The Department of Philosophy was formally instituted as a department in 1978 after delinking from the Department of Philosophy, Psychology and Sociology. Since its inception, the department has grown in number of academic members of staff (from 3 to 10), number of courses it offers and number of students it provides services to. Its vision is to become a leading school of Philosophy in Malawi and the SADC region. It is committed to professionalism, commitment, collegiality, excellence, integrity and open-mindedness.

In the School of Humanities and Social Sciences the department has been reconstituted under the theme “Philosophy, both theoretical and applied”. The department’s mission is to promote excellence in teaching and researching in philosophy, critical thinking and ethics for a liberated and progressive Malawi.

The department has three postgraduate programmes; 2 Master’s Degree programmes (Master of Arts in Philosophy and Master of Arts in Applied Ethics) and 1 doctorate programme (Doctor of Philosophy in Philosophy).