Otago philosophy at a glance
Philosophy has been taught at Otago since the university’s foundation in 1871, and, over the years, the programme has played host to many internationally reknowned figures. In recent years, the programme has consistently been evaluated as the best philosophy programme in New Zealand — and one of the very best research programmes of any kind in the country — by the PBRF, the NZ equivalent of the British REF.
Today, the programme hosts a number of major externally funded research projects. It includes both an award-winning teacher and the authors of three best-selling textbooks amongst its staff. Current staff members teach and research in a wide range of areas, including the philosophy of science (especially the philosophy of biology), the philosophy of religion, metaethics, the philosophy of language, philosophical logic (especially paraconsistent logic), political philosophy, ethics and public policy, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind (especially memory), social epistemology (especially conspiracy theories), philosophy and literature, and the history of philosophy (especially Kant, Hume, Spinoza and Bertrand Russell). The programme hosts The Otago Logic Group and the Otago Memory Group and co-hosts The Artificial Intelligence and Society Group.
For more on the programme, explore the rest of our website, which includes detailed information on our research, our teaching, and the history of the programme.
