Degree Requirements

Degree Requirements

The Philosophy MA/PhD is a combined degree. The MA is non-terminal and, therefore, only students intending to earn the PhD are admitted.

The MA degree requires a minimum of 48 quarter hours of graduate PHL courses.

A minimum of 112 quarter hours of graduate level course work (28 courses) is required for the PhD. This includes 104 quarter hours of course work (26 courses), 4 quarter hours of PHL 697 (Graduate Teaching Practicum), and 4 quarter hours of PHL 699 (Dissertation Research).

Of the 112 quarter hours (28 courses) required for the PhD, 32 quarter hours (8 courses) must be taken in accordance with the following distribution requirements:

• Four History of Western Philosophy Courses
  • Two in Ancient or Medieval: 8 quarter hours
  • Two in Modern or Nineteenth Century: 8 quarter hours
• Two Contemporary European Philosophy Courses: 8 quarter hours
• Two Normative Philosophy Courses: 8 quarter hours

Course Distribution List

History of Western Philosophy - Ancient or Medieval

History of Western Philosophy - Modern or Nineteenth Century

Contemporary European Philosophy

Normative Philosophy

Additional Requirements

Annual Reviews

The Graduate Affairs Committee conducts annual formal reviews of each student’s progress toward the doctoral degree. The purpose of the review session is to discuss the student’s experience in the program thus far, address any questions or concerns that they might have, and assess how well they are meeting the expectations relevant to their year in the program. 

As part of the review process, students are required to submit a self-evaluation of their progress in the program, teaching evaluations (when serving as a Teaching Fellow) and, until all their course work is completed (typically, through their fourth year in the program), students are also required to submit two file papers for review. These papers are read by a second member of the faculty who assesses whether the papers meet relevant standards of graduate level work and thus indicate appropriate progress in the program for each student.

Students deemed not to be making satisfactory progress may be placed on probation or, where the circumstances in the judgment of the Graduate Affairs Committee warrant, the student may be required to leave the doctoral program.

Foreign Languages Requirement

The Philosophy Department places a very high priority on working with texts in original languages, rather than translations. For doctoral students, competence in two languages of research is thus required. Typically, these are Greek, Latin, French, or German. Competence in other languages may be used to fulfill the language requirements if it is deemed appropriate to the research undertaken by the student. In the latter case, prior to beginning preparation to pass a language requirement (by either of the two paths outlined below), the student must submit a short paragraph to the Director of Graduate Studies, to be reviewed by the Graduate Affairs Committee, outlining why the language in question will be important to the student’s future research.

Each student must complete the requirement for one language before scheduling a Dissertation Proposal Defense, and they must complete the requirement for a second language before scheduling a Dissertation Defense.

There are two ways in which students can complete the Foreign Languages requirement:

1. Student may pass a departmentally administered Language Competency Exam, which are offered just before the start of every quarter. This usually involves asking the student to translate a selection from a philosophical text in the original language.
2. Students may, alternatively, complete a certain number of classes in the Modern Languages Department, maintaining a B+ average each quarter. For ancient languages, students must take through the first year. For modern languages, students must take through year two.

Dissertation

Students must form a dissertation committee and submit and defend a dissertation proposal before that committee. Each student must then submit a dissertation and successfully defend it before their dissertation committee. 

The dissertation is a thesis, approximately 200-275 pages (60,000-85,500 words) in length, including scholarly apparatus. The precise topic, structure, and length of the dissertation is to be determined in consultation with the dissertation Director and the other members of the dissertation committee. 

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