Degree of Doctor of Philosophy: Five-year Program

Students are expected to acquire a broad competence in both History and Contemporary Problems of Philosophy and to develop an area of specialization prior to undertaking formal research for a doctoral thesis. (See Breadth Requirements.)  Each incoming PhD student is assigned an Advisor who recommends a suitable program of philosophy courses and will be responsible for overseeing the student’s progress until the student has constituted a Thesis Committee shortly after completing coursework.

The Thesis Committee, typically consisting of three faculty members, assists in defining an area of specialized research within which the student intends to write a thesis. The Thesis Committee approves a plan for carrying out this research and ultimately determines, on the basis of an (article-length) Qualifying Paper and written and oral Qualifying Exams, whether the candidate has met the Qualifying Requirement and can now begin formal research for the thesis.  (N.B. The Qualifying Requirement replaces the former Area Requirement.)

The candidate remains under the guidance of the Thesis Committee up to the Oral Defence of the finished thesis. The Thesis Committees is required to provide regular reports of the student's progress throughout.

The following links summarize our policies and requirements for the 5-year PhD program. For a detailed and exhaustive statement of policies and requirements, see here.

• Course Requirements
• Breadth Requirements
• Logic Requirement
• Research Tool Requirement
• Qualifying Requirement
• ABD Status Requirement
• Thesis Requirement
• Residency Requirement