The Institute of Philosophy (Dutch; Flemish: Hoger Instituut voor Wijsbegeerte) is the faculty of philosophy at the KU Leuven in the Belgian city of Leuven. It was founded in 1968 when the Institut supérieur de Philosophie - Hoger Instituut voor Wijsbegeerte of the Catholic University of Leuven (1835–1968) was split into a Dutch-speaking entity and a French-speaking entity. Its main buildings are located in the center of Leuven at the Kardinaal Mercier Square, named for the founder of the original institute.
The Institut supérieur de Philosophie was founded by Cardinal Mercier on 8 November 1889 with the intent to be a beacon of Neo-Thomist philosophy, although Philosophy and Theology have been taught at the universities of Leuven since 1425. The institute initially taught programs in French and started courses in Dutch in 1933. After the language split of 1968, the Hoger Instituut voor Wijsbegeerte became part of the newly independent Katholieke Universiteit te Leuven, offering programmes in Dutch with little and at times no content taught in French, while the French-speaking Institut supérieur de Philosophie of the Université catholique de Louvain continued in the new city of Louvain-la-Neuve. In 1993, the institute became the faculty of philosophy.[1]
The institute offers both taught and research degrees (B.A., M.A., MPhil and PhD) as well as pre-doc and post-doc programs, both in Dutch and English. Students can take classes in both languages if desired.[2]
The Institute, together with its French-speaking counterpart in Louvain-la-Neuve,[3] are well known as the home of the Husserl Archives, the research center responsible for the publication of the philosophical work of Edmund Husserl.[4] After the death of the founder of the phenomenological movement, fearing for the destruction of his Nachlass at the hands of the Nazis, Father Herman Van Breda (Franciscan), PhD student at the institute, saved Husserl's manuscripts, library and widow and smuggled them to Leuven via diplomatic channels.
The Institute publishes a Dutch-language philosophy journal, called the Dutch; Flemish: Tijdschrift voor Filosofie, an interdisciplinary journal in both Dutch; Flemish: Ethische Perspectieven and English: Ethical Perspectives and the Bibliographical Directory of Philosophy (published jointly with the UCLouvain's French: [[Higher Institute of Philosophy|Institut supérieur de Philosophie]]). It also organizes several major publication efforts, including the Husserliana (Husserl-Archives), the Aristoteles Latinus (De Wulf-Mansion centre), the Latin editions of Aristotle's works known to the medieval philosophers.
Internationally renowned professors who have lectured at the institute: