philosophy phd language requirements

DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY

• Requirements

Language Requirement

In order to satisfy the skills requirement through preparation in a language other than English, the student must show basic competence in French, German, Greek, Latin or another language that is acceptable to the Department. This involves:

1. Taking the three-quarter sequence of language courses given by the French, German, or Classics Departments (or equivalent summer intensive courses), and passing tests given by the instructors and acceptable to this Department. (Certificates of equivalent level courses taken at other institutions may be acceptable as well).

2. Passing an advanced competence test in the same language. The latter is meant to evaluate a student's ability to work effectively in the language in question. To this end, the student will be given a philosophical text of no more than three-pages length and up to three hours to translate it. This translation exam will be administered by a committee of two Department faculty who will also have selected the text. It will be administered once in each academic year, usually at the start of the Fall Quarter. A student must have satisfied the basic competency requirement in a language before sitting for the advanced test. (In exceptional circumstances – e.g., the student is a native speaker of the language in question – a student may, by petition, be exempted from the basic competence requirement or also the advanced competence test.)

Doctoral Program

Stanford's Ph.D. program is among the world's best. Our graduate students receive their training in a lively community of philosophers engaged in a wide range of philosophical projects. Our Ph.D. program trains students in traditional core areas of philosophy and provides them with opportunities to explore many subfields such as the philosophy of literature, and nineteenth-century German philosophy.

Among other areas, we are exceptionally strong in Kant studies, the philosophy of action, ancient philosophy, logic, and the philosophy of science. We attract some of the best students from around the world and we turn them into accomplished philosophers ready to compete for the best jobs in a very tight job market.

The most up-to-date requirements are listed in   t he Bulletin .  

CHECK PHD REQUIREMENTS

From the 2020-2021 edition of Explore Degrees:

Doctor of Philosophy in Philosophy

Prospective graduate students should see the  Office of Graduate Admissions  web site for information and application materials. 

The University's basic requirements for the Ph.D. degree including candidacy, residence, dissertation, and examination are discussed in the " Graduate Degrees " section of this bulletin. Graduate students are expected to meet standards of professional behavior, including: being present on campus to meet the academic and research expectations of the degree program; communicating in a timely, respectful and professional manner; complying with institutional policies and procedures; and participating appropriately in the program’s community. Graduate students are expected to familiarize themselves with applicable university policy and degree program requirements.’ ( https://gap.stanford.edu/handbooks/gap-handbook/chapter-5/subchapter-6/… )

University candidacy requirements, published in the " Candidacy " section of this bulletin, apply to all Ph.D. students. Admission to a doctoral degree program is preliminary to, and distinct from, admission to candidacy. Admission to candidacy for the doctoral degree is a judgment by the faculty in the department or school of the student's potential to successfully complete the requirements of the degree program. Students are expected to complete department qualifying procedures and apply for candidacy at the beginning of the seventh academic quarter, normally the Autumn Quarter of the student's third year.

Admission to candidacy for the doctoral degree is granted by the major department following a student's successful completion of qualifying procedures as determined by the department. Departmental policy determines procedures for subsequent attempts to become advanced to candidacy in the event that the student does not successfully complete the procedures. Failure to advance to candidacy results in the dismissal of the student from the doctoral program; see the " Guidelines for Dismissal of Graduate Students for Academic Reasons " section of this bulletin.

The requirements detailed here are department requirements. These requirements are meant to balance structure and flexibility in allowing students, in consultation with their  advisors , to take a path through the program that gives them a rigorous and broad philosophical education, with room to focus on areas of particular interest, and with an eye to completing the degree with an excellent dissertation and a solid preparation for a career in academic philosophy.

Normally, all courses used to satisfy the distribution requirements for the Philosophy Ph.D. are Stanford courses taken as part of a student's graduate program.  In special circumstances, a student may petition to use a very small number of graduate-level courses taken at other institutions to satisfy a distribution requirement.  To be approved for this purpose, the student’s work in such a graduate-level course would need to involve an appropriate subject matter and would need to be judged by the department to be at the level of an 'A' in a corresponding graduate-level course at Stanford.  

Courses used to satisfy any course requirement in Philosophy (except Teaching Methods and the summer Dissertation Development Seminar) must be passed with a letter grade of 'B-' or better (no satisfactory/no credit), except in the case of a course/seminar used to satisfy the third-year course/seminar requirement and taken for only 2 units. Such a reduced-unit third-year course/seminar must be taken credit/no credit. 

In the spring quarter of each year, the department reviews the progress of each first-year student to determine whether the student is making satisfactory progress. In the fall and the spring quarter of each year, the department reviews the progress of each student who is past the first year to determine whether the student is making satisfactory progress, and on that basis to make decisions about probationary status and termination from the program where appropriate.

Any student in one of the Ph.D. programs may apply for the M.A. when all University and department requirements have been met.

Proficiency Requirements

• First-year Ph.D. Proseminar : a one quarter, topically focused seminar offered in Autumn Quarter, and required of all first-year students.
• two courses in value theory including ethics, aesthetics, political philosophy, social philosophy, philosophy of law. At least one of the courses satisfying this distribution requirement must be in ethics or political philosophy.
• Two courses in language, mind, and action. One course satisfying this requirement must be drawn from the language related courses, and one from mind and action related courses.
• two courses in metaphysics and epistemology (including metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of science). At least one of the courses satisfying this requirement must be drawn from either metaphysics or epistemology.
• Instructors indicate which courses may satisfy particular requirements. If a course potentially satisfies more than one requirement the student may use it for only one of those area requirements; no units may be double-counted. Students must develop broad competencies in all these areas. Those without strong backgrounds in these areas would normally satisfy these distribution requirements by taking more basic courses rather than highly specialized and focused courses. Students should consult with their advisor in making these course decisions, and be prepared to explain these decisions when reviewed for candidacy; see requirement 6 below.
• Logic requirement:  PHIL 150  Mathematical Logic or equivalent.
• History/logic requirement. One approved course each in ancient and modern philosophy, plus either another approved history of philosophy course or  PHIL 151  Metalogic.
• Students should normally take at least 64 graduate level units at Stanford during their first six quarters (in many cases students would take more units than that) and of those total units, at least 49 units of course work are to be in the Philosophy department. These courses must be numbered above 110, but not including Teaching Methods ( PHIL 239  Teaching Methods in Philosophy) or affiliated courses. Units of Individual Directed Reading are normally not to be counted toward this 49-unit requirement unless there is special permission from the student's advisor and the Director of Graduate Studies.
•  Prior to candidacy, at least 3 units of work must be taken with each of four Stanford faculty members.

Writing Requirement: Second Year Paper

The second year paper should demonstrate good scholarship and argumentative rigor, and be a polished piece of writing approximately 8000 words in length. The second year paper need not bear any specific relationship to the dissertation. It may be a version of a prospective dissertation chapter, but this is not required. The final version must be turned in on the last class of the Second Year Paper Development Seminar in Summer Quarter of the second year. Extensions of this deadline require the consent of the instructor of the Second Year Paper Development Seminar and the Director of Graduate Studies and are only granted in exceptional cases (e.g., documented illness, family crisis). The final paper is read by a committee of two faculty members and it is an important consideration in the department’s decision on the student’s candidacy. 

Teaching Assistancy

A minimum of five quarters of teaching assistancy are required for the Ph.D. Normally one of these quarters is as a teaching assistant for the Philosophy Department's Writing in the Major course,  PHIL 80  Mind, Matter, and Meaning. It is expected that students not teach in their first year and that they teach no more than two quarters in their second year. Students are required to take  PHIL 239  Teaching Methods in Philosophy during Spring Quarter of their first year and during Autumn Quarter of their second year. Teaching is an important part of students’ preparation to be professional philosophers.

Review at the End of the Second Year for Advancement to Candidacy

The faculty's review of each student includes a review of the student's record, an assessment of the second year paper, and an assessment of the student's preparation for work in her/his intended area of specialization, as well as recommendations of additional preparation, if necessary.

To continue in the Ph.D. program, each student must apply for candidacy at the beginning of the sixth academic quarter, normally the Spring Quarter of the student's second year. Students may be approved for or denied candidacy by the end of that quarter by the department. In some cases, where there are only one or two outstanding deficiencies, the department may defer the candidacy decision and require the student to re-apply for candidacy in a subsequent quarter. In such cases, definite conditions for the candidacy re-application must be specified, and the student must work with the advisor and the DGS to meet those conditions in a timely fashion. A failure to maintain timely progress in satisfying the specified conditions constitutes grounds for withholding travel and discretionary funds and for a denial of advancement to candidacy.

