philosophy phd length

DPhil in Philosophy

• Entry requirements
• Funding and Costs

College preference

• How to Apply

About the course

The Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) in Philosophy is a three- to four-year full-time research programme whereby you undertake a doctoral level research project under the guidance of your supervisor(s). This course is not available in part-time mode of study and is not offered via distance learning.

The primary aim of the faculty’s DPhil in Philosophy is to prepare you for an academic career in philosophy. Each year, the Faculty of Philosophy welcomes students from a range of courses who have already completed substantial graduate work in philosophy. Typically, students who are successfully admitted to the DPhil course have already completed study that is equivalent or nearly equivalent to that required for Oxford’s BPhil in Philosophy course. The faculty’s Graduate Studies Committee recommends progression from Oxford's BPhil in Philosophy to the DPhil course, considering the BPhil offers the opportunity to study a wide range of philosophical topics over two years as well as to focus on a narrower field of research interest (unlike most one-year masters in a specialised subject, as offered elsewhere).

Students may also progress from the faculty's specialised MSt programmes - the MSt in Philosophy of Physics , the MSt in Ancient Philosophy and the MSt in Practical Ethics .

As part of your doctoral research you will produce a substantial 75,000-word thesis. Students proceeding to the DPhil programme via the BPhil will normally write a DPhil thesis which is an expansion of their BPhil thesis and may be able to incorporate the full contents of their 30,000-word BPhil thesis into the 75,000-word DPhil thesis. However, this is not a formal requirement; sometimes the BPhil thesis topic is not suitable for expansion into a DPhil thesis, or you may wish to write your DPhil thesis on a different topic.

You are not required to attend any taught graduate classes as part of your DPhil degree, but you are encouraged to participate in lectures, classes, seminars and other educational opportunities offered throughout the university as relevant to your topic of study. The course has no fieldwork, industrial placement or year abroad element, but you may decide to attend conferences, workshops or research training elsewhere.

You may attend any graduate or undergraduate classes, seminars and lectures in and outside of the Faculty of Philosophy which are of interest to you, provided that those classes, seminars and lectures are open to you.

Each term, many graduate classes and research seminars are organised by faculty members in which graduate students are full and important participants.

Graduates are encouraged to organise their own seminars and reading groups, and they also run two societies: one invites distinguished speakers from the UK and around the world, while the other gives graduates the opportunity to present papers to a graduate audience.

Each year there is an Oxford Graduate Philosophy Conference, in which most graduate philosophy students participate in some way.

The Masters of Letters (MLitt) in Philosophy is awarded on the basis of a thesis of maximum 50,000 words. In practice, applicants are admitted for the MLitt only in exceptional cases, and few students submit a thesis for the MLitt. The MLitt is more often an exit award for DPhil students who fail or withdraw from the DPhil degree but meet the requirements for the MLitt.

Course Outcomes

As a DPhil student, you will research, summarise, present and defend an argument with some of the best scholars in their subject, under the direction of (an) experienced researcher(s), and will extend your skills and experiences.

During the DPhil you will learn new or hone existing intellectual, practical and transferable skills, as follows:

• analyse and clarify an abstract question, grasp and critically compare different approaches to answering it, and develop an approach of your own
• put complex arguments together for and against a position and take them apart
• interpret difficult historical texts produced within a historical context
• construct extensive pieces of writing that provide a clear overview of a subject and a sustained independent argument about it, presented in a lucid, objective and scholarly manner
• demonstrate excellent oral presentation
• have effective time organisation (since you must produce extensive pieces of written work at regular intervals and to tight deadlines)
• sustain intensive work to a deadline over an extended period
• make effective use of libraries, information technology and other sources of information

Supervision

The allocation of graduate supervision for this course is the responsibility of the Faculty of Philosophy and it is not always possible to accommodate the preferences of incoming graduate students to work with a particular member of staff. Under exceptional circumstances a supervisor may be found outside the Faculty of Philosophy.

You should have regular one-to-one tuition sessions with your supervisor(s). These will normally happen twice per term but in some terms, especially at the start of the degree and during the final stages of the thesis, the number of sessions may be increased.

You will normally be assigned one supervisor to start with but towards the end of your course, after you have been awarded confirmation of status, it is usual for you to receive a second, additional supervisor, to offer another view on your work as well as to provide another reference for you if required.

You will initially be enrolled as a Probationary Research Student (PRS), unless you have previously completed the BPhil course at Oxford (see below). Normally in the third term after enrolment onto the DPhil as a PRS student, you are required to complete a transfer of status from PRS to full DPhil student status. Two appointed examiners will interview you on:

• your thesis outline, which explains the intended line of argument or contribution to the subject;
• a piece of written work in the area and philosophical style of the proposed thesis which is typically, though not necessarily, a draft chapter of the thesis.

If you progressed from the MSt in Philosophy of Physics course, you are required to write a 20,000-word thesis during your year as a PRS, as your MSt does not have a thesis element.

Normally at the end of the second year after you enrolled, you will be required to apply for confirmation of your DPhil student status. This application will involve an interview by one or two appointed examiners on:

• your thesis outline, comprising both a reasoned statement of the nature of, and some detail on, the proposed thesis together with a provisional table of contents; and
• a piece of written work intended as a part of the thesis, in final or near-final draft.

If you progress from the BPhil, you will normally enter the DPhil without being required to pass a year as a PRS and as a result you will normally apply for confirmation of DPhil status in the third term after enrolment onto the DPhil and, according to the Examination Regulations at time of publication, you will only have six terms (instead of the usual nine terms) of fee liability  for your DPhil.

The doctoral work culminates in a 75,000-word thesis that is defended orally in front of two appointed examiners ( viva voce ).

Graduate destinations

The DPhil in Philosophy's primary aim is to prepare students for an academic career in philosophy. Most DPhil graduates do indeed secure academic posts, as witnessed by the faculty's placement record .

The faculty provides a  placement scheme to help students seeking jobs within philosophy. Users of the placement scheme may ask their referees to send reference letters directly to the faculty where they will be held on file and sent out to universities or other academic institutions at the student’s request. The placement scheme is normally available to alumni until they have secured a tenured post.

The faculty's Placement Officer helps job applicants with the preparation of their CVs, provides advice about the presentation of material in an application dossier, and arranges practice interviews. The Placement Officer also holds a yearly introductory placement seminar, compulsory to those wishing to make use of the placement scheme. Also, students are invited to give talks based on material they propose to use in their writing samples or job talks, with an opportunity for comment and discussion. 

The faculty also runs an email mailing list for members of the placement scheme, which will be used to pass on job tips and news of vacancies.

The faculty runs a teaching scheme, lecturing scheme and a Graduate Teaching Register with the aim of providing teaching experience for those DPhil students who intend to pursue an academic career. In the case of the teaching scheme and Graduate Teaching Register, you will do a certain amount of teaching and marking under the guidance of a college fellow. If you are accepted into the lecturing scheme, you will be allowed to give an undergraduate lecture course of your own choice and design, consisting of four one-hour lectures.

Changes to this course and your supervision

The University will seek to deliver this course in accordance with the description set out in this course page. However, there may be situations in which it is desirable or necessary for the University to make changes in course provision, either before or after registration. The safety of students, staff and visitors is paramount and major changes to delivery or services may have to be made in circumstances of a pandemic, epidemic or local health emergency. In addition, in certain circumstances, for example due to visa difficulties or because the health needs of students cannot be met, it may be necessary to make adjustments to course requirements for international study.

Where possible your academic supervisor will not change for the duration of your course. However, it may be necessary to assign a new academic supervisor during the course of study or before registration for reasons which might include illness, sabbatical leave, parental leave or change in employment.

For further information please see our page on changes to courses and the provisions of the student contract regarding changes to courses.

Entry requirements for entry in 2024-25

Proven and potential academic excellence.

The requirements described below are specific to this course and apply only in the year of entry that is shown. You can use our interactive tool to help you  evaluate whether your application is likely to be competitive .

Please be aware that any studentships that are linked to this course may have different or additional requirements and you should read any studentship information carefully before applying. 

Degree-level qualifications

As a minimum, applicants should hold or be predicted to achieve the following UK qualifications or their equivalent:

• the BPhil in Philosophy from the University of Oxford with a distinction or near-distinction grade, or an equivalent national or international qualification;  and
• a first-class or strong upper second-class undergraduate degree with honours in philosophy or a closely-related degree which involved substantial engagement with philosophy.

However, entrance is very competitive and most successful applicants have a first-class degree or the equivalent.

For applicants with a degree from the USA, the minimum GPA sought is 3.6 out of 4.0. However, most successful applicants have a GPA of 3.7 or above.

If your degree is not from the UK or another country specified above, visit our International Qualifications page for guidance on the qualifications and grades that would usually be considered to meet the University’s minimum entry requirements.

GRE General Test scores

No Graduate Record Examination (GRE) or GMAT scores are sought.

Other qualifications, evidence of excellence and relevant experience

You are not required to have any publications but these may be an advantage.

Further guidance

Applicants who achieve a distinction in the BPhil in Philosophy , the MSt in Philosophy of Physics , the MSt in Ancient Philosophy or the MSt in Practical Ethics are eligible for progression to the DPhil, provided that the faculty's Graduate Studies Committee is satisfied that their proposed thesis topic and outline indicate that they can be adequately supervised by members of the Philosophy Faculty. Students who pass the BPhil in Philosophy, the MSt in Philosophy of Physics, the MSt in Ancient Philosophy or the MSt in Practical Ethics without a distinction may be admitted to the DPhil at the Committee’s discretion.

All applications are assessed by the faculty's Graduate Studies Committee at the same time, after the application deadline has passed, and offers are made on a strictly comparative basis.

Applicants should not apply with more than one distinct research proposal.

English language proficiency

This course requires proficiency in English at the University's  higher level . If your first language is not English, you may need to provide evidence that you meet this requirement. The minimum scores required to meet the University's higher level are detailed in the table below.

*Previously known as the Cambridge Certificate of Advanced English or Cambridge English: Advanced (CAE) † Previously known as the Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English or Cambridge English: Proficiency (CPE)

Your test must have been taken no more than two years before the start date of your course. Our Application Guide provides  further information about the English language test requirement .

Declaring extenuating circumstances

If your ability to meet the entry requirements has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic (eg you were awarded an unclassified/ungraded degree) or any other exceptional personal circumstance (eg other illness or bereavement), please refer to the guidance on extenuating circumstances in the Application Guide for information about how to declare this so that your application can be considered appropriately.

You will need to register three referees who can give an informed view of your academic ability and suitability for the course. The  How to apply  section of this page provides details of the types of reference that are required in support of your application for this course and how these will be assessed.

Supporting documents

You will be required to supply supporting documents with your application. The  How to apply  section of this page provides details of the supporting documents that are required as part of your application for this course and how these will be assessed.

Performance at interview

Interviews are not normally held as part of the admissions process.

How your application is assessed

Your application will be assessed purely on your proven and potential academic excellence and other entry requirements described under that heading.

References  and  supporting documents  submitted as part of your application, and your performance at interview (if interviews are held) will be considered as part of the assessment process. Whether or not you have secured funding will not be taken into consideration when your application is assessed.

An overview of the shortlisting and selection process is provided below. Our ' After you apply ' pages provide  more information about how applications are assessed . 

Shortlisting and selection

Students are considered for shortlisting and selected for admission without regard to age, disability, gender reassignment, marital or civil partnership status, pregnancy and maternity, race (including colour, nationality and ethnic or national origins), religion or belief (including lack of belief), sex, sexual orientation, as well as other relevant circumstances including parental or caring responsibilities or social background. However, please note the following:

• socio-economic information may be taken into account in the selection of applicants and award of scholarships for courses that are part of  the University’s pilot selection procedure  and for  scholarships aimed at under-represented groups ;
• country of ordinary residence may be taken into account in the awarding of certain scholarships; and
• protected characteristics may be taken into account during shortlisting for interview or the award of scholarships where the University has approved a positive action case under the Equality Act 2010.

Processing your data for shortlisting and selection

Information about  processing special category data for the purposes of positive action  and  using your data to assess your eligibility for funding , can be found in our Postgraduate Applicant Privacy Policy.

Admissions panels and assessors

All recommendations to admit a student involve the judgement of at least two members of the academic staff with relevant experience and expertise, and must also be approved by the Director of Graduate Studies or Admissions Committee (or equivalent within the department).

Admissions panels or committees will always include at least one member of academic staff who has undertaken appropriate training.

