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Philosophy of Biology Graduate Programs

This wiki provides an unranked list of Ph.D. and terminal M.A. programs that have strengths in philosophy of biology. Since it's a wiki, you can edit it, so please do. The primary intended audience is prospective and current graduate students with interests in philosophy of biology who want to get the lay of the land by seeing who works where, and on what. Follow us on Twitter.

Contents

Note to Prospective Graduate Students

The purpose of this wiki is to aid your search for philosophy of biology graduate programs that suit your tastes. It does so in two ways:

  • By listing as many philosophy of biology graduate programs as possible.
  • By making research into those programs more efficient and convenient by identifying the relevant philosophy of biology faculty and providing easy access to their bios, research interests, CVs, partial publication lists, etc.

However, while this site may be where your research into programs starts, it decidedly should not be where it ends. You need to dig around and do your due diligence—e.g., contact people within the programs[1]—in order to put yourself in the best possible position to make an informed decision about where to apply. The American Philosophical Association, for instance, provides a useful Guide to Graduate Programs that is worth consulting. Good luck!

Standards, Practices, and Guidelines

  1. The criterion for program inclusion is just that a philosophy (or HPS) program have at least one full-time faculty member who self-identifies as a philosopher of biology.
  2. The standard of evidence required to make the list is an official (or personal) university-affiliated website—or a publicly-accessible CV—that lists philosophy of biology as a primary research interest.
  3. Philosophers who have made contributions to the philosophy of biology but who do not list phil bio as an AOS/AOC are usually not listed.
  4. Affiliated, part-time, and emeritus faculty who work closely with graduate students should be labelled as such inside parentheses next to their names.
  5. Bioethics, environmental ethics, philosophy of neuroscience/cognitive science, philosophy of medicine, and history of biology—in and of themselves—are not counted as philosophy of biology.

A longer version of these guidelines is available.

Download All Ph.D. Programs as PDF

This entire list of Ph.D. programs with strengths in philosophy of biology can be downloaded. The text file that produced the PDF can be access on GitHubGist.

Ph.D. Programs (Australasia)

All programs reside in philosophy departments, unless otherwise specified.

Australian National University

| Department Website
| Additional Program Information [yes]
  • Kim Sterelny // website, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Philosophy of Biology, Evolution, Philosophy of Psychology and Philosophy of Mind (via website)

Macquarie University

| Department Website
| Additional Program Information [no]
  • Rachael Brown // website 1, 2, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: The evolution of cognition and behaviour; the relationship between evolutionary developmental biology and the Neo-Darwinian Synthesis; model-based reasoning in biology and philosophy; and methodological issues in the study of animal behaviour and cognition (via website)
  • Karola Stotz // website, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Evolutionary, developmental and molecular biology, psychobiology and cognition (via website)

University of Otago (New Zealand)

| Department Website
| Additional Program Information [no]
  • James Maclaurin // website, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Philosophy of Biology, including innateness, fitness, theoretical morphology, biological diversity and universal darwinism (via website)

University of Sydney

| Department Website
| Additional Program Information [no]
  • David Braddon-Mitchell // website, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Philosophy of Mind and metaphysics, and cross borders into philosophy of science, philosophy of biology, ethics and political philosophy from time to time (via website)
  • Paul Griffiths // website 1, 2, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Causal foundations of biological information; evolutionary medicine; innateness and human nature; concept of the gene; developmental systems theory (via website)

Waikato University (New Zealand)

| Department Website
| Additional Program Information [no]
  • Justine Kingsbury // website, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Philosophy of mind; philosophy of biology; critical thinking; aesthetics (especially philosophy of music) (via website)

Ph.D. Programs (Canada)

All programs reside in philosophy departments, unless otherwise specified.

University of Alberta

| Department Website
| Entry in APA Guide
| Additional Program Information [yes]
  • Ingo Brigandt // website, CV, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Evolutionary developmental biology, molecular biology, systems biology, science and values
    • Willing to work with new students? Yes
  • Robert A. Wilson // website, CV, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Eugenics, disability, and reproductive technology, species and natural kinds, levels of selection, group-level cognition and collective intentionality, the nature of biological individuals and organisms, kinship, intersections between biology, mind, and sociality.
    • Willing to work with new students? Yes

University of British Columbia

| Department Website
| Entry in APA Guide
| Additional Program Information [no]
  • John Beatty // website 1, 2, CV, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Theoretical foundations, methodology, and socio-political dimensions of genetics and evolutionary biology (via website)
  • Margaret Schabas // website 1, 2, CV, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Overlap of biology and economics and the formation of bioeconomics (via website)
  • Christopher Stephens // website 1, 2, CV, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Conceptual foundations of evolutionary theory, causation, the nature of evidence in evolutionary biology, reciprocal altruism, phylogenetic inference, and on models of the evolution of rationality (via website)

University of Calgary

| Department Website
| Entry in APA Guide
| Additional Program Information [no]
  • Megan Delehanty // website, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Models, explanation, causation (via PhilPapers entries)
  • Marc Ereshefsky // website 1, 2, CV, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Species; Natural Kinds; Scientific Classification; Biological Individuality; Homology; Historicity; Microbiology (via website)
  • C. Kenneth Waters // website, CV, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Causation, explanation, molecular biology, genetics, pluralism (via PhilPapers entries)

University of Toronto

| Department Website
| Entry in APA Guide
| Additional Program Information [no]
  • Ronald de Sousa (emeritus) // website 1, 2, PhilPapers
  • Mohan Matthen // website 1, 2, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Philosophy of mind, especially perception, philosophy of biology, natural selection (via PhilPapers profile)
  • Paul Thompson // website 1, 2, CV, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Evolutionary theory, population genetics, mathematical modelling in biology, theory structure in biology, philosophy of medicine, and ethics (via website)
  • Denis Walsh // website, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Models, mechanisms, fitness, causation (via PhilPapers entries)

University of Waterloo

| Department Website
| Entry in APA Guide
| Additional Program Information [no]
  • Carla Fehr // website 1, 2, CV, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Philosophy of biology, Feminist Epistemology and Philosophy of Science, Feminist Science Studies, Philosophy of Science, evolution (via website)
  • Katie Plaisance // website, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Philosophy of biology, Philosophical issues in the human behavioral sciences, public understanding of science, interactional expertise, and Socially Relevant Philosophy Of Science
  • Paul Thagard // website 1, 2, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Philosophy of science and medicine, cognitive science, philosophy of mind. Specific topics include analogy, coherence, decision making, conceptual change, explanatory reasoning, theoretical neuroscience, discovery and innovation, emotions and consciousness, moral psychology, and theories and explanations in biomedicine (via website)

University of Western Ontario

| Department Website
| Entry in APA Guide
| Additional Program Information [no]
  • Gillian Barker // website, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Philosophy of Biology, Philosophy of Science
  • Eric Desjardins // website, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Biology, Environmental Philosophy and Bioethics (via website)
  • Devin Henry // website, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Ancient Philosophy, History & Philosophy of Science (esp. Philosophy of Biology) (via website)

Ph.D. Programs (United Kingdom)

All programs reside in philosophy departments, unless otherwise specified.

Birkbeck, University of London

| Department Website
| Additional Program Information [no]
  • Robert Northcott // website 1, 2, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Philosophy of science, and especially the ‘special sciences’ such as biology and economics; metaphysics, especially the notions of causation and causal explanation; analysis of use of statistical techniques to measure causation, the place of causal explanation in evolutionary theory; role played by formal theory in economics (via website)

University of Bristol

| Department Website
| Additional Program Information [no]
  • Samir Okasha // website, PhilPapers
    • Specialities: evolutionary theory, levels of selection, population genetics, social evolution, rational choice
    • Willing to work with new students? Yes

University of Cambridge (History and Philosophy of Science)

| Department Website
| Additional Program Information [no]
  • Tim Lewens // website, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Philosophy of biology, philosophy of science, philosophical bioethics

University of Exeter (Sociology, Philosophy and Anthropology)

| Department Website
| Additional Program Information [no]
  • John Dupre // website, CV, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Particular interests include: biological classification, the relation of technical to everyday biological kinds and to traditional problems of essentialism; adaptationism and optimality; reductionism; indeterministic accounts of causality; evolution and the limitations of evolutionary psychology; and the biological basis of sex and gender. Also worked for several years on issues in the philosophy of economics (via website)
  • Sabina Leonelli // website, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Data-Intensive Science and Practices of Data Sharing and Re-Use; Open Science and Open Data; The Regulatory Role and Epistemic Impact of Bioinformatics in Biology and Biomedicine; Bio-Ontologies; History and Epistemic Status of Model Organism Research; History, Philosophy and Sociology of Plant Biology; The Role of Embodied Knowledge and Skills in Scientific Understanding; Abstraction and Modelling Processes in Biology; Distributed Cognition and Division of Scientific Labor; Unity, Disunity and Integration in Science: Early American Pragmatism; Science Policy and the Globalisation and Political Economy of Scientific Research (via website)
  • Staffan Muller-Wille // website, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: History and philosophy of systematics; history of heredity; history of race and kinship (via website)