• Writing Seminar : In the Summer Quarter after the second year, students are required to attend the Second Year Paper Development Seminar. The seminar is intended to help students complete their second year papers. 
• Upon completion of the summer writing seminar, students must sign up for independent study credit,  PHIL 240  Individual Work for Graduate Students, with their respective advisors each quarter. A plan at the beginning, and a report at the end, of each quarter must be signed by both student and advisor and submitted to the graduate administrator for inclusion in the student's file. This is the process every quarter until the completion of the departmental oral.
• In Autumn and Winter quarters of the third year, students register in and satisfactorily complete  PHIL 301  Dissertation Development Proseminar. Students meet to present their work in progress and discuss their thesis project. Participation in these seminars is required.
• During the third and fourth years in the program, a student should complete at least three graduate-level courses/seminars, at least two of them in philosophy (a course outside philosophy can be approved by the advisor), and at least two of them in the third year. The three seminars can be taken credit/no-credit for reduced (2) units. Courses required for candidacy are not counted toward satisfaction of this requirement. This light load of courses allows students to deepen their philosophical training while keeping time free for thesis research.

Dissertation Work and Defense

The third and following years are devoted to dissertation work. The few requirements in this segment of the program are milestones to encourage students and advisors to ensure that the project is on track.

• Dissertation Proposal— By the end of Winter Quarter of the third year, students should have selected a dissertation topic and committee. A proposal sketching the topic, status, and plan for the thesis project, as well as an annotated bibliography or literature review indicating familiarity with the relevant literature, must be received by the committee one week before the meeting on graduate student progress late in Spring Quarter. The dissertation proposal and the reading committee's report on it will constitute a substantial portion of the third-year review.
• Departmental Oral— During Autumn Quarter of the fourth year, students take an oral examination based on at least 30 pages of written work, in addition to the proposal. The aim of the exam is to help the student arrive at an acceptable plan for the dissertation and to make sure that student, thesis topic, and advisors make a reasonable fit. It is an important chance for the student to clarify their goals and intentions with the entire committee present.
• Fourth-Year Colloquium— No later than Spring Quarter of the fourth year, students present a research paper in a 60-minute seminar open to the entire department. This paper should be on an aspect of the student's dissertation research. This is an opportunity for the student to make their work known to the wider department, and to explain their ideas to a general philosophical audience.
• University Oral Exam— Ph.D. students must submit a completed draft of the dissertation to the reading committee at least one month before the student expects to defend the thesis in the University oral exam. If the student is given consent to go forward, the University oral can take place approximately two weeks later. A portion of the exam consists of a student presentation based on the dissertation and is open to the public. A closed question period follows. If the draft is ready by Autumn Quarter of the fourth year, the student may request that the University oral count as the department oral.

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.

The most up-to-date requirements are listed in  t he Bulletin .  

Ph.D. Minor in Philosophy

To obtain a Ph.D. minor in Philosophy, students must follow these procedures:

• Consult with the Director of Graduate Study to establish eligibility, and select a suitable  advisor .
• 30 units of courses in the Department of Philosophy with a letter grade of 'B-' or better in each course. No more than 3 units of directed reading may be counted in the 30-unit requirement.
• Philosophy of science
• Ethics, value theory, and moral and political philosophy
• Metaphysics and epistemology
• Language, mind and action
• History of philosophy
• Two additional courses numbered over 199 to be taken in one of those (b) six areas.
• A faculty member from the Department of Philosophy (usually the student's advisor) serves on the student's doctoral oral examination committee and may request that up to one third of this examination be devoted to the minor subject.
• Paperwork for the minor must be submitted to the department office before beginning the program.

Interdisciplinary Study

The department supports interdisciplinary study. Courses in Stanford's other departments and programs may be counted towards the degree, and course requirements in Philosophy are designed to allow students considerable freedom in taking such courses. Dissertation committees may include members from other departments. Where special needs arise, the department is committed to making it possible for students to obtain a philosophical education and to meet their interdisciplinary goals. Students are advised to consult their advisors and the department's student services office for assistance.

Graduate Program in Cognitive Science

Philosophy participates with the departments of Computer Science, Linguistics, and Psychology in an interdisciplinary program in Cognitive Science. It is intended to provide an interdisciplinary education, as well as a deeper concentration in philosophy, and is open to doctoral students. Students who complete the requirements within Philosophy and the Cognitive Science requirements receive a special designation in Cognitive Science along with the Ph.D. in Philosophy. To receive this field designation, students must complete 30 units of approved courses, 18 of which must be taken in two disciplines outside of philosophy. The list of approved courses can be obtained from the Cognitive Science program located in the Department of Psychology.

Special Track in Philosophy and Symbolic Systems

Students interested in interdisciplinary work relating philosophy to artificial intelligence, cognitive science, computer science, linguistics, or logic may pursue a degree in this program.

Prerequisites—Admitted students should have covered the equivalent of the core of the undergraduate Symbolic Systems Program requirements as described in the " Symbolic Systems " section of the Stanford Bulletin, including courses in artificial intelligence (AI), cognitive science, linguistics, logic, and philosophy. The graduate program is designed with this background in mind. Students missing part of this background may need additional course work. In addition to the required course work listed in the bulletin, the Ph.D. requirements are the same as for the regular program, with the exception that one course in value theory and one course in history may be omitted.

Joint Program in Ancient Philosophy

This program is jointly administered by the Departments of Classics and Philosophy and is overseen by a joint committee composed of members of both departments:

•         Christopher Bobonich , Philosophy (Ancient Greek Philosophy, Ethics)
•         Alan Code , Philosophy, Philosophy (Ancient Greek Philosophy, Metaphysics)
•         Reviel Netz , Classics (History of Greek and Pre-Modern Mathematics)
•         Andrea Nightingale , Classics, (Greek and Roman Philosophy and Literature)
•        Josh Ober , Classics and Political Science (Greek Political Thought, Democratic Theory)

It provides students with the training, specialist skills, and knowledge needed for research and teaching in ancient philosophy while producing scholars who are fully trained as either philosophers with a strong specialization in ancient languages and philology, or classicists with a concentration in philosophy.

Students are admitted to the program by either department. Graduate students admitted by the Philosophy department receive their Ph.D. from the Philosophy department; those admitted by the Classics department receive their Ph.D. from the Classics department. For Philosophy graduate students, this program provides training in classical languages, literature, culture, and history. For Classics graduate students, this program provides training in the history of philosophy and in contemporary philosophy.

Each student in the program is advised by a committee consisting of one professor in each department.

Requirements for Philosophy Graduate Students: These are the same as the proficiency requirements for the Ph.D. in Philosophy.

One year of Greek is a requirement for admission to the program. If students have had a year of Latin, they are required to take 3 courses in second- or third-year Greek or Latin, at least one of which must be in Latin. If they have not had a year of Latin, they are then required to complete a year of Latin, and take two courses in second- or third-year Greek or Latin.

Students are also required to take at least three courses in ancient philosophy at the 200 level or above, one of which must be in the Classics department and two of which must be in the Philosophy department.

Ph.D. Subplan in History and Philosophy of Science

Graduate students in the Philosophy Ph.D. program may pursue a Ph.D. subplan in History and Philosophy of Science. The subplan is declared in Axess and subplan designations appear on the official transcript, but are not printed on the diploma.

1.  Attendance at the HPS colloquium series. 2.  Philosophy of Science courses.  Select one of the following:

• PHIL 263 Significant Figures in Philosophy of Science: Einstein
• PHIL 264: Central Topics in the Philosophy of Science: Theory and Evidence
• PHIL 264A: Central Topics in Philosophy of Science: Causation
• PHIL 265: Philosophy of Physics: Space and Time
• PHIL 265C: Philosophy of Physics: Probability and Relativity
• PHIL 266: Probability: Ten Great Ideas About Chance
• PHIL 267A:  Philosophy of Biology
• PHIL 267B: Philosophy, Biology, and Behavior

3.  One elective seminar in the history of science. 4.  One elective seminar (in addition to the course satisfying requirement 2) in philosophy of science.

The PhD program provide 5 years of  financial support . We also try to provide support for our sixth year students and beyond though we cannot guarantee such support. In addition to covering tuition, providing a stipend, and covering Stanford's health insurance, we provide additional funds for books, computer equipment, and conference travel expenses. Some of the financial support is provided through requiring you to teach; however, our teaching requirement is quite low and we believe that this is a significant advantage of our program.

Stanford Support Programs

Additional support, such as advances, medical and emergency grants for Grad Students are available through the Financial Aid Office. The University has created the following programs specifically for graduate students dealing with challenging financial situations.