Other factors governing whether places can be offered

The following factors will also govern whether candidates can be offered places:

• the ability of the University to provide the appropriate supervision for your studies, as outlined under the 'Supervision' heading in the  About  section of this page;
• the ability of the University to provide appropriate support for your studies (eg through the provision of facilities, resources, teaching and/or research opportunities); and
• minimum and maximum limits to the numbers of students who may be admitted to the University's taught and research programmes.

Offer conditions for successful applications

If you receive an offer of a place at Oxford, your offer will outline any conditions that you need to satisfy and any actions you need to take, together with any associated deadlines. These may include academic conditions, such as achieving a specific final grade in your current degree course. These conditions will usually depend on your individual academic circumstances and may vary between applicants. Our ' After you apply ' pages provide more information about offers and conditions . 

In addition to any academic conditions which are set, you will also be required to meet the following requirements:

Financial Declaration

If you are offered a place, you will be required to complete a  Financial Declaration  in order to meet your financial condition of admission.

Disclosure of criminal convictions

In accordance with the University’s obligations towards students and staff, we will ask you to declare any  relevant, unspent criminal convictions  before you can take up a place at Oxford.

Oxford is one of the world’s great centres for philosophy, and is widely recognised to be amongst the best. In the most recent Philosophical Gourmet Report (2021-22) Oxford University’s Faculty of Philosophy was once again ranked top in the list of Philosophy Faculties in the United Kingdom and still ranked second in the overall ranking of philosophy faculties in the English speaking world. More than 150 professional philosophers work in the University and its colleges, between them covering a vast range of subjects within philosophy, and many are international leaders in their fields. 

Many philosophy subjects at Oxford are ranked highly in the most recent Philosophical Gourmet Report’s breakdown of programmes by speciality (2020-21) , including metaphysics, epistemology, philosophical logic, philosophy of language, applied ethics, metaethics and moral psychology, normative ethics, political philosophy, philosophy of law, philosophy of art, philosophy of physics, decision & rational choice, & game theory, ancient philosophy, 18th century early modern philosophy and 20th century continental philosophy.

The Philosophy Centre in the Radcliffe Humanities building on Woodstock Road acts as a focal point for the faculty’s activities and contains, as well as lecturing and teaching space, a graduate study room and a graduate common room. A wireless network runs throughout the Philosophy Centre.

The Philosophy Centre also contains the department's library, with over 25,000 volumes, a collection of approximately 80 periodicals, online access to many philosophical databases, and librarians trained in the specific bibliographic needs of philosophers. Many college libraries also have extensive holdings in philosophy.

The faculty runs a teaching scheme, lecturing scheme and a Graduate Teaching Register with the aim of providing teaching experience for those DPhil students who intend to pursue an academic career. In the case of the teaching scheme and Graduate Teaching Register, you will do a certain amount of teaching and marking under the guidance of a college fellow. If you are accepted into the lecturing scheme, you will be allowed to give an undergraduate lecture course of your own choice and design, consisting of four one-hour lectures. 

Over 150 Oxford academics are employed by or associated with the Faculty of Philosophy, making it one of the largest philosophy departments worldwide. 

The Faculty of Philosophy is widely recognised to be amongst the best philosophy departments in the world, ranked first in the UK and second in the English-speaking world by the most recent  Philosophical Gourmet Report  (2021-22). 

The faculty offers a wide range of graduate classes, seminars and supervisions, providing you with high-quality tuition in philosophy. This includes its flagship course, the  BPhil in Philosophy , which we believe provides the perfect graduate level training for further studies to doctoral level and is usually studied as the first two years of a four- to five-year doctoral program.

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The University expects to be able to offer over 1,000 full or partial graduate scholarships across the collegiate University in 2024-25. You will be automatically considered for the majority of Oxford scholarships , if you fulfil the eligibility criteria and submit your graduate application by the relevant December or January deadline. Most scholarships are awarded on the basis of academic merit and/or potential. 

For further details about searching for funding as a graduate student visit our dedicated Funding pages, which contain information about how to apply for Oxford scholarships requiring an additional application, details of external funding, loan schemes and other funding sources.

Please ensure that you visit individual college websites for details of any college-specific funding opportunities using the links provided on our college pages or below:

Please note that not all the colleges listed above may accept students on this course. For details of those which do, please refer to the College preference section of this page.

Further information about funding opportunities  for this course can be found on the faculty's website.

Annual fees for entry in 2024-25

Further details about fee status eligibility can be found on the fee status webpage.

Information about course fees

Course fees are payable each year, for the duration of your fee liability (your fee liability is the length of time for which you are required to pay course fees). For courses lasting longer than one year, please be aware that fees will usually increase annually. For details, please see our guidance on changes to fees and charges .

Course fees cover your teaching as well as other academic services and facilities provided to support your studies. Unless specified in the additional information section below, course fees do not cover your accommodation, residential costs or other living costs. They also don’t cover any additional costs and charges that are outlined in the additional information below.

Continuation charges

Following the period of fee liability , you may also be required to pay a University continuation charge and a college continuation charge. The University and college continuation charges are shown on the Continuation charges page.

Where can I find further information about fees?

The Fees and Funding  section of this website provides further information about course fees , including information about fee status and eligibility  and your length of fee liability .

Additional information

The Philosophy Graduate Studies Committee has a research and travel fund for graduate students to which students may apply for assistance with, for example, the costs of attending conferences or workshops. BPhil and MSt students may only apply for funding if they are presenting a paper. Probationary Research Students and DPhil students are entitled to apply for funding to attend a workshop, conference, etc, whether or not they are presenting a paper.

There are no compulsory elements of this course that entail additional costs beyond fees (or, after fee liability ends, continuation charges) and living costs. However, please note that, depending on your choice of research topic and the research required to complete it, you may incur additional expenses, such as travel expenses, research expenses, and field trips. You will need to meet these additional costs, although you may be able to apply for small grants from your department and/or college to help you cover some of these expenses.

Living costs

In addition to your course fees, you will need to ensure that you have adequate funds to support your living costs for the duration of your course.

For the 2024-25 academic year, the range of likely living costs for full-time study is between c. £1,345 and £1,955 for each month spent in Oxford. Full information, including a breakdown of likely living costs in Oxford for items such as food, accommodation and study costs, is available on our living costs page. The current economic climate and high national rate of inflation make it very hard to estimate potential changes to the cost of living over the next few years. When planning your finances for any future years of study in Oxford beyond 2024-25, it is suggested that you allow for potential increases in living expenses of around 5% each year – although this rate may vary depending on the national economic situation. UK inflationary increases will be kept under review and this page updated.

Students enrolled on this course will belong to both a department/faculty and a college. Please note that ‘college’ and ‘colleges’ refers to all 43 of the University’s colleges, including those designated as societies and permanent private halls (PPHs). 

If you apply for a place on this course you will have the option to express a preference for one of the colleges listed below, or you can ask us to find a college for you. Before deciding, we suggest that you read our brief  introduction to the college system at Oxford  and our  advice about expressing a college preference . For some courses, the department may have provided some additional advice below to help you decide.

The following colleges accept students on the DPhil in Philosophy:

• Balliol College
• Blackfriars
• Brasenose College
• Campion Hall
• Christ Church
• Corpus Christi College
• Exeter College
• Harris Manchester College
• Hertford College
• Jesus College
• Keble College
• Kellogg College
• Lady Margaret Hall
• Linacre College
• Lincoln College
• Magdalen College
• Mansfield College
• Merton College
• New College
• Oriel College
• Pembroke College
• The Queen's College
• Regent's Park College
• Reuben College
• St Anne's College
• St Catherine's College
• St Cross College
• St Edmund Hall
• St Hilda's College
• St Hugh's College
• St John's College
• St Peter's College
• Somerville College
• Trinity College
• University College
• Wadham College
• Wolfson College
• Worcester College
• Wycliffe Hall

Before you apply

Our  guide to getting started  provides general advice on how to prepare for and start your application. You can use our interactive tool to help you  evaluate whether your application is likely to be competitive .

If it's important for you to have your application considered under a particular deadline – eg under a December or January deadline in order to be considered for Oxford scholarships – we recommend that you aim to complete and submit your application at least two weeks in advance . Check the deadlines on this page and the  information about deadlines  in our Application Guide.

Application fee waivers

An application fee of £75 is payable per course application. Application fee waivers are available for the following applicants who meet the eligibility criteria:

• applicants from low-income countries;
• refugees and displaced persons; 
• UK applicants from low-income backgrounds; and 
• applicants who applied for our Graduate Access Programmes in the past two years and met the eligibility criteria.

You are encouraged to  check whether you're eligible for an application fee waiver  before you apply.

Readmission for current Oxford graduate taught students

If you're currently studying for an Oxford graduate taught course and apply to this course with no break in your studies, you may be eligible to apply to this course as a readmission applicant. The application fee will be waived for an eligible application of this type. Check whether you're eligible to apply for readmission .

Do I need to contact anyone before I apply?

Before you apply, you should identify an academic member of staff who is willing to supervise you and has the resources to support your proposed research project. There is no need to contact prospective supervisors directly; details of academic staff, including their research interests and contact details, can be found on the department's website.

Please note that it can never be guaranteed that your proposed supervisor will be assigned to you, even if you receive prior informal approval from that supervisor.

Completing your application

You should refer to the information below when completing the application form, paying attention to the specific requirements for the supporting documents .

For this course, the application form will include questions that collect information that would usually be included in a CV/résumé. You should not upload a separate document. If a separate CV/résumé is uploaded, it will be removed from your application .

If any document does not meet the specification, including the stipulated word count, your application may be considered incomplete and not assessed by the academic department. Expand each section to show further details.

Proposed field and title of research project

Under the 'Field and title of research project' please enter your proposed field or area of research if this is known. If the department has advertised a specific research project that you would like to be considered for, please enter the project title here instead.

You should not use this field to type out a full research proposal. You will be able to upload your research supporting materials separately if they are required (as described below).

Proposed supervisor

If known, under 'Proposed supervisor name' enter the name of the academic(s) who you would like to supervise your research. Otherwise, leave this field blank.

Referees Three overall, academic preferred

Whilst you must register three referees, the department may start the assessment of your application if two of the three references are submitted by the course deadline and your application is otherwise complete. Please note that you may still be required to ensure your third referee supplies a reference for consideration.

Three academic references are usually required. However, if you have been out of education for a long time, or if you have substantial relevant working experience, then a maximum of one professional reference may replace an academic reference, provided that it speaks to your ability to undertake philosophy studies at graduate level.

Your references should support outstanding academic achievement, great intellectual ability, strong motivation, and independence of thought.

Official transcript(s)

Your transcripts should give detailed information of the individual grades received in your university-level qualifications to date. You should only upload official documents issued by your institution and any transcript not in English should be accompanied by a certified translation.

More information about the transcript requirement is available in the Application Guide.

Personal statement and research proposal: Statement of a maximum of 500 words and a proposal of a maximum of 2,000 words

Your statement of purpose/personal statement and research proposal should be submitted as a single, combined document with clear subheadings. Please ensure that the word counts for each section are clearly visible in the document.

Personal statement

You should also submit a personal statement explaining your motivation for applying for graduate study at Oxford. Your statement should focus on philosophy, rather than personal, extra-curricular achievements and interests. In your statement, you may wish to consider the following questions:

• why are you applying to this particular programme of study?
• what relevant academic and/or research experience do you have?
• which areas of study within the subject interest you?
• why would you be an excellent candidate for this course?
• how does this course fit in with your future career plans?

Your personal statement should be written in English and be a maximum of 500 words.

If possible, please ensure that the word count is clearly displayed on the document.

Your personal statement will be assessed for evidence of motivation for and understanding of the proposed area of study.

Research proposal

Your research proposal should comprise a detailed outline of your proposed research, covering areas such as the background to the research, methodology, expected results and the contribution to the field of learning. You may wish to make reference to your academic achievements, interests and aspirations and the relevance of the course to your future career development plans.

Your research proposal should be written in English and be a maximum of 2,000 words. The word count does not need to include any bibliography or brief footnotes.

Your research proposal will be assessed for:

• coherence 
• originality 
• evidence of motivation for and understanding of the proposed area of study
• ability to present a reasoned case in English
• feasibility of successfully completing the project in the time available for the course (normally three years and a maximum of four years)
• commitment to the subject
• knowledge of research techniques
• capacity for sustained and intense work
• reasoning ability
• ability to absorb new ideas, often presented abstractly, at a rapid pace.

It will be normal for your ideas subsequently to change in some ways as you investigate the evidence and develop your project, but you should nevertheless make the best effort you can to demonstrate the extent of your research question, sources and method at the time of your application.

