The department’s interests include the history of philosophy since the early modern period; the history of science and mathematics; methodological, conceptual and foundational issues in contemporary mathematics, statistics, linguistics, psychology, biology, physics, and elsewhere; and naturalized approaches to many other areas of philosophy, such as ethics, philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, and social and political philosophy. These undertakings themselves inspire self-conscious examination of meta-philosophical issues, in which various forms of naturalism figure prominently, and are often compared and contrasted with transcendental methods, conceptual analysis, ordinary language philosophy, and therapeutic approaches.
Against this backdrop, many faculty and students here pursue more technical specializations in five active Research Groups:
History of Philosophy of ScienceLogic and Philosophy of Mathematics
Philosophy of Biology and the Behavioral Sciences
Probability, Induction, and Formal Epistemology
Each of these Groups oversees an Emphasis within the LPS PhD program. These emphases allow students to include graduate seminars in the sciences and in mathematics in their course of study.
LPS enjoys strong cooperative relations with UCI's Department of Philosophy; in particular, the two units jointly administer a single graduate program leading to the Ph.D. in Philosophy. LPS also has strong connections with several science departments, including mathematics, physics, biology, computer science, economics and mathematical behavioral sciences.
Directions to Campus:
Find UC Irvine: map and fwy directions to main campus
Find Parking: we recommend that all visitors park in the Social Sciences Parking Structure - enter structure from Campus Drive at Stanford
Find LPS: we are located on the 7th floor of the Social Sciences Tower, Building 201 on the campus interactive map / printable version