Welcome to UIC Philosophy
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Welcome to UIC Philosophy
The Philosophy Department at UIC is among the best in the country—many of its members have strong national and international reputations. Our classes are typically reasonably small, allowing students greater direct contact with teachers than is usual for a large university. The Department (comprising faculty, graduate students, and staff) has established a reputation for being personally diverse, approachable, and friendly.
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Why study philosophy?
Philosophers think deeply about questions that occur to everyone from time to time. By examining various arguments that attempt to answer difficult but important questions, philosophers develop the powerful and prized skills and qualities of reasoning, critical thinking, and ability to appreciate different perspectives. Further details.
In Memory
W. D. Hart (1943–2026)
The philosopher W. D. Hart, age 83, died in Mexico City, Mexico, on March 5, 2026, after a long struggle with prostate cancer and kidney disease. Always known as Bill, he was born Wilbur Dyre Hart III in Ithaca NY on Feb. 18, 1943, to Wilbur Dyre Hart Jr and Ruth Fairchild Hooker. His childhood was spent mainly in the New York and Boston areas with 2 years in Kansas City. He was educated at Harvard University (AB summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, 1965; PhD 1968) and taught philosophy for 5 years at the University of Michigan before spending 17 years at University College London, with visiting positions at the University of Pennsylvania and Cambridge University. He then taught briefly at the University of New Mexico before moving in 1993 to the University of Illinois Chicago, where he became chair of the philosophy department for 12 years and from which he retired in 2011. His main areas of interest were philosophical logic and the philosophy of mathematics. In addition to numerous articles, his books include The Engines of the Soul (Cambridge, 1988), The Evolution of Logic (Cambridge, 2010), and Readings in the Philosophy of Mathematics, ed. (Oxford, 1996). He was briefly married to Sheila Forde and Nancy Kubany. He married Faith Diane Brabenec Henry in 1974, and their son is the sculptor Luke Hart of London and Mexico City. In 2004 the couple moved from Evanston to Lincoln Park, Chicago, and in 2021 back to Albuquerque, and in 2025 to Mexico City. He is survived by his wife and son (and Ruth Best), his only brother, Steven Edward, having died in 2016.