Greater Philadelphia Philosophy Consortium


The Greater Philadelphia Philosophy Consortium is a nonprofit educational organization founded in 1980 serving the region around Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, including western New Jersey and northern Delaware. Its current membership includes the philosophy departments of 15 regional colleges and universities.
The GPPC states its purpose as "fostering cooperation among philosophers" and "sharing the insights and methods of philosophy with a larger public."

History

and Joseph Margolis co-founded the GPPC in 1980.
The GPPC was founded to help bridge between the traditions of Anglo-American philosophy and Continental philosophy that persisted in the early 1980s. It also sought to enlarge the scope of philosophical inquiry, pursuing interdisciplinary topics in the sciences, social sciences, and other humanities.
The earliest core member institutions of the GPPC included the philosophy departments of Bryn Mawr College, the University of Pennsylvania, Temple University, and Villanova University. Each of these offers advanced degrees in philosophy and extended instructional and library access to graduate students of other GPPC member schools. Drexel University, Haverford College, La Salle University, and Swarthmore College soon joined as associated faculties, though not offering advanced degrees in philosophy. The GPPC also attracted the participation of faculty at other institutions, as well as other qualified persons in the Philadelphia region with an interest in philosophy.
Support for the GPPC during the 1980s included grants from the Pennsylvania Humanities Council, Rockefeller Foundation, Exxon Educational Foundation, and Pew Charitable Trusts.

Governance

The Consortium is currently led by a Board of Directors, which consists of one faculty representative from each member institution. The Board selects several officers from among these representatives. The GPPC also receives support from a Board of Governors, who are a mix of academics and non-academics who share an interest in the public role of philosophy.
The GPPC operates under the auspices of the Greater Philadelphia Human Studies Council, composed of 15 colleges and universities in the Philadelphia region. The Council exists to promote interdisciplinary faculty interaction and development, including the funding of four distinct consortia.

Member Institutions

The Philosophy Departments of the following institutions are current members of the GPPC:
The GPPC hosts a variety of conferences each year, including a Public Issues Forum and an Undergraduate Philosophy Conference. Past conference speakers include well-known recent philosophers such as Jürgen Habermas, Richard Rorty, and Stanley Cavell.
The Consortium also sponsors a variety of discussion groups and working groups. Past topics include aesthetics and theory of interpretation, philosophy and feminism, and ancient Greek philosophy,. Current groups discuss epistemology, philosophy of science, philosophy of religion, Asian and comparative philosophy, as well as special topics.

Publications

Several books have grown out of past proceedings and papers of GPPC conferences and discussions, published primarily by Penn State Press: