Director’s Message

Welcome to the Graduate Program in Philosophy!

York Philosophy is a vibrant, research-active program in the cosmopolitan, multicultural city of Toronto. We are the second-largest graduate program in philosophy in Canada, with almost 40 professors whose research and teaching span a diverse range of topics. Our program has particular strength in four broad areas: moral, political and legal philosophy; philosophy of cognitive science, mind and language; epistemology and philosophy of science; and history of 19th and 20th century philosophy. One outstanding feature of the program is its inclusion of philosophers who take different approaches to the subject—historical and contemporary, empirical and conceptual, theoretical and applied—and who are engaged in ongoing discourse with one another. The atmosphere is intellectually exciting and collegial.

We bring many philosophers to campus each year via the Philosophy Speaker Series and the Cognitive Science Speaker Series, as well as through workshops and our annual Graduate Student Conference. We also host and participate in many reading groups on topics reflecting the current interests of our students and faculty members. We are committed to training our students both academically and professionally. Students have the possibility of obtaining additional funding and experience as Research Assistants for professors’ funded projects. Professors co-author articles with students, share social events with them and take them to conferences. Our placement program has been touted as a model for others. Feel free to reach out to students to hear what they have to say about doing graduate studies in philosophy at York.