The Alumni Association of The University of Western Ontario is proud to serve and represent more than a quarter million alumni around the world.
We are committed to delivering the finest alumni experience, in keeping with our continued number one ranking as "Canada's best student experience”.
The Student Success Centre is here to help with each step of your journey to a successful future. Our mission is to facilitate the development of career, educational, and life competencies for students and alumni through programs and services that guide successful transitions, foster local and global citizenship, promote leadership opportunities, encourage personal growth, deliver career resources, and ignite active engagement.
Philosophy has been taught at the University of Western Ontario since the first days of the university in 1878. In those early days, the university consisted of a number of relatively autonomous colleges, and the colleges dispensed education in philosophy as they saw fit. It was only in the 1960s when Professor Robert Butts was charged with constructing a modern academic department from the remnants of the university’s dismantled college system that Western truly became a centre of scholarship in philosophy.
Today, the Department of Philosophy is home to 32 faculty members. As befits a department of this size, we aspire to be well-rounded, though there are a few areas in which we are particularly strong.
We are committed to broad general education in philosophy and beyond, while also being home to many faculty members and students who work in specialized areas. We are a department where the history of philosophy is held in high regard. At the same time, we maintain strong ties with the departments of law, pure and applied mathematics, biology, physics and astronomy, medicine and epidemiology, women’s studies, psychology, the Brain and Mind Institute at Western and with the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo. A generous donation from Joseph Rotman led to the creation of the Rotman Institute of Philosophy in 2008. This institute broadens our research profile by bringing together philosophers and scientists to focus on theoretical issues and their practical and ethical implications in various areas of science, from cosmology to conservation ecology, evolutionary biology, and medicine.
Discipline specific knowledge is only one of the many benefits of pursuing an undergraduate degree. However, this knowledge alone is not enough to prepare you for entering the world of work. You will discover that the content of your degree does not restrict your job opportunities.
Being aware of the transferable skills you've developed throughout your studies will better prepare you for entering the job market and allow you to articulate the skills that are so valued by employers.
The ability to comprehend the thoughts and ideas of people from other times and places and give expression to these ideas in modern terms with relevant historical context
The ability to compile and organize facts and information and to comprehend and apply new and/or unfamiliar information to different situations and settings
The ability to learn, understand and interpret information and apply knowledge to new situations
Skills enabling you to work effectively as part of a team by identifying your role and contributing, through leading, teaching, motivating and/or encouraging others, to the success of the team
For a more complete list of transferable skills click here.