Category: Data
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Fewer and Fewer Students Earn Degrees in the Humanities
20 years ago, nearly 15% of the undergraduate degrees conferred in the United States were in the humanities.
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The Public’s Opinion about Philosophy in Universities
“How important is it for a typical university to maintain a department in each of the following fields?”
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Prestige, Career Paths, and Job Satisfaction Among Recent Philosophy PhDs (guest post)
Philosophy PhDs whose family backgrounds are higher in socioeconomic status are more likely to earn their doctorates from more prestigious programs. The graduates of…
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Philosophy Majors’ Job Prospects and the Spread of AI Technology
A study by The Economist looked at how the employment prospects of college graduates have changed over the past few years as AI use by potential…
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Slight Decrease In US Philosophy Majors Continues
The number of students earning an undergraduate degree in philosophy in the United States declined for the third year in a row.
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Who Wins Fellowships in the Arts & Humanities?
“Unfortunately, the types of people for whom such fellowships might represent the greatest departure from their everyday experience—and whose career trajectories might be most…
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QS 2026 “World University Rankings” in Philosophy
The 2026 “QS World University Rankings” have been published. These contain rankings by subject matter, including philosophy.
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How Old Philosophers Are When Their Influence Peaks?
Philosophers of the past 100 years or so have tended to reach “peak influence” between their early 50s and late 60s, according to a…
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The Plummeting Philosophy Major in the US (guest post)
Just a few years ago, the philosophy major seemed on the rise. Now, the data reveal a different picture.
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Human vs. AI in Logic Tasks: a Study
Philosopher-turned-software developer Brian Rabern is conducting a study comparing human and artificial intelligence (AI) performance on logic problems, and he is looking for student…
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Are Human Reasoning Abilities Declining?
In a piece at the Financial Times (and in a Bluesky thread about it), John Burn-Murdoch, the chief data reporter for the newspaper, goes over some of the…
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Author Gender in Elite Philosophy Journals (guest post) (updated)
What percentage of the authors in elite philosophy journals are women?
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A Trove of Data about Philosophy Departments in the US
How many philosophy departments are there in the United States? How many people do they employ? How many students are there in philosophy courses…
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Philosophy Major Retention Data
How many college graduates end up getting their undergraduate degree in the major they declared when they initially started college?
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Why Do Journal Articles Linger in “Online First”?
Some philosophy journals have a lot of articles in “online first” status. They’ve been accepted, copyedited, and typeset, but not yet assigned an issue.…
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The Benefits of Studying Philosophy: Not Just Selection Effects?
Philosophy majors do well according to various measures of critical reasoning and intellectual habits. But is this an effect of studying philosophy, or an…
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Doing Philosophy in English: A Survey for Native and Non-Native Speakers
“Academic English,” the dominant language of contemporary philosophy, is different from everyday English. What are the challenges faced by native and non-native speakers of…
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The 378 Most-Cited Contemporary Authors in the SEP (guest post) (updated)
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP) is one of the most widely respected online reference works. Many philosophers and students have found it to…
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Developments at the Philosophy Journal Insight Project (guest post)
The Philosophy Journal Insight Project, which collects and organizes information about philosophy journals, has grown a bit since we first reported on it last year…
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Demographic Trends in the US Philosophy Major, 2001-2022 (guest post)
How many philosophy majors are there, who are they, and how has this changed over the past twenty years?