Main Page - Philosophy of Biology Graduate Programs

Philosophy of Biology Graduate Programs

This website provides an unranked list of Ph.D. and terminal M.A. programs that have strengths in philosophy of biology. 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. All content on this site is available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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 by:

Listing as many philosophy of biology graduate programs as possible.
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. Good luck!

Standards, Practices, and Guidelines

The criterion for program inclusion is that a philosophy (or HPS) program have at least one full-time faculty member who self-identifies as a philosopher of biology.
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.
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.
Affiliated, part-time, and emeritus faculty who work closely with graduate students should be labeled as such inside parentheses next to their names.
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.

Ph.D. Programs (Australasia)

All programs reside in philosophy departments, unless otherwise specified.

Note to Prospective Graduate Students

Standards, Practices, and Guidelines

Ph.D. Programs (Australasia)

Australian National University

La Trobe University

Macquarie University

University of Otago (New Zealand)

University of Sydney

Waikato University (New Zealand)

Ph.D. Programs (Canada)

University of Alberta

University of British Columbia

University of Calgary

University of Toronto

University of Waterloo

University of Western Ontario

Ph.D. Programs (Europe)

KU Leuven

Ph.D. Programs (United Kingdom)

Birkbeck, University of London

University of Bristol

University of Cambridge (History and Philosophy of Science)

University of Exeter (Sociology, Philosophy and Anthropology)

King's College London

Lancaster University (Politics, Philosophy and Religion)

University of Leeds

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

University College London (Science and Technology Studies)

University of Oxford

Ph.D. Programs (United States)

Arizona State University (Center for Biology and Society)

Boston University

Carnegie Mellon University

City University of New York Graduate Center

Columbia University

Duke University

Florida State University

Indiana University (History and Philosophy of Science)

Michigan State University

New York University

Stanford University

Texas A&M University

University of California, Davis

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

University of California, San Diego

University of California, Santa Cruz

University of Chicago (Conceptual and Historical Studies of Science)

University of Cincinnati

University of Kansas

University of Maryland, College Park

University of Minnesota, Twin Cities[4]

University of Missouri

University of Pennsylvania

University of Pittsburgh (History and Philosophy of Science)

University of Texas at Austin

University of Utah

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Washington University in St. Louis

M.A. Programs

California State University Long Beach

Concordia University, Montreal

Louisiana State University

Oregon State University

Tufts University

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

University of Victoria

Virginia Tech

Philosophy of Biology Graduate Programs

University of Minnesota, Twin Cities^[4]