Philosophy Master of Arts Degree Program

Program Requirements:

  1. All students do 30 credits of course work above 500 (achieving a grade of at least A or B in each course) and fulfill the M.A. distribution requirement and the M.A. logic requirements, as specified below. (A student may substitute up to 8 credits of course work in another department for 8 of the 30 credits in philosophy, provided it is warranted by the student's program and the Graduate Studies Committee approves. The M.A. distribution and logic requirements will be fulfilled automatically by Ph.D. students who satisfy the Ph.D. core-course and history-of-philosophy course requirements, the Ph.D. logic requirement, and the Ph.D. research-tool/language requirement.)
  2. Each student then either (a) writes an M.A. thesis in philosophy (Phi 699) for 6 credits or (b) (i) does 14 more credits of course work in philosophy in courses numbered above 500 (achieving a grade of at least A or B in each course), for a total of 44 units of course work, and (ii) passes the three Ph.D. General Examinations with an overall grade of at least M.A.-level pass. (The usual terminal M.A. student will pursue (a), and the usual Ph.D. student who wishes to earn an M.A. will pursue (b); but it is open to any student seeking an M.A. to pursue either (a) or (b).)
  3. Distribution requirement: Students must take at least one course from each of three areas: Metaphysics and Epistemology, Value Theory, and History of Philosophy.

    Metaphysics and Epistemology M.A. courses:

    Phi 512 Metaphysics
    Phi 515 Philosophy of Language
    Phi 516 Philosophy of Mind
    Phi 518 Analytic Philosophy
    Phi 520 Philosophy of Science
    Phi 522 Theory of Knowledge
    Phi 531 Logic and Philosophy
    Phi 532 Completeness and Decidability
    Phi 538 Philosophy of the Social Sciences
    Phi 610 Topics in Philosophy of Science
    Phi 612 Topic in Metaphysics
    Phi 614 Topics in Epistemology
    Phi 618 Topics in Logic
    Phi 623 Topics in Aesthetics
    Phi 638 Topics in Theories of Criticism
    Phi 652 Topics in Philosophical Psychology
    Phi 662 Topics in Cognitive Science

    Value-Theory M.A. courses:

    Phi 505 Philosophical and Ethical Issues in Public Policy
    Phi 506 Philosophical and Ethical Issues in Public Health
    Phi 523 Ancient Ethical Theory
    Phi 524 17th-19th Century Ethical Theory
    Phi 525 Contemporary Ethical Theory
    Phi 528 Theory and Function of Religion
    Phi 530 Philosophy and Public Affairs
    Phi 535 Philosophy of Race
    Phi 558 Theory of Art
    Phi 560 Philosophy and the Humanities
    Phi 568 Philosophy and Literature
    Phi 574 Contemporary Social and Political Philosophy
    Phi 616 Topics in the Philosophy of Religion
    Phi 621 Topics in Ethics
    Phi 632 Topics in Applied Ethics
    Phi 634 Topics in Philosophy of Law
    Phi 674 Topics in Political Philosophy

    History-of-Philosophy M.A. courses:

    Phi 544 British Empiricism
    Phi 546 The Continental Rationalists
    Phi 550 Plato
    Phi 552 Aristotle
    Phi 553 Medieval Philosophy
    Phi 554 Kant and Continental Idealism

  4. Demonstration of competence in logic through successful course work or examination.