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A panexperientialist ontology , the beast with two backs: romantic bodily overlap in peripersonal space , inter-species halys: ethical considerations of well-being measurement across multiple species , [c-theory] , extesionalism and veridicalism , civilian noncombatant’s duty to aid a dying enemy combatant , beyond the completeness of physics: a preliminary groundwork for a dispositional emergentism , is the experience of agency necessarily retrospective a predictive approach , critique of just war theory: revision of traditional dichotomy & its implications for justified violence , understanding nietzsche’s perspectivism and reconciling it with perspectival realism , ecumenical cognitivism, ecumenical expressivism and moral disagreement , mechanistic philosophy and the use of deep neural networks in neuroscience , common notion and essence of things: the intense relationship between knowledge of the last two kinds , generics revisited: a simple theory of types , violence and civil disobedience , poetry and nature in kant’s aesthetics: on why poetry is the highest of all the arts , is euthanasia of the infant born at 22⁺⁰-23⁺⁶ weeks’ gestation (without congenital anomalies) morally permissible within the united kingdom , against epistemic blame scepticism , paradox of temporal consciousness , aesthetic disinterestedness .

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Philosophy Dissertations and Theses

The Department of Philosophy Dissertations and Theses Series is comprised of dissertations and theses authored by Marquette University's Department of Philosophy doctoral and master's students.

Theses/Dissertations from 2023 2023

Place, Attachment, and Feeling: Indigenous Dispossession and Settler Belonging , Sarah Kizuk

Nepantla and Mestizaje: A Phenomenological Analysis of the Mestizx Historical Consciousness , Jorge Alfredo Montiel

The Categories Argument for the Real Distinction Between Being and Essence: Avicenna, Aquinas, and Their Greek Sources , Nathaniel Taylor

Theses/Dissertations from 2022 2022

Modeling, Describing, and Explaining Subjective Consciousness- A Guide to (and for) the Perplexed , Peter Burgess

Looking Through Whiteness: Objectivity, Racism, Method, and Responsibility , Philip Mack

Emmanuel Levinas and Jacques Maritain on the Student-Teacher Relationship in Catholic Higher Education , Timothy Rothhaar

Theses/Dissertations from 2021 2021

The Empathetic Autistic: A Phenomenological Look at the Feminine Experience , Dana Fritz

Concerning Aristotelian Animal Essences , Damon Andrew Watson

When to Trust Authoritative Testimony: Generation and Transmission of Knowledge in Saadya Gaon, Al-Ghazālī and Thomas Aquinas , Brett A. Yardley

Theses/Dissertations from 2020 2020

The Status of Irrationality: Karl Jaspers' Response to Davidson and Searle , Daniel Adsett

Cosmic City - Cosmic Teleology: A Reading of Metaphysics Λ 10 and Politics I 2 , Brandon Henrigillis

Phenomenal Consciousness: An Husserlian Approach , John Jered Janes

Al-Fārābī Metaphysics, and the Construction of Social Knowledge: Is Deception Warranted if it Leads to Happiness? , Nicholas Andrew Oschman

The Epistemology of Disagreement: Hume, Kant, and the Current Debate , Robert Kyle Whitaker

Theses/Dissertations from 2019 2019

'Our Feet are Mired In the Same Soil': Deepening Democracy with the Political Virtue of Sympathetic Inquiry , Jennifer Lynn Kiefer Fenton

Towards a Philosophy of the Musical Experience: Phenomenology, Culture, and Ethnomusicology in Conversation , J. Tyler Friedman

Humor, Power and Culture: A New Theory on the Experience and Ethics of Humor , Jennifer Marra

Care of the Sexual Self: Askesis As a Route to Sex Education , Shaun Douglas Miller

Re-Evaluating Augustinian Fatalism through the Eastern and Western Distinction between God's Essence and Energies , Stephen John Plecnik

The Fantastic Structure of Freedom: Sartre, Freud, and Lacan , Gregory A. Trotter

The Province of Conceptual Reason: Hegel's Post-Kantian Rationalism , William Clark Wolf

Theses/Dissertations from 2018 2018

Hume on Thick and Thin Causation , Alexander Bozzo

Evolution, Naturalism, and Theism: An Inconsistent Triad? , David H. Gordon

The Parable As Mirror: An Examination of the Use of Parables in the Works of Kierkegaard , Russell Hamer

Theses/Dissertations from 2017 2017

Contextualizing Aquinas's Ontology of Soul: An Analysis of His Arabic and Neoplatonic Sources , Nathan McLain Blackerby

The Social and Historical Subject in Sartre and Foucault and Its Implications for Healthcare Ethics , Kimberly Siobhan Engels

Investigations of Worth: Towards a Phenomenology of Values , Dale Hobbs Jr.

Developing Capabilities: A Feminist Discourse Ethics Approach , Chad Kleist

Hegel and the Problem of the Multiplicity of Conflicting Philosophies , Matthew M. Peters

Aquinas, Averroes, and the Human Will , Traci Ann Phillipson

Theses/Dissertations from 2016 2016

Nature, Feminism, and Flourishing: Human Nature and the Feminist Ethics of Flourishing , Celeste D. Harvey

Kierkegaard in Light of the East: A Critical Comparison of the Philosophy of Søren Kierkegaard with Orthodox Christian Philosophy and Thought , Agust Magnusson

The Secular Transformation of Pride and Humility in the Moral Philosophy of David Hume , Kirstin April Carlson McPherson

Living within the Sacred Tension: Paradox and Its Significance for Christian Existence in the Thought of Søren Kierkegaard , Matthew Thomas Nowachek

Moral Imagination and Adorno: Before and After Auschwitz , Catlyn Origitano

Essence and Necessity, and the Aristotelian Modal Syllogistic: A Historical and Analytical Study , Daniel James Vecchio

Theses/Dissertations from 2015 2015

Subversive Humor , Chris A. Kramer

Virtue, Oppression, and Resistance Struggles , Trevor William Smith

Health As Embodied Authenticity , Margaret Steele

Recognition and Political Ontology: Fichte, Hegel, and Honneth , Velimir Stojkovski

The Conceptual Priority of the Perfect , Matthew Peter Zdon

Theses/Dissertations from 2014 2014

Dangerous Knowledge? Morality And Moral Progress After Naturalism , Daniel Diederich Farmer

Nietzsche's Revaluation of All Values , Joseph Anthony Kranak

Theses/Dissertations from 2013 2013

Re-Enchanting The World: An Examination Of Ethics, Religion, And Their Relationship In The Work Of Charles Taylor , David McPherson

Thomas Aquinas on the Apprehension of Being: The Role of Judgement in Light of Thirteenth-Century Semantics , Rosa Vargas Della Casa

Theses/Dissertations from 2012 2012

Naturalized Panpsychism: An Alternative to Fundamentalist Physicalism and Supernaturalism , Earl R. Cookson

The Concept of Personhood in the Phenomenology of Edmund Husserl , Colin J. Hahn

The Humanistic, Fideistic Philosophy of Philip Melanchthon (1497-1560) , Charles William Peterson

Theses/Dissertations from 2011 2011

Knowledge and Thought in Heidegger and Foucault: Towards an Epistemology of Ruptures , Arun Anantheeswaran Iyer

William James's Undivided Self and the Possibility of Immortality , Anthony Karlin

The Poetics of Remembrance: Communal Memory and Identity in Heidegger and Ricoeur , David Leichter

The Ontological Foundations for Natural Law Theory and Contemporary Ethical Naturalism , Bernard Mauser

Sexualized Violence, Moral Disintegration and Ethical Advocacy , Melissa Mosko

Spinoza on Individuals and Individuation: Metaphysics, Morals, and Politics , Matthew David Wion

Theses/Dissertations from 2010 2010

The Paradox of Nature: Merleau-Ponty's Semi-Naturalistic Critique of Husserlian Phenomenology , Shazad Akhtar

Hume's Conception of Time and its Implications for his Theories of Causation and Induction , Daniel Esposito

Arabic Influences in Aquinas's Doctrine of Intelligible Species , Max Herrera

The Attestation of the Self as a Bridge Between Hermeneutics and Ontology in the Philosophy of Paul Ricoeur , Sebastian Kaufmann

Love's Lack: The Relationship between Poverty and Eros in Plato's Symposium , Lorelle D. Lamascus

Friendship and Fidelity: An Historical and Critical Examination , Joshua Walter Schulz

Natural Law Theory and the "Is"--"Ought" Problem: A Critique of Four Solutions , Shalina Stilley

Attending to Presence: A Study of John Duns Scotus' Account of Sense Cognition , Amy F. Whitworth

Theses/Dissertations from 2009 2009

Friendship and Self-Identity in the Thought of Paul Ricoeur , Cristina Bucur

The Finality of Religion in Aquinas' Theory of Human Acts , Francisco José Romero Carrasquillo

The finality of religion in Aquinas' theory of human acts , Francisco J Romero

Theses/Dissertations from 2008 2008

Self-Identity in Comparative Theology: The Functional lmportance of Charles Taylor's Concept of the Self for a Theology of Religions , Richard Joseph Hanson

Theses/Dissertations from 2007 2007

Husserl's Noema: A Critical Assessment of the Gestalt and Analytic Interpretations , Peter M. Chukwu

A Social Contract Analysis of Rawls and Rousseau: Supplanting the Original Position As Philosophically Most Favored , Paul Neiman

To Validate a Feeling: the Role of the Mood of Angst in Human Being , Gregory P. Schulz

The Conception and Attributes of God: A Comparison of Charles Sanders Peirce and Alfred North Whitehead , Scott W. Sinclair

John Rawls, Public Reason, and Natural Law: A Study of the Principles of Public Justification , Christopher Ward

Submissions from 2006 2006

Hans Jonas's ethic of responsibility applied to anti-aging technologies and the indefinite extension of the human life span , Jeffrey P Goins

David Hume and the Principle of Sufficient Reason , Ginger Lee

Virtue Theory in Plato's Republic , Griffin T. Nelson

The Principle of Alternate Possibilities: Finding Freedom after Frankfurt , Matthew F. Pierlott

Theses/Dissertations from 2005 2005

Is There a Future for Marxist Humanism? , Jacob M. Held

Self-Love and Morality: Beyond Egoism and Altruism , Li Jing

Eikos Logos and Eikos Muthos: A Study of the Nature of the Likely Story in Plato's Timaeus , Ryan Kenneth McBride

Hume's Conclusions on the Existence and Nature of God , Timothy S. Yoder

Submissions from 2004 2004

The foundations of the politics of difference , Peter Nathaniel Bwanali

The Foundations of the Politics of Difference , Peter Nathaniel Bwanali

The Place of Justice in the Thinking of Emmanuel Levinas , Michael H. Gillick

New Waves in Metaethics: Naturalist Realism, Naturalist Antirealism and Divine Commands , Daniel R. Kern

Reason in Hume's Moral System , John Muenzberg

Conceiving Mind: A Critique of Descartes' Dualism and Contemporary Immaterialist Views of Consciousness , Kristin P. Schaupp

Respecting Plurality in Times of Change: Hannah Arendt's Conceptions of Political, Personal, and Ethical Responsibility , Stephen Schulman

Francis Suárez on the Ontological Status of Individual Unity vis-à-vis the Aristotelian Doctrine of Primary Substance , John W. Simmons

Through a Glass Darkly: Bernard Lonergan and Richard Rorty on the Possibility of Knowing Without a God's-Eye-View , Russell Snell

Theses/Dissertations from 2003 2003

Building a Heideggerian Ethic , Kelly A. Burns

St. Thomas Aquinas and the Self-Evident Proposition: A Study of the Manifold Senses of a Medieval Concept , Michael V. Dougherty

Ricoeur's Narrative Development of Gadamer's Hermeneutics: Continuity and Discontinuity , Keith D'Souza

Beauty's Resting Place: Unity in St. Augustine's Sensible Aesthetic , Matthew J. Hayes

Empathy and Knowledge: Husserl's Introductions to Phenomenology , Kevin Hermberg

The Transactional Model: A Critical Examination of John Dewey's Philosophy of Freedom , Mark N. Lenker III

Reflection on the "good" As a Source of Freedom in Virtue Theory , John D. Morse

Theses/Dissertations from 2002 2002

An Evaluation of Alvin Plantinga's Religious Epistemology Does It Function Properly? , James Beilby

Merleau-Ponty: Embodied Subjectivity and the Foundation of Ethics , Sarah A. Fischer

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Digital Commons @ USF > College of Arts and Sciences > Philosophy > Theses and Dissertations

Philosophy Theses and Dissertations

Theses/dissertations from 2023 2023.