King's College London

| Department Website
| Additional Program Information [no]
  • Matteo Mameli // website, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Intersection of philosophy, the sciences of human behavior (biology, psychology, anthropology, sociology, economics, etc.), and moral and political theory (via website)
  • Nick Shea // website, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Philosophy of mind and the philosophy of psychology, neuroscience and cognitive science; philosophical work on mental representation, consciousness and the metaphysics of mind; has published in scientific journals in collaboration with psychologists, cognitive neuroscientists and biologists (via website)

Lancaster University (Politics, Philosophy and Religion)

| Department Website
| Additional Program Information [no]
  • Brian Garvey // website, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Philosophy of science, philosophy of biology, philosophy of mind, psychoanalysis, Ryle, Austin, Dennett (via website)

University of Leeds

| Department Website
| Additional Program Information [no]
  • Gregory Radick // website 1, 2, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: History and Philosophy of Biology, especially evolutionary biology, genetics and animal behavior; History of the Human Sciences; Philosophy of Science; Philosophy of History; Intellectual Property (via website)

London School of Economics (Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method)

| Department Website
| Additional Program Information [no]
  • Jonathan Birch // website, PhilPapers
    • Specialities: Natural selection, evolution of social behaviour, evolutionary transitions, human evolution.
    • Willing to work with new students? Yes

University College London (Science and Technology Studies)

| Department Website
| Additional Program Information [no]
  • Phyllis Illari // website, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Metaphysics, Epistemology and Methodology of Causality in the Sciences; wider research interests in Philosophy of Science, particularly Philosophy of Biology and Psychology, the still-expanding Mechanisms debate, and the Philosophy of Information (via website)

University of Oxford

| Department Website
| Additional Program Information [no]
  • Ellen Clarke // website 1, , 2, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Biological Individuality, Evolutionary Transitions, evolution of cooperation, natural selection, Philosophy of biology, philosophy of science

Ph.D. Programs (United States)

All programs reside in philosophy departments, unless otherwise specified.

Arizona State University (Center for Biology and Society)

| Department Website
| No Entry in APA Guide Available
| Additional Program Information [no]
  • Manfred Laubichler, Ph.D. 1997 Yale University (Biology) // website, CV, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Theoretical biology and the history of biology using both empirical and conceptual approaches; role of gene regulatory networks in development and evolution; Theory of Complex Adaptive Systems, focusing on complexity as a unifying principle in the social and life sciences, including applications in biomedicine and the study of innovations (via website)
  • Jane Maienschein, Ph.D. 1978 Indiana University (HPS) // website, CV, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: History and philosophy of biology and the way biology, bioethics and bio-policy play out in society; embryology, genetics, and cell biology; epistemological standards, theories, and laboratory practices; studies of people and institutions, as well as the changing social, political, and legal context in which science thrive (via website)
  • Jason Scott Robert, Ph.D. 2000 McMaster University // website, CV
    • Specialties: Political and societal problems that intersect with life sciences; produces educational materials and tools for “talking productively” (via website)

Boston University

| Department Website
| No Entry in APA Guide Available
| Additional Program Information [no]
  • Tian Yu Cao, Ph.D. University of Cambridge // website, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Philosophy and History of Science (physics, biology and cognitive sciences), Epistemology, Metaphysics, Social and Political Philosophy, with special interests in philosophical issues related to (classical and global) modernity and postmodernity (via website)
  • Russell Powell, Ph.D. 2009 Duke University, J.D. 2002 New York University // website, CV, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Conceptual and methodological problems in evolutionary theory; epistemological and metaphysical dimensions of debates in contemporary bioethics, especially in relation to emerging biotechnologies (via website)

Carnegie Mellon University

| Department Website
| Entry in APA Guide
| Additional Program Information [no]
  • Kevin J.S. Zollman, Ph.D. 2007 UC Irvine (LPS) // website, CV, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Game theory, agent based modeling, philosophy of science

City University of New York Graduate Center

| Department Website
| Entry in APA Guide
| Additional Program Information [no]
  • Peter Godfrey-Smith, Ph.D. 1991 UC San Diego // website 1, 2, CV, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Philosophy of biology and the philosophy of mind; pragmatism (especially John Dewey), general philosophy of science, and some parts of metaphysics and epistemology (via website)
  • Massimo Pigliucci, Doctorate University of Ferrara (Genetics), Ph.D. University of Connecticut (Biology), Ph.D. University of Tennessee (Philosophy) // website 1, 2, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Philosophy of biology, in particular the structure and foundations of evolutionary theory, the relationship between science and philosophy, and the nature of pseudoscience (via website)
  • Thomas Teufel, Ph.D. 2006 Harvard University // website, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Philosophy of biology, Kant, 18th Century philosophy, philosophy of art (via website)