Written work: One essay of 4,000 to a maximum of 5,000 words

You should submit an academic essay on a subject related to your proposed research topic. 

The essay should be typed or word-processed in English and must be clearly marked with your name and the date of composition. The word count does not need to include the end bibliography. Footnotes and in-text referencing are included.

This will be assessed for:

• clarity and accuracy of thought and writing
• intellectual independence
• willingness and ability to reach conclusions by reasoned argument rather than assertion
• a critical and attentive reading of any texts discussed
• understanding of important philosophical ideas and theories
• if required by the topic of the work, appropriate technical skills.

Start or continue your application

You can start or return to an application using the relevant link below. As you complete the form, please  refer to the requirements above  and  consult our Application Guide for advice . You'll find the answers to most common queries in our FAQs.

Application Guide   Apply

ADMISSION STATUS

Closed to applications for entry in 2024-25

Register to be notified via email when the next application cycle opens (for entry in 2025-26)

12:00 midday UK time on:

Friday 5 January 2024 Latest deadline for most Oxford scholarships Final application deadline for entry in 2024-25

*Three-year average (applications for entry in 2021-22 to 2023-24)

Further information and enquiries

This course is offered by the Faculty of Philosophy

• Course page  and FAQs on the faculty's website
• Funding information from the faculty
• Academic and research staff
• Faculty research
• Humanities Division
• Residence requirements for full-time courses

Course-related enquiries

Advice about contacting the department can be found in the How to apply section of this page

✉ [email protected] ☎ +44 (0)1865 276930

Application-process enquiries

See the application guide

Other courses to consider

You may also wish to consider applying to other courses that are similar or related to this course:

View related courses

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Program Overview

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

PhD in Philosophy

Graduate advising.

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

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

Preliminary Requirement

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

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

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

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

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

Distribution Requirement

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

The units are to be distributed as follows:

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

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

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

Logic Requirement

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

Second-Year Paper

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Third Year

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Prospectus and Topical Examination

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

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

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

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

Financial Support, Travel and Research Funding, and Teaching

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dissertation and Dissertation Defense

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

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

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

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

PhD in Classical Philosophy

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

Language requirements:

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

PhD in Indian Philosophy

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

Language Requirements:

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

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

JD/PhD in Philosophy and Law

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

The Master of Arts (AM) in Philosophy

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

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

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

Secondary Field in Philosophy

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

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

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

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

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

Orange Alert

Ph.d. in philosophy.

Syracuse University offers programs leading to the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in philosophy. Studies in the Ph.D. Program are designed to prepare students to make original contributions in philosophy and to teach at the college or university level. Studies in the M.A. Program are designed to enhance a student's understanding and expertise in some aspects of philosophy.

The curriculum of the department provides opportunities for concentrations in metaphysics, epistemology, the philosophy of language, the philosophy of mind, ethics, political philosophy, and the history of philosophy. Considerable curricular resources, both within the philosophy department and in related departments, also provide for concentrations in which religion, psychology, law, continental philosophy and language and linguistics are the focus of philosophical interest. The degree programs reflect the view that proper graduate education in philosophy includes both the study of the history of philosophy and the examination of current philosophical issues.

Application deadline January 1 to be considered for funding; late applications considered until March 1.

Do not send application materials to the department, send all materials to the Graduate School (Admissions) directly .

The application fee is $75

The advance tuition deposit is $500.

In addition to completing the application, the following are also required:

• Transcripts from previous institutions
• Three (3) letters of recommendation
• Personal Statement
• TOEFL scores (for applicants whose first language is not English)
• Writing Sample (Please see instructions below)

***Note on GRE scores: We will no longer accept GRE scores as part of the application, and will not consider them even if you submit them."

INSTRUCTIONS FOR PREPARING WRITING SAMPLES

Writing samples must be prepared in a way that facilitates our evaluating them via anonymous review. Please ensure that your writing sample satisfies the following criteria:

• The first page of the writing sample should include the title of the paper, the name of the author of the paper, and the institutional affiliation of the author.
• The second page of the writing sample should include only the title of the paper.
• No other page in the writing sample should include the name of the author, the institution of the author, or any acknowledgements or thanks to named individuals. (If the author of the paper feels it is important to include acknowledgements, these can be included on the first page of the paper.)

Tuition is currently $1,500/credit hour. However, teaching assistants and University Fellows receive grants for their full tuition. In most cases we do not recommend that students enroll in our Ph.D. program without a teaching assistantship or fellowship. Syracuse University's financial support for doctoral students includes tuition scholarships, teaching assistantships in philosophy (and occasionally in other departments), and University Fellowships.

In 2021/2022, University Fellows will receive awards of $16,485.00 (M.A.), and $25,290.00 (Ph.D.). Beginning Teaching Assistants receive stipends of $22,104.00, are eligible to participate in the University's group health plan, and receive a discount at the University Bookstore. Current salaries for Teaching Associates are $23,398.00. All of our teaching assistants and University Fellows receive grants for their full tuition. All graduate students receive some basic health services from the Syracuse University Health Center. Please see the Human Resources website for further information on Employee Benefits.

The Department strongly encourages graduate student participation in professional conferences, and some travel funds are provided to graduate students to make such activity possible. (Here is a list of Recurring Philosophy Conferences .) The Department is usually able to provide small summer research grants to a few graduate students. Special funds normally make it possible to offer a colloquium featuring a speaker selected by the graduate students.

A total of 63 credits of graduate work are required for the Ph.D. in Philosophy. Of these, 18 credits must be devoted to a doctoral dissertation which is a book-length work of scholarly research and 45 credits (15 3-credit courses) must be devoted to coursework, as specified below. Students receiving continued funding from the department in the form of an assistantship or fellowship are expected to complete their coursework within 3 years. For students entering with prior graduate work, up to 6 credits of coursework may be transferred at the discretion of the Director of Graduate Studies. See below for how to transfer credits.

Transfer Credits

If you have any credit not undertaken as a matriculated graduate student at Syracuse University that you would like to have considered towards your Syracuse University degree, this must be approved by the department and the Graduate School. You are encouraged to submit requests for transfer credit as early as possible so that you may plan your studies accordingly. This includes the following kinds of credit:

• Graduate coursework taken as an undergraduate at Syracuse University;
• Coursework taken at Syracuse University before you were admitted to your graduate degree program (as a non-matriculated student); and
• Coursework taken at another institution.

There are limits to the number of credits you may transfer depending upon your program of study and other factors. A maximum of 30% of credits counted toward a master’s degree at Syracuse University may be transferred from another institution (section 4.5.3), provided they form an integral part of the degree program and at least 50 percent of a doctoral student’s planned coursework (exclusive of dissertation) must be in courses offering “residence credit” at Syracuse University (see section 4.3). This rule does not apply to degree programs that are offered jointly with another university.

All coursework considered for transfer must:

Clearly be graduate level work;

• Grades achieved must be the equivalent of B or better;
• Comply with all time limitations; and
• A letter grade must have been awarded (No transfer credit will be awarded for courses taken on a pass/fail basis).
• You are advised to consult the Regulations directly and consult your advisor regarding your specific situation.

To request transfer credit, submit a Petition to the Faculty form to your academic unit and the Graduate Enrollment Management Center. This request must come with a Program of Study, which places this coursework in context, and an official transcript.

The Graduate Enrollment Management Center will consider your transfer credit only with departmental endorsement and recommendations specifying which courses are to be transferred and the number of credit hours to be granted toward degree requirements.

• Application for transfer credit should be filed within the first twelve credits of graduate study at Syracuse University.
• Transfer credit must be listed on the Program of Study (future_degreeprograms.html) along with Syracuse University coursework that will count towards your degree program.
• Additional documents, such as a Petition to the Faculty, may be required to count transfer credit toward your degree program. Official transcripts and documents must be filed with the Graduate School.

Required proseminars : The following three writing-intensive proseminars must be taken in the first three semesters. There will be a minimum grade requirement of B; students may retake a course at most once; incompletes will be awarded only in the event of a genuine emergency . One proseminar may be waived at the discretion of the Director of Graduate Studies based on prior graduate work. Each proseminar will focus on at least two major philosophical problems and will require students to read at least three major philosophers. Each proseminar will require several (5-6) short papers, and one longer paper which is revised by the student at least once following peer- and faculty-review.

• PHI 617: Proseminar: History of Philosophy
• PHI 693: Proseminar: Ethics and Political Philosophy
• PHI 687: Proseminar: Language, Epistemology, Mind, and Metaphysics

PHI 651: Logic and Language (must be taken in the first year)

Selected additional courses : Eleven additional 3-credit courses or seminars. At least 6 must be numbered 700 or higher. No more than two independent study courses may be included. These must include at least one course in each of the following three area: (1) history of philosophy, (2) ethics and political philosophy, (3) language, epistemology, mind, and metaphysics. Prior graduate work may count toward this distributional requirement at the discretion of the Director of Graduate Studies.

Papers : Each student will write one "special paper" by August 15 of the summer before the third year. This paper will be developed in consultation with a member of the faculty (chosen by the student) and approved by a committee of three faculty members chosen by the Director of Graduate Studies. Students may rewrite and resubmit papers that are not approved. Approval of a special paper before August 15 of the summer before the fourth year is required to maintain good standing in the program. It is also required in order to become ABD and have a dissertation clarification.

Full-Time Certification : When you have completed your course requirements, and you are in ABD status, you need to register for GRD 998 every semester. Also, you need to complete a Full-Time Certification form as well to keep your status as a full-time graduate student in the Department.

Dissertation

Supervisor Just before completion of pre-dissertation requirements (the course requirements and the papers), typically near the end of the third year, the student should meet with the Director of Graduate Studies to discuss dissertation plans. The Director, in consultation with the student, will appoint a dissertation supervisor. In some cases, two faculty may jointly supervise a dissertation.

At that time, the student and the supervisor should identify the topic of the dissertation (e.g., "Skepticism", "Emotions", "Free Will", "Consciousness"), and compile a reading list of the most important literature in that topic. At this time the supervisor can also suggest that the student begin work developing any additional "tools" that may be required for research in that topic.

Clarification When all pre-dissertation requirements have been completed, when the supervisor feels that the student's proposal is adequately developed, and when the supervisor feels that the student has done adequate background reading, the Director of Graduate Studies will appoint a committee of at least three faculty members for the Dissertation Clarification. The student will provide the members of the clarification committee with a proposal for a dissertation, including a bibliography of the major works that the student expects to cite in the dissertation. The committee will meet with the student to discuss the proposal, perhaps suggesting amendments and additional relevant literature. The committee may then accept the proposal, as amended by this discussion, or the committee may request a new written proposal and another clarification meeting.

Supervisory committee This committee is comprised of three faculty members who supervise your dissertation after you have clarified. You are expected to regularly share your work with each member. At the end of each semester, each member of the supervisory committee must write a report on your progress. The Director of Graduate Studies will collect these and review them with your principal supervisor.

Tools requirement There is no general program-wide foreign language requirement. However, a student's clarification committee has the authority to require some degree of competence to use one or more tools of research: perhaps one or more relevant foreign languages (e.g., if the student is writing a historical dissertation), some mathematics (e.g., statistics, if the student is writing about inductive logic), and so on. The dissertation supervisor will decide whether any requirements the clarification committee imposes have been satisfied.

Defense When the supervisor judges that the dissertation is complete, he or she will approve it for defense. A defense committee consists of six people: (1) an external chair from another department at Syracuse University; (2) the dissertation advisor; (3) four additional philosophy faculty. One of the additional faculty members may be a philosopher at another institution, but this is not required. It is the responsibility of the DGS (in consultation with the student and the advisor) to ensure that the committee is populated.

Graduate School regulations and deadlines govern the preparation of the dissertation and the scheduling of the defense. It is important to work closely with the Director of Graduate Studies and appropriate representatives of the Graduate School in preparing the dissertation and scheduling the defense. These consultations need to begin several months before the expected graduation date.

Graduate School Guidelines for Theses and Dissertations .

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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, philosophy of logic, philosophy of language, the history of analytic philosophy, ancient philosophy, Immanuel Kant, and Ludwig Wittgenstein. In addition, students can pursue joint degrees with classics, Harvard Law School, and in Indian 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. Past 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. Some of our students have gone on to faculty positions at Yale University, Princeton University, Brown University, and Stanford University. Other graduates have gone on to diverse careers in, among others, the arts, the 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.

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 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 solid undergraduate background in philosophy, 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.