Karl Marx on Human Flourishing and Proletarian Ethics , Sam Badger

The Ontological Grounds of Reason: Psychologism, Logicism, and Hermeneutic Phenomenology , Stanford L. Howdyshell

Theses/Dissertations from 2022 2022

Interdisciplinary Communication by Plausible Analogies: the Case of Buddhism and Artificial Intelligence , Michael Cooper

Heidegger and the Origin of Authenticity , John J. Preston

Theses/Dissertations from 2021 2021

Hegel and Schelling: The Emptiness of Emptiness and the Love of the Divine , Sean B. Gleason

Nietzsche on Criminality , Laura N. McAllister

Learning to be Human: Ren 仁, Modernity, and the Philosophers of China's Hundred Days' Reform , Lucien Mathot Monson

Nietzsche and Eternal Recurrence: Methods, Archives, History, and Genesis , William A. B. Parkhurst

Theses/Dissertations from 2020 2020

Orders of Normativity: Nietzsche, Science and Agency , Shane C. Callahan

Humanistic Climate Philosophy: Erich Fromm Revisited , Nicholas Dovellos

This, or Something like It: Socrates and the Problem of Authority , Simon Dutton

Climate Change and Liberation in Latin America , Ernesto O. Hernández

Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa as Expressions of Shame in a Post-Feminist , Emily Kearns

Nostalgia and (In)authentic Community: A Bataillean Answer to the Heidegger Controversy , Patrick Miller

Cultivating Virtue: A Thomistic Perspective on the Relationship Between Moral Motivation and Skill , Ashley Potts

Identity, Breakdown, and the Production of Knowledge: Intersectionality, Phenomenology, and the Project of Post-Marxist Standpoint Theory , Zachary James Purdue

Theses/Dissertations from 2019 2019

The Efficacy of Comedy , Mark Anthony Castricone

William of Ockham's Divine Command Theory , Matthew Dee

Heidegger's Will to Power and the Problem of Nietzsche's Nihilism , Megan Flocken

Abelard's Affective Intentionalism , Lillian M. King

Anton Wilhelm Amo's Philosophy and Reception: from the Origins through the Encyclopédie , Dwight Kenneth Lewis Jr.

"The Thought that we Hate": Regulating Race-Related Speech on College Campuses , Michael McGowan

A Historical Approach to Understanding Explanatory Proofs Based on Mathematical Practices , Erika Oshiro

From Meaningful Work to Good Work: Reexamining the Moral Foundation of the Calling Orientation , Garrett W. Potts

Reasoning of the Highest Leibniz and the Moral Quality of Reason , Ryan Quandt

Fear, Death, and Being-a-problem: Understanding and Critiquing Racial Discourse with Heidegger’s Being and Time , Jesús H. Ramírez

The Role of Skepticism in Early Modern Philosophy: A Critique of Popkin's "Sceptical Crisis" and a Study of Descartes and Hume , Raman Sachdev

How the Heart Became Muscle: From René Descartes to Nicholas Steno , Alex Benjamin Shillito

Autonomy, Suffering, and the Practice of Medicine: A Relational Approach , Michael A. Stanfield

The Case for the Green Kant: A Defense and Application of a Kantian Approach to Environmental Ethics , Zachary T. Vereb

Theses/Dissertations from 2018 2018

Augustine's Confessiones : The Battle between Two Conversions , Robert Hunter Craig

The Strategic Naturalism of Sandra Harding's Feminist Standpoint Epistemology: A Path Toward Epistemic Progress , Dahlia Guzman

Hume on the Doctrine of Infinite Divisibility: A Matter of Clarity and Absurdity , Wilson H. Underkuffler

Climate Change: Aristotelian Virtue Theory, the Aidōs Response and Proper Primility , John W. Voelpel

The Fate of Kantian Freedom: the Kant-Reinhold Controversy , John Walsh

Time, Tense, and Ontology: Prolegomena to the Metaphysics of Tense, the Phenomenology of Temporality, and the Ontology of Time , Justin Brandt Wisniewski

Theses/Dissertations from 2017 2017

A Phenomenological Approach to Clinical Empathy: Rethinking Empathy Within its Intersubjective and Affective Contexts , Carter Hardy

From Object to Other: Models of Sociality after Idealism in Gadamer, Levinas, Rosenzweig, and Bonhoeffer , Christopher J. King

Humanitarian Military Intervention: A Failed Paradigm , Faruk Rahmanovic

Active Suffering: An Examination of Spinoza's Approach to Tristita , Kathleen Ketring Schenk

Cartesian Method and Experiment , Aaron Spink

An Examination of John Burton’s Method of Conflict Resolution and Its Applicability to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict , John Kenneth Steinmeyer

Speaking of the Self: Theorizing the Dialogical Dimensions of Ethical Agency , Bradley S. Warfield

Changing Changelessness: On the Genesis and Development of the Doctrine of Divine Immutability in the Ancient and Hellenic Period , Milton Wilcox

Theses/Dissertations from 2016 2016

The Statue that Houses the Temple: A Phenomenological Investigation of Western Embodiment Towards the Making of Heidegger's Missing Connection with the Greeks , Michael Arvanitopoulos

An Exploratory Analysis of Media Reporting of Police Involved Shootings in Florida , John L. Brown

Divine Temporality: Bonhoeffer's Theological Appropriation of Heidegger's Existential Analytic of Dasein , Nicholas Byle

Stoicism in Descartes, Pascal, and Spinoza: Examining Neostoicism’s Influence in the Seventeenth Century , Daniel Collette

Phenomenology and the Crisis of Contemporary Psychiatry: Contingency, Naturalism, and Classification , Anthony Vincent Fernandez

A Critique of Charitable Consciousness , Chioke Ianson

writing/trauma , Natasha Noel Liebig

Leibniz's More Fundamental Ontology: from Overshadowed Individuals to Metaphysical Atoms , Marin Lucio Mare

Violence and Disagreement: From the Commonsense View to Political Kinds of Violence and Violent Nonviolence , Gregory Richard Mccreery

Kant's Just War Theory , Steven Charles Starke

A Feminist Contestation of Ableist Assumptions: Implications for Biomedical Ethics, Disability Theory, and Phenomenology , Christine Marie Wieseler

Theses/Dissertations from 2015 2015

Heidegger and the Problem of Modern Moral Philosophy , Megan Emily Altman

The Encultured Mind: From Cognitive Science to Social Epistemology , David Alexander Eck

Weakness of Will: An Inquiry on Value , Michael Funke

Cogs in a Cosmic Machine: A Defense of Free Will Skepticism and its Ethical Implications , Sacha Greer

Thinking Nature, "Pierre Maupertuis and the Charge of Error Against Fermat and Leibniz" , Richard Samuel Lamborn

John Duns Scotus’s Metaphysics of Goodness: Adventures in 13th-Century Metaethics , Jeffrey W. Steele

A Gadamerian Analysis of Roman Catholic Hermeneutics: A Diachronic Analysis of Interpretations of Romans 1:17-2:17 , Steven Floyd Surrency

A Natural Case for Realism: Processes, Structures, and Laws , Andrew Michael Winters

Theses/Dissertations from 2014 2014

Leibniz's Theodicies , Joseph Michael Anderson

Aeschynē in Aristotle's Conception of Human Nature , Melissa Marie Coakley

Ressentiment, Violence, and Colonialism , Jose A. Haro

It's About Time: Dynamics of Inflationary Cosmology as the Source of the Asymmetry of Time , Emre Keskin

Time Wounds All Heels: Human Nature and the Rationality of Just Behavior , Timothy Glenn Slattery

Theses/Dissertations from 2013 2013

Nietzsche and Heidegger on the Cartesian Atomism of Thought , Steven Burgess

Embodying Social Practice: Dynamically Co-Constituting Social Agency , Brian W. Dunst

Subject of Conscience: On the Relation between Freedom and Discrimination in the Thought of Heidegger, Foucault, and Butler , Aret Karademir

Climate, Neo-Spinozism, and the Ecological Worldview , Nancy M. Kettle

Eschatology in a Secular Age: An Examination of the Use of Eschatology in the Philosophies of Heidegger, Berdyaev and Blumenberg , John R. Lup, Jr.

Navigation and Immersion of the American Identity in a Foreign Culture to Emergence as a Culturally Relative Ambassador , Lee H. Rosen

Theses/Dissertations from 2012 2012

A Philosophical Analysis of Intellectual Property: In Defense of Instrumentalism , Michael A. Kanning

A Commentary On Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz's Discourse on Metaphysics #19 , Richard Lamborn Samuel Lamborn

Sellars in Context: An Analysis of Wilfrid Sellars's Early Works , Peter Jackson Olen

The New Materialism: Althusser, Badiou, and Zizek , Geoffrey Dennis Pfeifer

Structure and Agency: An Analysis of the Impact of Structure on Group Agents , Elizabeth Kaye Victor

Moral Friction, Moral Phenomenology, and the Improviser , Benjamin Scott Young

Theses/Dissertations from 2011 2011

The Virtuoso Human: A Virtue Ethics Model Based on Care , Frederick Joseph Bennett

The Existential Compromise in the History of the Philosophy of Death , Adam Buben

Philosophical Precursors to the Radical Enlightenment: Vignettes on the Struggle Between Philosophy and Theology From the Greeks to Leibniz With Special Emphasis on Spinoza , Anthony John Desantis

The Problem of Evil in Augustine's Confessions , Edward Matusek

The Persistence of Casuistry: a Neo-premodernist Approach to Moral Reasoning , Richard Arthur Mercadante

Theses/Dissertations from 2010 2010

Dewey's Pragmatism and the Great Community , Philip Schuyler Bishop

Unamuno's Concept of the Tragic , Ernesto O. Hernandez

Rethinking Ethical Naturalism: The Implications of Developmental Systems Theory , Jared J.. Kinggard

From Husserl and the Neo-Kantians to Art: Heidegger's Realist Historicist Answer to the Problem of the Origin of Meaning , William H. Koch

Queering Cognition: Extended Minds and Sociotechnologically Hybridized Gender , Michele Merritt

Hydric Life: A Nietzschean Reading of Postcolonial Communication , Elena F. Ruiz-Aho

Descartes' Bête Machine, the Leibnizian Correction and Religious Influence , John Voelpel

Aretē and Physics: The Lesson of Plato's Timaeus , John R. Wolfe

Theses/Dissertations from 2009 2009

Praxis and Theōria : Heidegger’s “Violent” Interpretation , Megan E. Altman

On the Concept of Evil: An Analysis of Genocide and State Sovereignty , Jason J. Campbell

The Role of Trust in Judgment , Christophe Sage Hudspeth

Truth And Judgment , Jeremy J. Kelly

The concept of action and responsibility in Heidegger's early thought , Christian Hans Pedersen

Roots and Role of the Imagination in Kant: Imagination at the Core , Michael Thompson

Theses/Dissertations from 2008 2008

Peirce on the Passions: The Role of Instinct, Emotion, and Sentiment in Inquiry and Action , Robert J. Beeson

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Scholars' Bank

Philosophy theses and dissertations.

