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New program requirements – as of Fall
2002
Graduate Program Information
for
Ph.D. Candidates
The
Ph.D. program in Philosophy at the University of Utah provides
students with the opportunity to study philosophy on an advanced
level, prepares students to engage in independent research in
philosophy, and equips them to teach philosophy at the university
level. The Philosophy Department also recognizes the appropriateness
for some Ph.D. students of philosophy to receive training in a
complimentary discipline such as mathematics, computer science,
law, or health specialties.
University Requirements
University requirements for Ph.D.s are listed officially in the
University General Catalogue and
in the Graduate
Handbook published by the University
of Utah Graduate School.
Ph.D.
Degree: Departmental Requirements
In
addition to University requirements, Departmental requirements
include:
Demonstration of Satisfactory
Progress Toward Degree:
Students receiving University or Departmental
financial awards or tuition waivers must:
Students
not receiving University or Departmental financial awards or tuition
waivers must demonstrate
satisfactory progress towards degree as determined by the student's
Supervisory Committee and/or the Graduate Committee Chair.
Proseminar
Requirement All student's entering
the program must take the introductory Proseminar during their
first Fall semester.
The
Graduate Study Qualifying Examination (GSQE) This examination is required of all students
admitted into the Ph.D. program.
The GSQE is a three hour written examination which must
be taken during the first semester of graduate study.
Students are given three hours to read, summarize and critically
respond to two passages of philosophy.
The exam is graded by the Graduate Committee.
If the exam is not passed on the first attempt it must
attempted again no later than the second semester of study. Failure
to pass the exam on the second attempt will result in dismissal
from the program. Sample
exam passages may be obtained from the Director of Graduate Studies.
Course
of Study Each student's program
must be approved at the beginning of each semester by either the
Chair of the Supervisory Committee or, before appointment of the
Supervisory Committee, the Graduate Committee Chair.
Each Ph.D. student must complete at least 14 graduate level
philosophy courses including the Proseminar. Courses must be at
the 6000 or 7000 level. (Note
that Individual Research or Thesis Research, Ph.D
hours are neither seminars nor courses and do not count
toward graduate level course work requirements,
except in special circumstances.)
Students may be encouraged to take more philosophy courses
or to supplement their curriculum with courses from other departments.
Modifications of the course requirements to suit the specific
program needs of individual students may be made only upon the
recommendation of the student's Supervisory Committee and the
approval of the Graduate Committee.
1. Field Requirements
To satisfy the field requirements students must complete courses
in the following four areas: History of Philosophy, M & E (Metaphysics
and Epistemology), Ethics and Value Theory, and Logic and Formal Methods.
The requirements -- number of courses, and minimum grades -- are as follows:
| Areas |
Requirements |
| History
of Philosophy |
3
courses
(B+ or better) |
Qualified
courses include all history of philosophy. Note: at least 1
course must be in Early Modern (including Kant), and 1 in Ancient
Greek. |
| M
& E |
3
courses
(B+ or better) |
Qualified
courses include all metaphysics and epistemology,
broadly construed -- including Cognitive Science, Philosophy of
Mind, Philosophy of Language, Philosophy of Science, etc. |
| Ethics
and Value Theory |
2
courses
(B+ or better) |
Qualified
courses include all Ethical Theory and Applied Ethics, Political
Theory, Philosophy of Law, etc. |
| Logic
and Formal Methods |
1
course
(B or better) |
Qualified
courses include Formal Logic, Metalogic, Decision Theory, Game
Theory, Probability Theory, etc. |
The area designation of those graduate courses that do not neatly fall
into exactly one of the above four areas, is announced each semester. The
designation depends on the projected course content of that instance of the
course.
All entering students must demonstrate undergraduate level ability in
logic -- this comes prior to attempting to meet the above requirement for
Logic and Formal Methods. Accordingly, entering students should have a grade
of B or better in an undergraduate deductive logic course covering first-order
predicate logic. Any student lacking such background is required to take our
undergraduate deductive logic course (Phil 3200) -- this course may be taken
for graduate level credit.
