Department of Philosophy
We are dedicated to teaching and advancing philosophy across all levels of study, conducting research, coordinating the translation of classical philosophical texts into Estonian, and promoting the relevance of philosophy to a broader audience. We are also proud to publish the international journal Studia Philosophica Estonica.
For students
Department of Semiotics
At the University of Tartu, we offer bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral programmes in Semiotics and Cultural Studies. Our research focuses on cultural semiotics, semiotic theory, sociosemiotics, political semiotics, translation semiotics, ecosemiotics, and biosemiotics. Rooted in the traditions of Juri Lotman and Jakob von Uexküll, the Tartu School of Semiotics is internationally renowned as a leading hub for semiotic studies and research. Our department is also home to the Centre for Semiotic Applications, which aims to promote the research and methods of semiotic applications and their practical use in society.
About the Institute
Our revamped English-language Philosophy Master's programme opens for admissions in January 2025. The updated programme equips students to address today’s global challenges – climate change, ageing populations, technological automation, and more - through well-founded philosophical reasoning and defensible solutions. Starting in 2026, the programme will be renamed Philosophy in Practice.
On 3 February, speakers of the parliaments from five countries will visit the University of Tartu to discuss in the assembly hall from 11:00–12:00 how to achieve peace in Ukraine and Europe.
In September 2024, the Philosophy Department launched a special issue of Studia Philosophica Estonica on the Russia-Ukraine War, edited by Aaron James Wendland. The issue aimed to deepen global moral, cultural, and political understanding of the conflict while also keeping it in public discourse. We are thrilled that this public philosophy project has been featured in over 25 news outlets worldwide.
On 2 December at 14:15, Urte Laukaityte (UC Berkeley) will give a talk titled "Symptom Perception as Inference: The Scope of Functional Neurological Disorder" in Jakobi 2-336. Urte is completing her doctoral dissertation on the philosophy of psychiatry at UC Berkeley and is currently Prof. Dr. Theda Rehbock’s Philosophy Resident at Susimetsa Philosophicum.
Semiotics Department warmly invites you on Wednesday, 27 November, at 16:15 to Professor Gobus Marais's guest lecture, "Co-constructing the Vredefort dome? New materialism, biosemiotics, and epistemic translation". The lecture takes place at Jakobi 2-306. Professor Marais is from the Department of Linguistics and Language Practice at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein, South Africa. This lecture is part of the Jakob von Uexküll lecture series.
On November 20th, Dagmar Divjak (University of Birmingham, Editor-in-Chief of Cognitive Linguistics) will give us a look at the behind-the-scenes of a journal.
In the summer, two large book donations were made to the University of Tartu Library, adding to its existing collection of books on the classical and early modern periods.
On October 16 at 16:15, J. Michael Ryan will give a guest lecture titled "McDonaldization and Semiotics". Ryan is a professor of sociology at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú). He has studied the phenomenon of McDonaldization and co-edits the book "The McDonaldization of Society" with George Ritzer.
