From the Chair
Welcome to the Department of Philosophy at the University of Missouri! Whether you're working for a BA, MA, or PhD, or just taking a course or two, we undertake to provide excellent teaching in philosophy. We offer introductory and historical courses, courses in traditional areas of philosophy such as metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and logic, and courses in non-traditional areas of philosophy such as philosophy of biology, decision theory, and Asian philosophy.
At the undergraduate level, we are strongly committed to fostering transferable intellectual skills that will serve students well for the rest of their lives. One such skill is argumentative writing. All upper-level undergraduate (3000-level or 4000-level) courses, other than those in logic, include a substantial paper-writing component, typically in the form of one or more thesis-defense papers.
In our graduate program, we strive to maintain an atmosphere of cooperation and mutual support in which every student receives the individual attention that he or she needs in order to succeed.
The education we provide at every level is nourished by the passion for philosophy and outstanding research of our nationally and internationally renowned faculty. Their books have been published by outstanding presses such as Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press, and their papers have appeared in outstanding international refereed journals such as The Philosophical Review, Journal of Philosophy, Noûs, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, and Mind.
In centuries past, philosophy was the almost exclusive preserve of upper-class white men, but this is no longer the case. Anyone can profit from the study of philosophy. If you have an interest in philosophy, you are welcome here.
Andrew Melnyk
Chair and Professor of Philosophy
p.s. MU's Philosophy Department is now on Facebook!
News
10-17-11: Congratulations to Ted Poston (PhD, 2006) of the University of South Alabama on winning the highly prestigious 2011 Younger Scholars Prize in Philosophical Theology for his paper, "Social Evil", which is forthcoming in Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Religion.
7-20-11: More great news for Andrew Moon (PhD, 2010)! Not only has he won the MU Distinguished Dissertation Award for 2010-2011, but he's also had a second paper accepted for publication by Mind, one of the handful of top philosophy journals in the world.
5-27-11: Great news on job placement! Crystal Allen (ABD) has accepted an indefinitely renewable assistant professorship at Principia College (to begin in Fall 2012); Joel Dittmer (PhD, 2010) has accepted a tenure-track position at Missouri University of Science and Technology; Mat Konieczka (PhD, 2007) has accepted a tenure-track position at Newbury College; and Melanie Johnson-Moxley (PhD, 2008) will be a visiting assistant professor next year at Columbia College.
3-3-11: Andrew Moon (PhD, 2010) and Justin McBrayer (PhD, 2008) are two of 15 recent PhDs and ABD graduate students from the US and Canada who have been accepted into the all-expenses-paid, two-week 2011 Purdue Summer Seminar on Perceptual, Moral, and Religious Skepticism. Congratulations to them both!
12-3-10: Bill Bondeson will be retiring at the end of this academic year after 46 years in MU's Philosophy Department! He'd love to hear from former students and colleagues at 109 Lowry Hall or at BondesonW@missouri.edu.
11-12-10: Congratulations to Paul Weirich on his richly deserved appointment as a Curators' Distinguished Professor! The official award was made Wednesday night.
11-1-10: The department is delighted to announce that Chris Pincock (PhD, Berkeley, 2002) will join us next semester as an associate professor of philosophy with tenure. He works chiefly in the intersection of the philosophy of science with the philosophy of mathematics, and will greatly add to our existing strengths in the philosophy science.
7-1-10: There's an interesting article about Paul Weirich and his work in the latest issue of MU's Illuminations magazine.
6-22-10: Andrew Moon (PhD, 2010) has been awarded a Preparing Future Faculty Mizzou Advantage Postdoctoral Teaching Fellowship, made possible by the Chancellor's Fund for Excellence. Congratulations, Andrew!
5-5-10: Marcus Hines has successfully defended his senior thesis, entitled "Two Arguments from Vagueness for Four-Dimensionalism." The thesis examines two recent attempts to show that ordinary objects have temporal as well as spatial parts (are "four-dimensional"). Next year, Hines will begin Ph.D. work in philosophy at Northwestern University. Congratulations, Marcus!
2-2-10: Michael Hartsock (PhD, 2009) has accepted a tenure-track assistant professorship at Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois. Great job, Michael!
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