The department of Philosophy and History of Science was founded in 1993 and began its courses during the academic year of 1994-1995 with its first students.
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The objective of the department of Philosophy and History of Science is to study the philosophy and history of sciences. More specifically, it’s focused on the study of all the different possible aspects of science: philosophical problems, their methodology, their historical dimension and their relation to other cultural and social phenomena. One of the more prominent subjects studied at the faculty of Philosophy and History of Science is universities themselves, their course in history, their academic traditions, organization and administration. The PHS is the first department and only of its kind in
Students are taught their critical understanding of science and technology, combining their knowledge with important branches of sciences (from mathematics to economics and from biology to law), with an in-depth approach of those areas from a philosophical and historical perspective, as well as with that of cognitive science and general philosophy.
The way in which society understands science and technology, deals with knowledge and chooses a scientific and technological policy strongly determines the quality of life of its citizens. The faculty’s graduates are prepared to participate in the structuring of an educational system which encourages the critical understanding of science and technology through employment (public and private) in educational and research facilities and services (universities, laboratories, archives, libraries, museums etc), institutions dealing with public opinion (publishing houses, newspapers, etc) as well as institutions focused on scientific and technological politics (government, businesses, local authorities, governing authorities as well as in the European Union etc.)
The Department of Philosophy & History of Science (and especially its graduate program on History & Philosophy of Science & Technology) is considered one of the best HPS departments in the world (12 out of 91 similar departments in an international ranking).
The people working on the department (professors, researchers, graduate students) actively participate in scientific communities such as: the Philosophy of Science Association, the History of Science Society, the Society for History of Technology, the Society for Social Studies of Science, the International Association of Applied Psychology, the European Society for Analytical Philosophy, the European Association of Law & Economics, etc.
