Founded in 1980, the Department of Philosophy at Soochow University was established under the leadership and vision of President Joseph K. Twanmoh (端木愷), who believed that “a university is not complete without a department of philosophy.” Since its founding, the Department has been committed to providing rigorous and comprehensive philosophical education while developing distinctive strengths in teaching and research.
The establishment of the master’s program in 1999 marked an important stage in the Department’s development, extending philosophical education at Soochow University from the undergraduate to the graduate level. Over the years, the Department has continued to expand its faculty, research resources, and academic activities. Through the Soochow Philosophy Center, visiting professorships, distinguished lectures, conferences, workshops, and other forms of academic exchange, we have developed strong connections with philosophers and academic institutions in Taiwan and around the world. Distinguished philosophers who have taught or conducted academic activities at Soochow include Sze-Kwang Lao (勞思光), Shu-Hsien Liu (劉述先), Ernest Sosa, and Michael Slote.
Today, the Department brings together faculty members working across a wide range of philosophical fields and traditions. We are committed to fostering a strong academic environment and supporting original philosophical research. Our faculty members have received major academic honors in Taiwan, including the Outstanding Research Award and the Ta-You Wu Memorial Award from the National Science and Technology Council. The Department also maintains specialized research resources, including a collection of more than 4,000 volumes on epistemology in the Soochow University Library.
Student education remains at the center of our mission. Our curriculum provides systematic training in the major areas of philosophy while cultivating the abilities to think independently, analyze arguments, evaluate evidence, and engage critically with fundamental questions about knowledge, reality, value, and human life. Our students have regularly received grants from the National Science and Technology Council’s Undergraduate Research Project program and have also received awards from the Taiwan Philosophical Association. Graduates have continued their philosophical studies at leading universities in Taiwan and abroad, including the University of Notre Dame, Syracuse University, and the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Our undergraduate curriculum is designed to combine rigorous philosophical training with substantial flexibility for students to pursue their own academic and professional interests. The Department requires nine core courses, totaling 27 credits, all of which are scheduled during the first two years of study. This structure allows students to complete their foundational philosophical training early and devote their third and fourth years to more self-directed study and academic development. Students may pursue advanced research in philosophy, including projects supported by the National Science and Technology Council’s Undergraduate Research Project program, or explore other fields in preparation for further study and future careers.
Since the 2024–25 academic year, we have further increased this curricular flexibility by allowing up to 37 of the 74 elective credits required by the Department to be earned through courses offered outside the Department. Students can use these credits to pursue double majors, minors, teacher education programs, secondary specializations, or other interdisciplinary coursework. This structure enables students to maintain a strong foundation in philosophy while developing additional areas of expertise according to their individual interests and career plans.
In recent years, the Department has also undertaken broader curriculum reform in response to changes in higher education and the increasing interdisciplinarity of contemporary intellectual life. In addition to its core philosophical curriculum, we have developed secondary specializations in Reasoning and Aesthetic Intelligence and introduced courses addressing the philosophy of artificial intelligence and other contemporary issues. Principles of Reasoning, reflecting the Department’s longstanding emphasis on philosophical reasoning, is now a required course for all undergraduate students at Soochow University.
More than four decades after its founding, the Department continues to build upon its established traditions while responding to new intellectual and social challenges. Through rigorous philosophical training, active research, flexible and interdisciplinary education, and engagement with the international philosophical community, we seek to provide an environment in which students and scholars can explore fundamental questions, think independently, and discover the continuing relevance of philosophy in the contemporary world.