Institute of Philosophy, KU Leuven

For the UCLouvain institute in Louvain-la-Neuve, see Higher Institute of Philosophy.

The Institute of Philosophy (Dutch: Hoger Instituut voor Wijsbegeerte) is the faculty of philosophy at the KU Leuven in the Belgian city of Leuven. It was founded in 1968 when the Institut supérieur de Philosophie - Hoger Instituut voor Wijsbegeerte of the Catholic University of Leuven (1835–1968) was split into a Dutch-speaking entity and a French-speaking entity. Its main buildings are located in the center of Leuven at the Kardinaal Mercier Square, named for the founder of the original institute.

## History

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Hoger Instituut voor Wijsbegeerte, Kardinaal Mercierplein, Leuven

The Institut supérieur de Philosophie was founded by Cardinal Mercier on 8 November 1889 with the intent to be a beacon of Neo-Thomist philosophy, although Philosophy and Theology have been taught at the universities of Leuven since 1425. The institute initially taught programs in French and started courses in Dutch in 1933. After the language split of 1968, the Hoger Instituut voor Wijsbegeerte became part of the newly independent Katholieke Universiteit te Leuven, offering programmes in Dutch with little and at times no content taught in French, while the French-speaking Institut supérieur de Philosophie of the Université catholique de Louvain continued in the new city of Louvain-la-Neuve. In 1993, the institute became the faculty of philosophy.[1]

## Programs offered

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The institute offers both taught and research degrees (B.A., M.A., MPhil and PhD) as well as pre-doc and post-doc programs, both in Dutch and English. Students can take classes in both languages if desired.[2]

## Departments

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* Cultural Philosophy
* Ethics, Social and Political Philosophy
* Logic and Philosophy of Science
* Metaphysics and Modern Philosophy
* Ancient, Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy
* Phenomenology

## Husserl Archives Leuven

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The Institute, together with its French-speaking counterpart in Louvain-la-Neuve,[3] are well known as the home of the Husserl Archives, the research center responsible for the publication of the philosophical work of Edmund Husserl.[4] After the death of the founder of the phenomenological movement, fearing for the destruction of his Nachlass at the hands of the Nazis, Father Herman Van Breda (Franciscan), PhD student at the institute, saved Husserl's manuscripts, library and widow and smuggled them to Leuven via diplomatic channels.

## Research and publications

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The Institute publishes a Dutch-language philosophy journal, called the Tijdschrift voor Filosofie, an interdisciplinary journal in both Dutch: Ethische Perspectieven and English: Ethical Perspectives and the Bibliographical Directory of Philosophy (published jointly with the UCLouvain's Institut supérieur de Philosophie). It also organizes several major publication efforts, including the Husserliana (Husserl-Archives), the Aristoteles Latinus (De Wulf-Mansion centre), the Latin editions of Aristotle's works known to the medieval philosophers.

## Numbers

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* Ranks 24th in the QS World Philosophy Rankings (2014)
* More than 30 lecturers and professors
* 80 researchers in 5 departments
* more than 100 graduate students
* Circa 750 students (of which 50% international students)

## Renowned emeriti

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* Armand Thiéry [fr; nl] (1868–1955)
* Samuel IJsseling [nl; de] (1932–2015)
* Alphonse De Waelhens [nl; fr] (1911–1981)
* Herman Parret [fr; nl]
* André Léonard
* Herman Van Rompuy
* Rudolf Bernet
* William Desmond

## Guest researchers and lecturers

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Internationally renowned professors who have lectured at the institute:

* Étienne Gilson
* Jacques Lacan
* Paul Ricœur
* Emmanuel Levinas
* Maurice Merleau-Ponty
* Jan Patočka
* Jacques Derrida
* Jean-François Lyotard
* Charles Hartshorne
* Michel Foucault
* Karl Popper
* John Searle

* P. F. Strawson
* Umberto Eco
* Roger Scruton
* Donald Davidson
* Martha Nussbaum
* Richard Rorty
* Bernard Williams
* Ian Hacking
* John Milbank
* Don Cupitt

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## Notable former students

[edit]

* Hans Lindahl, professor and former student
* Bruce Ellis Benson, professor, Wheaton College, USA
* Babette Babich (professor), professor of philosophy at Fordham University

This article's list of alumni may not follow Wikipedia's verifiability policy. Please improve this article by removing names that do not have independent reliable sources showing they merit inclusion in this article and are alumni, or by incorporating the relevant publications into the body of the article through appropriate citations. (September 2018)

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* Thomas D. Carroll, priest and former student (PhD, and PhL)
* Marin Gillis,[5] professor and former student
* Marc Sebrecht, professor and former student
* Joseph J. Kockelmans, professor, Pennsylvania State University, USA
* Renee Kohler-Ryan, senior lecturer, The University of Notre Dame, Sydney, Australia
* Wha-Chul Son, professor, Handong Global University, Korea
* John Hymers,[6] associate professor, La Salle University, Philadelphia, USA
* Tanya Loughead,[7] Professor of Philosophy, Canisius College, Buffalo, NY, USA
* Richard Chung Kee Lee assistant professor, Hong Kong Baptist University
* Damian C. Ilodigwe lecturer in Philosophy, SS Peter & Paul Major Seminary, Ibadan, Nigeria
* Nikolaj Zunic associate professor, St. Jerome's University, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
* Jeffrey Bloechl,[8] associate professor, Boston College, USA
* Stephan Lake, associate professor, Trinity Christian College, IL, USA
* Jovino G. Miroy, associate professor, Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines
* Michael Newman,[9] professor of art writing, Goldsmiths University of London, UK
* Stuart Rennie,[10] professor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA
* Jeb Bishop, musician (BA 1985)

