CTL’s comparative and cross-disciplinary approach develops habits of inquiry, attention, and imagination as it explores questions emerging from diverse ecologies of expression: interconnections among literatures, philosophies, and cultures across linguistic and national boundaries; interconnections across various disciplinary modes of thought; perennial and emerging ethical, moral, and aesthetic questions at the heart of the human (and nonhuman) condition.

Departmental strengths include moral, aesthetic, and media philosophy; the relations between literature, philosophy, and law; and the environmental humanities. A robust program of visiting scholars, philosophers, writers and artists from around the world complements the department’s offerings, as do our extensive interactions with colleagues and departments throughout the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences.