Harvard University
Department of Philosophy
Overview |
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Welcome to the Harvard University Department of Philosophy's Web site! The Department offers a program covering a wide range of fields in systematic philosophy and the history of philosophy. Among the special strengths of the Department are moral and political philosophy, aesthetics, epistemology, philosophy of logic, philosophy of language, the history of analytic philosophy, ancient philosophy, Kant, and Wittgenstein. Philosophy has been included in Harvard's curriculum from the time of its founding in 1636. [1] The Department has had a long and fruitful involvement in the practice of philosophy in the United States and beyond, especially from the "Golden Age" of the late nineteenth century down to the present day. Photographs of some of the famous figures from the Department's history may be found throughout the Web site. |
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[1] For more information about the history of the Department and the teaching of philosophy at Harvard, please see:
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Emerson Hall |
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The Department resides in Emerson Hall, named for Ralph Waldo Emerson, the Transcendentalist writer, philosopher, and Harvard alumnus (A.B. 1821, LL.D. 1866). Designed by Guy Lowell, and completed in 1900, [2] the building bears over the main entrance the inscription: "What is man that thou art mindful of him?" (Psalm 8:4). [3] Emerson Hall is where most faculty and graduate students have their offices. It is where many of the Department's courses are taught, and where most of its colloquia are held, usually in Room 305. |
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| Important spaces in Emerson Hall: | |
Emerson 107 |
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| Emerson 209a/209b | |
| Robbins Library | Emerson 211 |
| Emerson 303 | |
| Tanner Room | Emerson 310 |
| Graduate Student Lounge | Emerson 311 |
| Graduate Student Computer Lab | Emerson 312 |
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[2] Shand-Tucci, D. (2001). Harvard University: An Architectural Tour. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 163. [3] Land, W.G. (1936). Harvard University Handbook. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 44. Land notes that G.H. Palmer had suggested Protagoras' statement, "Man is the measure of all things" for Emerson Hall's inscription. However, for reasons that Land does not make clear, President C.W. Eliot chose the Psalm passage instead. |
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Important Contacts |
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| Chair | Sean Kelly |
| Head Tutor | Ned Hall |
| Director of Graduate Studies | Christine Korsgaard |
| Placement Officer | Susanna Siegel |
| MBB Philosophy Track Advisor | Sean Kelly |
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 Photo by Veronica Bailey © 2002 |
Copyright © 2007-2009
The President and Fellows of Harvard College
Harvard University