Cmglee Cambridge University Raised Faculty Building

The

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

was the birthplace of the 'Analytic' School of Philosophy in the early 20th century. The department is located in the Raised Faculty Building on the

Sidgwick Site The Sidgwick Site is one of the largest sites within the University of Cambridge, England. Overview and history The Sidgwick Site is located on the western side of Cambridge city centre, near the Backs. The site is north of Sidgwick Avenue an ...

and is part of the Cambridge School of Arts and Humanities. The Faculty achieved the best possible results from The Times 2004 and the QAA Subject Review 2001 (24/24). In the UK as of 2020, it is ranked second by

the Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

, second by the

Philosophical Gourmet Report The ''Philosophical Gourmet Report'', also known as the ''Leiter Report'' or ''PGR'', is a ranking of graduate programs in philosophy in the English language, English-speaking world. It was founded by philosophy and law professor Brian Leiter and ...

, and fifth by the

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History of Philosophy at Cambridge

In 1848 under the direction of

William Whewell William Whewell ( ; 24 May 17946 March 1866) was an English polymath. He was Master of Trinity College, Cambridge. In his time as a student there, he achieved distinction in both poetry and mathematics. The breadth of Whewell's endeavours is ...

, two new honour examinations, one in natural sciences (relating to physical science), the other in moral sciences (in the sense of mores or social sciences) were introduced. Moral Sciences was interdisciplinary and included five subjects: moral philosophy, political economy, modern history, general jurisprudence and the laws of England. Moral Sciences was not popular as it did not lead to a degree, and in 1860 no candidates took the examinations. In 1861 following recommendations made by

John Grote John Grote (5 May 1813, Beckenham – 21 August 1866, Trumpington, Cambridgeshire) was an English moral philosopher and Anglican clergyman. Life and career The son of a banker, John Grote was younger brother to the historian, philosopher and ...

and Joseph Mayor, the Senate upgraded the status of Moral Sciences to become a three-year Undergraduate honours course in its own right. The Board of Moral Sciences Studies (a precursor to the Faculty) was also set up. Law became a separate subject and was replaced on the Moral Sciences Tripos by Mental philosophy (psychology). In 1867 the Board of Moral Sciences Studies recommended that History should also be omitted from the tripos. This was passed by the

Council of the Senate A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or nation ...

, leaving four subjects: moral philosophy, logic, economics and psychology. At this time, J.N. Keynes and James Ward graduated with honours in Moral Sciences and its reputation grew. The increase in quality and to a lesser extent, in quantity, was assisted by the expansion of the teaching staff assisting the two Moral Sciences professors (Political Economy and Moral Philosophy). From the late 1860s a number of College lecturers in the Moral Sciences were appointed from St. John's, Trinity, Caius, and St. Catharine's who included

Henry Sidgwick Henry Sidgwick (; 31 May 1838 – 28 August 1900) was an English Utilitarianism, utilitarian philosopher and economist and is best known in philosophy for his utilitarian treatise ''The Methods of Ethics''. His work in economics has also had a ...

, Joseph Mayor,

John Venn John Venn, Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS, Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, FSA (4 August 1834 – 4 April 1923) was an English mathematician, logician and philosopher noted for introducing Venn diagrams, which are used in l ...

, Thomas Woodhouse Levin, and

Alfred Marshall Alfred Marshall (26 July 1842 – 13 July 1924) was an English economist and one of the most influential economists of his time. His book ''Principles of Economics (Marshall), Principles of Economics'' (1890) was the dominant economic textboo ...

. Due to the efforts of

, Economics was also dropped from the Moral Sciences Tripos, becoming a separate subject in 1903. This left a syllabus of

analytic philosophy Analytic philosophy is a broad movement within Western philosophy, especially English-speaking world, anglophone philosophy, focused on analysis as a philosophical method; clarity of prose; rigor in arguments; and making use of formal logic, mat ...

. Although Psychology remained nominally part of the Moral Sciences Tripos until after the Second World War, in practice it was an increasingly separate subject in the early part of the twentieth century. In the first half of the twentieth century

Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, and public intellectual. He had influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, and various areas of analytic ...

, G.E. Moore, and

Ludwig Wittgenstein Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein ( ; ; 26 April 1889 – 29 April 1951) was an Austrian philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. From 1929 to 1947, Witt ...

were all at work in Cambridge. They were largely responsible for the rise of modern logic and the methods and results of analytic philosophy. Moral sciences was renamed philosophy in 1970.