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This collection contains some of the theses and dissertations produced by students in the University of Oregon Philosophy Graduate Program. Paper copies of these and other dissertations and theses are available through the UO Libraries .

Recent Submissions

• The Problem of Freedom and Universality: Marxian Philosophical Anthropology  Ralda, Oscar ( University of Oregon , 2024-03-25 ) This dissertation has two principal aims. First, it provides a critical reconsideration of Marx’s philosophical anthropology as it bears on the essential continuity of his emancipatory critique of political economy. Second, ...
• Living Legality: Law and Dussel's Philosophy of Liberation  Ospina Martinez, Juan Sebastián ( University of Oregon , 2024-01-10 ) In this dissertation I examine the theoretical underpinnings necessary for a philosophy of liberationaccount of law and suggest an alternative conceptualization of the function of law and political institutions, following ...
• Making Sense of the Practical Lesbian Past: Towards a Rethinking of Untimely Uses of History through the Temporality of Cultural Techniques  Simon, Valérie ( University of Oregon , 2024-01-10 ) This dissertation focuses on the practice of untimely uses of lesbian history, and in particular the diverse practices of engagement with lesbian activist history, all of which aim to mobilize this activist history for the ...
• An Argument for a Cartographic Approach to Technology  McLevey, Mare ( University of Oregon , 2024-01-09 ) This dissertation develops a way to study technology and politics that is an alternative to dominant approaches particular to contemporary philosophy of technology’s empirical and ethical turns. Dominant models fix ...
• Nietzsche, Reification, and Open Comportment  Currie, Luke ( University of Oregon , 2024-01-09 ) This work primarily discusses the “fallacy of reification” from the perspective of Nietzsche’s late philosophy (particularly in the chapter on ‘Reason’ in philosophy in his Twilight of the Idols). While reification is ...
• Time, Capitalism, and Political Ecology: Toward and Ecosocialist Metabolic Temporality  Gamble, Cameron ( University of Oregon , 2022-10-26 ) The ecological crises that have already marked the 21st century, and which will continue to do so on an increasingly intense and destructive scale, present theory in every discipline and field of study with a number of ...
• Demystifying Racial Monopoly  Haller, Reese ( University of Oregon , 2022-10-04 ) Through analysis of private, public, and state reactions to the Great Depression and northward black migration, this thesis demystifies four key functions of race constitutive of capitalist racial monopoly: historical ...
• Pragmatism, Genealogy, and Moral Status  Showler, Paul ( University of Oregon , 2022-10-04 ) This dissertation draws from recent work in pragmatism and philosophical genealogy to develop and defend a new approach for thinking about the concept of moral status. My project has two main aims. First, I argue that Huw ...
• Ethics for the Depressed: A Value Ethics of Engagement  Fitzpatrick, Devin ( University of Oregon , 2022-10-04 ) I argue that depressed persons suffer from “existential guilt,” which amounts to a two-part compulsion: 1) the compulsive assertion or sense of a vague and all-encompassing or absolute threat that disrupts action and ...
• Soul and Polis: On Arete in Plato's Meno  Smith III, Ansel ( University of Oregon , 2022-10-04 ) In “Soul and Polis: On Arete in Plato’s Meno,” I interpret Meno as a dialogue in which the pursuit of individual arete appears intertwined with political arete. While the differentiation of these two arete is itself ...
• Place-in-Being: A Decolonial Phenomenology of Place in Conversation with Philosophies of the Americas  Newton, Margaret ( University of Oregon , 2022-05-10 ) Our experiences of place and emplacement are so fundamental to our everyday existence that most of us rarely dedicate much time to thinking about how place and emplacement impact the various aspects of our daily lives. In ...
• Species Trouble: From Settled Species Discourse to Ethical Species Pluralism  Sinclair, Rebekah ( University of Oregon , 2021-11-23 ) In this dissertation, I develop and defend the importance of species pluralism (the recognition and use of multiple species definitions) for both environmental and humanist ethics. I begin from the concern that, since the ...
• The Hybris of Plants: Reinterpreting Philosophy through Vegetal Life  Kerr, Joshua ( University of Oregon , 2021-11-23 ) This dissertation reexamines the place of plants in the history of Western philosophy, drawing on the diverse philosophical approaches of Plato, Aristotle, Goethe, Hegel, and Nietzsche, among others. I suggest that a close ...
• Decolonizing Silences: Toward a Critical Phenomenology of Deep Silences with Gloria E. Anzaldúa and Maurice Merleau-Ponty  Ferrari, Martina ( University of Oregon , 2021-11-23 ) Motivating this dissertation is a concern for how Western philosophical, cultural, and political practices tend to privilege speech and voice as emancipatory tools and reduce silence to silencing. To locate power in silence ...
• Mere Appearance: Redressing the History of Philosophy  Zimmer, Amie ( University of Oregon , 2021-09-13 ) The principal aim of this dissertation is to seriously consider what accounts of fashion and dress can offer—have indeed already offered—to philosophy. In recounting these histories, I have two primary goals. The first is ...
• Universal History as Global Critique: From German Critical Theory to the Anti-Colonial Tradition  Portella , Elizabeth ( University of Oregon , 2021-09-13 ) This dissertation argues for a critical reconstruction of the concept of universal history. In doing so, it draws on theoretical resources offered by a materialist philosophy of history, as it is expressed in both German ...
• Synoptic Fusion and Dialectical Dissociation: The Entwinement of Linguistic and Experiential Pragmatisms à la Wilfrid Sellars  Naeb, Cheyenne ( University of Oregon , 2021-09-13 ) This work will attempt to examine the relationship between experiential and linguistic pragmatism through the lens of the twentieth-century Analytic philosopher, Wilfrid Sellars. I maintain that Sellars meta-linguistic ...
• Nietzsche, Heidegger, and the Questionability of Truth  Emery, James ( University of Oregon , 2020-12-08 ) Does Nietzsche’s inquiry into the question of truth take him beyond the sense of truth as correctness found in Platonism toward a more Greek understanding of truth that brings concealment into an unsettling prominence ...
• Feminism, Secularism, and the (Im)Possibilities of an Islamic Feminism  Akbar Akhgari, Paria ( University of Oregon , 2020-02-27 ) This project considers attempts by scholars from within as well as outside Muslim countries to analyze gender and sex equality with a new approach that brings Islam and feminism into one discourse, often called “Islamic ...
• To Write the Body: Lost Time and the Work of Melancholy  Hayes, Shannon ( University of Oregon , 2019-09-18 ) In this dissertation I develop a philosophical account of melancholy as a productive, creative, and politically significant affect. Despite the longstanding association of melancholy with the creativity and productivity ...

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Philosophy Department Masters Theses Collection

Theses from 2006 2006.

Are suicide bombings courageous actions? , Stephen N. Woodside, Philosophy

Theses from 1999 1999

The problem of intervention. , David M. Barnes, Philosophy

Absolutism, utilitarianism, and moral military decision making. , Kristine V. Nakutis, Philosophy

Theses from 1997 1997

Wittgenstein, normativity, and Kripke's 'sceptical paradox'. , Alexander Kovriga, Philosophy

Theses from 1994 1994

Civil disobedience and punishment : in defense of rejecting the penalty. , Tristram C. Carpenter, Philosophy

Theses from 1990 1990

Views of the self and their ethical implications. , Thomas M. Ravens, Philosophy

Theses from 1989 1989

Is nuclear deterrence paradoxical deterrence? , Bryan D. Keifer, Philosophy

Theses from 1987 1987

Kant's philosophy of the self. , Michio Fushihara, Philosophy

Perception, representation, and reference : some thoughts on an essential structure. , Ralph E. Kenyon, Philosophy

Erich Fromm's theory on alienation. , Kaori Miyamoto, Philosophy

Theses from 1986 1986

Some views on our knowledge of substance. , Robert J. Boyle, Philosophy

Cartesian philosophy and the study of language. , Gert Webelhuth, Philosophy

Theses from 1985 1985

A radical epistemology of 'other worlds' : acausation, nonlinearity, consciousness. , Jerome Radin, Philosophy

Theses from 1981 1981

Intention, the principle of double effect, and military action. , Hugh F. T. Hoffman, Philosophy

Theses from 1980 1980

A pragmatist: William Edward Burghardt DuBois. , Homer L. Meade, Philosophy

Theses from 1979 1979

Leibniz' doctrine of super-essentialism and world-bound individuals. , Craig F. Knoche, Philosophy

Exportation, transparent belief and quantifying in. , Harvey I. Simon, Philosophy

Theses from 1977 1977

The legal philosophy of Ronald Dworkin. , Gial Victoria Karlsson, Philosophy

Teaching virtue. , Nancy N. Von Staats, Philosophy

Theses from 1976 1976

The insanity defense. , Jesse William Markham, Philosophy

Theses from 1974 1974

Equality and the mentally retarded. , Robert W. Ritchie, Philosophy

Split brains and the unity of consciousness. , Sharon K. Stout, Philosophy

Theses from 1972 1972

Locke's concept of personal identity. , Michelle Marguerite Maurer, Philosophy

Theses from 1968 1968

The indeterminacy of translation and the regimentation of language in the philosophy of W.V. Quine. , Ina Loewenberg, Philosophy

Common sense and ordinary language. , Ronald Isaac Rothbart, Philosophy

Theses from 1967 1967

Dasein and the still point; a consideration of three emphases in the philosophy of Martin Heidegger, with peripheral references to relevant aspects of Eastern thought. , Elizabeth G. Russell, Philosophy

Theses from 1966 1966

The empty and desolate consciousness. , Lawrence Pih, Philosophy

Theses from 1962 1962

Some problems encountered in Sidgwick's utilitarianism. , Paul Chester Killam, Philosophy

Kant and language. , Stephen Joel Noren, Philosophy

Theses from 1961 1961

"On Wittgenstein's approach to language and reality." , John Moulton Lovejoy, Philosophy

Theses from 1960 1960

The unity of Buber's thought : the I-Thou in his ethics, social philosophy, epistemology and ontology. , Rudolf Zuckerstaetter, Philosophy

Theses from 1937 1937

The religious ideas of some modern scientists , Isaac. Klein, Philosophy

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Department of Philosophy

Dietrich college of humanities and social sciences, master's in philosophy (m.a.).

The Philosophy M.A. provides exciting opportunities to pursue postgraduate studies in Philosophy for students with a degree in Philosophy who wish to continue their work in a more focused and advanced way, as well as for students with a degree in another field who wish to add a concentration in Philosophy. Students in this program will develop an understanding of a wide variety of philosophical subfields. The flexible course of study can be tailored to a student's interests and background. Students are expected to complete a Master’s thesis by the end of their second year, though a purely course-based option is also available for students who do not wish to continue in academia.

Coursework (Thesis-based: 10 courses)

Core (2 courses).

Core Seminar I & II are required for all students with no exceptions.

• 80600 (fall term)
• 80602 (spring term)

Formal Methods (2 courses)

• 80603 FMM: Tools & Techniques
• 80604 FMM: Computability Theory
• 80607 FMM: Topology
• 80608 FMM: Evolutionary Game Theory
• 80609 FMM: Classical Logic
• 80613 FMM: Language and Meaning
• 80616 FMM: Decisions and Games
• 80617 FMM: Causation
• 80618 FMM: Algorithmic Complexity
• 80619 FMM: Epistemic Logic and Topology

1 “formal methods” course, broadly construed (starred* in the course list )

If your “formal” course is not in the Logic category, one of your Formal Methods minis must be Classical Logic.