Columbia University

| Department Website
| No Entry in APA Guide Available
| Additional Program Information [no]
  • Philip Kitcher[2], Ph.D. 1974 Princeton University // website 1, 2, CV, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Conceptual and methodological issues in biology; questions about the relations of biological research to society and politics; role of scientific inquiry in democratic societies; pragmatism (especially William James and John Dewey) (via website)

Duke University

| Department Website
| Entry in APA Guide
| Additional Program Information [yes]
  • Robert N. Brandon, Ph.D. 1979 Harvard University // website, CV, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Philosophy of biology, philosophy of science, logic (via website)
  • Alexander Rosenberg, Ph.D. 1971 Johns Hopkins University // website 1, 2, CV, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: problems in metaphysics, mainly surrounding causality, the philosophy of social sciences, especially economics, and most of all, the philosophy of biology, in particular the relationship between molecular, functional and evolutionary biology (via website)
  • Karen Neander, Ph.D. 1983 La Trobe University // website, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Biology, Cognitive Science (via website)
  • Dan McShea, Ph.D. 1990 University of Chicago // website 1, 2, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Paleobiology, with a focus on large-scale trends in the history of life, especially documenting and investigating the causes of the (putative) trend in the complexity of organisms; operationalizing concepts, such as complexity and hierarchy, as well as clarifying conceptual issues related to trends at larger scales (via website)

Florida State University

| Department Website
| Entry in APA Guide
| Additional Program Information [no]
  • James Justus, Ph.D. 2007 University of Texas at Austin // website, CV, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Philosophy of Science (esp. biology), Carnap, Epistemology (esp. formal and naturalized), Environmental Philosophy, History of Analytic Philosophy (via website)
  • Michael Ruse, Ph.D. 1970 Bristol University // website, CV, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Philosophy of Biology (especially Darwinism), Ethics, the History and Philosophy of Science (via website)

Indiana University (History and Philosophy of Science)

| Department Website
| No Entry in APA Guide Available
| Additional Program Information [no]
  • Colin Allen, Ph.D. 1989 UCLA // website 1, 2, CV, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Philosophy of biology and cognitive science, with particular interests in animal behavior and cognition (via website)
  • Sander Gliboff, Ph.D. 2001 Johns Hopkins University // website, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: History of biology, especially evolution and genetics, and the science in modern Germany and Austria (via website)
  • Elisabeth Lloyd, Ph.D. 1984 Princeton University // website 1, 2, CV, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Philosophy of biology, general philosophy of science, the role of models in science, and gender issues in science (via website)

Michigan State University

| Department Website
| Entry in APA Guide
| Additional Program Information [no]
  • Fred Gifford, Ph.D. 1984 University of Pittsburgh (HPS) // website, CV, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Philosophy of Science (particularly philosophy of biology and medicine); Ethics (particularly ethics in health care and the life sciences)
  • Robert T. Pennock, Ph.D. 1991 University of Pittsburgh (HPS) // website, CV, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Evolution and computing (via publication list)
  • Sean Valles, Ph.D. 2010 Indiana University (HPS) // website, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Philosophy of population health, from the use of evidence in medical genetics to the roles played by race concepts in epidemiology (via website)

Stanford University

| Department Website
| Entry in APA Guide
| Additional Program Information [no]
  • Helen Longino, Ph.D. 1973 Johns Hopkins University // website, CV, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: The underdetermination problem in the context of a probabilistic epistemology/metaphysics; analyzing the differences between weak and strong social epistemology; understanding ecological explanation (via website)
  • Brian Skyrms, Ph.D. 1964 University of Pittsburgh (1/3 time appointment; at Stanford every Spring) // website, CV, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Evolution of conventions and the social contract; inductive logic, decision theory, rational deliberation, the metaphysics of logical atomism, causality, and Truth (via website)

Texas A&M University

| Department Website
| Entry in APA Guide
| Additional Program Information [no]
  • Roger Sansom, Ph.D. 2002 University of North Carolina // website, CV, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Philosophy of biology, philosophy of science (via website)

University of California, Davis

| Department Website
| Entry in APA Guide
| Additional Program Information [yes]
  • James R. Griesemer, Ph.D. 1983 University of Chicago (Conceptual Foundations of Science) // website 1, 2, 3, CV, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Evolutionary biology, genetics, developmental biology, ecology and systematics
    • Willing to work with new students? Yes
  • Roberta L. Millstein, Ph.D. 1997 University of Minnesotta, Twin Cities // website 1, 2, 3, CV, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: History and philosophy of evolutionary biology and ecology, causation, chance, environmental ethics
    • Willing to work with new students? Yes