Graduate Financial Aid  homepage :

https://financialaid.stanford.edu/grad/funding/

Cash Advance:  https://sfs.stanford.edu/gradcashadvance

Emergency grant-in-aid :  https://financialaid.stanford.edu/pdf/emergencygrant-in-aid.pdf, family grants:  https://financialaid.stanford.edu/pdf/gradfamilygrant2021.pdf, housing loans:  https://financialaid.stanford.edu/loans/other/gradhousing.html, program characteristics.

Our program is well known for its small size, streamlined teaching requirements, and low average time to degree.

The program regulations are designed to efficiently provide students with a broad base in their first two years. In the third year students transition to working on their dissertations. During the summer prior to the third year, students are required to attend a dissertation development seminar. This seminar introduces students to what is involved in writing a dissertation. During the third year the course load drops to just under one course per quarter.

The rest of the time is spent working closely with a faculty member, or a couple of faculty members, on the student's area of research interest. The goal of the third year is that this process of intensive research and one-on-one interaction will generate a topic and proposal for the dissertation. During the fourth and fifth year the student is not required to take any courses and he or she focusses exclusively on research and writing on the dissertation.

Stanford University

Being a part of  Stanford University  means that students have access to one of the premier education institutions in the world. Stanford is replete with top departments in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. In addition, our professional schools, such as the  Stanford Law School , are among the best. The range of research in a variety of areas, many of which touch on or relate to philosophical issues, is simply astounding. Students have the freedom to take courses across the university. Graduate students also regularly earn joint degrees with other programs.

Philosophy Ph.D. Program

Approved by Graduate Council and Graduate Division, Nov. 10, 2008. These requirements apply prospectively beginning with those admitted for Fall 2009. Students who entered the program under the old requirements may choose either to continue under that regime or to adopt the requirements below.

The Ph.D. program is designed to provide students with a broad knowledge of the field of philosophy, while giving them opportunities to work intensively on the issues that interest them the most. During the first stage of their graduate education, students meet the Department's course distribution requirements and prepare to take the qualifying examination. This examination assesses the student's strengths in areas chosen by the student in consultation with supervising faculty. After passing the exam, students advance to candidacy and begin writing the Ph.D. thesis. A detailed explanation of the requirements for the Ph.D. in Philosophy follows.

Before Advancing to Candidacy

During the first stage of the program, students are expected to acquire a broad background in philosophy and develop their philosophical abilities by fulfilling the following requirements:

First Year Seminar

A one-semester seminar for first-year graduate students only, conducted by two faculty members, on some central area of philosophy.

Logic Requirement

The Logic Requirement has two components:

• Completion of Philosophy 12A or its equivalent, with a grade of B+ or better.
• Completion of 140A or 140B with a grade of B+ or better. Courses with a comparable formal component including, in most cases, courses in the 140 series may satisfy this requirement, with the approval of the Graduate Advisor.

Both parts of the requirement may be fulfilled by successful completion of equivalent logic courses before arriving at Berkeley. Whether taken at Berkeley or elsewhere, courses taken in fulfillment of the logic requirement do not count towards the eight-course distribution requirement.

Course Distribution Requirement

Before taking the Qualifying Exam the student must complete eight courses at the 100- or 200-level completed with a grade of A- or higher. At least four of the eight courses must be graduate seminars. The eight courses must satisfy the following distribution requirements:

Two of the eight courses must be in the history of philosophy: one in ancient philosophy and one in modern philosophy. The courses may be on any individual philosopher or group of philosophers drawn from the following lists:

• Ancient: Plato, Aristotle
• Modern: Descartes, Hobbes, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, Spinoza, Leibniz, Kant, Hegel

Four of the eight courses must be in the following areas, with at least one course from each area:

• Area 1: Philosophical logic, philosophy of language, philosophy of science, and philosophy of mathematics.
• Area 2: Metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of action
• Area 3: Ethics, political, social and legal philosophy, and aesthetics

A seventh course may be any Philosophy course in the 100 or 200 series except for 100, 195-199, 200, 250, 251 and 299.

An eighth course may be either any Philosophy course as specified above or a course from another Department which has been approved by the Graduate Advisor.

In exceptional cases, students may, at the discretion of the Graduate Advisor, meet one distribution requirement by presenting work done as a graduate student elsewhere: typically a graduate thesis or work done in a graduate-level course. Meeting a distribution requirement in this way will not count as meeting any part of the four-seminar requirement.

Language Requirement

Revised requirement approved April 4, 2022 by Graduate Council, for all graduate students who have not already passed the foreign language requirement.

Before taking the Qualifying Examination, the candidate must pass a departmental examination in a foreign language requiring the translation of 300 words in 90 minutes with the use of a dictionary. The language can be any foreign language containing a significant philosophical literature, provided that a faculty member qualified to administer the examination is available. An examination in an approved language may be waived upon approval of the Graduate Division if native ability in the language can be demonstrated through secondary school or university transcripts. A course sequence of four semesters (or six quarters), whether taken at UC or elsewhere, will be accepted in lieu of the language examination if the sequence was completed within four years of admission to Berkeley and the student earned an average grade of C or better.

The Qualifying Examination

Students should aim to take the qualifying examination by the end of the fifth enrolled semester and they must take it by the end of the sixth enrolled semester.

In order to take the examination the student must have fulfilled the department's course requirements and must have passed the language requirement.

The qualifying examination is administered by a committee of three faculty members from the department and one faculty member of another department. The members of this committee are nominated to the Graduate Division by the Graduate Advisor in consultation with the candidate.

Soon after assembling an examination committee, the candidate should, in consultation with this committee, write a 300-word description and compile a list of readings for each of three proposed topics for examination. Each topic should be centered on a major philosophical problem or question. Together the topics should reflect a balance of breadth and depth, and the Graduate Advisor must approve that they meet these criteria.

A week before the qualifying examination, the candidate should submit an overview essay of 1500-3000 words for each topic, which expands on the initial description. The essay should aim to lay out the central problem or question, to explain its importance, and to evaluate critically the attempts to resolve or answer it, with an eye to forming a view within, or about, the debate.

The qualifying examination itself will be a three-hour oral exam administered by the committee. The candidate's essays are meant to serve as a springboard for discussion in the exam. The purpose of the examination is to test the student's general mastery of philosophy. Students are expected to draw on the information, skills and understanding acquired in their graduate study and to demonstrate sufficient breadth and depth of philosophical comprehension and ability to provide a basis for proceeding toward a Ph.D.

If a student fails the qualifying examination, the examining committee may or may not recommend that a second examination be administered by the same committee. The second examination must be administered no sooner than three months and no later than six months following the first attempt. Failure on the second attempt will result in the student being automatically dismissed from the graduate program. (See Section F2.7 of the Guide to Graduate Policy .)

Students should advance to candidacy as soon as possible and they must do so no later than a year after passing the qualifying examination or the end of their sixth semester in the program, whichever comes first, to maintain satisfactory progress in the program. (An exception to the above policy will be made for those students who, having failed the qualifying exam in their sixth semester, may be granted the possibility to take it a second time in their seventh semester. In the case of a successful retake, the student must advance to candidacy by the end of the seventh semester.)

Before advancement to candidacy the student must constitute a dissertation committee consisting of two faculty members from the department and an outside faculty member from another department.

Prospectus Stage

In the semester after passing the qualifying examination the student must take two individual study courses of 4 units each with the two inside members of his or her dissertation committee for the purpose of preparing a dissertation prospectus.

The dissertation prospectus should be submitted both to the inside members of the committee and to the Graduate Advisor by the end of that semester. It should consist of about fifteen pages and outline plans for the dissertation. Alternatively, the prospectus may consist of parts of a possible chapter of the dissertation together with a short sketch of the dissertation project.

Following submission of the prospectus, the candidate will meet with the inside members of the committee for an informal discussion of the candidate's proposed research.

The Doctoral Completion Fellowship

The Doctoral Completion Fellowship (DCF) is a one-year fellowship available to graduate students who have advanced to candidacy and meet several additional conditions. Students are advised to review the eligibility requirements for the DCF .

Additional Requirements

Each student for the Ph.D. degree is expected to serve as a graduate student instructor for at least two semesters.

Dissertation seminar

Students in the first two years after declaring candidacy must register for the dissertation seminar (Philosophy 295) for at least one semester each year, during which they must present a piece of work in progress, and are expected to attend the seminar all year. (The seminar meets every other week.) All students working on dissertations are encouraged to attend the seminar.

Annual Meetings

At the end of each academic year, there will be a meeting of the student and both co-chairs of his or her dissertation committee to discuss the student’s progress over the year and his or her plans for the following year.