Philosophy Breadth (4 courses)

One from each of:

• Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Math, and Epistemology
• Language, Linguistics, and Mind
• Value Theory

Interdisciplinary (1 course)

1 course outside of Philosophy, e.g.:

• from another department at Carnegie Mellon University
• from a non-Philosophy (and non-HPS) department at The University of Pittsburgh
• This requirement can be satisfied through one or more internships, subject to advisor and DGS approval.

Elective (1 course)

• Any course from our department.

Master’s thesis

• This is 10 courses in total.

No course may be used to satisfy more than one requirement.

No more than 2 directed readings may be used to satisfy non-elective requirements.

At least 1 course must be a seminar (see course list): advanced, discussion-based courses that engage with professional philosophy and include a significant writing component.

Coursework (Course-based: 12 courses)

1 “formal methods” course, broadly construed (starred* in the course list)

Elective (3 courses)

• Optionally: one of these may instead be a second Interdisciplinary course.
• This is 12 courses in total.

The department's interdisciplinary research thrust affords an unusually broad range of career possibilities. Graduates of the program have been offered positions in Philosophy, Mathematics, Psychology, Computer Science, and Statistics, as well as research positions in industry. This wide range of interesting career opportunities reflects the department's unique dedication to serious, interdisciplinary research ties.

For a complete listing of our graduates and placement record, see our Masters alumni page .

The Philosophy Department offers all admitted master’s students with demonstrated financial need a tuition fellowship of up to 50%

In addition, qualified master’s students may have the opportunity to serve as teaching assistants or graders for undergraduate courses, for a stipend rate set annually by the department. In the 2023-2024 academic year, master’s students earned a $5,000 stipend for grading one course or a $6,000 stipend for serving as a TA. Such positions are subject to availability and are not guaranteed. 

Both the M.A. in Philosophy and M.S. in Logic, Computation and Methodology programs require two years of coursework. Students are not required to write a master’s thesis, although there is an option to do so. The normal full-time graduate course load in Philosophy is a minimum of three, 12-unit courses per term. Students must pass all required courses with a grade of B or higher. In order to receive a master’s degree, students must have a cumulative QPA of 3.25 or higher.

Advanced students can sometimes complete the program in a single year (including the following summer), corresponding to the fifth year of the combined 5-year B.S./M.S. degree. Also, there is a part-time version M.S. program, designed for students, such as qualified CMU staff employees using their staff benefits, who are able to pursue graduate study with only 1 or 2 courses per term.

• Graduate Application
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Masters Program

Three programs lead to the M. A. in Philosophy

• The General Program providing a grounding in all branches of the subject. 
• The Special Program in Symbolic Systems and the Special Program in the Philosophy of Language provide special training in their respective branches.

Below are yearly lists of courses which the faculty have approved to fulfill distribution requirements in these areas: value theory (including ethics, aesthetics, political philosophy, social philosophy, philosophy of law); language; mind and action; metaphysics and epistemology (including metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of science); logic; ancient philosophy; modern philosophy.

 Stanford Bulletin

All prospective master's students, including those currently enrolled in other Stanford programs, must apply for admission to the program. No fellowships are available. Entering students must meet with the director of the master's program and have their advisor's approval, in writing, of program proposals. The master's program should not be considered a stepping stone to the doctoral program; these two programs are separate and distinct. Coterminal applications are only accepted in Winter Quarter, for a Spring Quarter start. The coterm deadline is the end of the second week of Winter Quarter.

Unit Requirements

Each program requires a minimum of 45 units in philosophy. Students in a special program may be allowed or required to replace up to 9 units of philosophy by 9 units in the field of specialization. Although the requirements for the M.A. are designed so that a student with the equivalent of a strong undergraduate philosophy major at Stanford might complete them in one year, most students need longer. Students should also keep in mind that although 45 units is the minimum required by the University, quite often more units are necessary to complete department requirements. Up to 6 units of directed reading in philosophy may be allowed. There is no thesis requirement, but an optional master's thesis or project, upon faculty approval, may count as the equivalent of up to 8 units. A special program may require knowledge of a foreign language. At least 45 units in courses numbered 100 or above must be completed with a grade of 'B-' or better at Stanford. Students are reminded of the University requirements for advanced degrees, and particularly of the fact that for the M.A., students must complete three full quarters as measured by tuition payment.

General Program

The General Program requires a minimum of 45 units in Philosophy courses numbered above 99. These courses must be taken for a letter grade, and the student must receive at least a 'B-' in the course. Courses taken to satisfy the undergraduate core or affiliated courses may not be counted in the 45 units. The requirement has three parts:

Part 1: Undergraduate Core

Students must have when they enter, or complete early in their program, the following undergraduate courses (students entering from other institutions should establish equivalent requirements with a master's advisor upon arrival or earlier):

• PHIL 49: Survey of Formal Methods (4 units)
• PHIL 150: Mathematical Logic (4 units)
• PHIL 151: Metalogic (4 units)
• PHIL 154: Modal Logic (4 units)
• Philosophy of science: This requirement may be satisfied by PHIL 60, PHIL 61, or any intermediate philosophy of science course numbered between PHIL 160 - 169.
• Moral and political philosophy: This requirement may be satisfied by any intermediate course devoted to central topics in moral and political philosophy numbered between PHIL 170 - 172, or PHIL 174-176. 
• Contemporary theoretical philosophy: This requirement may be satisfied by any intermediate course numbered between PHIL 180 - 189.
• History of philosophy: two history of philosophy courses numbered 100 or above

Part 2: Graduate Core

Students must take at least one course numbered over 105 from three of the following five areas (courses used to satisfy the undergraduate core cannot also be counted toward satisfaction of the graduate core). Crosslisted and other courses taught outside the Department of Philosophy do not count towards satisfaction of the core.

• Logic and semantics
• Philosophy of science and history of science
• Ethics, value theory, and moral and political philosophy
• Metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of language
• History of philosophy

Part 3: 200-Level Course Requirement

Each master's candidate must take at least two courses numbered above 200; these cannot be graduate sections of undergraduate courses.

Part 4: Specialization

Students must take at least three courses numbered over 105 in one of the five areas.

Stanford Bulletin

Special Program in the Philosophy of Language

Admission to the special program in the Philosophy of Language is limited to students with substantial preparation in philosophy or linguistics. Those whose primary preparation has been in linguistics may be required to satisfy all or part of the undergraduate core requirements as described in the "General Program" subsection above. Those whose preparation is primarily in philosophy may be required to take additional courses in linguistics.

Course Requirements

• Philosophy of language: two approved courses in the philosophy of language numbered 180 or higher.
• PHIL 384: Seminar in Metaphysics and Epistemology (4 units)
• LINGUIST 230A: Introduction to Semantics and Pragmatics (4 units)
• Logic: at least two approved courses numbered PHIL 151 Metalogic or higher.
• An approved graduate-level course in mathematical linguistics or automata theory.

For the Philosophy Masters of Arts special program in Symbolic Systems, students should have the equivalent of the Stanford undergraduate major in Symbolic Systems . Students who have a strong major in one of the basic SSP disciplines (philosophy, psychology, linguistics, computer science) may be admitted, but are required to do a substantial part of the undergraduate SSP core in each of the other basic SSP fields. 

Philosophy MA Special Program in Symbolic Systems Requirements in Stanford Bulletin  

The Program in Symbolic Systems also offers their own Masters of Science in Symbolic Systems; we recommend prospective students compare the two programs to find which is the best fit.

Symbolic Systems MS Program Requirements  

Special Program in Symbolic Systems

Students should have the equivalent of the Stanford undergraduate major in Symbolic Systems. Students who have a strong major in one of the basic SSP disciplines (philosophy, psychology, linguistics, computer science) may be admitted, but are required to do a substantial part of the undergraduate SSP core in each of the other basic SSP fields. 

This must include the following philosophy courses:

• PHIL 80: Mind, Matter, and Meaning (5 units) AND
• PHIL 151: Metalogic (4 units)

And one of the following:

• PHIL 181: Philosophy of Language (4 units)
• PHIL 184: Topics in Epistemology (4 units)
• PHIL 186: Philosophy of Mind (4 units)
• PHIL 187: Philosophy of Action (4 units)

This work does not count towards the 45-unit requirement.

• Philosophy of language
• Philosophy of mind
• Metaphysics and epistemology
• Philosophy of science
• Linguistics
• Computer Science
• The remaining courses are chosen in consultation with and approved by an advisor.

Masters Funding

No funding is available from the department for Masters students. Please check the  Financial Aid website  for information about loans and outside sources to fund your MA. There is also a list of external funding databases on the Vice Provost's page .

The  Knight Hennessy program  does offer funding for its admitted students, and that funding can be applied toward a Stanford graduate degree program. Applicants apply to both  KH  and to a department.

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Master of Philosophy (MPhil)

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There are two types of MPhil on offer at Cambridge:

• MPhil by Advanced Study, which includes a taught element
• MPhil by Thesis, which is a research-only programme leading to a thesis

The MPhil in Advanced Study varies in length between nine and 12 months, and the MPhil by Research is a year-long programme. It is also possible to study a small number of MPhils part-time over two years.

The MPhil by Advanced Study is assessed in a variety of ways and may include all or some of the following elements: written coursework; a dissertation; timed written examinations; and in some cases an oral examination on your coursework and/or dissertation and the field of knowledge in which it falls.

Both types of MPhil provide an excellent transition to full-scale PhD research. They introduce you to research skills and specialist knowledge and an MPhil dissertation may be a valuable introductory experience in the preparation of, and work on, a research thesis. In fact, in some subjects, an MPhil is a prerequisite for continuing on to research work.

There is no automatic continuation from an MPhil to a PhD - a new application must be made and a suitable supervisor must be identified. If an offer of admission to the PhD is made, it will be conditional on your performance in the MPhil, as well as on providing evidence of your ability to fund your PhD studies. Other conditions may also be specified.

MPhil course search

Go to the  Course Directory  and filter courses using the relevant checkboxes.

