A Question about the Department of Philosophy at UC Irvine

[Franzkafka]

I have a question about UC Irvine. The philosophy at UC Irvine is ranked relatively high in the PGR. I scanned a little through the Breakdown of Programs by Specialties section (http://www.philosophicalgourmet.com/breakdown.asp) in the PGR, it seems that most of its ranked fields (incl. Phil Sci, Phil Physics, Phil Bio, Phil Math, Logic, History of Analytic Philosophy, etc.) belong to the Department of Logic and Philosophy of Science. Given that its Philosophy Department and LPS Department are combined together in the overall ranking, I wonder how strong its Philosophy Department is? I’m sorry if my way of asking the question is somewhat weird. Thanks!

[Franzkafka]

On 2018/2/20 at 9:03 PM, Franzkafka said:

I have a question about UC Irvine. The philosophy at UC Irvine is ranked relatively high in the PGR. I scanned a little through the Breakdown of Programs by Specialties section (http://www.philosophicalgourmet.com/breakdown.asp) in the PGR, it seems that most of its ranked fields (incl. Phil Sci, Phil Physics, Phil Bio, Phil Math, Logic, History of Analytic Philosophy, etc.) belong to the Department of Logic and Philosophy of Science. Given that its Philosophy Department and LPS Department are combined together in the overall ranking, I wonder how strong its Philosophy Department is? I’m sorry if my way of asking the question is somewhat weird. Thanks!

Any idea?

[eigenname]

I was accepted at LPS, not philosophy,  but I went for the campus visit and talked to a few students from the philosophy department, so here's my two cents' worth: the philosophy department works very closely with LPS, so the people at LPS are also available for students at the philosophy department (e.g. the reading groups I've attended were open to both LPS and Philosophy), which might make you question how distinct the two departments really are beyond bureaucratic structure. Furthermore there's some well-known people at the philosophy department itself, such as Duncan Pritchard (epistemology) who was recently hired, Margeret Gilbert (social ontology, group consciousness etc.), David Smith (phenomenology, Husserl),  and Aaron James (political philosophy). Hence I think it is definitely not a weak department on its own, but, really,  how 'strong' it 'really' is depends on your own interests and fit. I know people at top 10 universities who are not enjoying their time there because of fit, despite brand name professors and ranking, and, contrariwise, people at 'lower-ranking' universities who are doing really well, enjoying their time, and getting quality work published. 

Hope this helps, and sorry if it didn't!

[Franzkafka]

Thanks! I do agree with you that its philosophy department is certainly not weak. My worry is that its placement is outshone by its sister program LPS. 

[Stencil]

Sorry to dredge up this (somewhat) older topic, but after seeing the new PGR rankings, I thought that it would be a good idea to follow up on this. Besides Irvine's overall ranking moving up a few notches this year, it is now quite well-ranked in epistemology (now in Group 3 with MIT, Toronto, UNC, UCLA, and Pittsburgh among others; was not previously ranked in epistemology at all). This can be attributed to the new senior hires made in the time since the last PGR report, namely Duncan Pritchard, Annalisa Coliva, and Karl Schafer. My sense is that the non-LPS department is taking major strides with its new hires, and that it will continue to improve in the next few years. If your concerns about the strength of the non-LPS department weren't already assuaged before this, I thought that this might help.

Edited March 11, 2018 by Stencil

[Franzkafka]

On 2018/3/10 at 7:29 PM, Stencil said:

Sorry to dredge up this (somewhat) older topic, but after seeing the new PGR rankings, I thought that it would be a good idea to follow up on this. Besides Irvine's overall ranking moving up a few notches this year, it is now quite well-ranked in epistemology (now in Group 3 with MIT, Toronto, UNC, UCLA, and Pittsburgh among others; was not previously ranked in epistemology at all). This can be attributed to the new senior hires made in the time since the last PGR report, namely Duncan Pritchard, Annalisa Coliva, and Karl Schafer. My sense is that the non-LPS department is taking major strides with its new hires, and that it will continue to improve in the next few years. If your concerns about the strength of the non-LPS department weren't already assuaged before this, I thought that this might help.

I do agree with you on your points. The philosophy department there is a perfect place to study epistemology. I just have some worry about its placement. As far as I can see, it has never placed someone into a PhD-granting program or Leiterific MA program (maybe I'm wrong). Given its ranking, this seems to be something very strange. I don't mean to belittle the program. On the contrary, I quite like it. 

[Stencil]

15 hours ago, Franzkafka said:

I do agree with you on your points. The philosophy department there is a perfect place to study epistemology. I just have some worry about its placement. As far as I can see, it has never placed someone into a PhD-granting program or Leiterific MA program (maybe I'm wrong). Given its ranking, this seems to be something very strange. I don't mean to belittle the program. On the contrary, I quite like it. 

My impression is that the current faculty expects the placement record to be completely different in the coming years, given how drastically the department has been changing for the better recently. They've started to emphasize building up PhD students to have stronger CVs, and I would imagine that having letters from any of the new faculty members would really bolster one's chances on the job market. I've also heard from a very reliable source that Irvine will be making several additional senior hires in the next couple of years, which will no doubt also help. In most cases I do think that past placement records reflect what future placement will look like, but  it's important to not ascribe too much significance to past placement when a department has made so many enormous changes of this sort so rapidly.