• University of Pennsylvania
• School of Arts and Sciences
• Penn Calendar

University of Pennsylvania Philosophy

Ph.D. Requirements

I. course and distribution requirements.

Candidates for the Ph.D. in Philosophy are required to take thirteen graduate courses. These thirteen courses must be completed by the end of the term in which the Preliminary Examination is taken. Ten of the courses must be scheduled courses offered or cross-listed by the Philosophy Department. The remaining three may include independent studies, courses in other departments, and courses at other institutions participating in the Greater Philadelphia Philosophy Consortium (with the approval of the Graduate Chair). In addition to these thirteen courses, all students must complete four semesters of Phil 998, Teaching Practicum (which carries 1/2 course unit credit). Further, all students must register for the Dissertation Workshop (Phil 700) during the year in which the Preliminary Examination is taken, for one course unit of credit. Students wishing to take more than thirteen regular courses (e.g., so as to take additional courses in other departments, take additional philosophy courses) may do so with the approval of the Graduate Chair, and within the limits of their fellowship packages.

The scheduled courses in the Philosophy Department must be chosen so as to satisfy the following additional requirements:

• Logic Requirement : Students must demonstrate competence in formal logic. This can be accomplished only by passing the departmental logic examination administered upon entrance to the program (ordinarily the day preceding the commencement of classes in the Fall Semester) or by completing 505, 506, or any more advanced logic course approved by the Graduate Chair. This requirement must be completed during the first year of residence.
• Three courses in the history of philosophy, one treating one or more of the major figures in ancient philosophy and one treating one or more of the major figures of early modern philosophy through Kant (including but not limited to Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, and Kant). The third history course may touch on any historical period.
• Two courses in value theory (e.g., moral philosophy, political philosophy, aesthetics), at least one of which must be in contemporary value theory;
• Two courses in contemporary analytic epistemology and metaphysics, including philosophy of science, philosophy of mind and philosophy of language.

A student may not use one course to satisfy two different distribution requirements. Students must confirm which courses satisfy which distribution requirements with the Graduate Chair. The distribution requirements must be satisfied by the end of the student's fourth term of residence. Any petition for extension of this deadline must be submitted before the end of the fourth term.

Petitions for any other variations in the course and distribution requirements can be considered only after the completion of the first year of residence.

No course with a grade lower than B- will be counted toward the thirteen course requirement. A 3.0 gpa is the minimum required, and usually will not be sufficient for advancement toward a degree.

A total of twenty graduate course units (c.u.s) is required for the doctoral degree. The requirement of thirteen courses, plus four semesters of 998, plus Phil 700 accounts for eighteen course units. The additional two course units may be used for additional course work, or taken as Independent Studies (999) during the Third Year. By rule of the Graduate Council, a minimum of twelve of the twenty required course units must be completed at the University of Pennsylvania. PPE 475 (PPE Undergraduate Capstone Seminar) does not count as a graduate course unless it is cross-listed as a PHIL course.

A student who transfers into the Ph.D. program must take at least eight regularly scheduled graduate courses in the Philosophy Department. No decision either as to how much credit to grant a student for work elsewhere or as to what distribution requirements such work satisfies will be made until the student has been in residence for two terms and has completed PHIL 600 (if offered) and five (or six) other courses. Transfer credits that result in course load reduction and hence the expected duration of a student's program will be accompanied by corresponding reduction in the student's units of funding.  

II. Advising and Records

In their first six semesters of residence, students must consult with the Graduate Chair concerning course selection each term. Permission of the Graduate Chair is required to enroll in 699. Students are encouraged also to consult faculty in their prospective fields concerning the body of course work needed to prepare them for specialized study. Only the Graduate Chair may approve final course selection and certify fulfillment of the distribution requirement . Further, only the Graduate Chair may interpret deadlines for the satisfaction of subsequent requirements, extending into the dissertation stage. Individual faculty members, including the student's supervisor, cannot excuse students from deadlines for completing work that are established by the Graduate Group and conveyed by the Graduate Chair.

The Graduate Coordinator in Philosophy maintains graduate records and keeps copies of forms and documents. Inquire at the office of the Graduate Coordinator concerning routine matters of record keeping, or to obtain needed forms.

III. The First Year

Students must enroll in 600 (Proseminar) for each of their first two terms of residence (if offered both semesters). In addition, students must take two other scheduled courses in Philosophy the first term, and a total of four courses the second term. First-year students may not enroll in 699. First-year students may not receive Incompletes and so will receive grades for each course in which they are enrolled on the basis of the work done for the course during the term. The logic requirement must be satisfied during a student's first year of residence.

IV. Additional Course Work and Incompletes

After the first year of residence, the minimum credit load for full-time students is three courses per term. In the fifth and sixth semesters, students ordinarily enroll in one course and in one unit of independent study (999) in preparation for the Preliminary Examination . The required fifteen graded courses must be completed by the end of the third year, as must the four units of 998, Teaching Practicum. Third year students are also required to enroll in Philosophy 700, Dissertation Workshop, when offered.

A student who has not completed all the assigned work for a course and wishes to receive a grade of "Incomplete" must request such a grade from the instructor. It is within the discretion of the instructor to grant or refuse such a request. In order to be eligible for funding in a given academic year, a student must have completed all "Incompletes" from previous semesters by August 15. Individual instructors are unable to offer extensions on this rule of the Graduate Group, and in cases in which an instructor allows an extension for the purposes of his or her course, this fact has no bearing on the Graduate Group's or Graduate Division's Incompletes Rules.

Students are reminded of the Graduate Division rule that no Incompletes from the Fall Semester may be carried past August 1, and no Incompletes from the Spring Semester may be carried past December 1, on pain of loss of fellowship funding. Note that for Spring courses, the Department's rule is more stringent than the Graduate Division Rule, and it will be enforced. For Fall courses, the Graduate Division's rule is more stringent. (Neither rule abrogates the other.) Incompletes become permanent after one year and cannot be counted toward graduation.

Graduate students who are not serving as teaching fellows are expected to complete all their course work on time. In order to be in good standing at the annual review of graduate student progress, which for pre-dissertation students takes place at the end of the Spring Semester (typically before all work for that semester's courses is complete) it is necessary (but not sufficient) that: (a) a student who is receiving a non-service fellowship have no Incompletes from the first semester, and be up to date with second semester work (including finishing courses whose due dates fall before the time of the review); (b) a second-year Ph.D. student who is a TF have no more than one Incomplete from the first semester; (c) a third-year Ph.D. student who is a TF have no Incompletes from the first semester. It is in each student's interest to be able to devote the summer after the second year to preparation of and initial reading in the Prelim reading list, and to devote the entire third year to current course work, preparation for the Prelim, and composition of the Dissertation Proposal, so as to be able to commence dissertation work immediately following the third year.

V. Reviews and Qualifications Evaluation

All students are reviewed annually. The Graduate Chair may initiate a special review of the work and status of any graduate student. As a result of a departmental review, a student may be put on probationary status for one or two semesters, or advised or required to leave the doctoral program.

An especially thorough evaluation of each student's capacity to complete the doctoral program is made during the fourth semester of residence. It will serve as the Qualifications Evaluation described in the Graduate Council Rules and Regulations, which students must pass to continue beyond the fourth semester. Each student will be provided with a written report of the department's assessment of his or her work and talent on the basis of the fourth-semester evaluation.

Students are reminded that deadlines for completion of work as specified in the Graduate Chair's annual review letter (including mid-year reviews) have the force of a rule. Individual instructors, including the student's supervisor, cannot excuse the student from such deadlines.

VI. Teaching Requirement and Supervision of Student Teaching

All doctoral students must complete at least four semesters of teaching. This requirement will be met by serving as a Teaching Fellow and signing up for 1/2 c.u. of 998, Teaching Practicum, during each semester in the second and third years of study (for students in the regular Ph.D. program). Dual degree students will sign up the first and second years in which they teach, whenever these may be. The 1/2 c.u. is supervised by the teacher of the course for which the student is a TF, or another assigned supervisor (for stand-alone courses). (Instructors of Phil 998 may give letter grades or an "S" grade, at their discretion.) In addition, all students preparing for an academic career are advised to teach an independent course more than once. Only students who are making good academic progress will be eligible to teach in the Summer Session or in CGS during the academic year.

In preparation for teaching, all TFs who are teaching for the first time at Penn are required to attend a teaching workshop conducted by the College of Arts and Sciences, usually held late in August. All TFs in their first and second years of teaching are required to attend the departmental Teaching Roundtable, usually held on the last day of the College workshop.

Instructors of courses in which TFs grade or teach recitation sections will supervise the grading of student work, advising the TFs about commenting on papers as well as on grading standards. The instructor will meet with the TFs on a weekly or biweekly basis to discuss matters pertaining to both pedagogy and course content, and will visit each student's section early in the semester (by the fifth week), with follow up visits as necessary. The instructor will review the results of this visitation with the TF, offering advice as needed. The Graduate Chair will oversee fulfillment of this requirement.

