About Us

Welcome to the Department of Philosophy at Trinity College

Philosophy is one of four departments in the School of Social Sciences & Philosophy, within the Faculty of Arts, Humanities, & Social Sciences. We are also a constituent department in the Trinity Long Room Hub, which is Trinity’s Arts and Humanities Research Institute.

Philosophy has been an important part of the College curriculum since Trinity was founded in 1592 and today the Department is a close-knit, lively intellectual community of researchers, teachers and students that combines high-quality teaching with expansive research activity.

Strong Philosophical Tradition

George Berkeley (1685–1753), one of the world’s greatest philosophers, was educated at Trinity and wrote some of his most important philosophical works while an academic at the College. Political philosopher Edmund Burke (1729–1797), who established the University’s debating society, also studied at Trinity.

Research Excellence

Trinity’s Department of Philosophy has consistently been ranked as a premier philosophy department and is among the top 100 philosophy departments in the world (QS World University Rankings by Subject 2024).

High-Quality Teaching

We offer three undergraduate degree programmes where students learn from inspiring academics who have published widely in their fields. Depending on their interests students have the opportunity to specialise solely in philosophy or to combine with the study of another subject or subjects.

Highly Regarded Graduates

Trinity graduates are extremely well regarded worldwide and our students find that their ability to be analytical and to be innovative thinkers opens up a range of career opportunities. Many students go on to postgraduate study both at Trinity and other prestigious universities such as Stanford, MIT, LSE and the University of Cambridge.

Public Outreach and Engagement

We regularly offer public lecture programmes to enable the public to engage with philosophy, the Department and its work. Recent extra mural themes have included Philosophy and Education and Philosophy and Love.

Our website will provide you with an overview of our distinctive approach to education and research. And we are always delighted to hear from potential students and from our graduates so please do get in touch.

Professor John Divers
Head of the Department of Philosophy