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Welcome to Philosophy at Macquarie

Welcome to the website of the Department of Philosophy at Macquarie University. I hope you find the pages informative and convenient to use. If you are not able to find the information you want, please let us know and we’ll be happy to provide it.

Following recent growth, the Philosophy Department has 11 permanent academic staff plus 4 fixed-term post-doctoral researchers.  The expansion of the Department is a sign of our success, both as a provider of high quality education and as a producer of internationally significant research. 

Our popular undergraduate courses are carefully designed to encompass a diversity of philosophical approaches and to equip students with a range of analytical and creative skills. Assisted by new technologies, we have widened the contexts in which we teach to include distance-mode education as well as traditional face to face modes. Whatever the context, we are committed to creating positive learning environments in which students can become aware of and develop their talents for philosophy.  The fruits of this approach are evident in the high levels of student satisfaction recorded in the surveys we regularly undertake, as well as teaching prizes  awarded to members of the Department.  We know we have room for improvement, however, and if you are studying with us, we welcome any suggestions you may have.

The Department takes particular pride in the quality of postgraduate supervision it provides.  Measured by the number of enrolments and completions, we now have one of the most successful programs in Australia. Behind these figures, research students in the Department enjoy close, congenial relations with their supervisors; they are able to participate in a thriving research culture including regular seminars, reading groups, workshops and conferences; and they can draw on a generous research support scheme. As you can see from the detailed postgraduate pages of this website, a Macquarie research degree also leaves you well-placed to move forward in your career. We welcome research degree proposals from anywhere in the world, so if you are interested, or if you simply have a query or a comment to make about our postgraduate pages, please send us a message.

The recent growth in our postgraduate supervision goes hand in hand with a dramatic expansion of our research activity. Our permanent staff alone have written or edited 15 books, published 172 journal articles and 96 chapters in books.  By 2009 we had won 12 major awards from the premier source of competitive research funding in Australia – the Australian Research Council – bringing in considerable external funding for research activities based either in the Department or Research Centres with which Department members are associated (such as the Macquarie Centre for Cognitive Science and the Centre for Research on Social Inclusion) . A new research centre – the Centre for Agency, Values and Ethics – has just been set up in the Department.  Much of the research we are engaged in is of an interdisciplinary nature and involves regular collaboration with international partners, for example in Finland, France, Germany, Holland, UK and USA.  A series of high profile international conferences hosted by the Department (or associated Centre) in recent years gives one indication of the exceptional research environment we now have in place.  A prestigious list of recent visiting researchers gives another. We welcome new visitors, and you can find information on the kinds of visits we host on these pages.   Or else just contact us with your enquiry.

As a visitor, student, or researcher, I’m confident you will find our Department a rewarding place to work. And when you are not working, you can take advantage of the marvellous campus facilities at Macquarie, including a new heated open-air swimming pool less than a 5 minute stroll from the Department, Lane Cove National Park on the edge of the campus, and a bit further out, Ku-ring-ai National Park to the north, the Pacific Ocean beaches to the east, and of course central Sydney to the south-east.

For an informal update on what’s going on in the Department, take a look at our Newsletter here.

A/Prof. Nicholas Smith
Head of Department

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(last updated: 12/1/10 )