Department of Philosophy, King's College London


The Department of Philosophy is an academic division in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at King's College London. It is one of the largest and most distinguished centres for the study of philosophy in the United Kingdom.

History

For over half a century since the Anglican foundation of King's College in 1829, the study of philosophy was restricted to courses within the Department of Theology and the Department of English Literature. In 1906 a separate Department of Philosophy and Psychology was explicitly established, and in 1912 Philosophy split to form its own department.
The department is located in the Philosophy Building on Surrey Street, a set of three adjacent townhouses joined through a series of corridors and forming part of the Strand Campus of King's College. The vaults along the back of the building are those containing the old Roman Baths on Strand Lane.
In 1989, Sir Richard Sorabji founded the King's College Centre for Philosophical Studies at the department with the aim of promoting philosophy to the wider public.
The Head of Department is currently Bill Brewer, Susan Stebbing Professor of Philosophy at King's.

Traditions

The Department of Philosophy owns a historic bar on its premises in Surrey Street, officially the King's College Sports & Social Club Bar but referred to informally as simply the Philosophy Bar. Management of the bar was taken over by the King's College London Students' Union in 2016.
Academic staff and students of the department also make an annual trip to Cumberland Lodge, a Grade II listed country house in Windsor Great Park. There is a programme of lectures, communal meals and other activities, including an annual football match played between staff and students.
Student life in the department is administered mainly by the King's College London Philosophy Society.

Rankings

The Department of Philosophy at King's ranks highly in both national and global rankings.
The Philosophical Gourmet Report lists the department at 4th in the UK and 26th in the English-speaking world.
QS World University Rankings places the department at 5th in the UK and 10th globally in 2019.

Current faculty

Emeritus faculty