Research

Globally recognised for our research strengths and innovations in teaching, our impact-driven research transforms lives and shapes the future.

School of Humanities and Communication Arts

Historical and Philosophical Inquiry

Discipline Lead | Brett Bennett

Western Sydney University is internationally recognised for the quality of its research in the disciplines of History and Philosophy, as both are recognised at world standard (Excellence in Research for Australia, 2018).

Within History, Western scholars have developed geographic expertise in transnational, Asian, European and Australian history; and have thematic strengths in digital history, environmental history, diplomatic and political history, global/transnational history, intellectual history, religious history, and the history of science and medicine. Philosophy is broadly situated within the context of Kantian and post-Kantian Continental thought (German Idealism, aesthetics, ethics, rights discourses, Marxism, and the history of philosophy), and includes an analytical approach to animal rights.

Historians are having impacts in environmental, local, and medical history, and Philosophers are offering new understandings of philosophy as a cultural force in society. Historical and Philosophical Inquiry features in distinctive Bachelor of Arts majors, and in the Master of Arts in Continental Philosophy, Master of Research, and PhD programs.

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Academics for this Discipline

Acknowledgement of Country

With respect for Aboriginal cultural protocol and out of recognition that its campuses occupy their traditional lands, Western Sydney University acknowledges the Darug, Dharawal, Gadigal, Gundungurra and Wiradjuri peoples and thanks them for their support of its work in their lands (Greater Western Sydney and beyond).