Graduate Program

Philosophy admitted its first doctoral students in 2001. As of Fall 2023 there are 22 graduate students in the program. Each year 4-5 new Ph.D. and 1-3 M.A. students will be admitted.

The Department has four areas of focus; Ethics and Technology, Social & Epistemic Injustice, Disagreement & Rationality, and Public Engagement (see the "About" page). The department’s faculty also have an interest in the history of philosophy as an indispensable background to the main areas of contemporary concern in the discipline. Among the faculty’s main contemporary interests are those topics commonly pursued in any high-ranking research and teaching program, and particularly those comparable to departments of philosophy at other UC’s: philosophy of science, metaphysics, philosophy of mind, epistemology, aesthetics, philosophy of language, philosophy of religion, ethics and moral psychology (see the "Research" page). The faculty’s research and teaching in these areas is informed by leading historical figures, including especially Kant, Aristotle, Hume, Wittgenstein and—again, uniquely for such a small department—leading figures from the Middle Ages and late antiquity, including medieval Islamic figures.

Inquiries should be directed to:

Janette Dinishak

Graduate Program Director

jdinisha@ucsc.edu

James Funk

Graduate Program Advisor and Coordinator

philgradadv@ucsc.edu

See Also