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Master of Arts Thesis

To complete the Thesis Option for a Master of Arts in Philosophy, students must complete:

• At least one course (no less than three credit hours) in each of the three concentration areas (the "breadth requirement"),
• At least three courses (no less than nine credit hours) in one of the concentration areas (the "depth requirement"),
• A grade of "B" or better in all courses,
• A minimum of 24 credit hours of 5000- or 6000-level courses in the Department of Philosophy,
• A minimum of 30 graduate credit hours. (With the authorization of the department graduate advisor, students may count up to six credit hours of courses from other departments, and six credit hours of PHIL  7000 . Please see Graduate Advisor for details.)
• Six credit hours of PHIL 7000 . Please see the graduate advisor for details.
• Prior to final registration for PHIL 7000 Thesis Credit, a  Notification of Appointment to a Dissertation, Project or Thesis Committee form , including a specific description of your thesis topic, must be signed by all committee members and approved by the department and the Graduate College.
• Prior to first registration for PHIL 7000, an Application for Permission to Elect form, including a general description of your thesis topic, must be approved by your major advisor, the department, and the Graduate College. If you want to finish in two years, you are strongly advised to propose your thesis by the end of your first year in the program. Have a thesis topic in mind prior to approaching a member of the faculty interested in that area to act as your major advisor. Your advisor will help you determine two to four additional committee members. Approval of a thesis topic by the department is not automatic. You may be asked to rewrite your proposal or you may be directed to take the non-thesis option. If you do propose a thesis and it is approved, your actual thesis must be on the topic proposed. If you wish to change topics, the new proposal will need to be approved.
• Registration in PHIL 7000 must be continuous from the time you begin registering for thesis credit until your thesis has been finally approved. More than six credits of thesis credit may be taken; however, only six credits will apply to the degree.
• The Department of Philosophy has elected a manual of style for its Master's theses: Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 6th ed. New York: The Modern Language Association of America, 2003. The department will adopt later editions as they appear.
• Students who are about to write a thesis should pay close attention to Chapter 3, "The Mechanics of Writing." Note that Section 3.3 directs students to ask their instructor or editor about the use of italics where the handbook recommends underlining. Also, if their instructors agree that it would obscure a technical point about use versus mention for the student to observe the rule concerning punctuation at the end of quotations (3.7.7, page 119), students may transgress the rule. 
• The department recognizes that the Graduate College's rules on thesis format take precedence over the handbook's recommendations in Chapter 4, "The Format of a Research Paper." These rules are in the Graduate College's publication, Guidelines for the Preparation of Theses, Projects, and Dissertations.
• At the discretion of a student's instructor, the student's method of citing sources may be either citations in the text, as described in the handbook (Chapters 5 and 6 on documentation) or notes as described in the handbook's Appendix B.1.
• The department owns a copy of the handbook, which can be perused in, but not removed from, 3004 Moore Hall. Students can buy the handbook at the campus bookstore.
• To accompany your completed and approved thesis, a  Thesis Approval  form must be completed and signed by all thesis committee members and the Graduate College. See the Graduate Catalog Calendar for exact thesis submission deadlines (approximately one month prior to the end of the semester you plan to graduate). Try to allow one month for your major thesis advisor to review your thesis, plus a month for review by additional committee members, prior to scheduling a defense. Schedule your defense early enough to make any revisions prior to submission to the Graduate College by their deadline.
• Complete and return the three forms to the Graduate College in the Seibert Administration Building.

Philosophy - Master's Thesis

Postgraduate course, course description, objectives and content, learning outcomes.

After completing the course, the student should have

• good knowledge of literature, concepts, arguments and positions falling within the theme of master's thesis

After completing the course, the student should be able to

• work systematically and independently with philosophical issues
• master the literature search, review and use of research literature

Competence:

After completing the course, the student should be competent to

• demonstrate the ability to explain the subject to a non-specialist audience, for example in the form of teaching in secondary school (high school)

Furthermore, the material covered in the master's thesis can serve as the basis of an application for studies at the doctoral level. The student should also have the capacity to prepare qualified assessments and serve as an adviser on topics related to the thesis¿ theme.

Level of Study

Semester of instruction.

Work on the master's thesis equals 2 semesters and is normally taken in the last two semesters of the study program

It is a prerequisite that the student at regular intervals discusses the Master's thesis with their academic supervisor

See master contract for the master's program for the number of tutoring hours and other rights and obligations which are attached to the study

An approval of compulsory requirements is valid for three semesters, including the semester in which the approval is given.

Student and supervisor enter both sign a binding supervision contract in which rights and duties are clarified.

The thesis must be between 70 and 110 pages (25000-40000 words). See supplementary regulations for the Faculty of Humanities. Master thesis shall be delivered digitaly.

The student shall have an oral exam, after which the grade for the Master's thesis can at most be raised or lowered by one letter grade. Both parts of the exam must receive a passing grade in order to get a passing grade in the course.

Exams in the course are held every semester.

The compulsory activities have to be formally approved before one can take an exam in the course.

Contact Information

Department of Philosophy

Email: [email protected] "> [email protected]

Exam information

• Exam part: Master's thesis Submission deadline 15.05.2024, 13:00 Examination system Inspera Digital exam
• Exam part: Adjusting oral examination

Important information about exams

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Philosophy Research Guide

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Finding Dissertations at Catholic University

•    Locations and call numbers for dissertations and masters theses can be found in  SearchBox .

•    Electronic copies of dissertations are available to the Catholic University community through  ProQuest Dissertations + Theses Global , formerly  Dissertation Abstracts International , a subscription database searchable by title, author, school, area of study, and more. The full-text (pdf) link in a dissertation record indicates its electronic availability. Note: not all dissertations will be in ProQuest, for various reasons.

•    Many dissertations dated after 2011 may also be found in our institutional repository in  Digital Collections .

Finding Foreign Dissertations

• Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD) The NDLTD Union Catalog contains more than one million records of electronic theses and dissertations.
• Center for Research Libraries
• DART-Europe E-theses Portal
• DNB: Deutsche National Bibliothek
• Digitale Dissertationen im Internet
• OpenDOAR: The Directory of Open Access Repositories
• Registry of Open Access Repositories (ROAR)
• Australasian Digital Theses Program
• British Library EThOS
• National Archive of PhD Theses (Greece)
• Abes: Agence Bibliographique de l'Enseignement Superieur Citations to French dissertations. Use the Theses option.
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Information on Thesis Proposals

Creating a Thesis Committee

The first step in creating a thesis committee is for a committee chair or advisor to agree to supervise your thesis. Minimally, the committee chair must be a tenured or tenure-track faculty of the CSULB Philosophy Department. Your committee must additionally consist of at least two other faculty members, at least one of whom must also be a tenured or tenure-track faculty of the CSULB Philosophy Department. The department strongly recommends that your third member also be tenured or tenure-track in Philosophy, although it’s possible for the third member to be a part-time faculty member or a person with appropriate qualifications from another university department or another university. Please consult with your committee chair in determining appropriate persons to invite to serve on your committee. (Although many part-time lecturers in the department are generous in volunteering their time for committee service, we request that you remember that the University does not compensate them for it, and most have heavy teaching scheduleshere and on other campuses.) Your committee must be approved by the department.

Writing Your Thesis Proposal

The goal of your thesis proposal is to present the tenured and tenure-track faculty members of the department with a general outline of your intended thesis project together with a brief justification of its merit as a research project warranting a master’s degree. Take as your goal the creation of a concise, well-written document clearly articulating your project and its relationship to the philosophical literature. In general you should aim for 6-8 pages of text and a bibliography of 1-2 pages. A good thesis proposal will have three elements: (1) A clear and concise statement of the position you intend to articulate and defend in the thesis. (2) A well-researched statement relating your position to the philosophical literature indicating how your position connects with important thought on the subject by other philosophers. (3) An outline of how exactly you intend to structure your exposition in the thesis. This outline should present a chapter-by-chapter account, indicating how each chapter relates to the overall project.

The best strategy for writing your thesis proposal is to start early and interact regularly with your committee. Your committee is your resource for advice and feedback on your proposal while you develop it. The director of your committee is responsible for deciding when the proposal is ready for review, and the committee members must agree. Your committee members are also the ones who will present the proposal and defend it to the department. Thus, the more constructive interaction you have with them while writing the proposal the better. It is important to note that a student cannot submit a proposal to the department on his/her initiative without the approval of the thesis committee.

Some Common Proposal Difficulties

Writing a book report: Your thesis should make a modest contribution to the philosophical literature. A mere summary of the positions and arguments is inadequate. There are many ways you can contribute to philosophical thought: Your contribution could consist of finding a significant thesis or type of argument to constructively criticize. You could find an original extension of, or argument for, another person’s theory. You can develop a critical discussion of a view’s underlying methodological, epistemic, or ontological commitments. You can explore what is really at stake in a philosophical debate or the implications of a view. You can propose a useful organization of the positions in a debate. Whatever you choose, it must signify a step forward – an original contribution – albeit a modest one.

Cutting from whole cloth: While your thesis should contain your contribution to philosophical thinking on your thesis topic, your thesis is unlikely to introduce a totally novel and important way to conceive of or solve a problem in philosophy. Good research in philosophy is almost always grounded in a thorough understanding of the ways in which other people have thought about a philosophical topic or problem. Your thesis should build on the tradition.

Rushing to market: Think of your proposal as something that will take numerous drafts and some serious research to complete. Don’t try to slap together a document in order to meet a deadline. The timeline of an advanced degree is dictated exclusively by the amount of time it takes you to acquire and demonstrate a high level of competence in the field. When your proposal is ready for departmental review, you should be well on your way to writing the thesis itself.

Technical language: In general, it is better to state your thesis without technical language for a couple of reasons. First, expressing your project without reliance on technical jargon is an indicator that you have a good grasp of the issues. Second, not everyone in the department will necessarily be familiar with the terms you use. Of course, sometimes it is important to refer to technical terms in framing a view or problem. When you use technical language, you should always explicate its meaning.

Long historical exegesis: When relating your thesis topic to the philosophical literature the most important facts to include are the ones that indicate how your project connects to recent work on the topic. A proposal need not contain a lengthy synopsis of the history of your topic.

Personal histories: However you came to your topic, that story is not relevant to assessing its philosophical merit or its viability as a thesis project.

Submitting Your Thesis Proposal

Once your advisor and all committee members have accepted your proposal, the next step is for your proposal to be submitted to the department for review. Both your proposal and your thesis committee will be reviewed (solely) by tenured and tenure-track members of the department, and will be voted upon at a faculty meeting.

To prepare your proposal, first add a cover sheet including the title, the date, and the names of your committee members with the advisor identified and listed first. Each member of the committee will sign the cover sheet of your proposal, so include a signature line for each member. Once you have collected the committee signatures, you should prepare hard copies of your proposal for distribution to the faculty mailboxes in MHB seven days before the meeting where your proposal will be considered. (Under some circumstances, electronic distribution of your proposal may be possible; please consult your thesis advisor). All the tenured and tenure-track members of the department must receive a copy of your proposal.

Please note that you are responsible for all printing and photocopying of your proposal. The Department does not provide photocopying services for students for this or other purposes.

Some Example Thesis Proposals

Example 1: Back to the Future: Natural Law and the Original Meaning of the Alien Tort Claims Act

Example 2: Conceivability and Possibility Studies in Frege and Kripke

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Program Overview

The Department of Philosophy offers programs covering a wide range of fields in philosophy. The department’s graduate program is primarily a PhD program. In addition to the standard PhD in Philosophy, the department offers a PhD in Classical Philosophy in collaboration with the Department of the Classics, a PhD in Indian Philosophy in collaboration with the Department of South Asian Studies, and a joint JD/PhD program in conjunction with the Harvard Law School. Below you will find a list of the requirements for each program. The department does not admit applicants who wish to study only for the master’s (AM) degree. The AM may be taken as a step toward the PhD after a minimum of two terms in residence.

PhD in Philosophy

Graduate advising.

The department’s arrangement for advising students is structured to correspond to four stages of a student’s progress toward the PhD. These stages include the first year, the second-year paper, reading and research toward a dissertation topic, and work on the dissertation.

• The director of graduate studies is assigned as an advisor to all first-year students and continues to meet with all students at the beginning of each term and sign their study cards throughout their time in the program. Their advising role is particularly important during the coursework stage (generally through the second year), because they have principal responsibility for monitoring the student’s progress toward fulfilling the general requirements for the degree: the preliminary requirement, and the distribution requirement. In addition, each first-year student is assigned an informal faculty advisor.
• At the end of the first year, students should arrange with a member of the faculty to supervise the student’s second-year paper. That faculty member will be the student’s advisor during the second year. If necessary, the director of graduate studies is available to assist a student in finding a suitable faculty member.
• At the beginning of the third year, after the second year paper is completed, a student arranges for a faculty member to be their advisor during the process of exploring areas for a possible dissertation and formulating a topic and a prospectus. This advisor may be the same person as the second-year paper advisor but need not be. Normally, a student will continue with this advisor until the topical examination, but change is possible by arrangement among the parties involved.
• When a prospectus is well along, the student should discuss the formation of a dissertation committee with the advisor, the director of graduate studies, and possible committee members.  Normally, this committee has three members, two of whom must be Harvard faculty as members; however, the committee may consist of only two members at the time of the topical examination.  Committees may have a fourth member, who may be, with permission of the DGS, a faculty member in another Harvard department or at another institution. This committee conducts the topical examination and, after a successful topical, will continue supervising the student’s work on the dissertation. Normally it conducts the dissertation defense when the dissertation is completed.
• During work on the dissertation, change is possible by arrangement with the parties involved and with the approval of the director of graduate studies. At this stage, one member of the committee will be designated as the student’s advisor. The significance of this will vary as the supervision of dissertations is more collective in philosophy, for example, than in many other fields. In some cases, the advisor will be the principal supervisor, in others the role of the committee members will be close to equal and the choice of one advisor is a matter of convenience.

