Welcome to Philosophy at UCC
We offer degree programmes at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels that are scholarly, historically and empirically informed, and rigorous. We are committed to exposing our students to the most important philosophical ideas, thinkers and frameworks – Ancient and Modern, Western and Eastern – in order to enable them to deal with contemporary problems in a globalized context. In a friendly and supportive environment, students learn to master complex material and apply it to concrete problems, to develop cogent and clear arguments and present them in professional contexts. We offer research-led teaching, which means that students work with staff who are research-active and at the forefront of their fields.
Philosophy at UCC has particular strengths in Comparative and East-Asian Philosophy, as well as in Political Philosophy. Its greatest strength, however, is its commitment to pluralism, which combines these fields with research and teaching in Aesthetics, European Philosophy, Analytic Philosophy of Mind and Science, Analytic Metaphysics and Action Theory, as well as Moral Philosophy, Social Theory and Applied Ethics. Our intellectual community here is unique in its ability to encourage productive dialogue among such different fields.
The commitment to pluralism is coupled with an equally strong commitment to interdisciplinarity. Staff are actively involved in collaborations with colleagues in the School of Sociology and Philosophy. Among the most visible results of that work are the joint annual summer school and the joint postgraduate programmes in Philosophy and Sociology. Philosophy is one of the three constitutive disciplines of the Politics programme at UCC. In cooperation with other disciplines across the college, we also host an interdisciplinary postgraduate programme in Comparative Aesthetics and the Arts. Our staff also contribute to programmes in Asian Studies, Film Studies, Women Studies, and Philosophy of Science.
The pluralist approach as well as our many inter-institutional and interdisciplinary connections are strengthened by the international profile of both staff and students. The research and learning community in Philosophy at UCC brings together people from diverse backgrounds and at different stages of their careers for critical debate, mutual support and congenial engagement in the practice of philosophy.
