Philosophy at St Andrews: Home

Philosophy at St Andrews

Welcome to new students

We would like to welcome all new and returning students to the Department for 2017/18 - you can find more information and this year's handbooks here. If you're thinking of studying Philosophy for the first time, please take a look at our short presentation below.

Philosophy at St Andrews

St Andrews is one of the leading international centres for philosophy in Britain.

In the latest UK-wide assessment of the research of UK universities (REF 2014) the philosophy department was ranked 1st in Scotland and 5th in the UK (by grade point average). 83% of research was assessed as either 4* or 3*. The St Andrews/Stirling graduate programme (SASP) was ranked second in Britain in a recent US-based survey.

There is a busy programme of conferences, workshops and visiting speakers from universities in the UK and from abroad. The Philosophy Club, which is open to everyone, is the regular visiting speakers' seminar. Several specialized research seminars meet weekly or fortnightly. There is also a Friday Seminar for doctoral students, and a seminar specifically for MLitt students.

There are two philosophical research centres in St Andrews: The Centre for Ethics, Philosophy and Public Affairs (CEPPA), and the Arché Philosophical Research Centre for the Philosophy of Logic, Language, Metaphysics and Epistemology. The Philosophical Quarterly, one of the most respected international philosophy journals, is edited from St Andrews.