Philosophy is the attempt to answer fundamental (and often deceptively simple) questions about reality, knowledge, value and other basic matters. It uses rigorous argument to arrive at defensible and reasonable answers to these questions. It is not easy. But there is an undeniable thrill in joining a collaborative enterprise that has been going on for 2500 years, and in making one’s own contribution to clarifying and answering some of the deepest questions we can ask about the world and our place in it.
The average numbers of undergraduate places available each year at Exeter College are: 7 in PPE (Philosophy, Politics, and Economics); 4 in Philosophy & Modern Languages and Maths & Philosophy; and 4 in LitHum (Classics).
Exeter has a proud tradition in philosophy, and we have a thriving philosophical community. We have two permanent Tutorial Fellows engaged in research and teaching in the subject, and one Professorial Fellow. As philosophy is taught at Exeter as part of four undergraduate joint degrees, we also have a large population of undergraduates actively studying philosophy.
Philosophers at Exeter are also heavily involved in the research and teaching programmes of the Faculty of Philosophy in the University, one of the world’s leading centers for philosophy.
Teaching and Research Fellows and Lecturers
- Dr Rachel Fraser – Associate Professor and Michael Cohen Fellow in Philosophy
- Dr James Grant – Associate Professor and William Kneale & Le Rossignol–Clarendon Fellow in Philosophy
- Sebastien Bishop – Stipendiary Lecturer in Philosophy
- Nick Waghorn – Stipendiary Lecturer in Philosophy
Research and Teaching strengths
The core areas of research expertise among Exeter’s philosophy tutors are feminist philosophy, epistemology, and aesthetics. We also teach metaphysics, ethics, philosophy of language, philosophy of religion, and early modern philosophy. We particularly encourage students who are interested in these areas to apply to Exeter.
Recent and Representative Publications
- Rachel Elizabeth Fraser, “The Ethics of Metaphor”, Ethics, vol.128, no. 4 (2018): 728–755
- Rachel Elizabeth Fraser, “Stakes sensitivity and transformative experience”, Analysis, vol.78, no.1 (2018): 34–39
- Rachel Elizabeth Fraser, “Testimonial Pessimism”, in Matthew A. Benton, John Hawthorne & Dani Rabinowitz (eds.), Knowledge, Belief, and God: New Insights in Religious Epistemology (Oxford University Press, 2018), pp. 203–227
- James Grant, “Creativity as an Artistic Merit”, in Berys Gaut & Matthew Kieran (eds.), Creativity and Philosophy (Routledge, 2018), pp. 333–349
- James Grant, The Critical Imagination(Oxford University Press, 2013)
Podcasts
- James Grant, Undergraduate Lectures in Aesthetics (Oxford, 2011)
Other Philosophers in the Exeter Community
Many distinguished philosophers have been associated with Exeter over the years, and some remain part of our wider community, as Emeritus and Honorary Fellows.
- Mr Christopher Kirwan, Emeritus Fellow in Philosophy
- Professor Christopher Peacocke, FBA, FAAAS, Honorary Fellow; Johnsonian Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University
