
- Mark Textor, Professor of Philosophy
- Shaul Tor, Senior Lecturer in Ancient Philosophy
- Raphael Woolf, Professor of Philosophy
Emeritus faculty
- Dov Gabbay, Augustus De Morgan Professor Emeritus of Logic
- Raimond Gaita, Emeritus Professor of Moral Philosophy
- Jim Hopkins, Reader Emeritus in Philosophy
- Ruth Kempson, Emeritus Professor of Linguistics
- Shalom Lappin, Emeritus Professor of Computational Linguistics
- Mary Margaret McCabe, Emeritus Professor of Ancient Philosophy
- Wilfried Meyer-Viol, Emeritus Lecturer in Computational Linguistics
- John Milton, Emeritus Professor of the History of Philosophy
- David-Hillel Ruben, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy
- Anthony Savile, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy
- Gabriel Segal, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy
- Sir Richard Sorabji CBE FBA FKC, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy and founder of the King's College Centre for Philosophical Studies
- Charles Travis, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy
Former faculty
- Father Brian Evan Anthony Davies, former Tutorial Assistant
- John Gardner FBA, former Reader in Legal Philosophy
- Verity Harte, former Reader in Philosophy
- Christopher Peacocke, former Susan Stebbing Professor of Philosophy
- Sherrilyn Roush, former Peter Sowerby Chair in Philosophy and Medicine
- R. Mark Sainsbury, former Susan Stebbing Professor of Philosophy
- Roger Steare, former Reader in History of Western Philosophy
- L. Susan Stebbing, former Lecturer in Philosophy
- Peter Vardy, former Lecturer in Philosophy of Religion
Notable alumni
- Peter Asher CBE, British musician, manager and record producer
- Brian Evan Anthony Davies OP, British academic and philosopher
- Sir David Tang KBE, Hong Kong journalist and businessperson
- Hanif Kureishi CBE, British playwright, screenwriter, filmmaker and novelist
- John Stammers, British writer and poet
- Sir Ralph Wedgwood, 4th Baronet, British philosopher
- Nicla Vassallo, Italian academic and philosopher
- Alain de Botton FRSL, Swiss-British author and philosopher
- Simon Saunders, British philosopher and physicist
- Harry Brighouse, British academic and philosopher
- Stefan Lorenz Sorgner, German academic and philosopher
- Tariq Goddard, British novelist and publisher
- Stathis Psillos, Greek academic and philosopher
- Helen Beebee, British academic and philosopher
See also
References
- "Department of Philosophy, KCL".
- "Results & submissions : REF 2014 : View results and submissions by UOA". Results.ref.ac.uk. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
- https://www.timeshighereducation.com/sites/default/files/Attachments/2014/12/17/x/o/z/sub-14-01.pdf
- "Philosophy - Top UK University Subject Tables and Rankings 2018". Complete University Guide. 24 May 2017. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
- "Philosophy, B.A. | King's College London | London, United Kingdom".
- "King's Collections : Archive Catalogues : PHILOSOPHY: King's College London Department of Philosophy Student Records". Kingscollections.org. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
- "King's College London How to find us". King's College London. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
- http://www.kcl.ac.uk/artshums/depts/philosophy/about/Map-Philosophy-building.pdf
- http://transact.westminster.gov.uk/docstores/publications_store/Strand.pdf
- Historic England. "33 and 34 Surrey Street (1237425)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 26 March 2017.
- Historic England. "Early C17 cistern to Old Somerset House (aka The Roman Bath), Non Civil Parish (1237102)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
- "McGill to bestow 11 exemplary individuals with honorary degrees at Spring Convocation | Newsroom - McGill University". Mcgill.ca. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
- "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 21 August 2011. Retrieved 29 April 2017.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- "Richard Sorabji CBE". The Putney Debates 2017. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
- "Staff profile, KCL".
- "Philosophy: Understanding personal identity with Professor Bill Brewer | Global". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
- "King's College London Life in the Department". King's College London. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
- "King's College, London". Cumberland Lodge. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
- "King's College London Join us for our annual residential weekend in Windsor Great Park!". King's College London. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
- "Philosophy Society". Kclsu.org. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
- "The Complete University guide, Profile on KCL".
- "History of Philosophy, M.A. - at King's College London, London, United Kingdom". MastersPortal.eu. Archived from the original on 27 August 2017. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
- "Overall Rankings". The Philosophical Gourmet Report. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
- "Philosophy". Top Universities. 15 February 2019. Retrieved 4 March 2019.