Constance Maynard Constance Louisa Maynard (9 February 1849 – 26 March 1935) was the first principal of Westfield College (1882–1913) and a pioneer of women's education. She was the first woman to read Moral Sciences (philosophy) at the University of Cambridge ...

was the first woman to read Moral Sciences at Cambridge, completing her studies in 1875.

Philosophers currently at Cambridge

The list includes bot

and also research-active philosophers who play a significant role in the faculty's intellectual life. *

Alexander Bird Alexander James Bird (born 1964) is a British philosopher and Bertrand Russell Professor of Philosophy at St John's College, Cambridge. Career In 2020, Bird was elected to the Bertrand Russell Professorship of Philosophy, succeeding Huw Pric ...

Simon Blackburn Simon Walter Blackburn (born 12 July 1944) is an English philosopher known for his work in metaethics, where he defends quasi-realism, and in the philosophy of language. More recently, he has gained a large general audience from his efforts ...

(emeritus) * Angela Breitenbach * Clare Chambers *

Tim Crane Timothy Martin Crane (born 17 October 1962) is a British philosopher specialising in the philosophy of mind, philosophy of perception, philosophy of psychology and metaphysics. His contributions to philosophy include a defence of a non- physi ...

Raymond Geuss Raymond Geuss, FBA (; born 1946) is an American political philosopher and scholar of 19th and 20th century European philosophy. He is currently Emeritus Professor in the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Cambridge. Geuss is primarily known ...

(emeritus) *

Jane Heal Barbara Jane Heal (''née'' Kneale, born 21 October 1946) is a British philosopher, and since 2012, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge. Biography Heal is daughter of a pair of notable Oxford philosophers William Cal ...

(emeritus) *

Richard Holton Richard Holton is a British philosopher and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge and a fellow of Peterhouse. He is known for his works on moral psychology and action theory. Holton is a Fellow of the British Academy Fell ...

Rae Langton Rae Helen Langton, FBA (born 14 February 1961) is an Australian-British professor of philosophy. She is currently the Knightbridge Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge. She has published widely on Immanuel Kant's philosophy, m ...

John Marenbon John Alexander Marenbon FBA (born 26 August 1955) is a British philosopher and Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. His principal area of specialization is medieval philosophy. Career He obtained BA, MA, PhD, and DLitt degrees from the Unive ...

* Alex Oliver *

Onora O'Neill Onora Sylvia O'Neill, Baroness O'Neill of Bengarve (born 23 August 1941) is a British philosopher and a crossbench member of the House of Lords. Early life and education Onora Sylvia O'Neill was born on 23 August 1941 in Aughafatten. The daug ...

(emeritus) * Michael Potter *

Huw Price Huw Price (; born 17 May 1953) is an Australian philosopher, formerly the Bertrand Russell Professor in the Faculty of Philosophy, Cambridge, and a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. He was previously Challis Professor of Philosophy and D ...

(emeritus) *

Timothy Smiley Timothy John Smiley FBA (born 13 November 1930) is a British philosopher, appointed Emeritus Knightbridge Professor of Philosophy at Clare College, Cambridge University. He works primarily in philosophy of mathematics and logic. Life and ca ...

(emeritus)

Past Cambridge philosophers

Various philosophers have been

Knightbridge Professor of Philosophy The Knightbridge Professorship of Philosophy is the senior professorship in Faculty of philosophy cambridge, philosophy at the University of Cambridge. There have been 22 Knightbridge professors, the incumbent being Rae Langton. History One of the ...

. The Knightbridge Chair was founded in 1683 and is one of the oldest established chairs in the university. Philosophers who either worked or studied in Cambridge—including some Knightbridge Professors—include: *

Desiderius Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus ( ; ; 28 October c. 1466 – 12 July 1536), commonly known in English as Erasmus of Rotterdam or simply Erasmus, was a Dutch Christian humanist, Catholic priest and Catholic theology, theologian, educationalist ...

Francis Bacon Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626) was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England under King James I. Bacon argued for the importance of nat ...

*The

Cambridge Platonists The Cambridge Platonists were an influential group of Platonist philosophers and Christian theologians at the University of Cambridge that existed during the 17th century. The leading figures were Ralph Cudworth and Henry More. Group and its nam ...

, including

Ralph Cudworth Ralph Cudworth (; 1617 – 26 June 1688) was an English Anglican clergyman, Christian Hebraist, classicist, theologian and philosopher, and a leading figure among the Cambridge Platonists who became 11th Regius Professor of Hebrew (Cambr ...

Benjamin Whichcote Benjamin Whichcote (March 1609 – May 1683) was an English Establishment and Puritan divine, Provost of King's College, Cambridge and leader of the Cambridge Platonists. He held that man is the "child of reason" and so not completely depra ...

and

Henry More Henry More (; 12 October 1614 – 1 September 1687) was an English philosopher of the Cambridge Platonists, Cambridge Platonist school. Biography Henry was born in Grantham, Grantham, Lincolnshire on 12 October 1614. He was the seventh son of ...

John Neville Keynes John Neville Keynes ( ; 31 August 1852 – 15 November 1949) was a British economist and father of John Maynard Keynes. Biography Born in Salisbury, Wiltshire, Keynes was the child of John Keynes (1805–1878) and his wife Anna Maynard Neville ...

George Frederick Stout George Frederick Stout (; 1860–1944), usually cited as G. F. Stout, was a leading English philosopher and psychologist. He was the father of the philosopher Alan Stout. Biography Born in South Shields on 6 January 1860, Stout studied ...

* James Ward *

J. M. E. McTaggart John McTaggart Ellis McTaggart (3 September 1866 – 18 January 1925) was an English idealist metaphysician. For most of his life McTaggart was a fellow and lecturer in philosophy at Trinity College, Cambridge. He was an exponent of the phil ...

William Ritchie Sorley William Ritchie Sorley, FBA (; 4 November 1855 – 28 July 1935), usually cited as W. R. Sorley, was a Scottish philosopher. A Gifford Lecturer, he was one of the British Idealist school of thinkers, with interests in ethics. He was opposed to w ...

G. E. Moore George Edward Moore (4 November 1873 – 24 October 1958) was an English philosopher, who with Bertrand Russell, Ludwig Wittgenstein and earlier Gottlob Frege was among the initiators of analytic philosophy. He and Russell began de-emphasizing ...

Alice Ambrose Alice Ambrose Lazerowitz (November 25, 1906 – January 25, 2001) was an American philosopher, logician, and author. Early life and education Alice Loman Ambrose was born in Lexington, Illinois and orphaned when she was 13 years old. She ...

* Helen Knight *

Margaret MacDonald (philosopher) Margaret MacDonald (9 April 1903 – 7 January 1956) was a British analytic philosopher. She worked in the areas of philosophy of language, political philosophy and aesthetics. Life and education Margaret MacDonald was born in London and abando ...

Margaret Masterman Margaret Masterman (4 May 1910 – 1 April 1986) was a British linguist and philosopher, most known for her pioneering work in the field of computational linguistics and especially machine translation. She founded the Cambridge Language Re ...

C. D. Broad Charlie Dunbar Broad (30 December 1887 – 11 March 1971), usually cited as C. D. Broad, was an English philosopher who worked on epistemology, history of philosophy, philosophy of science, and ethics, as well as the philosophical aspects ...

Richard Braithwaite Richard Bevan Braithwaite (15 January 1900 – 21 April 1990) was an English philosopher who specialized in the philosophy of science, ethics, and the philosophy of religion. Life Braithwaite was born in Banbury, Oxfordshire, son of the ...

A. C. Ewing Alfred Cyril Ewing ( ; 11 May 1899 – 14 May 1973) was an English philosopher who spent most of his career at the University of Cambridge. He was a prolific writer who made contributions to Kant scholarship, metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, ...

Frank P. Ramsey Frank Plumpton Ramsey (; 22 February 1903 – 19 January 1930) was a British people, British philosopher, mathematician, and economist who made major contributions to all three fields before his death at the age of 26. He was a close friend of ...

Georg Henrik von Wright Georg Henrik von Wright (; 14 June 1916 – 16 June 2003) was a Finnish philosopher. Biography G. H. von Wright was born in Helsinki on 14 June 1916 to Tor von Wright and his wife Ragni Elisabeth Alfthan. On the retirement of Ludwig Wittgenst ...

Susan Stebbing Lizzie Susan Stebbing (2 December 1885 – 11 September 1943) was a British philosopher. She belonged to the 1930s generation of analytic philosophy, and was a founder in 1933 of the journal ''Analysis.'' Stebbing was the first woman to hold a p ...

Casimir Lewy Casimir Lewy (; ; 26 February 1919 – 8 February 1991) was a Polish philosopher of Jewish descent. He worked in philosophical logic but published scantly. He was an influential teacher; several of his students went on to be prominent philosoph ...

Jonathan Lear Jonathan Lear is an American philosopher and psychoanalyst. He is the John U. Nef Distinguished Service Professor in the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago and served as the Roman Family Director of the Neubauer Collegiu ...

Iris Murdoch Dame Jean Iris Murdoch ( ; 15 July 1919 – 8 February 1999) was an Irish and British novelist and philosopher. Murdoch is best known for her novels about good and evil, sexual relationships, morality, and the power of the unconscious. Her fi ...