Standardized Tests

GRE General: 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 & Dissertations

Theses & Dissertations for Philosophy

See list of Philosophy faculty

APPLICATION DEADLINE

Questions about the program.

The Graduate Program in Philosophy

Graduate Degree

Stanford's graduate program in Philosophy is by any measure among the world's best. We attract  excellent students , we provide them ample access to  leading scholars  for instruction and advice, and we turn out accomplished philosophers ready to compete for the best jobs in a very tight job market. We offer both MA and PhD degrees.

Doctoral Program

Masters Program

Our  graduate students  are part of a vigorous philosophical community.

Our tradition is to treat and regard our graduate students as much like colleagues as like students. Faculty and graduate students participate in workshops, in reading groups, in colloquium discussions and in nearly all department life on an equal basis. The Department covers the cost of graduate student participation in lunches and dinners with visiting speakers. Our graduate students participate in the running of the department. Two graduate students serve as representatives at department meetings, a graduate student serves on the Graduate Studies Committee, and graduate students also serve on faculty hiring committees. Graduate students are essential to our efforts to recruit new graduate students each year.

Graduate students have a lively society of their own, the Hume Society that is responsible for a range of both intellectual and social events.

Graduate students take a mixture of courses and seminars both in our department in other departments. They also regularly take directed reading courses or independent study courses when special needs are not met by scheduled courses or when students are working directly on their dissertations.

Our  calendar  is packed with a range of philosophical events. We have a regular  Colloquia series  with visiting speakers on Friday afternoons. Our Colloquia are followed by receptions for the speakers hosted by the graduate students followed by dinner with the speaker. In addition to the regular colloquia series, every year we host the  Immanuel Kant Lectures . Our graduate students, along with other local graduate students,  organize the  Berkeley/Stanford/Davis Conference  where every year graduate students have the opportunity to present papers to an even larger philosophical community.

Many more informal reading and research groups,  including the Social Ethics and Normative Theory Workshop, the Global Justice and Political Theory Workshop, and the  Logical Methods in the Humanities Workshop , existing within the department and the university and are able to invite speakers from all across the world.

The affiliated  Center for Ethics in Society  hosts many different events including the annual lectures such as   Tanner Lectures in Human Values , the   Wesson Lectures on democratic theory and practice , and the  Arrow Lecture Series on Ethics and Leadership , in addition to a vast range of other  conferences, lectures and workshops  on ethics and political philosophy.

The  Center for the Explanation of Consciousness  (CEC) is a research initiative at  Center for Study of Language and Information  which is devoted to studying materialistic explanations of consciousness. The CEC hosts talks and symposia from a variety of viewpoints exploring the nature of conscious experience. They also sponsor reading groups during the term, led by faculty and graduate students.

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.

William H. Miller III Department of Philosophy

• PhD Admissions

• Requirements
• Financial Aid
• BA/MA Admissions
• Graduate Courses
• Job Placement
• Miller Prize
• Student Organizations

While an undergraduate major in philosophy is good preparation for graduate study in the department, applications are welcomed from students with other majors whose interests are now turning toward philosophy.

To apply, please read the information below and on the Graduate Admissions website , and complete the application online.

If applying to more than one department, please send complete application materials for each department. All application documents must be provided in English (either the original or translations of the original documents). If you are unable to secure translations to English, we recommend that you contact World Education Services .

All application materials and supporting documents should be uploaded through the online application; these include:

• Online application
• Application fee
• Statement of Purpose (briefly state your area of interest at the beginning of your Statement of Purpose; upload through the online application)
• Letters of recommendation (at least three): Letters of recommendation should be submitted and uploaded electronically following the instructions in the online application.
• Transcripts: Unofficial transcripts must be uploaded through the online application. Applications will be ready for review with unofficial transcripts, but official transcripts will be required if an offer of admission is made
• GRE (optional)
• TOEFL or IELTS score (for international applicants)
• Sample of work (the sample should reflect the applicant’s area of interest, and generally does not have to be more than 20 pages in length).

Application Deadline

The deadline for applications is 15 December. Some finalists will be contacted for short Zoom meetings prior to a decision being made. Decisions on admitted and wait-listed students will be made by the first week of February.

For questions or inquiries about the online application and supporting documents, contact the Graduate Admissions office. You may also contact Michelle Brock, the academic program coordinator for the philosophy department, at [email protected]   or 410-516-7524.

Department of Philosophy

Philosophy program description, i. general program description:.

Student Body, Facilities, Combined Programs, Mentoring and Advising, Admissions, and Financial Aid.

II. DEGREE REQUIREMENTS

A. Course Work 

B. Teaching 

C. Logic Requirement

D. Skills Requirement 

E. Qualifying Papers 

F. Prospectus  

G. Admission to Candidacy

H. Dissertation 

I. M.A., M.Phil. Degrees

I. general program description.

The department aims, first, at developing the philosophical capacities and interests of each student, and, second, at offering a diverse program of instruction dealing with philosophers and philosophical issues both historically and in terms of the logic of arguments. Attention is also given to the bearing of philosophical ideas within other disciplines.

Student Body

There are approximately 35  students in the PhD degree program every year.  Students in years 1-3 are doing coursework and preparing to be admitted to candidacy. Students in year 4+ have been admitted to candidacy and are working on their dissertations.

In addition to the holdings of Sterling Memorial Library, there is one room devoted solely to philosophy books and journals.  

In the philosophy department building, we have TF offices, graduate students study room, and the department lounge.

Combined Programs

The department has two combined PhD programs, one with classics and one with psychology. Students wishing to pursue a combined program should refer to the descriptions of these programs at Classics and Philosophy Combined PhD Program and Philosophy and Psychology Combined PhD program .

Mentoring and Advising

The Director of Graduate Studies serves as official advisor to all graduate students. In addition, students in the first two years have a faculty mentor, and later a dissertation committee.

Incoming graduate students are assigned a faculty mentor. The faculty mentor meets with the student at the beginning of each semester to discuss course selection, and at other times as requested. At the end of the fourth semester, the faculty mentor meets with the student to give recommendations about which of the term papers might be turned into qualifying papers.

At the beginning of the fifth semester graduate students choose a dissertation committee. The committee normally consists of a main advisor and two readers. The composition of the committee can be changed any time before the dissertation defense. Main advisors are expected to meet with their advisees regularly and at least once every month. Every year at the end of the spring semester the entire dissertation committee meets with the graduate student.

During the registration period of each semester, students should consult with their mentors or advisors to plan their courses and/or discuss their programs. 

The department considers applications by all qualified applicants who will have completed undergraduate training before matriculation. Admission is not restricted to students who have concentrated on philosophy. No particular language background is required. All evidence of analytical and conceptual skill is relevant and weighed.  A writing sample of approximately 15-25 pages is required.

Financial Aid

Students are normally given six years of full support – tuition, plus stipend, plus health care. One year of support is a dissertation fellowship available to every graduate student in good standing; it may be taken in either the 5th or the 6th year. The others are two non-teaching fellowship years, which must be taken in the first and second years, and three teaching fellowship years. In past years, the stipends have increased every year for both incoming and current students.

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A. Course Work

A total of 12 term courses must be completed in two years (except a work-in-progress seminar which may be during a third year).  The 12 courses must include the First Year Seminar (Phil 705) and a Formal Method course.   Graduate courses are grouped into

(1)   metaphysics, theory of knowledge, philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, philosophy of science, philosophy of logic, philosophy of mathematics

(2)   ethics, aesthetics, philosophy of religion, political philosophy, philosophy of law, theory of value

(3)   history of philosophy

No more than six of the twelve and no fewer than two courses may be taken in each group. Neither the First Year Seminar nor a Formal Method course counts towards the required minimum of two within any of the three categories.  All of these 12 courses should be letter-graded.

When submitting their teaching preferences to the Curriculum Committee, instructors of 500-700 level classes declare what course work requirement the proposed class could satisfy. Instructors convey this information to graduate students before the students sign up for these courses. If a course can satisfy multiple requirements students indicate to the instructor which one they intend to satisfy. The course work is evaluated accordingly and the information whether the instructor   considers the work as fulfilling the requirement is conveyed to the DGS. (Students are advised to consult with the instructor as to how best to frame their paper(s) in view of the requirement they intend to fulfill.) Students can request subsequent reclassification of the course; the decision will be based on re-assessment of the written work by the instructor and the DGS.

From time to time a graduate student may want to take an intermediate undergraduate course when there is no available graduate-level alternative. Approval by the instructor of the course is required. Normally this will involve additional work.

We have a work-in-progress seminar where students present their work-in-progress (for qualifying papers, chapters of the thesis, or other possible publications) and discuss other students’ work.  This seminar is letter-graded. 

If a student wants to take a graduate course not cross-listed in philosophy to count toward fulfillment of the course requirements, the student will need the permission of the Director of Graduate Studies.

Co-authored seminar papers are permitted at the discretion and prior approval of the relevant Instructor. Full disclosure to all co-authors of the use of shared work for evaluation is required.

Every graduate student in residence in the philosophy Ph.D. program who has not been advanced to candidacy must be enrolled in at least one course in each semester of residence. When the 12-course requirement has been met, the student usually enrolls for the course “CAND 999.”

The Graduate School requires that a student have at least two “Honors” grades in the total record. The department requires that these two grades be in courses given by two different instructors and not in tutorials.

Due Dates for Course Work

Course work should be completed by the end of the semester. The department and the Graduate School due date for fall-term grades is January 2nd, and for spring-term grades, June 1st.

Instructors have the responsibility for assigning dates for submission of course work to meet these grade deadlines. If a student and instructor have agreed that an extension is appropriate, the student must submit a request for the Temporary Incomplete (TI) with the intended completion date, signed by the instructor and the Director of Graduate Studies. The instructor will indicate the mark of TI on the grade sheet, which is to be submitted to the Office of the Registrar by the appropriate grade submission deadline. Only one TI for courses taken in a single term is permitted.  If papers are not submitted by September 1 of the following academic year, a TI will be converted to a permanent Incomplete (I) on the student’s record.

Credit for Course Work Done Elsewhere

In recognition of previous graduate-level work completed after receipt of  the bachelor’s or bachelor’s-equivalent degree at Yale or elsewhere,  the Director of Graduate Studies may recommend waiving a maximum of  two courses of the requirement (including a formal method course) .  This request must be made by the end of the first year at Yale. Graduate students must take at least one class in each of the three categories listed in the Yale Philosophy department. Credit for course work done elsewhere does not reduce the tuition or residency requirement of the Graduate School. Whether a waiver is granted is ultimately decided by the Graduate School. The course waiver must be requested before the student is registered for their second year of classes.

A student may take tutorials with faculty affiliated with the Philosophy Department and count towards the 12 course requirements.  These tutorials should be letter-graded and the maximum number of tutorials which fulfill a course requirement is two.

B. Teaching

Every student is required to have teaching experience in at least two different areas. The areas are to be understood as noted above under “Course Work,” except that logic is considered a fourth area. Teaching assistantships will be determined by the Teaching Fellow Committee consisting of the Chair, the Director of Graduate Studies, the Director of Undergraduate Studies and a graduate student member of the Committee, in consultation with the instructor, whose preferences are given great weight in the deliberation. Students are not eligible for assistantships unless they are in good standing and are proceeding satisfactorily towards the degree. Most students have assistantships in their third and fourth years. Teaching assistantships are part of the fellowship package, thus fellowship holders will have first claim to TF openings. TF appointments must be approved by the Graduate School and by Yale College.

C. Formal Methods Requirement

At least one of the twelve courses taken must be in logic or, with permission, other formal methods, and this course does not count towards the required minimum of two within any of the three categories. All graduate students may fulfill this requirement by taking a graduate-level course in logic (e.g. PHIL 567, PHIL 627). When a student’s research involves a different formal method (e.g. probability theory, game theory, statistics), the student can petition the DGS for permission to fulfill the requirement by taking a course in this other method.

D. Skills Requirement

Before the dissertation defense students must take at least one class that is not listed in Philosophy on a subject that is relevant to their research. The class should be selected in consultation with the committee and must be approved by the Director of Graduate Studies. This requirement cannot be waved for work done before starting the PhD program, and is not part of the regular 12 course requirement.  The skills requirement cannot be fulfilled earlier than the fifth semester.

