Philosophy Faculties with a Continental Focus in the South?

College Search & Selection
1

I’m from New Orleans and much of my family lives in Mississippi, however my immediate family moved to Chicago in the summer between 9th and 10th grade. I went to high school in IL and participated in dual-enrollment, which means that I graduated with a High School diploma and an Associates in Arts from Truman College (City College of Chicago). That head start made me comfortable taking a year off between High School and College, and I’ll be 20 by the time that I start attending a university.

I really don’t like Chicago and I want to move back down South, preferably the Deep South (Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee), I would be okay living in North or South Carolina and parts of Virginia that aren’t extensions of Washington, I would rather not live in Texas and I would prefer to go to school in the DC area or Baltimore rather than Florida, a place I have no desire to return to.

Since I don’t know where to start, I’ll tell you a little bit about myself and let you tell me where I should look.

I’m looking for a good Philosophy faculty, that has a Continental focus, as opposed to the Analytical philosophy that’s bafflingly dominant in the English speaking world. If you’re curious about the difference, feel free to ask. A big or small school, private or public, doesn’t matter to me, although I don’t drink or hang out where people drink and I have no interest in sports so I may be a social outcast in “SEC culture.” I’m apolitical as a result of having no options that appeal to me, I’m the farthest thing from a liberal in the classical sense, and from a conservative in the American sense, the last mainstream political commentator that I saw eye to eye with is Plato, but all-in-all political philosophy isn’t an area that interests me very much. I’m a very religious and spiritual person, but I’m not Christian anymore, feel free to ask for more on that as well. Despite my beliefs I have no preference against or for Christian colleges/universities, however I am just a bit apprehensive about taking philosophy at a Catholic college because I’ve heard that their programs are very heavy on Thomism.

I had a 3.8 GPA in High School and my Associates degree was achieved with a 4.0, my ACT scores are: 34 English, 28 Math, 36 Reading, 28 Science, 33 Writing. I would like to apply to 5 schools, with at least one of them safe enough that I don’t have to worry about getting rejected, and I’m not interested in applying to any school that requires an interview on campus or with alumni as part of admissions. I’m also planning on taking my chances and applying to either Oxford or Cambridge (you can’t apply to both) and St Andrews in the UK, because there isn’t anything to lose for doing so.

Anyone want to give me some recommendations on where to apply?

2

Emory?

3

Ole Miss?

4

You might consider this ranking for “Best PhD Programs for 20th-century Continental Philosophy, 2016-17”:

http://leiterreports.typepad.com/blog/2016/10/best-phd-programs-for-20th-century-continental-philosophy-2016-17.html

Georgetown is the closest thing to a Southern school on the list.

UC Riverside, which appears to be highly regarded in this field, is in deep southern California.

5

There are few universities with a strong Continental tradition, at this point. Some of the strongest Continental programs would include UC Riverside and I think, the New School in NYC. Small liberal arts colleges often have, relatively, more faculty working in this area. Perhaps spend some time looking at faculty at schools like Rhodes, Centre, Sewanee, to see if they provide the coursework you are looking for. Keep in mind, that even a major is only about 1/3 of your coursework, so it is important to find a school that offers you more than just coursework in a sub-field of a major. And, a philosophy major typically requires coursework in several sub-fields, not just coursework exclusively in one area.

6

The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and the University of Texas-Austin will have the strongest Philosophy departments overall. Rice, the University of Virginia, Wake Forest and William and Mary will also be good.

While not considered quite “elite”, the University of Kentucky has a respectable Continental Philosophy faculty. Worth a look if you wish to look at Southern universities.

You should also check out LACs, like Sewanee, Davidson etc…

Also, if you are willing to consider California and the SW, you have several other options such as the University of Arizona, Cal, UCLA, UCSD an UCR, all of which have large and well respected faculties. The Claremont Colleges, especially CMC and Pomona, will also offer excellent options. Finally, the University of New Mexico also has a solid Continental Philosophy faculty.

7

I’m totally okay with a smaller, liberal arts college. An environment like that would probably make it easier
For me to do my own thing than a huge school.

Going up North to somewhere like the New School in New York, or out west to California or Arizona etc is pretty much out of the question. I want to either be in the South, or barring that go abroad to the UK or France.

I contacted the Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy (SPEP) and got a list of Masters programs in the South that are continentally focused, but there was no information for undergrads. The schools that they told me to look at were Emory, Georgetown, Vanderbilt, Rice and Tulane, and that I should keep the Catholic University of America, UT-Austin, the University of Dallas, St Louis University, Washington University of St Louis in mind along with several Liberal Arts colleges that they have no jnfotmation on.

Vanderbilt looks like my current first choice, with Emory at 2nd and Georgetown under lots of consideration. I want to learn more about Tulane, I grew up almost right next door to it and the reputation has always been one of partying is more important than studying. Rice is a great school but I don’t know if I want to live in Texas.

The rest are either hardcore Catholic universities that’re geared towards people who want to serve the church in some respect (Catholic University of America and the University of Dallas), are in St Louis of they’re big party schools where I might be friendless.

Rhodes, Davidson and the University of the South are places I’m going to research more.

8

Does anyone else want to help?

9

I asked Phil faculty that we know, and they said Emory, Vandy, Wash U.

10

That’s likely because a continental vs. analytical divide is a bit too narrow for an undergraduate to be worrying about at this stage. You need exposure to a good foundation in philosophy and philosophical thought and theory; thinking about continental vs. analytic is something that graduate students seeking a PhD program begin to think about. That’s why you’re not going to find much information about liberal arts colleges, since only PhD programs are really characterized as “continental” or “analytic” and that’s primarily because of the scholarship coming out of them.

Not to mention that there are so many other factors about your undergraduate degree that are important - you’ll only take about 1/3 of your classes in philosophy, and most of them will be basic classes in which continental vs. analytic may not make a great deal of difference. The list of names you’ve been given comes straight from the list of PhD programs that are classified as more continental, but that doesn’t mean those places are the best place for you.

It’s not really baffling…historically speaking, analytic philosophy grew up in the English-speaking world in the 20th century. In fact, the term ‘continental philosophy’ was actually popularized by analytic philosophers in the English-speaking world to describe the style of philosophy mostly taught in French, German, and other non-English speaking European countries.

11

@juillet — On your last paragraph, it’s not baffling that analytic philosophy is dominant in the English speaking world due to history, what’s baffling is that even though the English speaking world has the best universities on earth, the inferior aspect within philosophy is dominant.

On the rest of your point, I’d think that more 2/3 of my classes will be on my major, as I’ve said I did dual enrollment and have an Associate’s Degree along with my HS diploma, most of my prerequisites and “Gen Ed” requirements should therefore be done. The all-over-the place element is definitely a downside of American universities, but what can you do?