Continental Philosophy

This report for academic year 2019/20 divides graduate programs into the two categories indicated below.

Strongly Recommended departments have indications that graduate students will be encouraged and supported to pursue work in this area, will find a supportive community of scholars and mentors, and will be able to write a state of the art dissertation in continental philosophy.

Recommended departments have indications that graduate students will be encouraged and supported to pursue work in continental philosophy.

For information about the basis of these recommendations, please go to our FAQ and Methodology pages. The recommendations below are not listed alphabetically but roughly in the order of support they received. Please keep in mind that these lists have been produced by surveying experts in this sub-field of philosophy. The Pluralist Guide strongly advises students to use these lists as a prima facie guideline for further research. Faculty retire and change departments, and the particular area that one philosopher is working within may not connect with a given student’s interests. We encourage you to use these lists alongside the APA Grad Guide on the APA website as well as your own research into departments. Department chairs will often provide names of current students who can be consulted for more information, and though the students that chairs direct you toward may be a select set, putting all of these sources of information alongside each other can significantly inform your decision about where to apply.

Recommended PhD Programs for Continental Philosophy

Strongly Recomended

  • Emory University

  • Pennsylvania State University

  • University of Oregon

  • Boston College

  • Fordham University

  • McGill University

  • SUNY, Stony Brook

  • University of Memphis

  • Duquesne University

  • DePaul University

  • Georgetown University

  • Purdue University

  • Texas A&M University

  • Loyola University, Chicago

  • Michigan State University

  • Northwestern University

  • SUNY, Binghamton

  • University of Guelph

  • Marquette University

  • University of Toronto

  • Memorial University, Newfoundland

  • CUNY Grad center

  • University of Chicago

  • Rice University

  • Columbia University

  • Temple University

  • Vanderbilt University

  • Boston University

  • University of South Florida

  • New School for Social Research

  • Villanova University

  • Cornell University

  • University of Pennsylvania

  • University of California, Irvine

  • Queen’s University

  • University of Western Ontario (CTC)


Recomended

  • Notre Dame University

  • McMaster University

  • University of California, Riverside

  • University of Alberta

  • University of Montreal

  • Dalhousie University

  • Duke University

  • Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium)

  • Rutgers University

  • SUNY, Buffalo

  • University of Dallas

  • University of Houston

  • University of California, Berkley

  • University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

  • University of Pittsburgh

  • Washington State University, Pullman

  • Washington University, St Louis

  • Western Michigan University

  • St. Louis University

  • University of California, Santa Cruz

  • University of Texas, Austin

  • University of New Mexico

  • Catholic University of America


Recommended MA programs for Continental Philosophy

Strongly Recommended

  • American University

  • Ryerson University, Toronto

  • Loyola Marymount University of Los Angeles

  • Miami University of Ohio


Recommended

  • Georgia State University

  • West Chester University of Pennsylvania

  • University of North Carolina, Charlotte

  • Washington State University, Pullman

  • Western Michigan University

  • Concordia University

  • University of Houston

  • University of Western Ontario