"all human actions have one of these causes: chance, nature, compulsion, habit, reason, passion, desire"

Philosophy at Essex

Essex Philosophy is internationally recognised for its unique combination of Anglo-American and European continental philosophy.  We are committed to fostering a variety of philosophical approaches, and to developing links between philosophy and other disciplines.

In the last Research Assessment Exercise we came first for Continental Philosophy, as well as being placed in the top ten philosophy research departments in the UK, top 10 in The Guardian's ranking of philosophy departments in the UK in 2010, 2011 and 2013, and received 97% in the 2012 National Student Satisfaction Survey for overall student satisfaction.

Why are so many now choosing philosophy? See these articles in Times Higher Education and The Guardian.

Our research

We have specialisms in Critical Theory, phenomenology, eighteenth and nineteenth century philosophy, and moral and political philosophy. We are also home to the Essex Autonomy Project.

In the media

• Beatrice Han-Pile discusses Simone Weil on Melvyn Bragg’s 'In Our Time' on BBC Radio 4
• Timothy Secret animal rights broadcast on Radio 3
• Critical Reasoning and Logical Argument module featured in Times Higher Education

News and events
Timothy Secret chosen as AHRC/BBC Radio 3 New Generation Thinker	Latest News Raymond Geuss minicourse, 20-22 May 2013 Internal Critique workshop Philosophy Crash Course on German Romanticism Dr Timothy Secret presents film on mourning for BBC Postgraduate modules in Essex Philosophy for 2013-14 Programme for 'Nature' 16th International Graduate Conference in Philosophy announced More News... Seminars There are no up-and-coming seminars.