E. Qualifying Papers

Two qualifying papers written in English must be submitted, one in history, the other in another distribution area.  One qualifying paper would normally be submitted at the end of the fourth semester, the other at the beginning of the fifth semester. By the end of the fifth semester both qualifying papers should be deemed to have fulfilled the requirement. Two qualifying papers should be submitted before the prospectus. Qualifying papers should be no more than 30 pages or 9000 words long. They usually originate in course work done during the first two years; but the reworked papers should be more substantial and professional than an ordinary term paper.  At the end of the term, instructors will give a written indication whether in their judgment the term paper is suitable for development into a qualifying paper.  

In special circumstances, at the discretion of the DGS, one co-authored Qualifying Paper may be permitted. Such permission will be granted only when the student can show how their proposed pair of Qualifying Papers speaks to the general program requirement to demonstrate across the pair of papers qualifying-level work by the candidate in both historical and systematic philosophical work.

The process of evaluation for qualifying papers is as follows:

• At least ten weeks prior to the submission due date, each student submits to the Director of Graduate Studies a paper they hope to develop as a qualifying paper. They also identify a faculty member they wish to see as a reader. If the submitted paper is a term paper students are encouraged (but not required) to pick as reader the person for whom it was written.
• The Director of Graduate Studies identifies a second reader and sends the paper to both readers for initial evaluation.
• Each faculty reader decides, within two weeks, whether they are willing to evaluate the paper and whether they deem it suitable for development into a qualifying paper. If the answer to either question is negative the Director of Graduate Studies will approach a new reader. This process continues until two willing readers are found unless the Director of Graduate Studies decides (based on negative feedback) to halt it. In the latter case, the Director of Graduate Studies informs the student that the paper is not admissible as a qualifying paper and invites the student to submit a different paper. In the former case, the Director of Graduate Studies informs the student who the readers will be. Each reader writes up their recommendations for revisions. The readers share their recommendations with each other and, except in the event of inconsistent recommendations, with the student. If the recommendations are inconsistent, the Director of Graduate Studies will facilitate achieving consistency. The timeline for this part of the process is ordinarily four weeks.” 
• Based on the recommendations, the student revises the paper and submits it within the existing program deadlines for qualifying papers.
• Upon submission, the paper is evaluated by the same two readers as to whether the paper successfully addressed the recommendations for improvement and the paper deemed to have fulfilled the requirement in the event that it does. The Director of Graduate Studies informs the student about the outcome.

F. Prospectus

At the end of the fourth semester graduate students should find a faculty member who will work with them in the fifth semester to help identify a thesis topic and work toward preparing a dissertation prospectus. After submitting two qualifying papers, a student is required to take a prospectus tutorial. The grading for the prospectus tutorial is pass/fail. The tutorial covers material that is essential for the prospectus, and must result in some form of written work which will be shared with the prospective dissertation committee.

At the beginning of the sixth term the committee meets to discuss the written work prepared during the prospectus tutorial. At some point during the sixth semester, a student must submit a dissertation prospectus to his/her dissertation committee. An oral examination of the prospectus will be arranged by the student in consultation with the dissertation committee and the Director of Graduate Studies. If the prospectus needs to be revised, the revised version, approved by the dissertation committee, is submitted to the Director of Graduate Studies.

The prospectus should take the form of a clear statement concerning the central subject of the dissertation, the specific problems or issues to be addressed and their importance, the approach the dissertation intends to take, and the literature or other materials to be used.  The function of the prospectus, not being the outline or the summary of the dissertation, is to focus as clearly as possible, for both student and dissertation committee, on the content and scope of the research he or she plans to carry out. In preparing a prospectus, students are encouraged to keep in mind that it will serve as a guide to the committee in deciding (1) whether the topic is manageable within the prescribed limits; (2) whether the necessary materials are available; and (3) whether any specific background, such as some knowledge of another field, foreign language, etc., is required for the successful completion of the project.

Prospectuses will obviously vary, depending on the topic, but the final version should be between 15 and 20 pages (i.e. 4,500 – 6,000 words), without the bibliography.  In addition to this, an advisor may require the following: an essay that should demonstrate the ability to put forth his/her own arguments on the issue.  Even though it does not have to be conclusive, the student should indicate some of the main arguments of the thesis.  In this case, it can be more or less a chapter of the thesis. 

Final approval of the prospectus by the committee may be understood as a kind of contract committing the student to the pursuit of the specified topic and the department to the acceptance of that topic (not the dissertation!) as a legitimate area of inquiry. Since all research is an open-ended affair, it is understood that should a dissertation develop along lines that differ significantly from the original prospectus, the (possibly changed) dissertation committee may request a new prospectus.

It is expected that the prospectus will be approved by the end of the student’s third year. The Graduate School requires that the prospectus be approved not less than six months before the student intends to submit the dissertation. 

G. Admission To Candidacy

A student is admitted to candidacy after successful completion of all pre-dissertation requirements including approval of the prospectus. In order to register for a seventh term, a student must have been admitted to candidacy. After being admitted to candidacy, a student needs to enroll “DISR 999” every semester.

H. Dissertation

Candidates should expect to complete their dissertations within 6 years of entering the program.

Registered doctoral candidates must have a principal adviser with an appointment on the Graduate School faculty. The Graduate School requires that each dissertation be read by at least three people but not more than five, at least two of whom hold faculty appointments in the Graduate School. All readers must hold the Ph.D. degree as well as a faculty position or be considered otherwise qualified to evaluate the dissertation

It is recommended that the dissertation not exceed 75,000 words.

Dissertations that rely on joint work must include in their Preface a detailed description of which parts of the thesis are the result of joint work and what the candidate’s contribution was to the joint work. The primary advisor must verify the description in a message sent to all readers of the dissertation. We leave it to the readers to factor this information into their judgment about the merit of the dissertation.

No dissertation should be submitted to the Graduate School until a PDF copy has been seen by the dissertation committee. (See Submission Procedures for Dissertation available from the Graduate School Registrar’s Office. This document also includes format instructions for dissertations). An oral defense of the thesis is required.

M.A. The M.A. is awarded to students in the Ph.D. program after completion of seven term courses with an average grade of High Pass.

M.Phil. Upon completion of all pre-dissertation requirements, including the prospectus, students are admitted to candidacy for the Ph.D. program, which must take place by the end of the third year of study.  After they are admitted to candidacy students will be awarded a M.Phil.

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Doctor of Philosophy

The PhD programs advance scientific discovery by training and supporting students doing in-depth research that solves the world’s biggest public health challenges. At the forefront of efforts to benefit the health of people worldwide, the School offers students the opportunity to join in shaping new ideas in public health and implementing them effectively. PhD students benefit from collaborations across public health disciplines and a broad range of academic fields through connections with other Harvard faculties.

All PhD students conduct research through a dissertation, in addition to other avenues of discovery. All PhD programs at Harvard University are administered by the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS), and applications are processed through the GSAS online application system . Choose from one of four PhD programs offered collaboratively between Harvard Chan School and GSAS.

• Abbreviation : PhD
• Degree format : On campus  
• Time commitment : Full-time  
• Average program length : Varies between 4 to 7 years based on program

When applying to the PhD, applicants must choose one of the following specialized fields of study. Eligibility requirements vary by program and field of study.  

• Biological Sciences in Public Health
• Biostatistics
• Health Policy
• Environmental health
• Epidemiology
• Global health and population
• Social and behavioral sciences

Career outcomes vary based on field of study and research, but in general, PhD graduates will be prepared for a career in academia, health policy, government agencies, consulting, the pharmaceutical or biomedical industry, and generally improving lives through qualitative and quantitative research.

Admission information

Like all PhD (doctor of philosophy) programs at the School—and the University—the PhD in health policy is offered under the aegis of the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS). Applications are processed through the GSAS online application system located at gsas.harvard.edu/admissions/apply .

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 .

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.

Graduate Program

Admissions Review Considering COVID-19 Disruptions

As part of the Sage School of Philosophy's ongoing practice of performing individualized, holistic review of each applicant to the graduate program, the graduate admissions committee takes into account the significant disruptions and challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Applicants are invited to provide, as part of their application, an account of their individual experiences during the pandemic to provide context to inform the application review process.

OVERVIEW OF THE GRADUATE PROGRAM

The Ph.D. program is completed on average in six and one-half years. Accordingly, students in the program are typically guaranteed full financial support for six and one-half years. The Sage School does not offer a terminal master's degree.

Coursework: Students are normally expected to complete 12 courses covering a broad range of philosophical subfields. To meet this expectation, students enroll for credit in at least three courses per semester for the four semesters constituting their first two years in the program.     

Fifth-semester tutorial and A exam: Students spend the third year preparing for the A exam, an oral exam based on the student's formal dissertation prospectus and work preparatory for writing the dissertation. Students spend the first semester of the third year (their fifth semester overall) pursuing an individualized tutorial with relevant faculty. The fifth-semester tutorial is the mechanism by which students identify a dissertation area and begin the research necessary for articulating, focusing, and launching a dissertation project.

After completion of the 5th semester tutorial, the Special Committee and student determine when to schedule the A-Exam (whether in the 6th semester or in the summer prior to the 7th semester) and notify the DGS (Director of Graduate Studies) of their plan by the start of the 6th semester.  The Graduate School must receive notice of the exam's scheduled date by May 1, or by the beginning of the last month of the sixth semester.   The A-Exam must be attempted before the start of the 7th semester.

Sage Fellowship funding in the following ("dissertation") year depends on passing the A-Exam. 

Year 4 and beyond

Dissertation and B exam: Students spend their fourth year and beyond writing the dissertation. The B exam is the oral defense of the completed dissertation.

Students who have successfully passed the A exam as required by the Grad School are eligible to teach a First-Year Writing Seminar (FWS), for which they must take Writing 7100: Teaching First-Year Writing with the John S. Knight Institute in the summer prior to teaching or concurrently while teaching an FWS.

The Ph.D. is awarded on successful completion of the B exam and the submission of the completed dissertation.      

There are no formal academic obligations during summers. The typical funding package provides summer stipends for up to six summers (for more information see FUNDING). This summer funding is intended to free students to pursue their academic work or research. Supplemental funding is usually available to support summer language study or other specialized coursework.      

Special Committee

Each student has a special committee of advisors, consisting of at least three members of the graduate faculty. The committee offers general academic advising, approves the student's course selections and helps the student develop a plan of study that will provide the background needed for research and teaching in philosophy. The special committee is charged with recommending the residence credit to be awarded at the end of each semester and administering the A exam and B exam. Students may change the composition of their special committee and are encouraged to do so as their interests and dissertation plans develop.

Guidelines and Requirements

The following is a list of the guidelines and requirements for the Ph.D. in Philosophy. (The Sage School does not offer a terminal M.A. in Philosophy.)  Coursework requirements are established by the student's special committee, in light of the student's preparation and plans.  What follows are guidelines that will help the student and special committee in formulating a set of required courses.  These guidelines for planning constitute a set of general expectations for a typical student, and may be set aside at the discretion of the special committee. 

• Six registration units. One registration unit corresponds to the satisfactory completion of one academic semester of full-time study and research. 
• History of Philosophy
• Metaphysics and Epistemology
• Ethics and Social and Political Philosophy
• Logic or Mathematical Methods  
• Sage Seminar. In their first semester in the program, first-year students participate in a proseminar (the Sage Seminar), which provides an introduction to selected central issues in metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of language.  
• Fifth-semester tutorial. During the fifth semester, students find and begin work on a suitable dissertation topic. Students select a faculty member in the field of philosophy to supervise their research and meet regularly with him/her to gauge progress.   
• Admission to Ph.D. candidacy (A exam). This oral examination is ideally taken in the sixth semester of residence. It covers the student's dissertation prospectus and relevant literature.   
• Teaching experience. All students are required to serve as a Teaching Assistant (TA) during some of their time in the program.   
• Dissertation. The dissertation must embody the results of original research in a substantial treatment of a single issue or connected set of issues.   
• Final examination for Ph.D. candidates (B exam). This is an oral defense of a student’s dissertation work given in front of the student’s special committee.

(A student's special committee may also impose additional requirements: for example, languages or courses in related fields necessary for research in the student's area of specialization.)

Coursework Guidelines

Students are expected to complete twelve graduate-level courses distributed as specified in the following four categories:

History of Philosophy   

Students are expected to take at least three courses in the history of philosophy, of which:

• at least one must focus on some major figure(s) in ancient western philosophy,
• at least one must focus on some major figure(s) in modern western philosophy through the 19th century, and
• the remaining course may cover any figure(s) in the history of western or non-western philosophy through the 20th century. 

(Normally, graduate-level Philosophy courses with a second digit of 2 count as history courses.)  