University of California, Irvine (Logic and Philosophy of Science)

| Department Website
| Entry in APA Guide
| Additional Program Information [no]
  • Simon Huttegger, Ph.D. 2006 Universität Salzburg // website, CV, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Game and Decision Theory, Probability, Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Biology, Measurement Theory (via CV)
  • Cailin O'Connor, Ph.D. 2013 UC Irvine (LPS) // website, CV, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Philosophy of Biology, Philosophy of Science, Evolutionary Game Theory, Philosophy, Evolutionary Biology, Game Theory, Epistemology, Animal Behaviour, Social behavior in animals, Natural (Naturalised) Philosophy, Culture Evolution--Retardant/Accelerant of Genetic Evolution, Psychology, Neuroscience, Cognitive Neuroscience, Philosophy of Cognitive Science, Developmental Biology, Epigenetics, Philosophy of perception, Animal Cognition, Visual Neuroscience, Kinds of Inheritance System: Genes, Cultures, Learning, Ambiguity, Vagueness, Peter Godfrey-Smith, Naturalized ethics, Bargaining, Experimental Economics, Cultural Evolution, Decision And Game Theory, Evolution of cooperation (Evolutionary Biology), and Social Epistemology (via academia.edu)
  • P. Kyle Stanford, Ph.D. 1997 UC San Diego (Philosophy/Science Studies) // website, CV, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Centrally concerned with what we know and how we know it; philosophy of biology, the history of modern philosophy (especially the writings of Locke and Hume), and the philosophy of language (via website)
  • Brian Skyrms, Ph.D. 1964 University of Pittsburgh (1/3 time appointment; at Stanford every Spring) // website, CV, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Evolution of conventions and the social contract; inductive logic, decision theory, rational deliberation, the metaphysics of logical atomism, causality, and Truth (via website)

University of California, San Diego

| Department Website
| Entry in APA Guide
| Additional Program Information [no]
  • William Bechtel, Ph.D. 1977 University of Chicago // website, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Philosophy of the life sciences, including systems biology, cell and molecular biology, biochemistry, neuroscience, cognitive science, and mechanisms; chronobiology, which over the past twenty years which has revealed critical components and organization of the intercellular oscillators responsible for circadian behavior in mammals, insects, and plants, as well as their entrainment and sychronization, as a model science; interest is coupled with an interest in how neural systems generally "compute" via dynamic synchronization of endogenously active (oscillating) local populations of neurons (via website)

University of California, Santa Cruz

| Department Website
| Entry in APA Guide
| Additional Program Information [no]
  • Rasmus Grønfeldt Winther, Ph.D. 2003 Indiana University (HPS) // website 1, 2, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Biology (Genetics, Evolutionary Theory) (via website)
    • Willing to work with new students? Yes

University of Chicago (Conceptual and Historical Studies of Science)

| Department Website
| No Entry in APA Guide Available
| Additional Program Information [no]
  • Robert J. Richards, Ph.D. St. Louis University, Ph.D. University of Chicago // website, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: history and philosophy of psychology and biology. This includes particular interest in evolutionary theory, biopsychology, ethology, and sociobiology (via website)
  • William C. Wimsatt, Ph.D. 1971 University of Chicago (emeritus) // website, CV, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: history and philosophy of biology, cultural evolution, evolutionary developmental biology, complex systems
  • Karl Matlin, Ph.D. 1979 Rockefeller University (department of surgery) // website
    • Specialties: Understanding the biogenesis of apical-basal polarity in epithelial cells (via website)
  • David Jablonski, Ph.D. 1979 Yale University (has been on CHSS dissertation committees) // website, CV
    • Specialties: Combining of data from living and fossil organisms to study the origins and the fates of lineages and adaptations (via website)

