Canadian Philosophy Programs in the PGR

table.lines td { vertical-align: top; border: 1px dashed gray; empty-cells: show; padding: 2pxWith the kind permission of Brian Leiter, I’m posting here the results of the Philosophical Gourmet Report 2004-06 for Canada. For each of the 11 ranked programs, I list the specialties for which that program is ranked. The rank ordering of all but the top four departments was quite different between the entire survey responses and the responses from Canadian evaluators, so I also included both overall and local rank and mean scores. The numbers following the specialties are: the peer group the program falls in, the rounded mean and the median score, or ‘N’ for ‘Notable’ (median of 3.0). See the overall rankings and the specialty rankings from the PGR for explanations.

Program
Ranked Specialties
University of

Toronto

Overall rank: 1 (3.5)

Canada rank: 1 (3.9)

Philosophical Logic (12-21, 3.5/4.0)

Normative Ethics and Moral Psychology (6-9, 4.0/4.0)

Metaethics (13-20, 3.0/3.0)

Political Philosophy (3-6, 4.0/4.0)

Philosophy of Law (12-24, 3.0/3.5)

Applied Ethics (1-8, 4.0/4.25)

Philosophy of Science (13-30, 3.5/3.5)

Philosophy of Biology (15-22, 3.0/3.0)

Philosophy of Social Science (21-43, 3.0/3.0)

Philosophy of Math (17-25, 3.0/3.25)

Mathematical Logic (10-16, 3.5/4.0)

Ancient Philosophy (5-7, 4.0/4.0)

Medieval Philosophy (4-5, 4.0/4.0)

Modern Philosophy: 17th C. (7-24, 3.5/3.75)

Modern Philosophy: 18th C. (7-14, 3.5/4.0)

Kant and German Idealism (10-21, 3.5/4.0)

History of Analytic Philosophy (24-34, 3.0/3.5)

20th C. Continental Philosophy (11-21, 3.0/3.5)

* American Pragmatism

Chinese Philosophy

Feminist Philosophy
University of

Western Ontario

Overall rank: 2 (2.5)

Canada rank: 2 (3.0)

Philosophy of Language (26-40, 3.0/3.0)

Applied Ethics (9-25, 3.5/3.5)

Philosophy of Science (13-30, 3.5/3.5)

Philosophy of Physics (10-15, 3.5/3.5)

Philosophy of Social Science (21-43, 3.0/3.0)

Decision Theory and Rational Choice (11-21, 3.0/3.5)

Mathematical Logic (17-21, 3.0/3.0)

Modern Philosophy: 17th C. (7-24, 3.5/4.0)

Modern Philosophy: 18th C. (7-14, 3.5/3.5)

Kant and German Idealism (10-21, 3.5/3.5)

Feminist Philosophy
University of

British Columbia

Overall rank: 2 (2.5)

Canada rank: 3 (2.7)

Philosophy of Art (3-9, 4.0/4.0)

Philosophy of Science (13-30, 3.5/3.5)

Philosophy of Biology (6-14, 3.5/3.5)

Philosophy of Social Science (10-20, 3.5/3.0)

Ancient Philosophy (N)

Modern Philosophy: 17th C. (7-24, 3.5/3.0)

Modern Philosophy: 18th C. (15-31, 3.0/3.0)

History of Analytic Philosophy (24-34, 3.0/3.0)
McGill University

Overall rank: 4 (2.4)

Canada rank: 4 (2.5)

Philosophical Logic (N)

Philosophy of Art (10-18, 3.5/3.75)

Philosophy of Math (17-25, 3.0/3.5)

Ancient Philosophy (16-23, 3.0/3.5)

Modern Philosophy: 17th C. (25-35, 3.0/3.5)

Modern Philosophy: 18th C. (15-31, 3.0/3.0)

Kant and German Idealism (22-30, 3.0/3.0)

History of Analytic Philosophy (N)
University of Alberta

Overall rank: 4 (2.2)

Canada rank: 6 (2.4)

Philosophy of Art (19-24, 3.0/2.75)

Philosophy of Science (N)

History of Analytic Philosophy (N)
Simon Fraser

University

Overall rank: 6 (2.1)

Canada rank: 9 (2.2)

Philosophy of Language (26-40, 3.0/3.0)

Philosophical Logic (N)

Decision Theory and Rational Choice (N)
Queen’s University

Overall rank: 6 (2.1)

Canada rank: 4 (2.5)

Political Philosophy (7-25, 3.5/3.5)

Applied Ethics (N)

Philosophy of Art (N)
University of Waterloo

Overall rank: 8 (2.0)

Canada Rank: 11 (2.0)

Applied Ethics (N)

Philosophy of Science (31-43, 3.0/3.0)
York University

Overall rank: 8 (2.0)

Canada rank: 9 (2.2)

Political Philosophy (N)

Philosophy of Law (8-11, 3.5/3.25)

Philosophy of Social Science (21-43, 3.0/3.0)

American Pragmatism

Feminist Philosophy
Tri-University (Guelph, McMaster, Laurier)

Overall rank: 10 (1.9)

Canada rank: 8 (2.2)

History of Analytic Philosophy (24-34, 3.0/3.5)
University of Calgary

Overall rank: 10 (1.9)

Canada rank: 6 (2.4)

Philosophy of Action (N)

Applied Ethics (26-44, 3.0/3.5)

Philosophy of Biology (N)

History of Analytic Philosophy (N)

American Pragmatism

3 thoughts on “Canadian Philosophy Programs in the PGR

  1. So why weren’t Dal and U of O ranked? I mean, if Guelph, York, Laurier are in the list, it seems odd not to rank the two other english language programmes. It’s not like Dal and U of O are fringe schools.

  2. The advisory board decides which programs get included in the survey. In the 2002-04 report, e.g., Dal was in the survey, but finished last, while Simon Fraser and the Tri-Faculty Program were not. Brian Leiter writes in the PGR that each time they put the ranked programs from last time in the survey, ‘plus a few additional programs are included each year to “test the waters.”‘ At least the PGR now ranks 11 Canadian programs as opposed to only 5 previously. (I’m not involved in the PGR, so I’m the wrong person to complain to.)

  3. Yeah, but you have to look at the Classics program at Dal for Ancient philosophy; forget the phil. dept. Posted by Anonymous

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