About us
The Department of Philosophy traces its origins to 1959, when the Academic Collegium established the Department of Philosophy. Knut Erik Tranøy, who was appointed professor that same year, became its first head. He built the department from the ground up. Jakob Meløe joined in 1960 together with Arild Haaland, and seminars on Wittgenstein were already being offered during the department's first years.
The department moved several times, from Parkveien to Fosswinckels gate, Christies gate and the Faculty of Humanities building in 1967. Since 2007, it has been located at Sydnesplassen.
The academic environment quickly became highly productive. Between 1965 and 1970, nearly one in every two scholarly publications produced by the Faculty of Humanities came from the Department of Philosophy. Tranøy led the department until 1968, when a new governance model was introduced. Under this model, the head of department was elected by a Department Council, and the position rotated among eligible staff members. The model later influenced governance arrangements across the University of Bergen.
Examen Philosophicum (ex.phil.) has been one of the department's core responsibilities throughout its history. Teaching for the preparatory examinations had already begun around 1948, and in 1967 Tranøy introduced the so-called Bergen Model, which organised students into faculty-based groups. Student numbers grew rapidly from the late 1980s. The number of ex.phil. candidates increased from 1,668 in autumn 1988 to 2,894 in 1992. This growth created demand for additional academic and administrative staff.
When the failure rate approached 40 per cent in 1999, a new seminar-based model was introduced in 2000. The model centred on mandatory seminars of 25 students, with a stronger emphasis on writing, supervision and coursework assignments.
Responsibility for academic writing was also added to the department's portfolio. From a small community of staff and students in 1959, the department had grown to more than 50 academic staff members by 2026.