University of Cincinnati

| Department Website
| Entry in APA Guide
| Additional Program Information [yes]
  • Tony Chemero, Ph.D. 1999 Indiana University (Philosophy and Cognitive Science) // website, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: neuroscience, ecological psychology, artificial life, dynamical systems and complex systems, cognitive science
    • Willing to work with new students? Yes
  • Valerie Hardcastle, Ph.D. 1994 UC San Diego (Philosophy and Cognitive Science) // website, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: neurobiology, neuropsychiatry and the law, embodied cognition
    • Willing to work with new students? Yes
  • Koffi N. Maglo, Ph.D. University of Burgundy // website, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: philosophy of biomedicine, genomics and race, race-based medicine, bioethics
    • Willing to work with new students? Yes
  • Thomas W. Polger, Ph.D. 2000 Duke University // website 1, 2, CV, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: multiple realization and realization; explanation in life, brain, and cognitive sciences; role of evolutionary theory in thinking about minds and consciousness; neuroscience and cognitive sciences
    • Willing to work with new students? Yes
  • Angela Potochnik, Ph.D. 2007 Stanford University // website 1, 2, CV, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: methodology of population biology, behavioral ecology, explanation, idealization, socially engaged philosophy of science, logical empiricism
    • Willing to work with new students? Yes
  • Robert C. Richardson, Ph.D. 1977 University of Chicago // website, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: evolutionary theory, developmental biology, cognitive science, theory change
    • Willing to work with new students? Yes
  • Robert A. Skipper, Jr., Ph.D. 2000 University of Maryland, College Park (Committee on the History and Philosophy of Science) // website 1, 2, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: history of evolutionary genetics, evolutionary genetics, obesity science, controversies, explanation, socially engaged philosophy of science
    • Willing to work with new students? Yes

University of Kansas

| Department Website
| No Entry in APA Guide Available
| Additional Program Information [no]
  • Armin Schulz, Ph.D. 2010 University of Wisconsin-Madison // website, CV, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: How and when evolutionary theory can be used to illuminate issues that are not obviously evolutionary biological (especially ones in psychology, social science, and philosophy); and how and when theories from psychology, social science, and philosophy can be used to illuminate evolutionary biological issues (via website)

University of Maryland, College Park

| Department Website
| No Entry in APA Guide Available
| Additional Program Information [no]
  • Lindley Darden, Ph.D. 1974 University of Chicago (Conceptual Foundations of Science) // website 1, 2, CV, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Reasoning in scientific change; development of scientific knowledge as progressing through iterative cycles of construction, evaluation, and revision of hypotheses; conceptual aspects of discovery of biological mechanisms from the nineteenth through the twenty-first century, such as evolutionary and genetic mechanisms (via websites)
  • Erin Eaker, Ph.D. 2002 UCLA // website, CV
    • Specialties: Natural kinds and scientific realism in the philosophy of biology; philosophy of language, metaphysics and epistemology; the concept of belief (via website)
  • Aidan Lyon, Ph.D. 2009 Australian National University // website 1, 2, CV, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Probability, Formal Epistemology and Philosophy of Mathematics; also interested in topics in Philosophy of Physics and Biology; the notion of objective probability in various scientific theories, with a focus on Classical Statistical Mechanics and Evolutionary Theory (via website)

University of Minnesota, Twin Cities[3]

| Department Website
| Entry in APA Guide
| Additional Program Information [yes]
  • Alan C. Love, Ph.D. 2005 University of Pittsburgh (HPS) // website 1, 2, CV, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: History and philosophy of evolutionary developmental biology, evolutionary theory, developmental biology, functional morphology, conceptual change, explanatory pluralism, reductionism, the nature of historical science, interdisciplinary epistemology, and the structure of scientific problems
    • Willing to work with new students? Yes
  • William C. Wimsatt, Ph.D. 1971 University of Chicago (part-time appointment, Fall semesters) // website, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: history and philosophy of biology, cultural evolution, evolutionary developmental biology, complex systems
    • Willing to work with new students? Yes

University of Missouri

| Department Website
| Entry in APA Guide
| Additional Program Information [no]
  • Andre Ariew, Ph.D. 1997 University of Arizona // website 1, 2, CV, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Philosophy of science, philosophy of biology, fitness, causation (via website)

University of Notre Dame

| Department Website
| Entry in APA Guide
| Additional Program Information [no]
  • Grant Ramsey, Ph.D. 2007 Duke University // website 1, 2, CV, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Philosophy of biology, fitness (via website)

University of Pennsylvania

| Department Website
| No Entry in APA Guide Available
| Additional Program Information [yes]
  • Cristina Bicchieri, Ph.D. 1984 Cambridge University // website, CV, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: evolutionary game theory, evolution of social norms
  • Karen Detlefsen, Ph.D. 2001 University of Toronto // website, CV, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: history of philosophy of biology
  • Gary Hatfield, Ph.D. 1979 University of Wisconsin-Madison // website, CV, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: history of philosophy of biology, perception, neuroscience and psychology
  • Quayshawn Spencer, Ph.D. 2009 Stanford University // website 1, 2, CV, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: population genetics, phylogenetics, biology and race
  • Michael Weisberg, Ph.D. 2003 Stanford University // website 1, 2, CV, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: tradeoffs and Idealization in modeling, agent-based models in evolution and ecology, origin of life, biology and race

University of Pittsburgh (History and Philosophy of Science)

| Department Website
| Entry in APA Guide
| Additional Program Information [no]
  • Mazviita Chirimuuta, Ph.D. 2004 University of Cambridge // website, CV, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Relationship between neuroscience and the philosophy of mind and perception; color vision, developing a theory of color that acknowledges the complexities of visual function revealed by recent perceptual science (via website)
  • James G. Lennox, Ph.D. 1978 University of Toronoto // website, CV, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Ancient Greek philosophy and science, William Harvey, Darwin, and Darwinism (via website)
  • Peter Machamer, Ph.D. 1972 University of Chicago // website, CV, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: History and philosophy of science, primarily on 16th- and 17th-century topics, especially Galileo, Descartes and Hobbes, and in the philosophy of cognitive psychology and neuroscience, and social science, and on values and science.
  • Edouard Machery, Ph.D. 2004 Université Paris-Sorbonne // website, CV, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Theoretical issues raised by psychology and cognitive science; concepts; evolution, culture, cognition; experimental philosophy (via website)
  • Sandra Mitchell, Ph.D. 1987 University of Pittsburgh (HPS) // website 1, 2, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Epistemological and metaphysical issues in the philosophy of science; scientific explanations of complex behavior, representing multi-level, multi-component complex systems; functional explanation, units of selection in evolutionary biology, sociobiology, biological complexity and self-organization, and scientific laws (via website)
  • Kenneth F. Schaffner, Ph.D. 1967 Columbia University, M.D. University of Pittsburgh // website 1, 2, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Human behavioral and psychiatric genetics (via website)
  • James Woodward, Ph.D. 1977 University of Texas at Austin // website, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Theories of causation, explanation and inductive inference in general philosophy of science, philosophy of psychology, and philosophy of social science; empirical psychology of causal learning and judgment (via website)

University of Texas at Austin

| Department Website
| Entry in APA Guide
| Additional Program Information [no]
  • Sahotra Sarkar, Ph.D. University of Chicago // website, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: History and philosophy of science, particularly in both philosophy of biology and physics (via website)

University of Utah

| Department Website
| Entry in APA Guide
| Additional Program Information [no]
  • Stephen M. Downes, Ph.D. 1990 Virginia Tech (STS) // website, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Philosophy of Science and Philosophy of Biology; Biology of Human Behavior and Models and Images in Science (via website)
  • Melinda B. Fagan, Ph.D. 2007 Indiana University (HPS) // website, CV, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Philosophy of science, focusing on experimental practice in biology (particularly stem cell and developmental biology), explanation, and conceptions of objectivity and evidence (via website)
  • Matt Haber, Ph.D. 2005 UC Davis (Philosophy, Population Biology Affiliate) // website, CV, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Philosophy of Biology and Philosophy of Science; philosophical and conceptual issues in systematics, particularly those stemming from a commitment to phylogenetic thinking (via website)
  • Jacob Stegenga, Ph.D. 2011 UC San Diego // website 1, 2, CV, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Philosophy of science, in particular: methodology of medical research, philosophy of biology, and foundational topics in theoretical and practical reasoning (via website)
  • James Tabery, Ph.D. 2007 University of Pittsburgh (HPS) // website, CV, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Philosophy of science and applied ethics, as well as the intersection between those domains; causation and explanation in biology and their ethical, legal, and social implications (via website)

University of Wisconsin-Madison

| Department Website
| Entry in APA Guide
| Additional Program Information [no]
  • Daniel Hausman, Ph.D. 1978 Columbia University // website, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Rational choice theory, game theory, the concept of measurement and health
  • Elliott Sober, Ph.D. 1974 Harvard University // website, CV, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Philosophy of evolutionary biology, confirmation, explanation, reductionism, modeling, probability and statistics, parsimony
    • Willing to work with new students? Yes
  • Russ Shafer-Landau, Ph.D. 1992 University of Arizona // website, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Evolutionary debunking arguments targeting morality
  • Lawrence Shapiro, Ph.D. 1992 University of Pennsylvania // website, CV, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Philosophy of psychology and philosophy of mind; issues concerning multiple realization and embodied cognition (via website)
  • Michael Titelbaum, Ph.D. 2008 UC Berkeley // website, CV, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Bayesian epistemology

Washington University in St. Louis

| Department Website
| Entry in APA Guide
| Additional Program Information [no]
  • Carl F. Craver, Ph.D. 1998 University of Pittsburgh // website 1, 2, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Philosophy of neuroscience, theories of explanation, philosophy of psychology, cognitive neuropsychology
    • Willing to work with new students? Yes
  • Ron Mallon, Ph.D. 1987 Rutgers University// website, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Race, social construction, moral psychology, experimental philosophy
  • Anya Plutynski, Ph.D. 2002 University of Pennsylvania // website, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: History and philosophy of biology, general philosophy of science, cancer biology, early 20th Century genetics, evolutionary theory, explanation, modeling.
    • Willing to work with new students? Yes