Proseminar in the History of Philosophy:

An annual forum for engaging with current research in the history of philosophy through a variety of presentations by visiting scholars, Cornell faculty, and advanced graduate students. The Proseminar is open to all faculty, graduate students and invited advanced undergraduates working in any area of history of philosophy

Each meeting involves a presentation of a current paper or research project by a different speaker. Students in the course are expected to engage in critical discussion of the work presented and in reflection of the practices and methodologies exemplified in that work. Advanced graduate students in the course are expected to present work of their own. Exposure to a variety of scholars and their work and the opportunity for explicit reflection on scholarly practices will enable students to develop and refine their own research in history of philosophy.

Metaphysics and Epistemology     

Students are expected to do work in at least two areas in this category. This category is construed as including Metaphysics, Epistemology, Philosophy of Science, Art, Mathematics, Language, Mind, and Religion. (Normally graduate-level courses with a second digit of 5, 6, 7, or 8 [in the four-digit course number] satisfy this guideline.)     

Ethics and Social and Political Philosophy     

Students are expected to do work in at least one area in this category. (Normally graduate-level courses with a second digit of 4 [in the four-digit course number] satisfy this guideline.) 

Logic or Mathematical Methods

Graduate students in Philosophy can fulfill this guideline in two ways.

• Demonstrating understanding of classical 1st-order logic (of at least the Boolean connectives, universal and existential quantification), including understanding of deduction, basic model theoretic concepts and facts, soundness, and the completeness of a formalization of at least classical 0th-order logic.
• Demonstrating competence with some of the mathematical concepts, methods, theories and logics that play a role in the philosophical literature, e.g. basic set theory, semantic theory, intensional logics, probability, decision theory, game theory and social choice theory.

Logic or Mathematical Methods Prerequisite: Students will be allowed to take graduate-level courses in logic only if either (1) the logic committee has agreed that they have done previous work equivalent to the content of PHIL 2310, or (2) they have successfully completed 2310, (3) they have learned the material covered in 2310 and have taken the preliminary and final examinations (in take-home form) for 2310 or (4) they have special permission from the logic committee. The faculty members who teach PHIL 2310 will set and administer the relevant examinations. Students who choose option (2) may not count 2310 as one of the 12 required courses. Students are expected to complete this logic/mathematical methods prerequisite by the beginning of their third term in residence.

Graduate work done elsewhere     

Students may request credit for graduate-level work completed elsewhere. Such credit is limited to two residence units (i.e., two semesters of full-time course work). Credit for work done elsewhere is not granted automatically, and no decision about whether to grant such credit is made until a student has completed at least one semester of graduate study at Cornell. In some cases the decision is deferred until the end of  the first year of graduate study at Cornell.

Teaching experience is required for the Ph.D. in the Sage School, and graduate students normally receive part of their funding package in the form of teaching assistantships. Sage School teaching assistants typically assist a professor in a lower-level undergraduate course, lead one discussion section per week for about 25 students, and are responsible for grading the work of those 25 students (a commitment of approximately 15 hours per week on average over the course of the academic year).       

Advanced graduate students typically have the opportunity to teach their own course on a philosophical topic of their own choosing in Cornell's  First-Year Writing Seminar Program . First-year writing seminars enroll a maximum of 17 students and emphasize the development of writing skills within the context of discipline-specific subject matter. Graduate students often find teaching first-year writing seminars especially rewarding.

In addition to establishing English-language proficiency at the time of their application, international students must pass a test administered by ITAP (International Teaching Assistant Program) at Cornell prior to receiving a TA-ship in the 2nd year. Typically these tests are taken in the 1st year or immediately preceding their initial arrival at Cornell.

Link to ITAP information

The Sage School typically provides full support for all of its graduate students for six and one-half years. Full support includes:

• Full tuition in the Graduate School
• A living stipend for the academic year
• A summer fellowship (for six summers)
• Student health insurance

Fellowships

Typically two of the academic years — the first year and one other year (normally the fourth) — are non-teaching fellowship years. During fellowship years, students are freed from other obligations so that they may focus exclusively on their coursework or research. Students may use the second of their two fellowship years to pursue training or research-related activities elsewhere. 

Teaching Assistantships

Support for the remaining years typically comes in the form of teaching assistantships. (For more information, including required English language competency, see section on TEACHING .)

Equal, Secure, and Non-competitive Financial Support

All students receive essentially the same financial support package guaranteeing full support for six and one-half years (contingent on satisfactory academic performance and satisfactory performance in any required teaching). Students in the program do not compete for ongoing funding.

Additional Support

After 14 semesters, the Graduate School requires students to petition for an extension, and funding beyond the fourteenth semester is typically not possible.

Additional support for specific purposes such as summer language study, travel to participate in conferences and research-related expenses is often available through at least the sixth year of study.

All students are urged to seek any outside support for which they are eligible.

Admissions Process

The Sage School admissions process is conducted once a year, January-March, for admission in the fall of the following academic year.

Application Deadline

January 6 for fall admission in that year. (The fall semester begins at the end of August.)

Application Materials

The following  materials must be submitted online via the Cornell University Graduate School  online application system :

• Biographical information
• Academic information (including unofficial transcripts)
• More information on English language requirements and exceptions here
• Recommender information
• Three to five letters of recommendation; a total of five letters of recommendation will be accepted (submit all online), but only three are required*
• Financial support information (if required)
• Statement of Purpose
• Writing sample in philosophy (typically 15 but no more than 30 pages long)
• A fee waiver request is available directly within the application itself, on the payment page

*All letters should be submitted online.  Contact the Sage School at [email protected]  if this is not possible. 

Notification of Application Status

Application status and receipt of transcripts and letters are reported via the online application; if anything is lacking during admissions, the Sage School will reach out for the information.

Admissions Notification

Notification of admissions decisions will be made by email on or before March 15th.

Frequently Asked Questions

View the FAQ page

Application fee waivers are available for qualified persons.  The waiver application is part of the online admissions system.  How to apply for a Cornell Graduate School application fee waiver

Applicants can write to [email protected] for additional information.

Admissions Criteria

The Sage School admissions process is highly selective. We receive approximately 200-250 applications each year for approximately five places in our program. As a result, we look for students with outstanding potential for graduate work in philosophy. In our admissions process, we give considerable and roughly equal weight to three parts of an applicant's file:

• Academic record
• Letters of recommendation
• Writing sample 

The applicant's personal statement is also given some weight in the process.  

We use no particular numerical criteria (no minimum grade point average, for example), and we neither require GRE scores nor give them any significant weight when they are provided to us. We try to identify candidates with very strong general academic backgrounds and special skill or talent for philosophy in particular.   

Academic Record

We look for a strong general undergraduate record and very strong indication of philosophical ability. The latter is often (but not always) demonstrated by a record of achievement in philosophy courses. We normally expect applicants to have a background in philosophy at least the equivalent of what a Cornell undergraduate philosophy major would have. Many of our applicants come from Master's degree programs or have done some other sort of graduate work before applying to Cornell.

Letters of Recommendation

We require three letters of recommendation, and will accept as many as five. It is best if they are written by people who know the applicant well and can provide some concrete and detailed assessment of his or her work. At least one should be from a philosopher or philosophy instructor; it is better if two are (but an additional letter from a philosophy teacher who is not well acquainted with the applicant may be less helpful than a letter from a non-philosopher who does know him or her well).

Writing Sample

We look for a substantial, polished piece of writing that shows the applicant's philosophical abilities and skills. Typically, term-paper length (about 15 pages) is appropriate. Writing samples longer than 30 pages are unlikely to be read in their entirety. Something written for an upper-level philosophy course is generally appropriate.       

Personal Statement

We look for some insight into a person's general intellectual character and interests as well as some indication of how the person's abilities and interests fit with our program. We are particularly interested in candidates for whom our resources are especially well suited and who bring something interesting to our intellectual community.

One of the aims of the graduate program in the Sage School is to help students compete favorably in the academic job market. Each year a member of the faculty serves as placement director, whose role it is to oversee and guide students through the process of looking for jobs in philosophy. Among other things, the placement director assists each candidate with the preparation of their application dossier (writing sample, research statement, teaching dossier, CV, etc.), coordinates the gathering of letters of reference, invites guest speakers to provide advice about particular sectors of the job market, organizes practice interviews and job talks, and is there to offer guidance and support through the job market process.

The placement director for academic year 2023-2024 is Professor Nico Silins .

The Cornell Graduate School also provides assistance and seminars to help those who want to pursue careers outside of academia.  Non-academic placements of our graduates have included healthcare, investing, biotechnology, and actuarial science.

Click here for details , including a table with initial and current placements of our recent graduates.

For more information, email the department or Professor Silins.

Department Workshops

Friday workshops & work-in-process ("wip") workshops:.

Click here to view a listing of department workshops which were held in 2022-2023.

The listing for 2023-2024 workshops will be published soon.

Graduate Handbook

The Graduate Program in Philosophy Handbook contains a wealth of information about our graduate program. (Last updated:  July 2023)

Grad Minor in Philosophy for Other Fields

A graduate student in a field other than Philosophy may pursue a graduate minor in Philosophy. Students pursuing the graduate minor must have a faculty member in the field of Philosophy as their minor advisor. (This advisor would thereby become a minor member of the student’s special committee.) To complete the minor, the student must develop a significant competence in relevant areas of philosophy.  Normally, to meet this objective, students will select, in consultation with their minor advisor, and successfully complete at least four courses with PHIL numbers at the 5XXX-level or above that do not have a second-digit 9. Depending on the student’s philosophy background, a student's minor advisor, in consultation with the Philosophy Director of Graduate Studies (DGS), may recommend some deviation from this norm. Students hoping to pursue a graduate minor in philosophy who have little background in the field should consult with a prospective minor advisor before registering for their first philosophy course.

How to Choose the Best Philosophy Ph.D. Program

Factors to Consider

• Philosophical Theories & Ideas
• Major Philosophers

• Ph.D., Philosophy, Columbia University
• M.A., Philosophy, Columbia University
• B.A., Philosophy, University of Florence, Italy

Choosing a philosophy  program can be extremely difficult. In the U.S. alone, there are over 100 well-established schools granting graduate degrees (M.A., M.Phil., or Ph.D.) in philosophy. Needless to say, Canada, the U.K., Australia, France, Spain, Holland, Belgium, Germany, and several other countries have advanced degree programs that are well-regarded, too. How should you decide which program is best for you?

Length of the Degree and Financial Aid

One of the most important factors to consider when choosing an academic program is the length. When it comes to Ph.D. programs, U.S. departments typically require a longer period of study (between roughly four and seven years) and usually offer multi-year financial aid packages . Other countries have different systems, and in the U.K., France, Germany, and Spain, it is more common to find three-year Ph.D. programs, some of which offer financial aid.

The financial aid aspect can be a decisive factor for many students. Fresh graduates of philosophy Ph.D. programs can expect to face more challenges in the job market than graduates of law school and medical school programs. Even for graduates fortunate enough to obtain an academic job after completing their degree, it can be difficult to pay off thousands of dollars in loans. For this reason, it is not recommended to begin an advanced degree in philosophy without first securing proper financial aid.

Placement Record

Another important characteristic of an advanced degree program is its placement record. What sorts of jobs have the graduates from the program secured over the last few years? The placement record can be an important indicator for prospective students.

Keep in mind that placement records can improve or weaken on the basis of changes in the reputation of the faculty members of the department and, to a smaller degree, of the institution. For instance, the philosophy departments at  New York University  and  Rutgers University  significantly transformed their reputations since the early 2000s, and in 2017 their graduates were among the most sought-after on the market.

It is, however, important to choose a program that suits the interests of the prospective student. In some cases, a relatively less-known program may actually be a student's best choice. For instance, for someone interested in phenomenology and religion, the  University of Louvain  in Belgium offers an excellent program.  Ohio State University  offers a top-notch program for students interested in the philosophy of mathematics. Because Ph.D. programs take years to complete and require a great investment on the part of the student, it is important to find a school where the student can engage intellectually with other students and faculty on the subjects that most interest them. That may be, in some cases, a prestigious name-brand school. It may also be a smaller school that happens to be less prestigious.

Enrolling in a Ph.D. program often requires relocating—to a new country, a new city, a new neighborhood. Before making this drastic change, students should consider the location of the school and ask themselves whether they believe they can thrive in that environment. A sleepy college town may be the perfect study-zone for some students. Others may be more comfortable in a crowded city.