Each graduate student teaching an independent course will be assigned a faculty supervisor for that course (one faculty member may be assigned to all students teaching Freshman seminar-style courses that semester, or all Phil 009s). The faculty supervisor will have the following duties: discuss and approve the design of the course and syllabus with the student; discuss appropriateness of assignments; visit one or more classes, and give appropriate advice on the conduct of the classes; review final grades; and submit a written comment on the student's teaching effectiveness for the student's file. The department Chair supervises this program. The Graduate Chair will have the task of informing graduate students teaching independent courses for the first time about graduate students still in residence who have previously taught the course concerned.

Students should expect to receive their teaching evaluation forms and summaries of student comments in a timely manner. For the Fall Semester, they should receive this material by the middle of the Spring Semester. For the Spring Semester, they should receive it prior to the end of the summer. The Department Chair oversees compilation of teaching evaluation materials. Students who do not receive their evaluation forms and summaries in a timely manner should notify the Department Chair.

VII. Philosophical Community

Graduate training extends beyond courses, exams, and dissertation work. Students should begin to participate in the broader philosophical community. The colloquium series exposes students to the range of current work in philosophy, and students are expected to attend colloquia. Other local activities include participating in departmental workshops, joining reading groups, and attending Philadelphia area events.

More generally, students should join the APA, keep up with relevant journals (several of which offer special rates to student subscribers), and consider submitting papers to conferences and journals. Students should keep in mind that not all conferences are of equal value as credentials or as venues for presenting work. In general, refereed, special-topic conferences are to be recommended. Before accepting an invitation to participate in a conference, students should seek advice from their advisor. Similarly, not all journals are equally valued as venues for publication, and students should seek advice before submitting a paper for publication.

The GDAS and the Department provide limited travel subventions for giving papers at conferences (for the SAS form, inquire to the office of the Graduate Coordinator in Philosophy; for Departmental funds, inquire to the Graduate Chair). Students who are teaching or taking courses should, in general, not expect approval of applications to fund travel that requires them to miss their own courses or their recitation sections.

More advanced students are expected to mentor younger students. To this end, and in order to promote full participation in the philosophical community of the Department, Ph.D. students are required to remain in residence in the program from the time they begin the program until they complete their degrees. (Students may petition the Department for exceptions.)

VIII. Research Skills Requirement

Philosophical research often involves skills beyond those regularly taught in philosophy courses. Such skills include advanced knowledge of foreign languages and literatures, history, logic, statistics, mathematics, computers science, experimental design, social science, and natural science. As part of the Preliminary Examination, committees may require students to demonstrate a high level of competence in one of these areas as a condition for doctoral candidacy. Students are expected to consult with the Graduate Chair and their potential committee members about what skills are necessary for their intended fields of study no later than the beginning of their second year.

All students conducting research with human subjects are required to obtain training and certification for human subjects protection.

IX. The Preliminary Examination

During the third year of residence, students in the Ph.D. program must pass a Preliminary Examination in the field of their prospective dissertation. The Preliminary Examination consists of a chapter-length paper on the dissertation topic and a 10-page dissertation prospectus, and an oral defense on the written materials. The primary purpose of this examination is to demonstrate the student's readiness to write a dissertation in his/her chosen field as part of the overall evaluation of a student's philosophical ability and competence as a condition for admission to Ph.D. candidacy. Students prepare for the exam in both the Fall and Spring Semesters, and will be enrolled in two units of Phil 999. For this work, a supervisor will be assigned by the Graduate Chair in consultation with the student and with faculty members during the fourth-semester review. Two additional members of the Preliminary Examination committee will be named no later than the start of the Fall Semester. In consultation with their prospective examining Committee, students ought to have a preliminary reading list prepared by the end of their second year so as to begin preparing for the Exam in the Summer of Year 2. The examining Committee will be formally appointed in the Fall term in year 3, and the final reading list and a two page statement of the dissertation topic are to be submitted to the committee and Graduate Chair by October 1 of that semester. During the course of work in the Fall Semester, student and supervisor should discuss the prospective dissertation topic. Students should present their initial ideas for a dissertation topic at the Dissertation Workshop, usually in November or December. Using this presentation as a basis, each third-year student must submit to the Graduate Chair a five-page dissertation proposal by the beginning of the first week of classes in January. The chapter-length paper (8,000 to 10,000 words) on the dissertation topic and the 10-page prospectus are due at noon on the first Monday after Spring Break, and the scheduled oral defense is to take place later the same week. No extension on the submission of the written work may be granted. For students in the J.D.-Ph.D. program, the written work is due on the last day of classes and an oral defense is to take place soon after. After evaluating the student's performance on both the written and oral portions of the Preliminary Examination, the examining committee will recommend for or against admission to candidacy at a meeting of the Graduate Group. The Graduate Group will determine whether the student's performance in all prior work in the program as well as on the examination has demonstrated sufficient ability and potential in philosophy as well as knowledge in the chosen field to justify admission to candidacy; completion of all required course work with an average grade of B or better as well as a satisfactory performance on the Preliminary Examination are necessary but not sufficient conditions for such admission. On the basis of its evaluation, the Graduate Group may vote to admit the student to Ph.D. candidacy, require re-examination and/or further course work, or remove the student from the Ph.D. program. No student who has not completed the thirteen required course units will be admitted to candidacy; and no student who has not been admitted to candidacy prior to the commencement of the fourth year of residence will be in good standing. The Graduate Group will inform the student in writing of the results of these deliberations. 

X. Dissertation Proposal and Supervisor

After successful completion of the Preliminary Examination, students will prepare a ten-page description of their proposed dissertation project, including a tentative schedule of work for the summer and fall. This must be submitted to the prospective Dissertation Supervisor by the end of classes in the Spring Semester. It should include a concrete statement of the problems to be addressed by the dissertation and some description of the relevant philosophical literature. The Dissertation Supervisor, who must be a member of the Standing Faculty in the Graduate Group in Philosophy, will be assigned at a meeting shortly thereafter, when the student is admitted to candidacy. Student and supervisor should meet and agree on work to be completed by the beginning of the Fall Semester.

Students work closely with the supervisor, who serves as their academic advisor and primary academic mentor. At the same time, each student's progress remains subject to review by the Graduate Group, and each student must meet requirements for good progress and degree completion as determined by the Graduate Group, Graduate Division, and Graduate Council.

Students are free to change supervisors at any time with the consent of the Graduate Chair; but even in such cases the schedule of progress described below must still be satisfied.

In a case in which a student's proposed dissertation topic does not lie in the area tested in the student's Preliminary Examination, an additional Preliminary Examination shall not ordinarily be scheduled; however, the Dissertation Supervisor must be satisfied of the student's knowledge of the area of the proposed dissertation. But the Graduate Group will retain the right to impose an additional Preliminary Examination, especially (though not necessarily nor necessarily only) in cases in which exceptional delay has intervened between the original examination and the proposed presentation of the dissertation--for instance, if a student is being re-admitted to the graduate program after an absence. Students in this position should be sure to consult with the Graduate Chair before requesting the official appointment of a Dissertation Supervisor.

XI. Dissertation Committee, Progress, and Fellowship

Early in the Fall Semester following the completion of the Preliminary Examination, students and their supervisors should review progress and agree upon a schedule for further work, taking into account Graduate Group deadlines for making good progress. By a deadline well prior to the department's review meeting in early December, students must submit a draft of at least one chapter (or the equivalent) of their dissertations to their supervisor and to prospective dissertation committee members. At the time they submit this writing, students must arrange a meeting with the supervisor and prospective committee to discuss the written work in light of the ten-page dissertation proposal and their evolving plans for the dissertation. This meeting must take place prior to the review meeting in December. At that meeting, the Graduate Chair will impanel a Dissertation Committee consisting of the supervisor and at least two other members, at least one of whom must also be a member of the Graduate Group. At this meeting, the Graduate Group will determine the eligibility of students for teaching during the following summer. Students who are not making good progress will not be assigned teaching.

By a deadline well in advance of the department's review meeting in April or early May, students must submit to their committee a second substantial piece of work (another chapter or equivalent). The same requirement obtains for each semester of the fifth year. Students who receive summer support may be expected or required to submit additional chapter equivalent pieces of writing on a schedule that will be individually determined.

