As of Winter Quarter 2026, the Philosophy Department has updated the lower‑division options for students pursuing the General Emphasis within the Philosophy major. This change follows the discontinuation of PHI 13G: Minds, Brains, and Computers with Discussion (4 units), a course that previously fulfilled Group D – Philosophy of the Mind in the introductory requirements.
PHI 13G has now been replaced by two separate courses:
Philosophy majors consistently rank highest in verbal and logical reasoning and stand out for traits like curiosity and open-mindedness. A new study of over 600,000 students shows that studying philosophy truly sharpens critical thinking, skills more essential than ever in today’s world.
Philosophy Faculty Qiannan Li who (along with two others researchers at University of Texas and Rutgers) is awarded a $250K NSF grant for a project titled, Interactive and Integrated Training for Build High-Performance Ethical AI.
Jim Griesemer’s project is designed to study the John Templeton Foundation’s Agency, Directionality & Function research program. This program encompasses a suite of 24 projects organized in seven thematic clusters. Griesemer and his team are studying how teams of biologists, physicists, mathematicians and philosophers on each of these projects work together to understand agency and related concepts in living systems.
UC Davis chemistry graduate student Javier Aztiazarain regularly teaches the pivotal “CHE 125: Advanced Methods in Physical Chemistry” to UC Davis undergraduate students. But Aztiazarain’s bachelor’s degree in philosophy, which he earned at UC Davis, informs how he educates the next generation of chemists.“Philosophy is kind of like yoga for the mind,” said Aztiazarain. “The approach marries very well with analytical chemistry and the way that you look at problems and solve them. You want a logical solution to doing these things.
In a research paper and in her book Plato Was Not a Mathematical Platonist, Landry, professor and department chair of philosophy in the College of Letters and Science, argues that Plato, the ancient Greek philosopher born over 2,400 years ago, shows a better way to think about what’s real in mathematics.
UC Davis Philosophy undergraduate Ibrahim Dagher has been awarded the Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research, the Dean Keith Simonton Prize, and the Hanson Family Undergraduate Research Publication Award.