M.A. Programs

Concordia University, Montreal

| Department Website
| Additional Program Information [no]

Louisiana State University

| Department Website
| Additional Program Information [no]
  • Charles H. Pence // website, CV, papers, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: History and philosophy of biology, foundations of evolutionary theory, chance and evolution, fitness, causation
    • Willing to work with new students? Yes

Oregon State University

| Department Website
| Additional Program Information [no]

Tufts University

| Department Website
| Additional Program Information [no]

University of North Carolina at Charlotte (Ethics & Applied Philosophy)

| Department Website
| Additional Program Information [no]

Virginia Tech

| Department Website
| Additional Program Information [no]
  • Benjamin Jantzen // website 1, 2, CV, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Philosophy of Biology, Philosophy of Physics, General Philosophy of Science, Biophysics
    • Willing to work with new students? Yes
  • Richard M. Burian // website, PhilPapers
    • Specialties: Philosophy of Biology, History of Philosophy of Biology, History of Philosophy of Science, Science Studies
    • Willing to work with new students? Possibly; write to ask.


Browse Programs by Category

Below are two ways to browse programs by category. The first sorts all programs by number of philosophy of biology faculty. The second sorts U.S. programs by state.

You can find a listing of Australasian and Canadian programs by specialty on this page. Once that list includes programs from other parts of the world, they will be incorporated. As always, prospective students should fact-check the faculty numbers listed because academics change jobs frequently. (Note: 'P' stands for Page.)

All Ph.D. Programs by Number of Faculty
1 Faculty Member‎ (19 P)
2 Faculty Members‎ (9 P)
3 Faculty Members‎ (10 P)
4 Faculty Members‎ (5 P)
5 Faculty Members‎ (3 P)
6+ Faculty Members‎ (2 P)
U.S. Ph.D. Programs by State
Arizona‎ (1 P)
California‎ (5 P)
Florida‎ (1 P)
Illinois‎ (1 P)
Indiana‎ (2 P)
Kansas‎ (1 P)
Maryland‎ (1 P)
Massachusetts‎ (1 P)
Michigan‎ (1 P)
Minnesota‎ (1 P)
New York‎ (2 P)
North Carolina‎ (1 P)
Ohio‎ (1 P)
Pennsylvania‎ (3 P)
Texas‎ (2 P)
Utah‎ (1 P)
Wisconsin‎ (1 P)

How to Contribute

This is a wiki, so anyone can contribute. No account is needed—though you are encouraged to create one—and all changes can be rolled back, so edit with a free hand.

Making Edits

You can make edits in one of two ways: by clicking 'Edit', which enables WYSIWYG (or visual) editing, ala a wordprocessor. Alternately, you can click 'Edit source', which allows you to edit the wiki markup in plaintext. Use whichever method you prefer. It takes a little longer to open the editing window in visual mode because the server has to translate wiki markup to html on the fly. So be patient. If things are too sluggish, you can switch over to 'Edit source'.

Wiki formatting/markup is very straightforward, and all you need to do is mimic the current entries since formatting is standardized.

If programs or faculty have been overlooked—which is assuredly the case—you are encouraged to add them, even if you are not a member of that department. Also, information will date rapidly, so by all means help keep things up to date.

Additional Program Information

Every program listed also has a separate page where additional information can be provided to prospective students. While the style and format of this main page should be kept consistent, individual pages can take any form whatsoever. To edit one of these pages, simply follow the link entitled 'Additional Program Information' underneath the department listing of interest and edit that page.

The following programs have added considerably to their pages. Feel free to mimic them.

Notes

  1. ↑ This site is not in the business of giving prospective students advice—on how to select programs or anything else—but it can be very helpful and illuminating to contact graduate students currently enrolled in departments you are considering and asking if they would be willing to share their impressions of and experience in the programs. The worst that can happen is that they say 'no'. Of course, what they share must be taken with a grain of salt since everyone's experiences differ, and disgruntled students will paint a radically different picture than contented ones. For that reason, seeking out multiple sources can be worthwhile.
  2. ↑ Though he does not list philosophy of biology as a current AOS, Kitcher writes on his faculty profile page—accessed 2014-11-18—that he is willing to work with philosophy of biology graduate students.
  3. ↑ Some of the Resident Fellows at the Minnesota Center for Philosophy of Science also have philosophy of biology interests.
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