2. Total course work
Graduate Students ordinarily take three
courses per semester for the first two to two and a half years.
The minimum total course work required is 14 courses. Of those
courses, 9 must be in the above specified areas and the remaining
courses must be seminars or 6000 level courses in philosophy in
addition to the Proseminar offered in the first year. The expectation
is that graduate students will use the course work to develop
a broad understanding of the main areas of philosophy and of several
more specialized areas of philosophy.
Students specializing in a particular area will be encouraged
to complete their remaining course work in that area. For example, students following the Applied Ethics emphasis will
take seminars and courses in that area building upon their area
requirements in Ethics.
Students also must attend department colloquia
and can receive graduate credit for doing so.
Students may begin registering for dissertation
hours when they have either finished their coursework including
courses satisfying area requirements or their supervisory committee
recommends that they are ready to register for dissertation hours.
3.
Comprehensive Exam
In order to advance to candidacy students
must pass a comprehensive exam.
The comprehensive exam is a written exam either
in the area of the student’s dissertation topic or another area
agreed upon by the student and their committee.
To pass this exam students must write and defend a substantial
paper. Papers must be of journal submission length (5000 words or more).
The paper will be graded by the Graduate committee and
then the committee will hold an oral exam on the paper.
The committee will recommend revisions to satisfactory
papers with a view to their being submitted to professional journals
for publication or to professional conferences for presentation.
4.
Dissertation Prospectus Defense
In order to advance to candidacy, students
must also pass their prospectus defense. The prospectus defense is an oral exam on the students written thesis
prospectus. To pass this
exam, the students must write and defend a substantial paper that
demonstrates mastery of their thesis topic, in order to ensure
mastery of an area of study. The committee may request that the student
complete a literature review on their thesis topic. Students will be examined on their literature review during their
prospectus defense.
Transfer
Credit Graduate level courses passed with a grade
of B+ or above may be transferred to satisfy Ph.D. course requirements
or area requirements. For example, courses taken to satisfy Master’s
degree requirements in philosophy at other institutions may be
transferred. Courses may
only be transferred for credit if they are approved by the Graduate
Committee. No more than one course will be approved for
any given field requirement.
No more than six courses total may be transferred.
Approval of transfer credit is not automatic.
Students must present a syllabus and a sample of work (e.g.
a term paper) from any course that they wish to be considered
for transfer.
Transfer
from MA to Ph.D. Program Students
may request a transfer from the Masters program to the Ph.D. program.
Such requests are evaluated by the graduate committee.
Students must demonstrate that they are capable of completing
Ph.D. level work. Their Masters work to date must be exemplary
and they must not have any incompletes on their record. Students must accompany their request for transfer
with a sample of recent written work and letter from their supervisor
indicating that they are capable of completing a Ph.D.
Language
Requirement There is no language requirement for a Ph.D. in philosophy.
The supervisory committee may require proficiency in a
language for a particular student if the language is relevant to his/her
research. Minimally a
student must show standard proficiency. Standard proficiency may
be established by showing that one is a native speaker of the
language, by passing a second semester language class with a grade
of B, or by registering for and passing a standardized ETS examination
(administered through the University Testing Center) with a score
of 450 or better. Where
the requirement is satisfied by course work, the student must
obtain certification within four years of the course taken to
satisfy the requirement. In every case, however, the student must obtain a certification
form in person from the Graduate Language Advisor in the Department
of Languages and Literature. Certification is the responsibility
of the student, and cannot be obtained by the Department of Philosophy. The supervisory committee may require that
the student demonstrate a higher level of proficiency than standard
proficiency. Higher levels
of language proficiency will be assessed by faculty from Philosophy
in consultation with the relevant faculty from Languages and Literature.
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Graduate
Program - Ph.D. Program 