The 2017/18 Philosophical Gourmet Report has ranked LSE Philosophy among the top places in the world for graduate study in virtually all of the areas in which we specialise.

The Philosophical Gourmet Report is a well-known scoring of university philosophy departments. It ranks graduate programmes in the English-speaking world with the aim of guiding prospective PhD students. Scores are produced by asking panels of experts to rate the “quality of the faculty” at hundreds of departments on a scale from 0 (Inadequate for a PhD program) to 5 (Distinguished).
 

1. Decision, Rational Choice & Game Theory

Joint 1st

LSE joins Carnegie-Mellon, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and University of California, Irvine in the top group for Decision, Rational Choice and Game Theory, beating the only other UK universities in the top ten, Bristol and Cambridge, by half a point and a point respectively. Find out about our specialist decision, rational choice and game theory research group, the Choice Group, hosted by the Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science.
 

2. Philosophy of Social Sciences

Joint 2nd

LSE Philosophy has been placed in Group 2 for philosophy of social sciences, the only UK University in this group and one of only two UK universities to make the top ten. Read about our MSc in Philosophy of the Social Sciences and our PhD programme in Philosophy, or check out the Department Blog for some of our latest research.
 

3. Political Philosophy

Joint 2nd

The Department now outranks Harvard, Stanford and King’s College, London in political philosophy, coming in at joint 2nd in the world. The practical applications of political philosophy are explored in our MSc degrees in areas like Philosophy and Economics, Philosophy of the Social Sciences, and Philosophy of Public Policy, as well as by members of our graduate community.
 

4. General Philosophy of Science

Joint 2nd

LSE Philosophy is ranked joint 2nd for general philosophy of science, alongside others such as Cambridge University, Stanford and Carnegie Mellon, and beating Oxford, Durham and ANU. The LSE department was founded in 1946 by the renowned philosopher of science Professor Sir Karl Popper and our faculty’s work in this area continues to be world-leading. Learn more about the history of the Department on our history pages.
 

5. Philosophy of Physics

Joint 3rd

Philosophy of physics at LSE is ranked joint 3rd in the world, beating Princeton, Stanford, Notre Dame and the University of Bristol. LSE is the major London hub for philosophy of physics activity, hosting the regular Sigma Club lecture series as well as international conferences and workshops. Students can study philosophy of physics in the Department’s PhD programme as well as on our MSc in Philosophy of Science.
 

6. Overall UK Philosophy Department Ranking

Joint 6th

Alongside the University of Leeds, LSE has retained its place as 6th in the UK for philosophy. The “overall rankings” were determined by representatives from all areas of philosophy, and therefore tend to represent the recognition of a faculty outside of the particular areas in which they specialise. It is thus notable that, even as a relatively small and specialised department, LSE Philosophy still ranks 6th according to this measure.