Programs & Strengths

The size of Notre Dame’s Department of Philosophy has facilitated the development of a number of areas of special strength in research and teaching. Its traditional and continuing strengths are in the history of philosophy and in classical and contemporary metaphysics and epistemology. Presently, the department also offers students with interests in any of the following fields exceptional opportunities to work with a strong group of scholars in their area of specialization.

Continental Philosophy

The department's considerable resources in recent French and German philosophy are reinforced by faculty in departments such as English, Political Science ,and German. A special program in Modern and Contemporary European Philosophy is available to philosophy Ph.D. students.

Faculty Working in Continental Philosophy

  • Karl Ameriks
  • Fred Dallmayr
  • Gary Gutting
  • Anja Jauernig
  • Fred Rush
  • Stephen Watson.
  • Relevant courses are also offered by Gerald Bruns, Joseph Buttigieg, Vittorio Hösle (German) and Frederick Crosson (emeritus, Program of Liberal Studies).

Epistemology

The department has significant strength in epistemology. Epistemologists in the department work on a wide range of topics, including theories of knowledge and justification, skepticism, rationality, and the a priori. Additionally, epistemologists in the department address issues at the intersection of epistemology and other areas of philosophy. This work includes work in logic, religious epistemology, moral epistemology, and cognitive science.

Faculty Working in Epistemology

  • Robert Audi
  • Marian David
  • Michael DePaul
  • Alvin Plantinga
  • Michael Rea
  • Kenneth Sayre
  • Leopold Stubenberg
  • Fritz Warfield

Ethics

The Department of Philosophy’s strength in the history of ethics, contemporary ethical theory, and certain areas of applied ethics is supplemented by various centers, institutes, and programs representing the wide-ranging interest in values at Notre Dame, including the Institute for International Peace Studies, the Reilly Center for Science, Technology, and Values, Jacques Maritain Center, the Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture, and the Program in Gender Studies.

Faculty Working in Ethics

  • Robert Audi
  • C.F. Delaney
  • Michael DePaul
  • Lynn Joy
  • Alasdair MacIntyre
  • Ralph McInerny
  • David O'Connor
  • John Robinson
  • Kristin Shrader-Frechette
  • David Solomon
  • James Sterba
  • Paul Weithman

Logic

Notre Dame is a major center for logic in the United States. Members of the philosophy faculty work on a number of classical figures: Brouwer, Frege, Euler, Gödel, Hilbert, Peirce, Poincaré, Russell, Skolem, Tarski, Wittgenstein. They also work on, e.g., the nature of truth, the nature of logical consequence, intuitionism, Gödel's Theorems, Skolem's Paradox, modal logic and model theory.

Faculty and students interact reqularly with logicians in computer science and with members of a strong logic group in the mathematics department. In recent years, our logicians have brought to campus a wide range of outside speakers and short-term visitors and have sponsored or co-sponsored four major conferences.

In addition, the Department of Philosophy, together with the Mathematics Department, offers a joint PhD program in Logic and the Foundations of Mathematics.

Faculty Working in Logic

  • Timothy Bays
  • Patricia Blanchette
  • Marian David
  • Michael Detlefsen
  • Curtis Franks

Medieval Philosophy

A primary resource for those working in medieval philosophy is the University's Medieval Institute. A special concentration in Medieval Philosophy is available to philosophy Ph.D. students through the Institute. (For details see The Graduate Student Guide.) Students supplement their work in the philosophy department with specialized courses in paleography, medieval history, and medieval theology. Students also have access to the Institute's rich store of medieval manuscripts, including a microfilm collection of the Ambrosiana Library of Milan.

Faculty Working in Medieval Philosophy

  • Joseph Bobik (emeritus)
  • David Burrell (emeritus)
  • Richard Cross
  • Stephen Dumont
  • Alfred Freddoso
  • John Jenkins
  • Michael Loux
  • Ralph McInerny
  • John O'Callaghan
  • Courses in medieval philosophy are also offered by Stephen Gersh of the Medieval Institute.

Metaphysics

Metaphysicians in the department work in a number of areas, including fundamental ontology, the metaphysics of modality, metaphysics of mind, causation, free will, persistence through time and personal identity, and the metaphysics of theism. Much of this work merges seamlessly with other areas in which the department has considerable strength, including ancient and medieval philosophy, the philosophy of logic and mathematics, and the philosophy of religion.

Faculty Working in Metaphysics

  • David Burrell (emeritus)
  • Thomas Flint
  • Alfred Freddoso
  • Jaegwon Kim
  • Michael Loux
  • John O'Callaghan
  • Alvin Plantinga
  • Michael Rea
  • Leopold Stubenberg
  • Peter van Inwagen
  •  Fritz Warfield

Modern Philosophy

Many members of the department work directly within this area and several others work in related topics in areas such as metaphysics, philosophy of science, ethics, and Continental philosophy. Graduates of the department have gone on to assume leading positions in this field, and Notre Dame continues to put a special emphasis on the history of philosophy.

Faculty Working in Modern Philosophy

  • Karl Ameriks
  • Marian David
  • Cornelius Delaney
  • Anja Jauernig
  •  Lynn Joy
  • Sam Newlands
  • Others who do work closely related to the area include Michael Detlefsen, Gary Gutting, Don Howard, Alasdair MacIntyre, and David Solomon.

Philosophy of Religion

Work in the philosophy of religion is focused in the Center for Philosophy of Religion, headed by Tom Flint of the philosophy department. The Center sponsors frequent lectures and conferences and each year hosts several distinguished philosophers of religion as research fellows. It also publishes a monograph series through the University of Notre Dame Press.

Faculty Working in the Philosophy of Religion

  • Joseph Bobik (emeritus)
  • David Burrell (emeritus)
  • Thomas Flint
  • Alfred Freddoso
  • Gary Gutting
  • Ralph McInerny
  • Alvin Plantinga
  • Michael Rea
  • Peter van Inwagen

Philosophy of Science

Students particularly interested in the philosophy of science may follow the regular doctoral course of studies with that as their area of specialization. They may, alternatively, opt to take a concurrent MA in History and Philosophy of Science through the HPS graduate program. This option provides extra course work in the history of science and earns the student a master’s degree in history and philosophy of science as well as a doctorate in philosophy.

It also gives philosophy students access to the resources of the University's Program in History and Philosophy of Science, directed by Don Howard, and of the Reilly Center for Science, Technology, and Values, directed by Gerald McKenny. A third option is to apply directly to the HPS Ph.D. Program.

Philosophy Faculty Working in Philosophy of Science

  • Katherine Brading
  • Gary Gutting
  • Don Howard
  • Anja Jaurnig
  • Lynn Joy
  • Janet Kourany
  • Edward Manier (emeritus)
  • Vaughn McKim
  • Ernan McMullin (emeritus)
  • Grant Ramsey
  • Kristin Shrader-Frechette.
  • Other faculty offering relevant courses include Matt Ashley (theology), Michael Crowe, Christopher Fox (English), Robert Goulding, Christopher Hamlin, Philip Mirowski (economics), Phillip Sloan, Tom Stapleford and James Turner (history of science).
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