The Department was founded in 1932 by Prof. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Former President of India,  with Prof. Saileswara sen as the first Head of the Department and Prof. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan himself as a honorary professor. The department also had other eminent scholars in philosophy including Prof. Humayun Kabir, Prof. P.T. Raju, Dr. D. Ramakrishnaiah and Prof. T. A. purushottam, all of whom made significant contributions in the field of philosophy. Prof. S. Radhakrishnan’s vision to place Andhra University’s Philosophy department at international level was achieved through the leadership of Mahamahopadyaya Prof. K. Satchidananda Murty who was honoured with a PadmaVibhusan in 2001 by Govt. of India. Prof. K. Satchidananda Murty creatively lead the philosophical discourse for decades, incorporating both Eastern and Western philosophical traditions.

The department is well known for studies in Vedanta as well as for comparative studies in Indian and Western idealism; Research interests of the department include-classical (eg. Vedanta, Buddhism) and modern Indian philosophy (eg. Gandhi, M.N. Roy, Neo-Vedanta) as well as Western philosophy (eg. Pragmatism, Existentialism, Dewey, Ortaga Y Gasset, Positivism, Marxism, etc.).

The department is in SAP phase II at present.

The department is tied up with the Asia Theological Association represented by Asian Institute of Theology, Bangalore and in this partnership there is provision for exchange of teachers, scholars and students for conducting collaborative research and academic programmes.