Satisfaction of these requirements is necessary in order to maintain good standing in the doctoral program. If students have not completed all requirements for the Ph.D. (including deposit of the dissertation) within four years from the semester in which they pass the Preliminary Examination, they must submit to their full dissertation committee (i.e. the supervisor and two readers) a copy of all written work they have completed on the dissertation. The committee members will evaluate this material and report to the whole Graduate Group, recommending that one of the following actions be taken: (a) the student is required to retake the Preliminary Examination (if the committee believes there is a question about the continued currency of the student's research, or if the committee believes the written work provides insufficient evidence of progress toward completion of an adequate doctoral dissertation); (b) other conditions are imposed on the student's dissertation research, such as the committee believes will ensure the currency and timely completion of the student's work toward the Ph.D.; (c) the student is dismissed from the program for failure to make adequate progress toward the Ph.D. For students in joint programs (such as the M.D.-Ph.D. or J.D.-Ph.D.) who do not take the Preliminary Examination in the third year of full-time study after matriculation into the doctoral program, this review shall take place if students have not completed all requirements within three years after the semester in which they pass the Preliminary Examination.

Students who wish to be nominated for an SAS Dissertation Research Fellowship, or for any non-teaching research or dissertation fellowship funded or supported by the Department, must be in good standing and must submit to the Graduate Chair, by the beginning of classes in the Spring Semester, a five-page thesis proposal in the format required for nomination for an SAS Dissertation Research Fellowship or an SAS Dissertation Completion Fellowship.

XII. Dissertation Workshop

All dissertation students must attend the Dissertation Workshop (or other forum designated by the Department) weekly and make at least one presentation per year of dissertation work in progress. This requirement continues until the student graduates.

The Dissertation Workshop may also provide a venue for discussing issues pertaining to professionalization, conference submissions, and publication. It is the usual venue for presenting practice job talks.

XIII. Preliminary Dissertation Examination and Final Dissertation Defense

When a student has achieved a substantial, continuous draft of the dissertation it shall be subject to a Preliminary Dissertation Examination by the entire committee. The Dissertation Supervisor shall determine when a student's dissertation work has reached this stage, and will notify the other committee members and the Graduate Chair. The Graduate Chair will then appoint a Departmental Representative, who will chair the examination. During the examination, the committee will discuss needed revisions or changes with the student, and each member will provide written advice regarding such revisions or changes. It is recommended that this examination have occurred in the spring or early fall prior to the student's seeking academic employment.

When the student has completed a draft of the entire thesis, it must be submitted to the dissertation committee for evaluation. When the committee receives a draft to be considered for Final Examination and Defense, it may take up to four weeks to certify to the Graduate Chair that the thesis is ready for defense (or not). Upon receipt of this certification, the Graduate Chair will appoint an additional member of the Graduate Group as the Departmental Representative at the examination (who need not be the same as the representative at the preliminary dissertation examination) and will schedule the examination. At this time the student must deposit a copy of the draft to be examined in the department lounge. At least two weeks must elapse between the appointment of the departmental representative and deposit of the draft and the occurrence of the examination. No final thesis examinations will be scheduled between the end of the Academic Year and the start of the Fall Semester.

The final oral examination, which constitutes the "dissertation examination" specified by the Graduate Council, will be chaired by the Departmental Representative. It will consist of a presentation of the contents of the dissertation, followed by an oral examination. Any member of the Graduate Group may participate in the examination, but only members of the dissertation committee and the departmental representative may vote to accept or reject the dissertation. Except when the committee is voting, the examination will be open to the public.

A majority vote of the examination committee determines whether the student passes the examination. (The result of this vote is recorded on form 150.) The dissertation itself may be accepted unconditionally or accepted subject to revision; failure may be unconditional or revision and reexamination of the dissertation may be permitted. The Dissertation Supervisor (or other member agreed upon by the examination committee) will inform the Graduate Group Chair when the Graduate Division may be notified that the dissertation is accepted, or not (forms 152 and 153). Each student is responsible for depositing the dissertation with the Graduate Division, in accordance with the requirements of the Graduate Council .

Each graduate student must apply to the Graduate Division for graduation with the Ph.D. degree at the start of the semester in which the final examination and dissertation deposit are anticipated. Students are reminded that the Graduate Division requires continuous registration through the semester of graduation.

XIV. Seeking Employment

During the course of their studies, students should be cognizant of their aspirations beyond graduation. In addition to engaging the wider philosophical community as described above, they should consider the competencies they wish to present to prospective employers, including their areas of specialization and areas of competence. They should seek to build a body of course work, prelim work, research, and teaching experience to support their claims to these competencies.

The department will normally appoint placement officers to advise students in their search for an academic position. After consulting with their supervisors, students should inform the placement officers of their intention to enter the academic job market by the end of the Spring Semester prior to their anticipated search. These officers usually will arrange mock interviews, and they may coordinate practice job talks. Students should seek advice from their supervisor and committee in preparing a dossier paper. Students should also assemble a teaching dossier.

Letters of recommendation are a key component in the employment process. Over the course of their doctoral studies, students should seek to form intellectual relationships with several faculty members. Letter writers for a job candidate will typically be drawn from, but are not limited to, the student's Prelim and Dissertation Committees. It is not unusual to have four, five, or even more letters in a placement file.

XV. Summary of the Doctoral Program

First Year: 600 (two semesters, if offered), 6 (or 5) more regular courses in philosophy, including logic unless competency demonstrated by examination.

Second Year: 2 courses each semester (plus 999 each semester for total of 3 credit units per semester). Distribution requirements in epistemology and metaphysics, value theory, and history completed by end of fourth term. Teaching. Fourth-semester review.

Third Year: 1 course plus 1 or 2 999s first and second semesters. Preparation for and attempt at Preliminary Examination, second semester; submission of SAS Dissertation Proposal and Ten-Page Dissertation Proposal; appointment of Dissertation Supervisor. Enrollment and attendance in Dissertation Workshop. Teaching.

Fourth Year: Dissertation work. Submission of one chapter-length piece of writing each semester. Appointment of Dissertation Committee. Participation in and presentation to Dissertation Workshop.

Fifth Year: Participation in and presentation to Dissertation Workshop. Submission of one chapter-length piece of writing each semester.Completion of Dissertation work.

Total Credit Requirements:

• 505, 506, or passing logic exam
• Two semesters of 600 if available
• Two courses in value theory
• Two courses in contemporary metaphysics and epistemology
• Three courses in history (at least one Plato/Aristotle, one early modern)
• Additional courses for a total of 13 units
• Four semesters of 998 (1/2 c.u. each)
• One unit (beyond the 15) of Phil 700
• To reach the twenty required for the doctorate, 999s may be taken.

• Support Philosophy
• Standard Major
• Intensive Major
• Double Major
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• Mentoring Program
• Undergrad Courses

PhD Requirements

• Admissions FAQ
• Milestones Towards Completion
• MA Requirements
• Graduate Student Handbook
• Graduate Courses
• Reading Groups
• Fellowships & Funding
• Career Outcomes
• Michael R. Bennett Prize in Philosophy
• Pitt-CMU Graduate Conference
• Collaborations
• Diversity and Inclusiveness

Distribution/Course Work Requirements

Logic requirement.

Each student must demonstrate proficiency in logic by successfully completing the graduate seminar PHIL 2500 (Advanced Logic) or a more advanced graduate seminar in logic.

Language Requirement

Each student must demonstrate reading proficiency in at least one of the following languages: ancient Greek, Latin, French, or German. Proficiency is demonstrated by passing a departmental language exam or by completing course work in the language of choice.

Proseminar Requirement

Each student must enroll in the two-term Proseminar sequence in his or her first year. The fall term Proseminar, open only to philosophy first-years, aims to introduce students to graduate work in philosophy by way of reading and writing about core texts. The spring term Proseminar, open to philosophy first-years as well as to qualified students from outside the department, shares this aim. Each year one Proseminar will address topics in metaphysics and epistemology, and the other will address topics in ethics.

Area and History Requirements

Each student must successfully complete a graduate seminar in each of the following areas: (i) metaphysics and epistemology, (ii) ethics, (iii) philosophy of science. Area requirements (i) and (ii) are typically satisfied by completing the Proseminar sequence. Each student must also complete three graduate seminars in the history of philosophy, including at least one in ancient philosophy and at least one modern/19th century philosophy. No two of these seminars can cover the same historical figure. (For the purposes of this requirement, any philosopher whose major work was mostly completed by the middle of the 20th century counts as historical.)

Course-Number Requirement

Each student must successfully complete at least 12 graduate seminars in philosophy or closely related fields.

Dissertation Requirements

Comprehensive evaluation and examination.