Preliminary Requirement

Candidates must pass at least twelve approved philosophy courses or seminars. The norm is that these course are completed during the first four terms in the department. Courses numbered 301 or above do not count toward this preliminary requirement, save that the two required terms of Philosophy 300, the First Year Colloquium, may be counted as two of the twelve. Independent Studies (Philosophy 305) may also be used to satisfy distribution requirements but not the preliminary requirement with the prior approval of the DGS. For a letter-graded course philosophy course to be considered satisfactory, the candidate’s grade in the course must be B or higher.  The average grade for all letter-graded philosophy courses taken during the candidate’s time in the program must be at least B+.

Courses taken to meet the preliminary requirement must be approved in advance by the department’s director of graduate studies. Students must take and complete Philosophy 300a plus two letter-graded courses or seminars during their first term and Philosophy 300b plus three letter-graded courses or seminars more in their second term, thus completing five letter-graded courses during the first two terms of residence.

These courses, like the rest of the twelve, should be among those designated “For Undergraduates and Graduates” or “Primarily for Graduates” in the course catalogue. At least ten of the courses must be taught by members of the Department of Philosophy (including visiting and emeritus members). This requirement can be modified for students specializing in Classical or Indian Philosophy.

All graduate students must complete two semesters of the Pedagogy seminar, Philosophy 315hf. Normally this is done during a student's third year in the program, when students begin functioning as teaching fellows. Exceptions to taking 315hf in the third year must be approved in advance by the DGS.

Students who have done graduate work elsewhere may petition the DGS to obtain credit for up to three courses, which may be counted toward the preliminary requirement. If they are in philosophy (as would normally be the case), such courses will be regarded as equivalent to those taught by members of the department.

Distribution Requirement

This requirement, intended to ensure a broad background in philosophy, is met by completing eight distribution units of work, normally before the beginning of the fourth year of graduate study. A distribution unit may be fulfilled (i) by completing an approved course or seminar (which may also be counted toward the preliminary requirement), or (ii) by writing a paper under the guidance of a faculty member, with the approval of the director of graduate studies. In the latter case the work does not count toward the preliminary requirement.

The units are to be distributed as follows:

• Contemporary Theoretical Philosophy: Three units in core areas of twentieth- and twenty-first century metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of science, philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, philosophy of mathematics, and the like.
• Practical Philosophy: Two units in contemporary or historical ethics, political philosophy, aesthetics, and the like.
• History of Philosophy: The distribution requirement in history is intended to assure that students have knowledge of the philosophical tradition out of which contemporary Anglo-American philosophy has grown, as well as an ability to work though texts whose philosophical presuppositions are different enough from those of contemporary Anglo-American philosophy that careful historical and philosophical analysis is required to bring them to light.

Three sorts of courses satisfy the requirement:   A. Courses in ancient Greek, Roman, or medieval philosophy.   B. Courses in early modern European philosophy up to and including Kant.   C. Courses on the foundations of philosophical traditions other than contemporary Anglo-American philosophy. These might include courses on traditional South Asian or East Asian philosophy, 19th century Continental European philosophy, early 20th century work of Heidegger, and so on.   A student must take three history courses to satisfy the requirement; at most one of these may be in practical philosophy. Save in the most exceptional circumstances (and with the approval of the DGS), at least one of these courses must be of category A and at least one must be of category B. Students should verify (with the DGS) in advance of taking a course to satisfy the requirement that the course will in fact satisfy it.

The First-Year Colloquium (Philosophy 300a and 300b) may not be used to fulfill any part of the distribution requirement. Philosophy 299hf, the second-year paper, may be used to fulfill a distribution requirement.

Logic Requirement

Candidates for the Ph.D. are expected to have mastered the fundamentals of logic and to have an understanding of the elements of logic’s metatheory. Normally, this requirement is satisfied by successfully completing one of the Department’s 100-level courses in logic: 140 (Introduction to Mathematical Logic), 144 (Logic and Philosophy), or 145 (Modal Logic). It can also be satisfied by taking an appropriate mathematics course (for example, Mathematics 143, 144a, or 145b). The requirement may also be satisfied by an examination set by the DGS in consultation with appropriate Department members or by serving as a TF in a Department logic course.

Second-Year Paper

Students are required at the end of their second year in residence to submit a paper whose length is between 7,500 and 12,000 words including footnotes.

The expectation is not that the second-year paper should constitute a kind of Master’s Thesis; a better model is that of a journal article: i.e., an essay that sets out a focused philosophical problem, articulates its significance, and makes a significant contribution rather than a mere intervention. Given this goal, the second-year paper may under no circumstances be over 12,000 words, and generally will be significantly shorter. Students must annotate the paper with an accurate word count.

By the end of the first year, students need to have a faculty advisor who will supervise the second year paper. Together the advisor and advisee will write a plan of study for the summer and the first term of the second year, and submit it to the DGS. This plan of study will specify a schedule for submitting work and receiving feedback, and will also specify a benchmark to be met before the beginning of the second semester.

A preliminary draft of the second-year paper is to be submitted by the end of the spring vacation of the second semester, and a final draft is due by June 1st. Under extraordinary circumstances and with the written approval of both advisor and the DGS, the final version of the paper may be submitted after June 1st, but no later than August 1st.

Once the second-year paper is submitted to the advisor, the advisor forwards the paper to the DGS, who selects a faculty member to act as the paper’s reader. The author, advisor, and reader meet in a timely manner to discuss the paper, after which the examiner in consultation with the advisor awards the paper a grade. This grade will be recorded as the student’s grade for their two semesters of 299hf.

Normally, a student is not allowed to participate in a dissertation workshop until they have submitted their second-year paper.

The Third Year

In a successful third year, graduate students do two things: they acquire pedagogical skills and confidence as teachers; they make enough progress on isolating a dissertation topic that they are able, at the end of that year or by the end of the first term of the fourth year, to write a prospectus and have a successful topical exam.

Normally, at the end of a student's second year, the student's 2YP advisor and the DGS consult and then assign a pre-prospective advisor to the student. The pre-prospectus advisor need not, and often will not, be someone who specializes in the area in which a student expects to write a dissertation. Rather, the advisor is someone with whom the student is comfortable discussing philosophy and who can advise about directions of research. In many cases the pre-prospectus advisor may be the 2YP advisor, since the student has formed a working relationship with that faculty member.

The student and pre-prospectus advisor should meet before the end of spring exams. The meeting's purpose is to discuss the student's general area(s) of interest for a dissertation and, if the student is ready, to devise a tentative list of articles or books which the student will read and reflect on over the next twelve months.

G3s meet with their pre-prospectus advisor in the first days of the fall term. The aim of this meeting is to give the student a manageable set of concrete tasks to complete toward settling on a prospectus topic. In this meeting, advisor and student should decide on: a collection of at least six articles or book chapters to discuss at meetings; a schedule for meetings during the fall (the norm being a meeting roughly every two weeks); the written work the student commits to doing in advance of each meeting. This work need not be elaborate --it might, for example, be a few pages of critical summary and discussion of the reading for the meeting.

Until a successful defense of a prospectus, students register of that section of Philosophy 333 associated with their pre-prospectus advisor.

The norm is that in the fall term of year 3 students do research in the area in which they expect to write so that they can fashion a fairly specific topic for the prospectus; spring term is then devoted to writing a prospectus. Students normally aim at having a prospectus and a topical before the beginning of classes in the fourth year; the expectation is that students have done a topical by the end of the first term of their fourth year.

Students who have completed their second year paper are required to enroll each term in one of the two dissertation workshops, Philosophy 311, Workshop in Moral and Political Philosophy or Philosophy 312, Workshop in Metaphysics and Epistemology. In an academic year in which a student is actively seeking post Ph.D. employment, they are not required to enroll in a workshop.

This a requirement for the Ph.D.; it is only in unusual personal circumstances that students may fail to enroll in a workshop. Permission not to enroll in a Workshop must be granted by the director of graduate studies. G3s are not required to present more than once a year in a workshop, and it is understood that their presentations may consist of such things as (constrained) literature reviews, overviews of the particular area in a sub-discipline, or drafts or presentations of a prospectus.

Prospectus and Topical Examination

When the prospectus is complete, a candidate must pass an oral topical examination on the prospectus. The examining committee consists of at least two Philosophy Department faculty members. If the topical examination is not passed, it must be taken again and passed by the beginning of the winter recess in the year immediately following. Normally students have a successful topical by the end of their fourth year in the program.

Requirements for a prospectus are set by a student's dissertation committee and may vary with committee membership. That said, in many cases a good default model for a prospectus will simply be a list of clear, straightforward answers to the following five questions: (1) What question(s) do you intend your dissertation to answer? (2) Why do you consider these questions to be important? (3) What is a good summary of what you consider to be the most important contributions to these questions in the literature? (4) Why, in your view, do these contributions leave more work to be done? (5) What is your tentative plan of attack (including a list of sources you anticipate using)? Think of your answers to these questions as building a case for why your dissertation project needs to be done , along with a sketch of how you in particular plan to do it. Finally, limit yourself to about 5000 words.

Although called an examination, a topical (which is approximately ninety minutes in length) is in fact a conference on the dissertation topic, not an occasion on which the candidate is expected to produce a complete outline of arguments and conclusions. The conference is intended to determine the acceptability of the topic on which the candidate wishes to write a dissertation, the candidate’s fitness to undertake such a dissertation, and the candidate’s command of relevant issues in related areas of philosophy. A dissertation on the proposed topic may be submitted only if the topical examination is passed.

Application to take the topical examination must be made to the director of graduate studies at least two weeks in advance. At the same time, the candidate must submit copies of a dissertation prospectus to the director of graduate studies and members of the student’s prospective committee.

Financial Support, Travel and Research Funding, and Teaching

Beyond tuition remission, Ph.D. students receive the following financial support from the Graduate School.

· A stipend for their first two years. During this period, students do not teach.

· Financial support via guaranteed teaching in the third and fourth year . During this period, students are hired as teaching fellows; the normal workload for a teaching fellow is two sections a term.

· A dissertation completion fellowship. This includes a full stipend for one academic year.

In addition, various university fellowships (for example: Term Time and Merit Fellowships, Fellowships at the Safra Center) are available on a competitive basis.

The Department also grants each Philosophy graduate student one academic term of stipend support through Philosophy Department Fellowships and also a total of $5500 in fellowships for professional development. For details see: Funding | Department of Philosophy (harvard.edu)

Dissertation and Dissertation Defense

Once the topical exam is passed, the examining committee (which must consist of at least two faculty members of the Philosophy Department) normally becomes the dissertation advisory committee.  One member of the committee is the dissertation’s primary advisor (aka, the dissertation director).  It is expected that a student will have a committee of at least three members within a few months of the defense; the committee must have three members at the time of the defense.  It is possible, with the approval of the primary advisor and the DGS, to add a faculty member from another institution.  Normally a dissertation committee has no more than four members; larger committees must be approved by primary advisor and the DGS.

