Philosophy
The Department of Philosophy at Duquesne University specializes in continental philosophy and the history of philosophy, and our graduate program was among the first in the United States to concentrate on phenomenology and, more broadly, 19th- and 20th-century continental thought.
As a student in our Ph.D. program, you'll be immersed in that tradition and focus on post-Kantian European philosophy, with dedicated faculty working in German idealism, the phenomenological traditions, social and political philosophy and psychoanalytic theory, as well as structuralism, poststructuralism and their aftermaths.
"In my experience, each faculty member in the philosophy department exudes the infectious enthusiasm that will carry you through even the most baroque chains of reasoning."
We integrate this approach into a broader emphasis on the history of philosophy as a cluster of research areas in their own right, as a set of methodological orientations and as the necessary background for work in contemporary thought. To this end, you'll work closely with groups of faculty specializing in each of the main periods of the history of philosophy, including ancient and classical philosophy, medieval philosophy and modern philosophy.
Our graduate program is built around small seminars that engage primary texts and conceptual problems. Our mission is to provide you with advanced philosophical training so that you may pursue high-quality independent research under the mentorship of faculty, become independent members of the international philosophical community and find full-time academic employment or fulfilling careers outside of academia.