Prestigious Departments

Which schools have the most prestigious philosophy departments? It depends on how you measure prestige. Programs are always changing, and star faculty sometimes move from one program to another. Nevertheless, there are a number of schools that are known for the strength of their philosophy programs. They include Harvard University, Princeton University, the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, University of Pittsburgh, M.I.T., University of Pennsylvania, U.C.L.A., Stanford University, U.C. Berkeley, Columbia University and the University of Chicago.

Department Rankings

For more detailed information about how different schools compete, students can consult department rankings. The most influential ranking is probably the Philosophical Gourmet Report , edited by Professor Brian Leiter of the University of Chicago. The report, based on the evaluations of 300 faculty members, also contains a number of useful additional resources for prospective students.

More recently, the Pluralist’s Guide to Philosophy Graduate Programs  has offered an alternative perspective on the strength of various philosophy departments. This guide focuses on a number of research areas that are not as prominent in Leiter's report.

Another ranking that deserves some attention is the Hartmann Report , edited by graduate student John Hartmann .

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University of Pennsylvania Philosophy

Application Overview

Please note, all required supporting documents are to be submitted through the online application system. Hard copy materials, other than official transcripts, will not be accepted. The application deadline for Philosophy’s doctoral program is December 15th . No applications received after the 15th will be accepted or reviewed by the graduate committee.   If you have questions about admissions and requirements that are not answered here, we encourage you to contact our Graduate Coordinator, Kate Stoler, at  [email protected] .   Application materials checklist Applications must contain all of the following to be considered complete:

• Completed online application
• An academic curriculum vitae summarizing your academic background.
• Nonrefundable $90 application fee  (McNair Scholars may fill out this  form  for a fee waiver)
• Personal statement (details below)
• Transcripts uploaded to the application
• Three letters of recommendation (details below)
• Writing Sample (details below)
• Language Test Scores (international candidates only)

After a complete application is received and reviewed, candidates under serious consideration may be invited to interview with a member of the Admissions Committee on campus or remotely.    Personal statement In the personal statement, all Ph.D. applications within the Graduate Division of Arts & Sciences should address the following:   Please describe how your background and academic experiences have influenced your decision to pursue a graduate degree and led you to apply to Penn. Your essay should detail your specific research interests and intellectual goals within your chosen field. Please provide information about your educational trajectory, intellectual curiosity and academic ambitions. If you have overcome adversity and/or experienced limited access to resources or opportunities in your field of study, please feel free to share how that has affected the course of your education. We are interested in your lived experiences and how your particular perspective might contribute to the inclusive and dynamic learning community that Penn values and strives to create.   In addtion, please describe your interest in Penn's philosophy doctoral program. In your statement, be sure to include:

• your interests and goals in philosophy
• relevant training for the degree
• how Penn fits into your stated interests and goals

The length of your personal statement should not exceed two double-spaced pages.   Transcripts You must submit academic transcript(s) from all previous academic work undertaken. Screenshots or PDFs of unofficial transcripts may be submitted at the application stage. Official transcripts will be requested if you are offered and accept admission to the program.   Letters of recommendation Each applicant must submit at least three letters of recommendation but may submit up to five. Letters should come from individuals in a position to evaluate your professional and/or academic work, such as a supervisor or professor, and who know of your desire to enter the philosophy doctoral program. Recommendations must be submitted online. Please follow the instructions in the Recommendations section of the online application.   **Please note, the application system no longer accepts Letters of Recommendation from Interfolio . If you are using Interfolio, you may submit your Recommendations directly to the graduate coordinator ( [email protected] ).   Standardized test scores Please note, GRE scores are not required by the philosophy department for admission in the doctoral program and will not be considered if they are sent.   Writing Sample Your application must include a writing sample for which you are the primary or sole author. The writing sample may not exceed 30 pages.   Language Test Scores (international candidates only) Applicants who are not US citizens or do not have English as the first language must submit  language test scores . TOEFL & IELTS scores are accepted and these tests must be taken within two years of the application.   If you have completed a degree in higher education from an institution in which the medium language of instruction is English, we are able to waive the TOEFL/ IELTS requirement. Please contact Kate Stoler ( [email protected] ) after your application has been compiled, including submission of your academic transcripts, to activate the English Language Test waiver   Ready to start your Penn journey?   Apply HERE    Questions? If you have questions about admissions and requirements that are not answered here, we encourage you to read our FAQs page . If you have visited the FAQ page and still have questions, you may contact the  Graduate Coordinator .    Please note, the best way to contact the department about questions is by email. To be fair to all applicants who have submitted information requests, phone calls will not be answered or returned. Emails will be answered in the order they are received.  During peak admissions season, it may take up to a week for faculty or staff to respond to email . Please be patient while we work to assist everyone with their admissions needs. 

Philosophy MPhil/PhD

London, Bloomsbury

The Philosophy MPhil/PhD at UCL provides a route for students to produce a thesis of original research under the guidance of their supervisor(s) at a department with a world-leading research reputation.

UK tuition fees (2024/25)

Overseas tuition fees (2024/25), programme starts, applications accepted.

• Entry requirements

The usual prerequisite for the MPhil/PhD is a one-year research degree in Philosophy or an overseas qualification of an equivalent standard. Direct admission to the PhD requires the MPhil Stud (or equivalent). All applicants for research degrees must submit two short pieces of work, of about 2,000 words each, with their application.

The English language level for this programme is: Level 2

UCL Pre-Master's and Pre-sessional English courses are for international students who are aiming to study for a postgraduate degree at UCL. The courses will develop your academic English and academic skills required to succeed at postgraduate level.

Further information can be found on our English language requirements page.

Equivalent qualifications

Country-specific information, including details of when UCL representatives are visiting your part of the world, can be obtained from the International Students website .

International applicants can find out the equivalent qualification for their country by selecting from the list below. Please note that the equivalency will correspond to the broad UK degree classification stated on this page (e.g. upper second-class). Where a specific overall percentage is required in the UK qualification, the international equivalency will be higher than that stated below. Please contact Graduate Admissions should you require further advice.

About this degree

In REF 2021 our research activity was assessed as among the best in the country: 60% of our activity was assessed as world-leading (4*). The department has a lively and flourishing postgraduate community, and advanced research students are offered opportunities to gain teaching experience. We enjoy collaborative connections with other London universities, as well as the nearby Royal Institute of Philosophy, the Aristotelian Society, and the University of London Institute of Philosophy.

Who this course is for

The PhD in Philosophy is for applicants who have completed a period of postgraduate training that included a large research component and are now seeking to develop an advanced critical analysis in a specific area of Philosophy. Please view the areas we can support in terms of supervision for more details.

What this course will give you

The doctoral programme at UCL provides students with the opportunity to conduct original research in philosophy in one of the UK's top philosophy departments, under the supervision of prominent academics in the field. The PhD programme is designed to prepare students for an academic career, whether it be via the MPhil/PhD or the PhD following on from the MPhil Stud (or equivalent), by ensuring that students receive grounding across a range of topics as well as producing a research thesis.

The foundation of your career

The department has an outstanding job placement record in a highly competitive academic market. The most successful candidates in this market are valued for their range of teaching competence, provided by the taught elements of the MPhil/PhD programme, as well as for their particular area of specialisation, determined by the research topic of their doctoral thesis. During the course of the programme, students receive training in presentation skills, interview practice and teaching methods, and are encouraged to present their research at the department's Work in Progress seminars, and at graduate and academic conferences in the UK and overseas.

Employability

Recent graduates with a PhD in Philosophy from UCL have gained prestigious academic fellowships, as well as postdoctoral placements in the UK and elsewhere in Europe. Some example destinations are the University of Oxford, the University of London, the University of Cambridge, the University of Sheffield, the University of Antwerp, the University of Toronto, the University of Dublin and Leipzig University. Others have gone on to lectureships in the UK, for instance at the University of Oxford, the University of York, and LSE, and overseas at the University of Cape Town and the University of Melbourne. Those who have not pursued an academic career have entered a variety of professions, including law, public policy, and publishing.

The department has links with US universities (Berkeley, Columbia and Yale). Academic staff are involved in the running of the Aristotelian Society, the main philosophy society in the UK. Others are involved in running the Institute of Classical Studies lecture series, and the Keeling Colloquia and Lectures in ancient philosophy. Philosophy graduate students host a philosophy conference at the start of every year, and co-organise an annual graduate philosophy conference with graduate students at Berkeley. The Royal Institute of Philosophy lecture series, by the Institute of Philosophy at Senate House, is open to our graduate students.

Teaching and learning

PhD students meet regularly in term time with their supervisors.  As well as their primary and secondary supervisors they can request a term’s supervision with another member of staff.

The department also arranges reading groups and conferences, both internally and in collaboration with other UCL departments and/or other London university philosophy departments, and students receive guidance on setting up their own reading groups.

All doctoral students have numerous opportunities to apply for work as a Post Graduate Teaching Assistants (PGTA) in the department. This experience develops their teaching skills and deepens their philosophical expertise.

The PhD degree is awarded on the basis of a thesis of between 60,000 and 80,000 words. The candidate is also given a viva voce examination.

PhD students should treat their research programme as a full-time job, which equates roughly to 35 hours per week (or 15 hours for part-time students). In term time, students are expected to meet regularly with their assigned term supervisor, usually fortnightly.

Research areas and structure

• Ancient Philosophy
• Epistemology
• History of 20th-Century Philosophy
• Metaphysics
• Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Continental Philosophy 
• Nineteenth Century German Philosophy
• Philosophy of Language
• Philosophy of Mind
• Philosophy of Perception
• Political Philosophy

Research environment

As a research student, you will join the department's lively and flourishing postgraduate community. The department is located in the centre of the rich philosophical life of Bloomsbury and this means we enjoy collaborative connections with other London universities, as well as nearby philosophical Institutes and Societies, whose activities you will be able to gain access to. Our research students run seminars and reading groups, along with organising events for faculty and external speakers.  The doctoral programme provides you with the opportunity to conduct original research in philosophy in one of UK's top philosophy departments . You may be supervised by prominent academics in your field of research. The PhD programme is designed to prepare you for an academic career, by ensuring that you receive grounding across a range of topics as well as producing a research thesis. During the course of the programme, you will receive training in presentation skills, interview practice and teaching methods, and are encouraged to present your research at the department's Work in Progress seminars, and at graduate and academic conferences in the UK and overseas. Our staff cover a broad range of specialisms including 19th-century German Philosophy, Ancient Philosophy, Epistemology, Ethics, Philosophy of Language, Philosophy of Mind and Political Philosophy.

The length of registration for the MPhil/PhD in Philosophy is 3 years full-time. It requires students to take graduate courses assessed by way of several papers in their first year, and, provided they successfully upgrade to the PhD, to produce a thesis of original research under the guidance of their supervisor(s). You will receive supervision each term from either a member of your supervision team or other members of staff in the department who have expertise relevant to your research. The PhD degree is awarded on the basis of the thesis and a viva voce examination.

The length of registration for the MPhil/PhD in Philosophy is 5 years for part-time study at UCL. It requires students to take graduate courses assessed by way of several papers in their first year, and, provided they successfully upgrade to the PhD, to produce a thesis of original research under the guidance of their supervisor(s). You will receive supervision each term from either a member of your supervision team or other members of staff in the department who have expertise relevant to your research. The PhD degree is awarded on the basis of the thesis and a viva voce examination.

Accessibility

Details of the accessibility of UCL buildings can be obtained from AccessAble accessable.co.uk . Further information can also be obtained from the UCL Student Support and Wellbeing team .

Fees and funding

Fees for this course.

The tuition fees shown are for the year indicated above. Fees for subsequent years may increase or otherwise vary. Where the programme is offered on a flexible/modular basis, fees are charged pro-rata to the appropriate full-time Master's fee taken in an academic session. Further information on fee status, fee increases and the fee schedule can be viewed on the UCL Students website: ucl.ac.uk/students/fees .

Additional costs

The department strives to keep additional costs low. Books and journal articles are usually available via the UCL library (hard copies or via e-journal subscriptions).

The wealth of departmental seminars / colloquiums / symposiums and student-organised Work in Progress sessions give ample opportunities to present research, receive feedback and participate in discussion.

Furthermore, the department’s membership to the University of London’s Institute of Philosophy enables participation in intercollegiate conferences and workshops where the above opportunities can be experienced with a wider audience.

The department has limited funding for which it may be possible to apply to help offset the cost of travel to conferences in the UK or overseas.

For more information on additional costs for prospective students please go to our estimated cost of essential expenditure at Accommodation and living costs .

