The Department of the History of Philosophy is one of eight subfields within the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at the Faculty of Theology. As an academic unit, it has a broad, multi-layered research agenda, examining a wide range of philosophical questions and problems within specific historical contexts from the standpoints of being, knowledge, and value (ontology, epistemology, and axiology). Focusing on the emergence of various philosophical doctrines and their distinctions, the division explores the nature of philosophy and its development over time.

As a coherent and critical activity grounded in logical argumentation, philosophy stands in a constitutive relationship with its own history. This structural bond is one of the main conditions that sustain — indeed, make possible — rational enquiry in the domains of knowledge, being and value. The history of philosophy is not an encyclopaedic inventory in which the ideas of various thinkers or the tenets of different schools are simply listed in succession. Rather, the study and teaching of philosophy provides a defined framework that assesses the arguments and texts of philosophers who address theoretical problems within the remit of philosophy, situating them within their historical, social and political contexts and highlighting their similarities and differences.

Aiming to trace the evolution of philosophical thought over time, the division examines the origins, characteristics, developments, and systems of philosophical thinking, paying attention to changes in different regions, and clarifies how these relate to earlier and contemporary debates. In this regard, the division offers undergraduate courses in the history of philosophy.