Welcome from the Chair

Welcome to the Department of Philosophy at The George Washington University. We hope you will find our website a useful source of information about our faculty, programs, and activities.

Ours is a thriving unit of ten, regular, full-time members and about the same number of adjunct instructors-dedicated to the twin missions of academic scholarship and university instruction. Located in downtown Washington, DC, just a short walk from the White House, we are ideally situated for our MA in Public Policy with a Concentration in Philosophy and Social Policy. We also teach approximately seventy undergraduates who major in Philosophy within the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences -- as well as many undergraduates with different majors and from different schools at the University.

One distinguishing characteristic of our department is our dual options for majoring in Philosophy. For undergraduates who are principally interested in academic philosophy as traditionally conceived, and may be considering graduate study in this discipline, we recommend the traditional option for majoring in philosophy. Those undergraduates who are principally interested in philosophy in its connections with ethics and public affairs, and who do not plan to pursue graduate studies in philosophy, are encouraged to take the public affairs option.

Also distinguishing the Department of Philosophy at George Washington is the strength of our faculty in value theory and in the philosophy of life and mind. Value theory includes ethical theory, social and political philosophy, philosophy of law, applied ethics of various kinds, aesthetics, and related topics. Philosophy of life and mind includes the philosophy of mind/cognitive sciences, the philosophy of biology, the philosophy of science more generally, epistemology, logic, and related topics. As well as having these areas of depth, the department is pluralistic in covering both sides of several divisions that are sometimes emphasized in our discipline. Thus, we represent both the history of philosophy and contemporary philosophy; within the latter, both analytic and continental philosophy; and both theoretical and applied philosophy.

Please make use of our webpage to find out more about us, our work, and the issues that excite us.

David DeGrazia
Professor and Chair