phenomenology + theology

[pzp11]

Hi,

 

I'm a Master's student and I'm applying this december. My interests are: German idealists (Kant, Hegel, post-Kantians); phenomenology, primarily Husserl, and thinkers who influenced his work, such as Spinoza, Leibniz, Kant, etc.; and although not as a main interest -- Plato, Aristotle -- only in so far as they interact with phenomenology. I'm also interested in religion, specifically the interaction between phenomenology and theology, and naturally I'm inclined towards the French phenomenologists (Levinas, Derrida, Marion, Chretien et al.) but I haven't had the chance to study them in depth yet (this is a recently formed study interest) -- maybe next semester.

 

I'm currently looking for schools/faculty and I'd like some recommendations, if you have any.

 

Also, is it recommended that I approach the faculty that I'm interested in via email before the application? And if so, how do I go about doing that? What I mean is, what kind of questions should I ask, and what kind of response should I expect?

 

Thank you.

Edited October 9, 2013 by pzp11

[Narziss]

At Riverside:

 

Keller works in Kant/Hegel

 

Wrathall works in Heidegger and the phenomenological tradition

 

Wettstein works in Philosophy of Religion

[marXian]

pzp11, I'm a religious studies PhD student at Northwestern studying theology, neo-Kantianism, and historical materialism in the early 20th century. While the theologians at NU (students and faculty) are not working on phenomenology, lots of people in the philosophy department are (especially Deleuze), and our two departments are very friendly with each other. NU has a cluster program made up of a number of official interdisciplinary groups, one of which is a "critical theory" cluster, which affords the opportunity to do lots of interdisciplinary work. It would be very possible to be working on phenomenology in the philosophy department while developing a subfield in theology by taking courses in theology in the RS department. RS department would be happy to have more philosophers interested in developing sub-disciplines in theology and/or philosophy of religion! Feel free to PM me if you have more detailed questions.

 

Shameless plug aside, UChicago is arguably the best place to do phenomenology and theology though, given Marion's presence there. 

[pzp11]

Sorry for the late reply, but thanks to both. UCR is somewhere I never thought about but now I'm very interested. I'm interested in NU as well but it seems from the faculty / courses that they are more analytic-oriented than continental (I may be wrong) and that's what is discouraging me from applying. UChicago is my top choice.

[marXian]

Sorry for the late reply, but thanks to both. UCR is somewhere I never thought about but now I'm very interested. I'm interested in NU as well but it seems from the faculty / courses that they are more analytic-oriented than continental (I may be wrong) and that's what is discouraging me from applying. UChicago is my top choice.

 

I'd say it's a mix, leaning toward analytic. There are faculty (Lafont, Deutscher, Alznauer, Mills in particular) who are definitely continental folks. You'll also find people in the German/French departments doing continental philosophy (e.g. Peter Fenves and Sam Weber) though you wouldn't be applying to work with them directly if applying to the philosophy department. Deutscher has at least one student, who is almost finished, doing work on Deleuze.

 

But I think it would be correct to say that the philosophy department is mostly analytic folks now, even though it hasn't always been that way in the past. Still, I would apply.

[magog]

DePaul's philosophy PhD program is 100% 'continental', with faculty who specialize in most of the names you've listed (Hegel, Kant, Husserl, Plato, Aristotle).  Two faculty members work particularly on the intersection of 'religion' and philosophy: Michael Naas (via Derrida) and Frederic Seyler (via Michel Henry).

 

You might also check out the Syracuse Religion dept and Villanova Philosophy, as both are traditionally friendly toward 'continental' philosophy of religion, in part due to Jack Caputo's influence on both (though he is now, of course, retired).

[deloozin it]

also, don't forget the other chicago school in the area: loyola!  they have hanne jacobs, hugh miller, and adriaan peperzaak.