Each student is expected to satisfy the logic requirement and complete 10 graduate seminars, including all but at most one of the seminars needed to satisfy the area and history requirements, By the start of the fifth term, at which point he or she is comprehensively evaluated, first with regard to actual satisfaction of requirements, and then with regard to demonstrated ability and philosophical promise. The materials reviewed include a dossier consisting of three papers submitted by the student for graduate seminars taken while in residence, along with any available instructors’ comments on that work.  Once the comprehensive evaluation takes place, the student proposes a topic for his or her comprehensive examination paper and is assigned a committee to oversee both the writing and the examination of this paper, which should take place by the end of the seventh term. Once the comprehensive examination is passed, the student may form a and submit a prospectus for approval.

Prospectus and Dissertation

The prospectus document is a short (no more than 5 page) description of a proposed dissertation topic. It is normally written by the start of the student's eighth term of residence and under the guidance of a faculty advisor or advisors, in consultation with whom the student assembles a dissertation committee. Such a committee consists of a director and second reader, drawn from the primary faculty of the department. The director and second reader have principal responsibility for supervising the dissertation project. A dissertation committee has at least two other members, one of whom (the outside reader) is not a primary member of the department. At the prospectus meeting, the dissertation committee meets with the student to discuss the project proposed in the prospectus document. Should the committee approve the project, the student’s next task is to write a dissertation under the committee’s direction. The dissertation may not exceed 250 pages (of main text) in length. Upon its completion, the student must pass a final oral exam conducted by the committee.

General Requirements

Teaching requirement.

Each student must teach or TA for at least two different courses offered through the department.

Residence Requirement

The University requires a minimum of 24 courses for the PhD degree. At least 12 of these are needed to satisfy the distribution/course work requirements detailed above; the remainder will typically take the form of repeated registration for PHIL 3000 (dissertation research).

Course Enrollment Requirement

Students are required to maintain full-time status, that is, to be registered for at least three courses during each semester of the regular academic year. During semesters in which a student neither teaches nor pursues dissertation work, he or she must register for at least four courses.

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As a PhD student in the Harvard philosophy program, you’ll have the opportunity to develop your ideas, knowledge, and abilities. You'll work with other doctoral students, our faculty, and visiting scholars, all in a stimulating and supportive environment. The program has strengths across a broad range of topics and areas, so you'll be able to pursue your interests wherever they may lead, especially in moral and political philosophy, aesthetics, epistemology, metaphysics, philosophy of logic, philosophy of language, the history of analytic philosophy, ancient philosophy, Immanuel Kant, and 19th and 20th century European philosophy. 

Incoming cohorts consist of five to eight students per year. You will have substantial access to our renowned faculty and all the resources that Harvard makes available. This relatively small size also gives students a sense of intellectual community.

The curriculum is structured to help you make your way towards a dissertation: graduate-level coursework, a second-year research paper, a prospectus to help you identify a dissertation topic, and then the dissertation itself. Recent dissertations in the department have addressed a broad range of topics: Aristotle, Kant, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau; contemporary moral and political philosophy; metaphysics; epistemology; and logic.

In addition to your research, you will also have the opportunity to develop your teaching skills in many different settings across the University.

You can find graduates of the PhD program in many universities. Recent graduates have gone on to tenure track positions at Yale University, Princeton University, Brown University, Northwestern University, Boston University, University of California, Berkeley, Stanford University, Washington University, and the University of Rochester. Other graduates have gone on to diverse careers in, among others, the arts, law, secondary education, and technology.

In addition to the standard PhD in philosophy, the department offers a PhD in classical philosophy in collaboration with the Department of the Classics and a coordinated JD/PhD program in conjunction with Harvard Law School. The department also offers a track in Indian Philosophy (administered jointly by Philosophy and South East Asian Studies.

Additional information on the graduate program is available from the Department of Philosophy and requirements for the degree are detailed in Policies .

Areas of Study

Philosophy | Classical Philosophy | Indian Philosophy 

For information please consult the Department webpage on the  graduate program overview .

Admissions Requirements

Please review the admissions requirements and other information before applying. You can find degree program specific admissions requirements below and access additional guidance on applying from the Department of Philosophy .

Academic Background

Applicants to the program in Philosophy are required to have a strong undergraduate background in philosophy (or its equivalent), indicating that they have a good grounding in the history of philosophy, as well as familiarity with contemporary work in ethics, epistemology and metaphysics, and logic.

Personal Statement

Standardized tests.

GRE General: Optional GRE Subject: Optional

Writing Sample

A writing sample is required as part of the application and should be between 12 to 30 pages long. The sample must address a substantial philosophical problem, whether it is an evaluation or presentation of an argument, or a serious attempt to interpret a difficult text. The upload of the writing sample should be formatted for 8.5-inch x 11-inch paper, 1-inch margins, with double-spaced text in a common 12-point font, such as Times New Roman.

Applicants seeking admission to the coordinated JD/PhD program must apply to and be separately admitted to Harvard Law School and the Department of Philosophy.

Theses and Dissertations

Theses & Dissertations for Philosophy

See list of Philosophy faculty

APPLICATION DEADLINE

Questions about the program.

PhD Program Requirements

The following is a general overview of Department of Philosophy PhD program requirements. If you read through this webpage and still have questions, feel free to read the complete, definitive set of requirements .

PhD Program Handbook 2024-25

Throughout the entirety of their time in the program, all students will have a faculty advisor who is both responsible for giving them guidance and advice and regularly reporting to the department on their progress through the program. In the week before the official start of their first year, students will attend a mandatory orientation about the formal requirements and informal expectations governing the graduate program. Entering PhD students are assigned a faculty advisor with whom they will meet to discuss their coursework options and subsequently check in with at least once a quarter for their first two years in the program to make sure they are on track and conforming reasonably to program expectations and requirements. Students may opt to change advisors with the consent of the new faculty advisor. During their third year in the program, students will enroll in the Topical Workshop where, under the supervision of the current Director of Graduate Studies, they will be advised as to how best to prepare for their Topical Examination and will begin to meet with the various faculty members who are most likely to serve on their dissertation committee. Once a student has passed their Topical Examination and has an approved dissertation project, the chair of their dissertation committee becomes their primary advisor.

Course Requirements

All first-year PhD students enroll in the two-quarter-long, faculty-led First-Year Seminar. Its purpose is threefold: (1) to lay the groundwork for a philosophical lingua franca among the members of the first-year class, (2) to foster intellectual solidarity among the members of the cohort by stimulating the regular exchange of philosophical ideas among them, and (3) to have students undertake a series of short written assignments that introduce them to philosophical writing at a graduate level.

During their first two years in the program, PhD students are required to complete a variety of graduate-level courses. Such coursework is meant to provide students with the general breadth of knowledge that will serve as the foundation upon which they will carry out the more specialized task of writing a doctoral dissertation.

Starting with students who enrolled in the PhD program in 2022-23, students must enroll in courses for one of two different kinds of credit:

• (Q)uality Credit: To receive a Q-credit for a course, a student must complete all the requirements for the course and be awarded a quality grade (B- or higher).
• (P)ass Credit: The requirements for receiving a P-credit for a course are established by the instructor. At a minimum, a student must register in the class and attend regularly, but they need not be required to submit a paper for the course or do all of the coursework that would be required to assign to that student a quality grade.

This separation of course credits into Q-credits and P-credits is meant to provide students with the flexibility to construct for themselves a course curriculum that allows them to both broaden their horizons by exploring a diverse array of topics that may be of only peripheral interest to them, while, at the same time, affording them adequate time to devote focused attention to those specific courses that most directly support their main lines of research.  

PhD students are required to complete 8 courses for Q-credit, all of which must come from the Department of Philosophy's course offerings. In addition, students must complete 8 courses for P-credit, up to two of which can be awarded for classes offered in other departments (this can include courses in which the student has received either a grade of P or a quality grade of B- or higher). In a typical quarter, a student will enroll in three classes and, at some point during the quarter (the timing is flexible), will choose either one or two of those classes to complete for Q-credit. 

In addition, the courses in which a student enrolls must satisfy certain area distribution requirements. In particular, students are required to take at least one course for Q-credit in each of the following four areas: (I) Contemporary Practical Philosophy; (II) Contemporary Theoretical Philosophy; (III) History of Philosophy: Ancient or Medieval Philosophy; and (IV) History of Philosophy: Modern Philosophy (up to and including the first half of the Twentieth Century). Students must also satisfy a logic requirement, usually by taking a graduate course in logic.