## See also

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* Joseph Maréchal
* Split of the Catholic University of Leuven
* Tijdschrift voor Filosofie [nl] 'Journal of Philosophy' (before 1961 spelt Tijdschrift voor Philosophie)
* Erasmus

## References

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1. ^ "Institute of Philosophy - History". Archived from the original on 2009-04-04. Retrieved 2013-05-07.
2. ^ "Institute of Philosophy". Archived from the original on 2005-02-20.
3. ^ "Archives Husserl". Uclouvain.be. Archived from the original on 22 November 2018. Retrieved 6 January 2019.
4. ^ "Husserl Archives Leuven". Hiw.kuleuven.be. Retrieved 25 March 2019.
5. ^ "Leadership". College of Medicine. Retrieved 2020-09-15.
6. ^ "JH Homepage". Hymers.eu. Retrieved 25 March 2019.
7. ^ "Tanya Loughead". 15 September 2020.
8. ^ "Jeffrey Bloechl - philosophy Department - Boston College". www.bc.edu. Retrieved 2020-09-15.
9. ^ "Professor Michael Newman". Goldsmiths, University of London. Retrieved 2020-09-15.
10. ^ "Stuart Rennie - Department of Social Medicine". Med.unc.edu. Retrieved 25 March 2019.

## External links

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* Official website (English)
* Site of the Tijdschrift voor Filosofie
* Journal Ethische Perspectieven (NL) and Ethical Perspectives (EN)

* v
* t
* e

Universities of Louvain/Leuven

1425–1797|

| Old University of Leuven|

* Faculty of Theology
* Arras College
* Collegium Trilingue
* Holy Ghost College
* Liège College
* Saint Ivo's College
* Pope's College
* Saint Anne's College
* St Anthony's College
* Trinity College
* University Hall
* Academic staff
* Alumni

|

1817–1835|

* State University of Leuven

1834–1835|

* Catholic University of Mechlin

1835–1968|

| Catholic
University
of Louvain|

* Institutions: American College of the Immaculate Conception
* St Anthony's College
* Lovanium University
* Faculty of Theology
* University Hall
Personalities: Pope Gregory XVI
* Rector Pierre de Ram
* Désiré-Joseph Mercier
* Rector Paulin Ladeuze
* Georges Lemaître
Nobel prizes: Auguste Beernaert
* Dominique Pire
Alumni
Belgian American Educational Foundation
* Sedes Sapientiae
* Split of the Catholic University of Louvain

|

Since 1968|

| UCLouvain|

| Campuses|

* Louvain-la-Neuve
* Brussels Woluwe
* FUCaM Mons
* Saint-Louis Brussels
* CHU Namur
* UCLouvain Charleroi

|

Cities|

* Louvain-la-Neuve
* Brussels
* Woluwe-Saint-Lambert
* Saint-Gilles
* Mons
* Tournai
* Charleroi
* Namur
* Dinant
* Yvoir

Faculties|

* Louvain School of Management
* Louvain School of Engineering
* Marie Haps Faculty of Translation and Interpreting
* Faculty of Economic, Social and Political Sciences and Communication
* Faculty of Architecture, Architectural Engineering and Urban Planning

Research|

* Higher Institute of Philosophy
* Cyclotron Research Center
* Center for Operations Research and Econometrics
* Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters
* Centre d'Etudes des Crises et Conflits Internationaux
* Hoover Chair
* Laboratory for the Analysis of Organisational Communication Systems

Hospitals|

* Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc
* CHU UCLouvain Namur

Press|

* Presses universitaires de Louvain
* Revue philosophique de Louvain
* International Philosophical Bibliography
* Cahiers de l'Institut de Linguistique de Louvain
* Revue d'histoire ecclésiastique
* Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium

Subsidiary entities|

* Musée L
* Aula Magna
* Louvain-la-Neuve Cyclotron
* Louvain Coopération
* Louvain-la-Neuve Science Park
* Initialis Science Park
* Académie Louvain

Rectors|

* Pierre Macq
* Bernard Coulie
* Vincent Blondel

Nobel prizes|

* Christian de Duve
* Albert Claude

Miscellaneous|

* Louvain modularity
* Claroline
* Orchestre Symphonique des Étudiants de Louvain-la-Neuve
* 24h vélo de Louvain-la-Neuve
* Progressive Congolese Students
* ANLO
* Oz
* Ekiga
* Ion Beam Applications
* Kot-à-projet

* Academic staff
* Alumni

KU Leuven|

| Campuses|

KULAK

|

Cities|

* Leuven
* Kortrijk
* Antwerp
* Ghent
* Bruges
* Geel
* Diepenbeek
* Aalst
* Sint-Katelijne-Waver
* Brussels

Faculties|

* Institute of Philosophy

Research|

* Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies
* Rega Institute for Medical Research
* Switch Laboratory

Hospitals|

* UZ Leuven

Press|

* Leuven University Press
* Revue d'histoire ecclésiastique
* ITL International Journal of Applied Linguistics

Subsidiary entities|

* Arenberg Castle
* Arenberg Research-Park
* KU Leuven Association
* University Hall

Rectors|

* Pieter De Somer
* Marc Vervenne
* Mark Waer
* Rik Torfs
* Luc Sels

Other|

* Evangelical Theological Faculty

Academic libraries in Leuven · Universities in Leuven

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