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.