Best schools for Cont. Philosophy in English Speaking Countries

[evolvedForm]

Hello, if anyone here could share their opinions on good schools for continental philosophy in countries like Australia, England, Scotland, or Ireland, I'd appreciate it. It's really difficult to find reliable info by googling so I'm wondering what people here think. Thanks

note: I'm referring to post-grad schools, masters or phd

[Philo]

http://www.philosophicalgourmet.com/breakdown.htm

[evolvedForm]

Thanks for the link, that's very helpful. I am also looking for personal suggestions, though. Any thoughts?

[aeest400]

My personal suggestion: read the linked information twice. It's the standard reference.

[RJT]

[ QUOTE ]
http://www.philosophicalgourmet.com/breakdown.htm

[/ QUOTE ]

This is the subtitle to the report on the website:

“A Ranking of Graduate Programs in Philosophy in the English-Speaking World”

Does anyone else find this amazing? I mean this is basically what the OP is asking about (might not give him all the info he wants/needs, but wow). Is there nothing out there that one can’t find on the net? How specific does one have to be to not find an answer? Maybe I am just tired, but this blew me away.

[atrifix]

[ QUOTE ]
“A Ranking of Graduate Programs in Philosophy in the English-Speaking World”

Does anyone else find this amazing? I mean this is basically what the OP is asking about (might not give him all the info he wants/needs, but wow). Is there nothing out there that one can’t find on the net? How specific does one have to be to not find an answer? Maybe I am just tired, but this blew me away.

[/ QUOTE ]

I am usually skeptical of all things like this found on the internet. It could just be someone randomly throwing 50 universities together. Rankings are pretty unscientific. The philosophical gourmet, however, is an excellent reference, compiled by leading specialists.

[evolvedForm]

If you'll read my post again, you'll notice that I'm really asking for opinions from actual people. I have seen that website before, and I don't think it's reliable. For instance, a professor of mine told me that DePaul is one of the best continental programs in America - yet it isn't mentioned once, that I saw, on that entire website. Also, I've been told to be wary of sites that take polls of professors: professors don't really know the effectiveness of a given program, so they often pick schools like Oxford or Princeton at the top, which I have heard from a reliable source are not too strong in continental philosophy.

I don't mean to sound unappreciative of the link; links are somewhat helpful. But I just want to clarify that what I'm interested in mainly is whatever thoughts some prominent posters on here may have of various programs in continental phil.

[RJT]

I am not sure if you are directing this reply to me or not. Either way, I wasn’t really addressing whether the web site was good or not; or whether it directly answered your question. It was just – OP asked this and bang – there is a site that discusses it. It was a somewhat hijack (I have been known to do that.) Hope you find what you are looking for.

[aeest400]

I'd give you my thoughts, but unlike your professor, I know that Leiter is 10x better informed than me and has put together the best resource for students considering grad school. In general, I think the nature of your question is pretty lame--you want folks to give their individual thoughts re "continental philosophy in the English speaking world????" Are you actually contemplating studying continental philosophy in grad school? Assuming you can't get in to a top program (based on the nature of your question), where are folks whom you have read and respect? What do you want to study: Husserl, Heidegger, Sartre, Deirdre, Hegel, Fichte, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche? Do you even know?

If you are grad school material, your profs are probably your best resource, but be wary of schools like De Paul unless you know exactly why it qualifies as a viable place to study continental philosophy and how that relates to your goals. (And yes, like most analytic philosophers, I'm inherently suspicious of folks who want to study continental philosophy). In general, as someone who has many friends in the business, I'd say not to go to phil grad school at less than a top 20 school, especially studying continental philosophy, unless you really want to get in touch with your inner kierkegaard (in the fear and trembling sense). Night manager at Dominos is a better career path. Leiter probably mentions this somewhere.

By the way, I didn't notice Princeton on this list:

20TH- CENTURY CONTINENTAL PHILOSOPHY

Group 1 (1-7) (mean of 4.0)

Northwestern University (4.25)
Oxford University (4.5)
Syracuse University (4.0)
University of California, Riverside (4.0)
University of Chicago (4.0)
University of Notre Dame (4.0)
University of Warwick (3.75)

Group 2 (8-10) (mean of 3.5)

Rice University (3.5)
State University of New York, Stony Brook (3.5)
University of California, Berkeley (3.5)

Group 3 (11-21) (mean of 3.0)

Boston University (3.25)
Columbia University (3.5)
Georgetown University (3.0)
University of Auckland (3.0)
University of Durham (3.0)
University of Texas, Austin (3.0)
University of Toronto (3.5)

Also Notable (median of 3.0): Cambridge University; Pennsylvania State University; Temple University; University of California, Irvine; University of York.

In the judgment of the Advisory Board, the following programs that were not part of the survey ought to be considered by students interested in this area: Boston College; Emory University; Loyola University, Chicago ; New School University; University College Dublin; University of Essex; University of Memphis; University of South Florida ; University of Sussex; Vanderbilt University.

Evaluators: Kenneth Baynes, David Bell, Sebastian Gardner, Gary Gutting, Pierre Keller, Brian Leiter, Stephen Mulhall, Frederick Neuhouser, Peter Poellner, Michael Rosen, Richard Schacht, Robert Wicks, Julian Young. (Remember: Evaluators were not permitted to evaluate their own department or the department from which they received their graduate degree.)

[evolvedForm]

Okay, so it was me who misread your post /images/graemlins/blush.gif. I guess it's natural to get on the defensive when idiots like that other poster on this thread make nonsensical attacks on harmless posts.

[evolvedForm]

[ QUOTE ]
you want folks to give their individual thoughts re "continental philosophy in the English speaking world????"

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, as I am from the states and it's pretty hard to find opinions on Australian schools. On here there are several Australian posters who might have a better idea. It's worth a shot. Or would you be above asking for advice?



[ QUOTE ]
Are you actually contemplating studying continental philosophy in grad school?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes.

[ QUOTE ]
Assuming you can't get in to a top program (based on the nature of your question), where are folks whom you have read and respect?



[/ QUOTE ]

That's a big assumption. Does your work get impress your esteemed analytic colleagues when you make assumptions like that?

[ QUOTE ]
What do you want to study: Husserl, Heidegger, Sartre, Deirdre, Hegel, Fichte, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche? Do you even know?




[/ QUOTE ]

A few of those names. Except Deirdre. Who's that? Derrida? Yes him, and also Foucault and Habermas.

I'll get to the rest of your post when I have more time.

[aeest400]

I'm sure I could have made my post sound nicer, but i stand by the content. Have some sense of what you are getting into. There are plenty of resources out there. It just strikes me as inane to ask a question, while providing almost no background information, about a subject this general, particularly when the answers you are looking for will obv not be forthcoming (the chicks at ANU are hot, and most faculty have published in some area of continental phil, but the town is a little hickish." You are in by far the best position to judge what the relevant factors are and yet have provided no information one could use to craft a tailored response to your 2 sentence query. Good luck in grad school.

[evolvedForm]

Once again, you are assuming; you think this is the only resource I am utilizing. It would be ridiculous to rely completely on opinions of those in an internet forum. That you would think this is the case is inane to me.