Funding your studies

MPhil/PhD and PhD candidates can apply for AHRC funding through the London Arts & Humanities Partnership (LAHP), whose members are UCL, King's College London, Queen Mary University of London, the London School of Economics & Political Science, the School of Advanced Study at the University of London, Royal Central School of Speech & Drama, Royal College of Art, and Royal College of Music. Other scholarships and sources of funding may be available. You should take note of funding application deadlines as these can differ from programme application deadlines.

The department has a set of funds from which to offer awards to research students allocated on the basis of academic merit. These include the Keeling Scholarships in ancient philosophy, covering UK/EU fees and maintenance matching AHRC funding. These and other scholarships are listed on our Graduate Research Degrees pages.

For a comprehensive list of the funding opportunities available at UCL, including funding relevant to your nationality, please visit the Scholarships and Funding website .

Quirk PhD Scholarship

Deadline: 26 January 2024 Value: Fees and maintenance (3yrs) Criteria Based on both academic merit and financial need Eligibility: UK

The MPhil/PhD and PhD start date is September each year. Please attach two samples of your written work (2,000 words each) in addition to your research proposal. For more information see our How to apply page.

Please note that you may submit applications for a maximum of two graduate programmes (or one application for the Law LLM) in any application cycle.

Choose your programme

Please read the Application Guidance before proceeding with your application.

Year of entry: 2024-2025

Got questions get in touch.

[email protected]

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Admissions Statistics

• Philosophy: PhD Admissions and Enrollment Statistics
• Philosophy: Master's Admissions and Enrollment Statistics
• Philosophy: PhD Completion Rate Statistics
• Philosophy: PhD Time to Degree Statistics
• Philosophy: PhD Placement Statistics

Apply for the Ph.D. in Philosophy Program

Complete the online application administered by the Duke Graduate School . (Although the general Graduate School deadline is earlier, the department will consider all applications completed by December 7, 2023). We consider applications for admission to the fall semester only. Applications are completed and submitted to the Graduate School in the fall of the year preceding the applicant's expected year of entry into the program. 

Required documents and information:

• Academic transcripts
• Letters of recommendation
• Statement of purpose
• GRE scores (Optional)
• Writing sample
• International students also need to submit their TOEFL/IELTS/Duolingo English Test score

Writing Sample

The submission of a writing sample (nonreturnable, limited to fewer than 15 pages) is required. Writing samples are to be uploaded to the Graduate School on-line application site, along with general application materials, behind the other documents.  

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PhD Program

The Philosophy Department seeks to enroll about 10 students each year in the doctoral program leading to the PhD degree. The Department has streamlined requirements for the degree to increase students' ability to gain depth in their areas of specialization and reduce the length of time students must spend in the program. It is designed to be completed in 5 to 6 years.

Students must be continuously registered , excluding summer sessions, unless granted a leave of absence by petition to the Graduate Studies Committee. Students must register for at least nine hours unless granted an exception by the Graduate Adviser for health or financial reasons.

Doctor of Philosophy

The requirements for the Ph.D. are:

In the first year, complete:

• PHL 384F (First-year Seminar), an intensive introduction to a central area of philosophy
• PHL 389, Logic

Within the first two years, a graduate course in each of these areas:

• metaphysics and epistemology
• history of philosophy
• Five additional graduate courses in philosophy

Within the first three years:

• Completion and defense of a dissertation prospectus
• Completion of PHL 398T, a one-semester teaching course

Foreign Language Proficiency -- four semesters study or equivalent -- in a language other than English (can be satisfied with coursework completed before enrolling in the program) or two additional graduate philosophy seminars or upper-division or graduate courses in a related area (approved by the GSEC) Completion and defense of a dissertation

An M.A. is not required for the doctoral degree.

Exceptions to the timetable above are students in special programs, such as the Ancient Philosophy Program, who may need to do supporting coursework and language study at an early stage.

Philosophy Research MPhil/PhD

Key information

Joint PhDs available: The Department of Philosophy at King's is delighted to be able to offer t wo exciting options for joint-PhD study at either Humboldt University or the National University of Singapore.

The Philosophy Department at King’s is one of the largest research departments in the field in the UK. We offer close personal supervision to students in a wide variety of research areas, with particular strengths in the history of philosophy (analytic and continental, Greek and Roman, Medieval, Early Modern, 18th, 19 th , and 20 th century); philosophy of mind, action and psychology; epistemology; metaphysics; philosophy of science, especially philosophy of physics and philosophy of medicine; ethics; political philosophy; philosophy of art; logic; and philosophy of language and logic.

For more information on our areas of expertise , our recent research projects and their impact as well as a list of recent publications by our research staff see our department web pages.

Recent Research Projects: recent projects include:

- The History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps

- Philosophy and Medicine

- Thinking with Assent: Renewing a Traditional Account of Knowledge and Belief

- Ancient Commentators on Aristotle;

- The Evolution of the Emotions;

- Perception, Narrative Discourse and Conceptual Art;

- The Boundaries of Illness;

- Word Meaning: What it is and what it is not?;

• Most recent REF rankings: the department was ranked 3rd in the UK, and 1st in London, for both quality and power according to the most recent Research Excellence Framework (REF) rankings; 80% of research was valued as being of a world-leading (4*) or internationally excellent (3*) standard and 63% of its research scored the top rating for impact with an outstanding reach and significance.
• Current number of research staff : 30.
• Current number of research students : 60.

The Philosophy department offers close personal supervision to students in a wide variety of research areas. As a large and highly-integrated department we can support research projects spanning the various sub-fields of philosophy. Philosophy postgraduates are normally supervised within the Philosophy department. Students wishing to work with someone at King's who is not a member of the Philosophy department are urged to apply directly to the relevant department for admission as a graduate student.

The PhD programme is exclusively devoted to research in philosophy. The programme lasts a minimum of three years full time study. During this time students meet with their supervisors on a regular basis to work on their thesis. During the first year, students are registered as MPhil students. You will have the opportunity to develop your research ideas and writing skills. Towards the end of the first students submit a thesis plan and an extended work sample for assessment before being upgraded to full PhD registration.

At the end of their studies students submit a PhD thesis of a maximum length of 100,000 words. The thesis is examined by two examiners external to King’s.

King’s is set in the heart of London. Graduate students have the opportunity to attend meetings of the Aristotelian Society , and events organised by the Institute of Philosophy .

The department runs joint PhD programmes with the National University of Singapore and the Humboldt University in Berlin (more information below).

The department also has links with other departments around the world. The Norman Malcolm Fellowship pays for a King's research student to spend a semester at Cornell every second year, and for a Cornell student to come to King's in the intervening years. There is an annual KCL/Berlin graduate workshop, hosted alternate years in KCL and in Berlin. And there is a regular KCL/UNC Chapel Hill graduate workshop, hosted in KCL or in Chapel Hill.

Joint PhD programme

The Department of Philosophy at King's is delighted to be able to offer research students two exciting options for joint-PhD study. The programmes offered provide candidates with the opportunity to divide their PhD study between two prestigious universities, enjoying full supervision at both. The programme builds on an extensive network of existing institutional links, joint teaching experience and collaborative graduate programmes between King’s and the partners universities. The Department of Philosophy at the Humboldt University has strengths in the following research areas: Classical German Philosophy, especially Kant, Early Modern Philosophy, especially Leibniz and Locke, Philosophy of Mind (Berlin School of Mind and Brain), Ancient Philosophy (Graduate School of Ancient Philosophy) and Analytic Metaphysics. These areas complement the research in King’s in the history of philosophy, in ancient philosophy, modern philosophy, philosophy of mind and metaphysics. We encourage applications from students who intend to write a PhD in one of these areas. The joint PhD offers the opportunity to do some graduate work in German. Hence, it should be of interest to PhD students who want to work on a German speaking philosopher. The Department of Philosophy at the National University of Singapore is a thriving community with 16 full-time tenured or tenure track faculty members. In addition, there are more than thirty graduate students pursuing the PhD and Masters in philosophy. Its faculty members engage in research in a wide range of fields, including Moral and Practical philosophy, Continental European, Buddhist, Indian, Chinese and Comparative Philosophy. It thus offers a range of study options for potential PhD students that complement well King's own research strengths in, for example, ancient philosophy, modern philosophy, philosophy of mind and metaphysics. Students would spend a significant portion of their time in Singapore, thereby enabling them to access expertise in fields of philosophy where King's alone would not be able to offer supervision. Information about joint PhDs can be found here .

Head of group/division

Dr Andrea Sangiovanni

• How to apply
• Fees or Funding

UK Tuition Fees 2023/24

Full time tuition fees:

£5,820 per year (MPhil/PhD, Philosophy Research)

£5,820 per year (MPhil/PhD, Philosophy Research with National University of Singapore or Humboldt University)

Part time tuition fees:

£2,910 per year (MPhil/PhD, Philosophy Research)

£2,910 per year (MPhil/PhD, Philosophy Research with National University of Singapore or Humboldt University)

International Tuition Fees 2023/24

£22,900 per year (MPhil/PhD, Philosophy Research)

£22,900 per year (MPhil/PhD, Philosophy Research with National University of Singapore or Humboldt University)

£11,450 per year (MPhil/PhD, Philosophy Research)

£11,450 per year (MPhil/PhD, Philosophy Research with National University of Singapore or Humboldt University)

UK Tuition Fees 2024/25

£6,168 per year (MPhil/PhD, Philosophy Research)

£6,168 per year (MPhil/PhD, Philosophy Research with National University of Singapore or Humboldt University)

£3,084 per year (MPhil/PhD, Philosophy Research)

£3,084 per year (MPhil/PhD, Philosophy Research with National University of Singapore or Humboldt University)

International Tuition Fees 2024/25

£24,786 per year (MPhil/PhD, Philosophy Research)

£24,786 per year (MPhil/PhD, Philosophy Research with National University of Singapore or Humboldt University)

£12,393 per year (MPhil/PhD, Philosophy Research)

£12,393 per year (MPhil/PhD, Philosophy Research with National University of Singapore or Humboldt University)

These tuition fees may be subject to additional increases in subsequent years of study, in line with King’s terms and conditions.

Departmental and Other Funding

Sorabji Graduate Bursary: This studentship honours Richard Sorabji, Emeritus Professor of Ancient Philosophy in the Department. Each year the Department awards one or more studentships to graduate students in the Department, taking into account academic merit and financial need.

Susan Stebbing Studentship: This studentship honours Susan Stebbing, who was formerly Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Bedford College London (which merged with KCL in 1984). Each year the Department awards one or more studentships to women graduate students in the Department, taking into account academic merit and financial need.

Peter Goldie Award: This studentship honours Peter Goldie, former Reader in Philosophy in the Department, who sadly passed away in 2011. This studentship commemorates Peter and his contribution to the Department, following a generous bequest from his estate. Each year the Department awards one or more studentships to graduate students in the Department, taking into account academic merit and financial need.

Joint PhD Funding

Information on joint PhD funding and scholarships can be found here .

• Study environment

Base campus

Strand Campus

Located on the north bank of the River Thames, the Strand Campus houses King's College London's arts and sciences faculties.

You will see your supervisor regularly for supervisions. In addition, first year research students attend the weekly First Year Research Seminar, and all other research students attend the weekly Advanced Research Seminar. These seminars are opportunities for research students to present their work, receive feedback on it, and gain exposure to a wider range of philosophical topics via discussion of the work of their peers. First year students also attend a weekly MPhil Research Seminar, where research staff present their work-in-progress or critical assessment of work by others in their areas of expertise.

The Philosophy department is broad and inclusive. Our wide range of research expertise is set within a collegiate and cooperative research community. Postgraduate students will usually receive supervisions from more than one member of staff, and benefit from a range of perspectives and expertise on their project.

The department also runs regular reading groups, and students are welcome to set up their own. Recent reading groups have included: Gender and Philosophy; Political Philosophy; Early Modern Philosophy; Mind; Metaphysics; Philosophy of Action.

Research students are encouraged to attend the regular research activities of the department’s research clusters, such as the King’s History of Philosophy Seminar, and the Formal Methods Masterclass.

The department has a computer room and a graduate common room.

Postgraduate training

Students in the department can take advantage of induction and training programmes offered by the Faculty Graduate Programme. The progress of all graduate students is overseen by the Department's Postgraduate and Research Committee.

Research students gain training at presenting their work to their peers through the weekly research seminars and are encouraged to attend conferences (small travel bursaries are available to support this).

The Department's Placement Officer provides training for advanced research students in preparing them for the academic job market. This includes training in publishing your work and applying for funding.

There is also the opportunity to undertake paid teaching work. This comes with many opportunities for training, including support and guidance in gaining recognition from the Higher Education Academy.

• Entry requirements

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