Paper Revision and Publication Workshop

The aim of the Paper Revision and Publication (PRP) Workshop is to provide our graduate students with support and assistance to prepare papers to submit for publication in academic philosophy journals. Preparing papers to submit to journals for review and revising papers in response to the feedback received from journal editors and referees is an essential part of professional academic life, and students applying for academic positions with no publications to their name are at a disadvantage in today’s highly competitive job market. While students are strongly encouraged to continue to seek personalized advice about publishing from their dissertation committee members, the Department of Philosophy has determined that the need exists to  provide its graduate students with more standardized programming, in the form of an annually recurring workshop, that is specifically aimed at supporting their initial efforts to publish in academic journals. The PRP Workshop was designed with the following three aims in mind: (1) to provide students with a basic understanding of the various steps involved in publishing in academic journals and to create a forum in which students can solicit concrete advice from faculty members about the publishing process; (2) to direct and actively encourage students to submit at least one paper to a journal for review on a timeline that would allow accepted submissions to be listed as publications on a student’s CV by the time they go on the academic job market; and (3) to create and foster a departmental culture in which the continued revision of work with the ultimate aim of publication in academic journals is viewed as an essential aspect of the professional training of our graduate students and in which both faculty and students work together to establish more ambitious norms for publishing while in graduate school. 

Topical Workshop

In their third year, students will take a Topical Workshop, which meets regularly in both the Autumn and Winter Quarters, and which is taught by the current Directory of Graduate Studies. In this workshop, students develop, present, and discuss materials that they plan to use in their Topical Examination, such as dissertation project overviews and preliminary chapter drafts.  The main purpose of the Topical Workshop is to help students establish expectations for what will be required for them to advance to candidacy, to advise students on issues such as the overall direction of their research and the composition of the dissertation committee, and to initiate regular conversations between students and the faculty members who are most likely to serve as their dissertation committee chair.  While preparation for the Topical Examination may continue during the Spring Quarter and, if necessary, over the summer, at the conclusion of the Topical Workshop, students should have a clear sense of the subsequent steps that must be taken in order for them to pass their Topical Examination and advance to candidacy in a timely manner.

Foreign Language Study

There is no official foreign language requirement that all PhD students must meet. Nevertheless, many students will want to acquire competence in one or more languages other than English, depending on their area of specialization. Moreover, if it is deemed necessary, a student's dissertation committee may impose upon a student a formal requirement to demonstrate linguistic competence in a foreign language. For example, a student intending to write a thesis on Ancient Greek Philosophy or Hellenistic or Roman Philosophy will likely be required to pass the University's foreign language exam in Greek or Latin, respectively. Therefore, all students should consult with their faculty advisors (or the Director of Graduate Studies) as to which linguistic competencies may be required for their planned course of study. Students are encouraged to discuss language exam procedures and protocols with their advisors.

Topical Examination

During their third year, in connection with the Topical Workshop, students will establish, with their prospective dissertation committee chair, concrete plans for the Topical Examination. Those plans will include: (1) a determination of the faculty members who will serve on the dissertation committee, (2) the expected character of the materials to be submitted by the student on which the Topical Examination will be based, and (3) the expected date of the Topical Examination. Though the details will vary (depending on the subject matter, the state of the research, etc.) and are largely left up to the discretion of the committee, the materials must include a substantial new piece (around 25 double-spaced pages) of written work by the student. This could be a draft of a chapter, an exposition of a central argument, or a detailed abstract (or outline) of the whole dissertation.

The Topical Examination is an oral examination administered by the members of a student's dissertation committee with the aim of evaluating the viability of the proposed dissertation project and the student's ability to execute that project within a reasonable amount of time and at a sufficiently high standard of quality to merit awarding them a PhD. Students will be admitted to PhD candidacy only after they have officially passed their Topical Examination. The Department's normal expectation is that students will have advanced to candidacy by the end of the third week of Winter Quarter of their fourth year.

Required Teaching

The Department of Philosophy views the development of teaching competence as an integral part of its overall PhD program. Different types of teaching opportunities gradually prepare students to teach their own classes. The department also helps train its doctoral students to become excellent teachers of philosophy through individual faculty mentorship and the year-round, discipline-specific pedagogical events offered through (1) the mandatory and optional elements of its non-credit Pedagogy Program and (2) additional events from the Chicago Center for Teaching and Learning on campus . Here is the department’s Pedagogical Training Plan .

As part of their pedagogical training, PhD students are required to teach in the University’s undergraduate program. Normally, during their time in the program, PhD students will serve six times as an instructor—usually five times as a course assistant to a faculty instructor and once as an instructor of a stand-alone “tutorial” course. They usually complete one course assistantship in their third year and two in their fourth year. Students then lead a tutorial in the fifth year. In their sixth year, they teach twice as course assistants in departmental courses. (For further details, see the department’s Pedagogical Training Plan .)

Types of Courses Taught

The first teaching opportunities for doctoral students come in the form of course assistantships. Course assistants work with a faculty instructor, generally for College courses. Specific duties vary depending on the course but usually include holding office hours, leading discussion sections, grading papers and exams, and training in pedagogical methods. The instructor responsible for the course in which a doctoral student serves as an assistant monitors the student’s teaching progress in that course and mentors that student on the art of facilitating productive philosophical discourse and encouraging student participation in the context of their discussion sections. Students will also receive further pedagogical instruction through Chicago Center for Teaching and Learning programs and departmental workshops.

Once a PhD student has gained experience as a teaching assistant, that student is permitted to lead a tutorial. These tutorials allow undergraduate philosophy majors to work intensively on a single topic or text and to improve their oral discussion skills in an intensive discussion-format setting. Each year, graduate students teach stand-alone tutorials on a topic of their choice, typically related to their own research. This affords students an excellent opportunity to hone their ability to teach material drawn from their dissertation. In these cases, the design of the syllabus of the course is developed in consultation with a member of the faculty, who monitors the student's teaching progress over the duration of the stand-alone course and offers counsel and instruction relevant to that student’s work as a solo instructor. Prior to teaching their tutorial, students take the Chicago Center for Teaching and Learning’s syllabus design course.

Building a Teaching Dossier

Over the course of a doctoral student's career, that student together with the department will gather various materials containing the syllabi of the courses that that student has taught, written reports by faculty teaching mentors on that student’s work in those courses, and, last but not least, undergraduate evaluations of those courses. When a PhD student prepares to go on the academic job market, one of that student’s faculty recommendation letters will document and survey the highlights of her teaching career at the University of Chicago.

Pedagogy Program

Dissertation and Defense

Dissertation committees.

Dissertation committees work with PhD students to conceptualize, draft, revise, and publish their dissertation work. Each committee will have at least three members: the chair, a second reader, and a third reader. Two of these members, including the chair, must be departmental faculty members. External committee members (either outside the department or outside the university) are permitted, and may either serve on the committee in addition to the three departmental committee members, or alternatively can serve in place of a departmental faculty member as the second or third reader. For joint-degree students, the requirements of the composition of their committee will be determined by both departments in which the student is enrolled and may differ from the requirements just outlined.

Dissertation committee chairs and other committee members meet regularly with students, on an individual basis, to discuss ideas or drafts of sections or chapters. In addition, the dissertation committee as a whole meets in person at least once yearly (and often more) with the student to discuss the overall argumentative structure of the thesis, chart the intellectual trajectory of the work, and set guidelines for its completion. Writing a dissertation is an arduous process, and departmental faculty provide rigorous feedback to dissertation-phase students in order to keep them on track to graduate with their PhD in a timely fashion.

Forms of Dissertations

The PhD dissertation is the last and most important piece of writing that a doctoral student completes. Historically it has typically taken the form of a sustained argument developed over a number of chapters, running roughly between 150 and 250 pages in length. A variant form which is increasingly popular in philosophy departments in the English-speaking world is the “3- or 4-paper dissertation,” consisting of several interrelated papers developing aspects of, or perspectives on, a single theme.

The overall length and form of a dissertation should be a matter of discussion between the student and their committee. Since the dissertation is a main source for the first publications that a student will produce (either before or after receiving the degree), it is advisable for the dissertation’s chapters to take the form of pieces of work that are suitable to be turned into journal articles, both conceptually and in length (bearing in mind that many journals in the field set length limits of between 8,000 and 12,000 words, with the higher limits more typical in journals in the history of philosophy). Because the dissertation is also the primary document that will establish a student’s expertise in their area of specialization, it is important that, even if a student chooses to write a 3- or 4-paper dissertation, it should be sufficiently unified to substantiate such a claim to expertise.

Dissertation Defense

Students consult with dissertation committee members months in advance about when to schedule their defense. The defense is a public event: along with committee members, other faculty and students, family members, and the general public are welcome to attend. The exam starts with students giving a short, formal presentation about their dissertation: its major claims, intellectual aims, and intervention in the field. Then committee members, faculty, and students ask questions, and a discussion ensues. At the end of the defense, committee members give the student advice about their performance at the defense, improving the project, and publication.

After the defense, students make any necessary revisions and reformat their dissertation before submitting it to the university’s dissertation office. The final granting of the PhD degree is conditional upon the completion of these revisions and the submission of the final revised version of the dissertation to the university.