Students may enter the Ph.D. program directly from their undergraduate
studies and are awarded an M.A. along the way to the Ph.D. when those
requirements are successfully completed (see below). The program is
designed to be completed in 5 years.
Students with an M.A.
in philosophy are also encouraged to apply to the Ph.D. program, and may
be given credit for work completed elsewhere. These students are
normally given a reduced set of requirements designed to enable them to
complete the Ph.D. in 4 years—one year sooner than is otherwise possible
(see 1a below).
For fuller information
about all of these requirements and a detailed timetable of study,
please consult the Guide
for Graduate Students of Philosophy, available
here in pdf form.
The following is an
overview of the requirements for the Ph.D. degree in philosophy:
I. Course Requirements
for students entering with a B.A. degree:
Credit requirement:
Students must accumulate a minimum of 45 course credits in
philosophy with satisfactory grades; normally this is equivalent to
15 graduate courses. At least 24 of the 45 credits must be for
courses at the 600 level. At least 27 of these credits must be
earned while in residence.
Distribution
requirement:
Students are required to pass the following 500-level courses:
-
Logic
Requirement: PHI 510
-
Ethics
Requirement: PHI 530 or 533
-
One course
from the Epistemology and Metaphysics Group: PHI 540-545
-
Two courses
from the History Group: PHI 560-583
Research
requirement:
Students are
required to enroll in and complete 15 credits of PHI 730 (Doctoral
Dissertation Research).
I.a. Course
Requirements for Students entering with an M.A. Degree in Philosophy:
Credit requirement:
A student who enters the program with an MA degree in philosophy
from another university must earn at least 27 course credits* from
the University of Miami, at least 15 of which must be derived from
600 level courses. All 27 of these must be earned while in
residence.
Distribution requirement: Such students must either pass the
500-level courses listed above, or, through transcripts and
consultation with the DGS, apply for and receive transfer credit for
equivalent graduate courses passed as part of their M.A. degree.
(*Note: if no distribution transfer credits are received, students
entering with an M.A. will need to take at least 30 credits from U.M.
in order to fulfill both the distribution requirement and the
600-level requirement).
Research requirement: Students are required to enroll in and
complete 15 credits of PHI 730 (Doctoral Dissertation Research).
II. The Qualifying
Examination
Each Ph.D. student must pass a
qualifying examination on a general area of philosophy close to the
student’s proposed dissertation topic or intended area of
specialization, for example, epistemology, philosophy of mind,
metaphysics, or ethics and political philosophy. (The area need not
be confined to a single traditional sub-discipline, however; where a
student’s intended specialization overlaps with more than one
traditionally-defined area, the qualifier may be designed around
relevant material from each area.) After declaring their area of
specialization during their fifth semester, students are given a
reading list of core texts in the area, chosen for each student
individually.
The qualifying exam is then held towards the end of a student’s
sixth semester. It is an eight hour written examination, held for
four hours on each of two consecutive days. Each day the student is
given essay questions to write on, based on the individualized
reading list. The examinations are designed to measure the student’s
philosophical skills and sophistication, knowledge of the main
issues and literature in the area of specialization, and preparation
and overall ability to write a good dissertation in that area.
III. The Proposal and Dissertation
Students who have
finished their course requirements and passed the qualifying exam
proceed to work on a dissertation proposal in consultation with
faculty members. They may then submit the proposal for formal
approval. Once they have passed the proposal, they may go on to
write the dissertation. The dissertation must be passed by the
committee and defended orally.
IV. The Language
Requirement (may be waived)
The language
requirement is designed to ensure that students have the tools they
need to conduct research in their area of choice. Thus a student who
submits a dissertation proposal must possess the foreign language
proficiency (if any) required by the proposed dissertation topic.
This is determined by the dissertation proposal committee on the
basis of examinations or coursework.
V. Requirements of the
Graduate School
Students must also
satisfy the requirements of the Graduate School as stated in the
Graduate School Bulletin.
The following is an
overview of the requirements for The M.A. degree in Philosophy:
The requirements for the Master of Arts degree can be satisfied in two
ways, by passing the course credit requirements for a Ph.D. degree and
the qualifying examination, or by satisfying a reduced course credit
requirement and presenting and successfully defending an M.A. thesis.
I. The first
option: M.A. in progress to the Ph.D.
This option is
designed for students working towards the Ph.D. to acquire their
M.A. degree along the way. Students who originally intended to
pursue the Ph.D. but elect to leave the program early may also be
awarded the M.A. by satisfying the following requirements:
1. Course
credit and distribution requirements as in 2.1.1.
2. A
comprehensive examination as described above under 2.1.2.
3. The general
requirements of the Graduate School as specified in the Graduate
Bulletin.
II. The second
option: Terminal M.A.
This option is designed for students entering the program who are
interested only in pursuing the M.A. degree. It may be completed in
as little as two years.
1. A reduced
course credit requirement: at least 24 course credits (normally,
8 graduate courses), at least 12 of which must be at the 600
level.
2.
Presentation and defense of an acceptable Master’s thesis based
on original research.
3. The general
requirements of the Graduate School as specified in the Graduate
Bulletin.