The primary advisor has primary responsibility for supervision for the dissertation.  The norm is that the student and the dissertation committee set out in advance how often students will meet with and receive feedback from advisors.  The expectation is that the committee and the student will meet as a body once a term to discuss progress on the dissertation.

At least three months before a final defense of the dissertation can be scheduled, the candidate must submit a draft of the dissertation or at least a substantial part of it to the committee.  Until this is done, a defense of the dissertation cannot be scheduled.  Assuming the committee approves scheduling a defense, the candidate completes a draft and circulates it to the committee. While it is a matter for the committee and the candidate to decide, the expectation is that the complete draft of the dissertation which will be defended will be circulated to the committee at least three weeks before the date of the defense . 

Dissertation defenses are public, and may be attended both by department members and other interested parties.  They are normally two hours in length, and normally begin with a brief summary by the candidate of what the candidate has accomplished in the dissertation, followed by a conversation between the candidate and the committee.  The purpose of this conversation is not so much to test the range and detail of the candidate’s knowledge as to judge the candidate’s skill in presenting and discussing matters considered in the dissertation as well as the candidate’s ability to meet friendly but searching criticism.

PhD in Classical Philosophy

The departments of the Classics and Philosophy collaborate in an interdisciplinary PhD program in Classical Philosophy for students registered in either department. Candidates whose major field is philosophy are expected to take the Proseminar for graduate students in the classics, as well as attend seminars or other courses in classics relevant to their interests. With the approval of the director of graduate studies, students in the Classical Philosophy program may be permitted to count an appropriate course in ancient philosophy toward the distribution requirement in metaphysics and epistemology and one (in addition to the one already required) toward the requirement in history of philosophy.

Language requirements:

Candidates who plan to write a dissertation in Classical Philosophy are expected to have learned at least one of the classical languages (Greek or Latin) before they are admitted. Depending upon the level of fluency they have reached before entering the program, they may be asked to take additional language or reading courses. If they have not previously studied the second language, they will be required to reach the level of one year of college coursework. This can be done either by taking courses or by passing a language examination. In addition, candidates will be expected to have acquired a reading knowledge of German sufficient for reading scholarly literature and to pass a departmental examination on a suitably chosen text. The rules and procedures for the dissertation will, in general, be those established for candidates in philosophy.

PhD in Indian Philosophy

The departments of Philosophy and South Asian Studies collaborate in an interdisciplinary PhD program in Indian Philosophy for students registered in either department. Candidates whose major field is Philosophy are expected to take advanced language courses in South Asian studies and pass AM qualifying examinations. Candidates whose major field is South Asian studies are expected to fulfill the requirements of students in Philosophy, including distribution and logic requirements. With the approval of the director of graduate studies, students in Indian Philosophy may be permitted to count appropriate course in advanced Sanskrit or Tibetan toward the distribution requirement in metaphysics or epistemology and one toward the requirement in history of philosophy.

Language Requirements:

Candidates who plan to write a dissertation in Indian Philosophy are expected to have learned at least one of the relevant classical languages (Sanskrit or Tibetan) before they are admitted to the program. Depending upon the level of fluency they have reached before entering the program, they may be asked to take additional language or reading courses. In addition, candidates will be expected to satisfy the specific language requirements of their home department. The rules and procedures for the dissertation will, in general, be those established for candidates in Philosophy.

For more information please see the PhD in Indian Philosophy section .

JD/PhD in Philosophy and Law

A coordinated JD/PhD in Philosophy and Law is available. Students wishing to obtain the coordinated degrees must be admitted separately to both programs. Students admitted for the coordinated degrees must begin either with the first full year of law school or the first two years of philosophy; after that they may alternate terms as they choose. The program in Law may be completed in five terms. The requirements for philosophy are the same as for regular philosophy graduate students. For more information please see the JD/PhD Coordinated Program section .

The Master of Arts (AM) in Philosophy

The Department does not admit students for degrees other than the PhD. Students who have been admitted for the PhD and who have completed all course requirements for the degree may apply to be awarded an AM in Philosophy.

Harvard PhD students from programs (such as African and African-American Studies) which require PhD students to take courses required for an AM in another program are not required to take the first year colloquium required of Philosophy PhDs. (Students from these programs who wish to the take the colloquium must consult with the DGS.) Students from these programs who have completed 10 philosophy courses which satisfy the course requirements for a PhD and who have satisfied the distribution requirements for the PhD may apply to be awarded an AM in Philosophy.

A student who is pursuing an ad hoc degree administered in part by the Philosophy Department may petition to receive a Master of Arts degree in Philosophy. To receive this degree the student must have taken a total of 10 courses in Philosophy at the level of 100 or higher. At least two of these courses must satisfy the graduate distribution requirement in metaphysics and epistemology, two must satisfy the practical philosophy distribution requirement, two the history distribution requirement, and one must be a logic course. All must be passed with a grade of B or better. Students may receive this degree only when the Department has voted to support their petition.

Secondary Field in Philosophy

Much work in philosophy speaks directly to one or more disciplines which have Harvard PhD programs --literature, physics, statistics, science, mathematics, linguistics, and economics, to name a few. A secondary field in Philosophy gives students from other disciplines an opportunity to step back and look at the big picture in their discipline, putting students from discipline X in a position to do "philosophy of X" as part of doing X, thereby helping them both to understand their field more deeply and to open a path to developing it in innovative ways.

Graduate students may apply to the Philosophy Department to do a secondary field after their first term as a graduate student at Harvard. Secondary field students normally begin the secondary field in the second or third semester at Harvard, normally taking one or two courses a semester until they have completed the secondary field requirements.

Applicants should contact the Philosophy DGS before applying to do a secondary field in Philosophy. Applications must include: a brief statement explaining what the applicant hopes to achieve with the secondary field, including a brief summary of the applicant's background in philosophy; a copy of the undergraduate transcript (this can be a copy sent from the student's home department at Harvard) and a brief letter from a Harvard faculty member of the student's home department discussing how a secondary field in philosophy would contribute to the student's work in the home department.

To complete a secondary field in philosophy, a student completes four courses in philosophy at the 100 level or higher with a grade of B+ or better. One course must be in the area of one of the Department's PhD distribution requirements: moral and political philosophy; metaphysics and epistemology; logic; history of philosophy. A second course must be in another of these areas. At least one course must be a graduate seminar. In principle, an independent study with a member of the Department may be used to complete the secondary field. A capstone project is not required. Courses are counted towards satisfying the secondary field requirements only when approved to do so by the Philosophy DGS.

A student completing a secondary field in philosophy is assigned an advisor from the Philosophy Department, normally the DGS.

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Master of Arts in Philosophy

• About the M.A. Program

Degree Requirements

• Exam and Thesis
• Helpful Links and Files

The Master of Arts in Philosophy is designed for students wishing to extend their knowledge of, and competence in, philosophy; for students seeking a teaching career where the master’s degree is required; and for students who are planning to do further study elsewhere. The program is wide-ranging and flexible, enabling students to concentrate on a number of different areas within philosophy.

We offer a two-year program leading to a Master of Arts in Philosophy. We admit students who have a B.A. in Philosophy, but we also admit students with undergraduate degrees in other fields. 

Because our world-class graduate faculty are active members of the philosophical profession, we are able to offer our students a number of unique learning opportunities in addition to the wide variety of course offerings that reflect the most state-of-the-discipline research interests of the faculty.  Among many other things, students can participate in the Bay Area Feminist Approaches to Philosophy and Bay Area Philosophy of Science Workshops, or take PHIL 881: Advanced Philosophy Publishing in which students work with a faculty member on some aspect of philosophical publishing.

Admission Criteria

• Cal State Apply Application
• Writing Sample
• The GRE is neither recommended, or encouraged
• The application deadline for Fall is April 15th
•  The application deadline for Spring is  December 1st

Apply to Our M.A. Program Online at CalStateApply

We are excited that our entire M.A. Program application now happens through SF State's new system:  Cal State Apply .

Please complete all four quadrants of the application.

In submitting the Department of Philosophy's portion of your application, you will be required to provide the following materials:

• A brief description of your teaching experience (if you have any). (Note that teaching experience does not have any impact on admission into the M.A. program).
• Unofficial transcripts, which you will upload.
• A short statement answering at least one of the following questions: 1. Briefly describe the areas of philosophy, philosophical problems and/or philosophers you wish to study. 2. Briefly discuss your interest in one area of philosophy, philosophical problem or philosopher you have enjoyed studying.
• Attach a writing sample representative of your academic work, preferably in philosophy, though it can be from any discipline.
• Prerequisite Grid  (PDF)

Letters should be uploaded using the online system provided by Cal State Apply. If there are any issues, the letters can be emailed directly to  [email protected] .

Graduate Standing and Classified Standing

Students admitted into the program are considered either "Classified," "Conditionally classified," or "Unclassified."

Classified Standing

If the student's undergraduate work meets the department’s criteria and shows promise of a successful completion of the graduate program, he or she will be admitted to classified standing. Only those who have already satisfied all the prerequisites prior to admission are "classified" graduate students.

Conditionally Classified Standing

Most applicants who do not have a degree in Philosophy or who lack any of the above prerequisites are admitted as conditionally classified graduate students. Status as a conditional graduate student does not affect a student’s general financial aid. Some University scholarships are restricted to classified students. Students in either category - classified or conditionally classified - are still considered "real" graduate students

We generally recommend that students who are admitted as conditionally classified finish their prerequisites before commencing on graduate level work.

Unclassified Standing

Students who do not meet the requirements for conditionally classified standing may wish to apply to the University through Open University/College of Extended Learning in order to correct deficiencies in their record.

To earn a M.A. in Philosophy, students must complete at least eleven courses:

• Four Philosophy seminars
• Three additional courses within or outside of the department with Graduate Coordinator approval
• PHIL 715 – Seminar in Graduate Writing
• Pedagogical Training*
• PHIL 896 – Comprehensive Exam
• PHIL 898- Master’s Thesis

Pedagogical Training is a new requirement effective Fall 2023. This can be satisfied in a number of ways including in enrolling in PHIL 718. Discuss with your advisor on the best way to fulfill this requirement. 

33 units total

Academic Standards

Academic standards for Graduate Classified, Graduate Conditionally Classified, and Post-Baccalaureate Students are as follows:

Good Standing:   Maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 (B) or better in any term.

Probation:   Will be subject to probation when cumulative grade point average falls below 3.0 (B) in any term.

Will be subject to declassification from the graduate degree and/or advanced credential program and from further enrollment in the university if, during the semester of probation, there is a failure to achieve the minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.0 (B).

First Level Advising: Graduate Coordinators

Olivia walters, graduate program coordinator.

Email:  [email protected] Office: HUM 388 Phone: (415) 338-1596

Olivia handles the administrative aspects of the graduate program and is the first point of contact for general inquiries and assistance. Please consult with her regarding your graduation paperwork and scheduling your thesis defense.

Dr. Jeremy Reid, Graduate Coordinator for Incoming Students 

Email:  [email protected] Office: HUM 360

Make an appointment by emailing Dr. Reid directly.

Dr. Reid handles all matters regarding recruitment and admissions and serves as the advisor for students before they have completed   PHIL 715. 

Dr. Carlos Montemayor, Graduate Coordinator for Continuing Students

Email: [email protected] Office: HUM 327

Dr. Montemayor handles all matters regarding continuing students. This includes petitions concerning prerequisites, Advancement to Candidacy (ATC) and Proposal for Culminating Experience (PCE) forms, and to move from Conditionally Classified to Classified Standing. Additionally, he handles paperwork regarding probation, declassification, and disqualification. 

Second Level: M.A. Thesis Chair

Once a student has completed a Proposal for Culminating Experience (PCE), the chair of their thesis will serve as the student’s advisor.

Note:  Special paperwork is required to allow semi-retired faculty and lecturers in Philosophy or other departments to serve as readers (no such faculty may serve as thesis chairs).

Eligible chairs are the following:

• Dr. Azadpur,  [email protected]
• Dr. Islami,  [email protected] u
• Dr. Landy,  [email protected]
• Dr. Montemayor,  [email protected]
• Dr. Reid,  [email protected]
• Dr. Salzberger, [email protected]
• Dr. Sowaal,  [email protected]
• Dr. Wilcox,  [email protected]

Students are strongly urged to consult with the graduate coordinator and their faculty advisors at least once each semester.

The following advising schedule should be kept by new and continuing graduate students:

New students  should seek out advising with Dr. Jeremy Reid prior to registering for courses.

Continuing students  should meet with their advisor at the beginning of each semester in order to discuss their progress in the program.

Students should consult with Dr. Carlos Montemayor about when to take PHIL 896, which is the comprehensive examination. In addition to this, continuing students should consult with either Olivia Walters, the Graduate Program Specialist, or Prof. Montemayor on graduation paperwork such as the ATC and PCE forms.

Evaluating Prior Coursework

Students need not have completed an undergraduate major in philosophy to be considered for the M.A. program.

Applicants’ prior academic work will be evaluated to see that a number of undergraduate courses have been fulfilled with a grade of 3.0 or better (B) and that the courses reach the level of upper-division coursework in philosophy at SF State. The sole exception to the upper-division coursework criterion is for the Logic (PHIL 205), a lower-division course. Please note that the Department of Philosophy offers a  Formal Logic Challenge Exam .

Required Undergraduate Courses:

These are required beginning in the Spring 2024 admissions cycle. Please refer to your admissions letter for clarity. 

• Logic (must be equivalent to PHIL 205)
• Ancient Philosophy (PHIL 301) [or PHIL 410 in Fall 2021]
• Modern Philosophy (PHIL 303)
• Being and Knowing (PHIL 321)
• Ethics (PHIL 450)

Please see the  current schedule of classes .

Placement as of Fall 2022

Six out of eleven students who applied to Ph.D. programs accepted offers from the following schools:

• Syracuse University
• Trinity College Dublin
• UC Santa Cruz
• University of Georgia

Placement as of Fall 2021

Three out of seven students who applied to Ph.D. programs accepted offers from the following schools:

• University of California Santa Cruz
• University of Nebraska - Lincoln 
• University of Illinois

Placement as of Fall 2020

Ten of our M.A. students began advanced studies as of fall 2020 at the following schools:

• Boston University
• State University of New York, Binghamton
• University of California, Berkeley
• University of California, Davis
• University of California, Los Angeles
• University of California, San Diego
• University of California, Santa Cruz
• University of Wisconsin, Madison

Placement as of 2019

Eleven of our M.A. Students accepted offers at following schools: 

• Johns Hopkins University
• University of California, Irvine
• University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
• University of Pennsylvania (2)
• University of Western Ontario
• University of Arizona Law School 

Financing Your Degree

The Department of Philosophy at SF State values our university’s role as a public institution and we are dedicated to providing a philosophical education to all those who desire and are qualified to receive it. Consequently, while we do not currently offer tuition remission, there are multiple ways that students can mitigate the already relatively low cost of attendance.

California Residents  can apply for:

• State University Grants , which cover almost all of tuition for applicants who apply on time and who qualify.
• Scholarships posted on SF State Academic Works  (and described below).

Out-of-State Applicants  from Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Guam, Hawai’i, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Northern Mariana Islands, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, Wyoming:  You pay in-state tuition!

• For more on this:  Western Regional Graduate Program (WRGP) , a program that enables students in  16 Western states and territories  to enroll in participating public graduate programs as nonresidents, yet pay the lower resident tuition rate
• You can also apply for Scholarships posted on Academic Works (and described below).
• You can apply for residency in your second year. If you do so, and if you apply on time and are eligible, you might also receive the State University Grant, which covers almost all tuition.
• Read more on applying for residency .

Other Out-of-State Applicants  can apply for:

• Provost Scholar Award, which reduces tuition to the (very low) in-state level.
• You can also apply for scholarships posted on Academic Works (and described below).

International Applicants  can apply for:

• Scholarships posted on Academic Works (described below in the section below, "Scholarships, Fellowships and Awards".

Cost of Attendance:

These two websites will help you calculate your tuition and fees. (Note that students who are not paying in-state tuition will need to pay an additional $396 a unit.)

SF State Financial Aid: Cost of Attendance SF State Bulletin: Fees and Expenses

1. Financial Aid

Students seeking the maximum in financial aid for fall entry should submit a FAFSA by the end of February, even if they have not yet applied to the Philosophy M.A. program.

Students are often surprised to find how much assistance they are eligible for from the state and federal government. For example,  State University Grants (SUGs)  provide gift aid that covers almost the entire cost of tuition to eligible California residents (see below).

Filling out a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is free and relatively painless, so we strongly encourage prospective students to file a FAFSA as early as possible (even if you haven’t yet decided whether or not to apply!). Visit the  FAFSA government website  to get started.

Another reason to get started on your FAFSA early is to avoid running up against important  federal and state deadlines .

Our school code is:   001154

The University has put together a helpful  guide to financial aid .

2. Scholarships, Fellowships and Awards

Scholarships

Please visit our Scholarships page to view department and university scholarships. 

Provost Scholar Award

The Provost Scholar Award provides selected domestic, non-resident students with an out-of-state tuition waiver for one year (recipients pay in-state tuition for their first year). 

California Pre-Doctoral Program (Sally Casanova Pre-Doctoral Scholars)

The  California Pre-Doctoral Program  is designed to increase the pool of potential faculty by supporting the doctoral aspirations of CSU students who have experienced economic and educational disadvantages. Announcements and application forms are circulated early each spring. Students are selected by a committee of faculty from the California State University and the University of California. This is a one-time award. Current or former pre-doctoral scholars are not eligible to reapply.

Graduate Student Award For Distinguished Achievement

The San Francisco State University Graduate Student Award for Distinguished Achievement is conferred on students who have earned a distinguished record of academic performance and contribution in the major field. Nomination for the award is based on criteria that are specified by the faculty in the respective graduate major subject areas.

Other Fellowships and Awards

The SF State Fellowships Office  keeps an extensive list of National and CSU fellowships and scholarships, many of which could be of interest to graduate students.

Financial Assistance Links

• College of Liberal & Creative Arts Scholarships
• SF State Office of Student Financial Aid - Scholarships Page
• SF State Office of Student Financial Aid
• Fees and Other Expenses
• SF State Fellowships Office
• Cornell Graduate School Fellowship Database  (useful also for non-Cornell students)

3. Teaching Opportunities

There are three types of teaching opportunities available to graduate students in the Department of Philosophy:

• Projects in Teaching Philosophy (PHIL 717): students receive course credit for assisting faculty in large lecture classes,
• Instructional Student Assistant (ISA) Positions: students assist professors for remuneration
• GTAs usually teach PHIL 110: Intro to Critical Thinking, however, advanced GTAs may be assigned sections of PHIL 101: Introduction to Philosophy, PHIL 105: Introduction to Philosophy and Religion, PHIL 130: Social and Political Philosophy, or PHIL: 160, Introduction to Philosophy of Art.
• In assigning these courses, we strongly prefer GTAs who have assisted a faculty member with the course (or something similar) and who have related research interests.

Students who are interested in assisting faculty for credit or remuneration should contact the professor with whom they wish to work and  submit an application (for a paid position)  online. Those interested in GTA positions should fill out an application at the same link and submit it by the department deadline. The deadline occurs about a month before the end of the semester.

The cost of housing in San Francisco can be intimidating to some students, but there are a number of ways to mitigate these costs. For example, SF State makes on-campus housing available to many students and provides resources for finding affordable off-campus housing. Visit the  main housing webpage  for more information. The earlier you apply for on-campus housing the better! Finally, for those students planning to begin attending in the fall semester, the graduate coordinator overseeing admissions will put incoming philosophy graduate students seeking roommates in touch with one another via email.

Qualifying Exam (PHIL 896)

PHIL 896 is the Department of Philosophy qualifying exam for graduate students. The course tests the student’s ability to comprehend, explain, compare, and explore the views of philosophers working on topics selected by the Department faculty. The course also satisfies the University’s Written English Proficiency Requirement for graduate students.

• Students will work on  one  topic throughout the semester.
• Each topic will have  four  readings assigned to it.
• Students working on the same topic will participate in  four  study sessions throughout the semester (one on each reading).
• Following each study session, each student will submit a  summary  of the discussion at the session.
• Additionally, each student will submit a  final exam  for the course.

Students can access the PHIL 896 packet. We highly recommend that students review this document in order to better acquaint themselves with the structure of the exam.

All meetings will be held online over Zoom.

Master's Thesis (PHIL 898)

Master's Thesis (PHIL 898). Each student's culminating experience is the Master's Thesis (PHIL 898). The semester prior to beginning the thesis, students need to meet with several faculty to form a committee for the thesis. A committee has two or three faculty, at least two of which must be from the Department of Philosophy. Committee chairs must be Tenured or Tenure-Track Faculty members of the Philosophy Department.

If the committee formally approves the proposal, they will then sign the Culminating Experience Form (PCE), which the student may then file. Remember, students must submit an ATC to the Graduate Division  the semester before  they take PHIL 898. (Students may file the ATC and PCE the same semester.)

Regarding enrollment in PHIL 898:  Once students enroll in this course, they do not re-enroll, even if the thesis is not completed in one semester. If at the end of the PHIL 898 semester a student has not completed and successfully defended the thesis, she or he will receive a grade of RP — “Report in Progress” — and does not need to pay an additional fee for the subsequent semester for work in this particular class. Note SF State's  policy about continuous enrollment  for graduate students.

Different faculty members may have varying expectations about the process of mentoring a thesis candidate, so it is important for students to find out what their committee members require and consult with them frequently in the process.

To coordinate the scheduling of your thesis defense, please email your scheduled date, time and location to Olivia Walters at  [email protected] .

Philosophy Graduate Student Handbook and Deadlines

Students: Download the Philosophy Graduate Student Handbook, which covers in-depth steps involved in the progress toward the degree.

You are responsible for meeting all of the internal deadlines for paperwork.

Important departmental and university deadlines are listed on page two of the Philosophy Graduate Student Handbook.

ATC Deadlines: 

• Fall ATC Due:  October 1
• Spring ATC Due:  March 1

Submitting the ATC

Each student must prepare an Advancement to Candidacy (ATC) form. The ATC form, which can be obtained online from the  Graduate Studies website,  should be filled out and filed after the student has completed at least 18 units (including units in progress).

The ATC lists the specific courses to be fulfilled by the graduate student before the degree is awarded; it includes all philosophy classes (and approved non-departmental classes) taken for the degree, along with the classes still to be completed in the final semester. The student should submit the ATC via Docusign to Graduate Studies. If the ATC is subsequently modified, the student must submit an  ATC Substitution Form .

PCE Deadlines: 

• Fall PCE due to Committee:  October 1
• Fall PCE due to Graduate Coordinator:  October 15
• Spring PCE due to Committee:  March 1
• Spring PCE due to Graduate Coordinator:  March 15

Submitting the Proposal for Culminating Experience (PCE) 

In addition to completing the ATC, the student should also prepare and submit the  Proposal for Culminating Experience  in order to set up a formal committee for the Thesis. The PCE Form can also be found on the Graduate Studies website. 

• Email: [email protected]
• Telephone: (415) 338-1596

Spring 2024 Department Office Hours

Quick links.

• Undergraduate Advising Center
• SFSU Bulletin
• Academic Calendar