Graduate Program
One of the best Master of Arts in philosophy programs in the United States
Faculty
Nationally known figures in the field
Placement
Excellent placement rate in prestigious doctoral programs
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Falling largely within the analytic tradition, the Department of Philosophy at Western Michigan University takes seriously its dual mission of philosophical teaching and research. Offering a range of undergraduate courses and a terminal master's degree, WMU's program is recognized as one of the best master's programs in the United States and one of only a handful of programs mentioned in the Philosophical Gourmet Report.
Office Hours
The Department of Philosophy at Western Michigan University will be open during all regular business hours, Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. We will maintain a physical presence on campus on:
Monday through Thursday, 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
News
Department chair and master faculty specialist Dave Paul traveled to New York to accept the 2025 Open Inquiry Award for Community Excellence by the Heterodox Academy (HxA), a national organization committed to promoting viewpoint diversity, open inquiry, and constructive disagreement. Dave is co-chair of the WMU campus community of the HxA, along with Jennifer Townsend and Jeff Brenemen. The award recognizes WMU's outstanding efforts to foster a campus culture rooted in intellectual inquiry and civic dialogue.
Read more about the HxA 2025 Open Inquiry Awards.
Read the full WMU news article.
Magnus Imber (MA 2024), currently a philosophy doctoral student at Boston College, has begun, as of June 2025, an internship with MIT Press, “one of the largest and most distinguished university presses in the world and a leading publisher of books and journals at the intersection of science, technology, art, social science, and design.”
Former graduate students Dale Brown and McGwire Hidden secured a $200,000 MiLEAP grant, "Closing the Equity Gap: Improving Student Success Services in the Carceral Setting", for the WMU Higher Education for the Justice-Involed (HEJI) program.
