History

The Institute of Philosophy

The Institute of Philosophy was founded by the University of London in 2005 with the intention of promoting and facilitating high quality research in philosophy, and making it available to the widest possible audience both inside and outside the UK's academic community. The Institute is part of the University of London's School of Advanced Study, which provides UK-wide resources and services for arts and humanities research communities, fostering innovation and research into critical societal issues

The Philosophy Programme

The Institute is the successor to the University's Philosophy Programme. The Philosophy Programme was founded in 1995 by Jonathan Wolff of UCL. In 1998 Tim Crane took over as director, followed by Barry Smith in 2004. 

The Philosophy Programme was not very happily named: it was not a degree programme but a fledgling research institute. It was transformed into an institute of the School of Advanced Study as a result of a generous donation by Dr Shamil Chandaria and matching funding from the University of London.

The Programme (and now the Institute) has been the home to the offices of the Aristotelian Society and the Society for Applied Philosophy. It hosted the offices of Mind, the UK's leading philosophy journal, from 2000 to 2005.