The Philosophy Department at UC Riverside is a nationally ranked program with a genuinely pluralistic emphasis. They have strengths in specific areas of analytic philosophy, 19th and 20th century European philosophy, and the history of philosophy (especially the eighteenth and nineteenth century).

The Philosophy major is designed to introduce students to the important issues and arguments surrounding such subjects as morality, knowledge, the nature of the mind and of the physical world, science, and language. The program provides a rigorous background in the history of Western philosophy, and studies contemporary approaches (both analytic and Continental) to philosophical issues. 

The B.A. degree in Philosophy prepares students for graduate study in philosophy, and is also excellent preparation for law school. For students interested in a double major, philosophy also serves as an excellent complement to psychology, mathematics, political science, and the natural sciences.