John Wisdom Arthur John Terence Dibben Wisdom (12 September 1904, in Leyton, Essex – 9 December 1993, in Cambridge), usually cited as John Wisdom, was a leading British philosopher considered to be an ordinary language philosopher, a philosopher of min ...

Elizabeth Anscombe Gertrude Elizabeth Margaret Anscombe (; 18 March 1919 – 5 January 2001), usually cited as G. E. M. Anscombe or Elizabeth Anscombe, was a British analytic philosopher. She wrote on the philosophy of mind, philosophy of action, philosophi ...

Bernard Williams Sir Bernard Arthur Owen Williams (21 September 1929 – 10 June 2003) was an English Ethics, moral philosopher. His publications include ''Problems of the Self'' (1973), ''Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy'' (1985), ''Shame and Necessit ...

Amartya Sen Amartya Kumar Sen (; born 3 November 1933) is an Indian economist and philosopher. Sen has taught and worked in England and the United States since 1972. In 1998, Sen received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his contributions ...

* Jonathan Bennett *

Judith Jarvis Thomson Judith Jarvis Thomson (October 4, 1929November 20, 2020) was an American philosopher who studied and worked on ethics and metaphysics. Her work ranges across a variety of fields, but she is most known for her work regarding the thought experimen ...

Ian Hacking Ian MacDougall Hacking (February 18, 1936 – May 10, 2023) was a Canadian philosopher specializing in the philosophy of science. Throughout his career, he won numerous awards, such as the Killam Prize for the Humanities and the Balzan Prize, ...

Roger Scruton Sir Roger Vernon Scruton, (; 27 February 194412 January 2020) was an English philosopher, writer, and social critic who specialised in aesthetics and political philosophy, particularly in the furtherance of Conservatism in the United Kingdom, c ...

Kwame Anthony Appiah Kwame Akroma-Ampim Kusi Anthony Appiah ( ; born 8 May 1954) is an English-American philosopher and writer who has written about political philosophy, ethics, the philosophy of language and mind, and African intellectual history. Appiah is Prof ...

Alain de Botton Alain de Botton (; born 20 December 1969) is a Swiss-born British author and public speaker. His books discuss various contemporary subjects and themes, emphasizing philosophy's relevance to everyday life. He published ''Essays in Love'' (1993) ...

Quassim Cassam Quassim Cassam, (born 31 January 1961) is professor of philosophy at the University of Warwick. He writes on self-knowledge, perception, epistemic vices and topics in Kantian epistemology. As blurbed for his book, ''Vices of the Mind'' (2019), ...

Alfred North Whitehead Alfred North Whitehead (15 February 1861 – 30 December 1947) was an English mathematician and philosopher. He created the philosophical school known as process philosophy, which has been applied in a wide variety of disciplines, inclu ...

Renford Bambrough John Renford Bambrough (29 April 1926 – 17 January 1999) was a British philosopher. He was fellow of St John's College, Cambridge from 1950-1999, where he held the positions of Dean (1964–1979) and President (1979–1983). Life John Renfor ...

* Hugh Mellor * Jimmy Altham *Eric Olson *Dominic Scott *Serena Olsaretti *

Hallvard Lillehammer Hallvard Lillehammer is a professor of philosophy at University of Sheffield. His research relates to the interpretation and criticism of basic ideas in moral and political thought, including reason, objectivity, impartiality, autonomy, responsibi ...

* Susan James *

Peter Geach Peter Thomas Geach (29 March 1916 – 21 December 2013) was a British philosopher who was Professor of Logic at the University of Leeds. His areas of interest were philosophical logic, ethics, history of philosophy, philosophy of religion and ...

William MacAskill William David MacAskill (' Crouch; born 24 March 1987) is a Scottish philosopher and author, as well as one of the originators of the effective altruism movement. He was a Research Fellow at the Global Priorities Institute at the University of ...

David Papineau David Papineau (; born 1947) is a British academic philosopher, born in Como, Italy. He works as Professor of Philosophy of Science at King's College London and the City University of New York Graduate Center, and previously taught for several ye ...

* A.W. Moore *

Arthur Balfour Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour (; 25 July 184819 March 1930) was a British statesman and Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1902 to 1905. As Foreign Secretary ...

References

External links

Faculty website
{{Coord, 52.2011, 0.1096, type:edu_region:GB-CAM, display=title Analytic philosophy Philosophy, Faculty of Philosophy departments in the United Kingdom

History of Philosophy at Cambridge

Philosophers currently at Cambridge

Past Cambridge philosophers

See also

References

External links