The department’s
graduate program is essentially a PhD program. Because the principal
employment for men and women with advanced training in philosophy is in college teaching
requiring the PhD, the department ordinarily 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. A candidate for the AM must satisfy the Preliminary,
Distribution and Logic requirements for the PhD; however, the Preliminary Requirement is
reduced to ten half-courses, and only seven of the eight distribution units are required for the
AM. In addition, the Second Year Paper requirement must be satisfied. There is no language
requirement for the AM.
Doctor of Philosophy
Admission—
Substantial previous knowledge of philosophy is normally required. Candidates
usually have a bachelor’s or master’s degree in philosophy. Applicants less well prepared
in
philosophy may be admitted under special conditions if they have a grounding in mathematics or
the natural or social sciences. Applicants are required to take the GRE (general), and to submit
a sample of their written work.
Financial Aid—
Financial aid is administered by the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
(See the GSAS Guide to Admission and Financial Aid for further information.) Teaching
fellowships, which are administered by the department, normally are restricted to graduate
students who have completed at least two years of work in the department and are making
satisfactory progress toward the doctorate.
Preliminary Requirement—
Candidates must pass at least 12 approved half-courses or
seminars during their first four terms in the department. Courses numbered 301 or above do
not count toward this preliminary requirement, but two terms of Philosophy 300 may be
counted as one of the 12. If a course record is to be considered satisfactory, the candidate’s
grades in these courses must be B or higher.
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 three graded
half-
courses or seminars during their first term and three more in their second term, thus completing
six graded half-courses during the first two terms of residence, with grades of B or higher.
These courses,
like the rest of the 12, should be among those designated “For Undergraduates
and Graduates” or “Primarily for Graduates” in the course catalogue. In addition Quantitative
Reasoning 22 may be counted if needed for the Logic requirement. 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 philosophy.
Students who have
done graduate work elsewhere may petition to obtain credit for up to three
half-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 before the beginning of the
fourth year of graduate study. A distribution unit may be fulfilled (i) by completing an approved
half-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:
-
a. Contemporary
Theoretical Philosophy: Three units in 20th-21st-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: Three units so chosen
that one course unit treats primarily Plato
or Aristotle and the other two units treat primarily representatives from two of the
following: the Rationalists, the Empiricists, Kant, the Idealists. At most one of these
three courses may emphasize primarily practical philosophy.
Note: 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—
Students are required either
i. to pass Quantitative
Reasoning 22 or a higher level course in logic, such as Philosophy 144,
with a grade of B or better, or
ii. to pass an examination
in logic, equivalent to the final examination in QR 22, with a grade
equivalent to B+ or higher. The requirement must be satisfied by the end of the second year of
study.
Second Year Paper—
Students are required, in their second year of study, to take Philosophy
299hf, and to submit by the end of that year a 30-40 page research paper (maximum 12,000
words), written under the supervision of a faculty advisor. The paper may be on any
philosophical topic, but the topic should not be so broad that it cannot be treated in reasonable
depth in 30-40 pages. It must demonstrate a capacity to do independent reading and research.
Language Requirement—
Students must demonstrate a reading knowledge of one foreign
language, ordinarily German. (Classical Greek, Latin, or French may be substituted, if related
to the student’s work, with the approval of the student’s advisor and the director of graduate
studies.) The language requirement may be fulfilled by (i) passing an examination set by the
department, or (ii) two years of college level course work in the language, passed with a grade
of B or better, or (iii) placing, on the competency exam given by the relevant language
department at Harvard, at a third-year level. The language requirement must be satisfied by the
end of the fourth year of study.
Teaching Fellowships—
Graduate students are urged to take full advantage of opportunities to
acquire teaching experience while working for the doctorate. Teaching fellowships are
restricted to those who have completed at least two years of work in the department (under
exceptional circumstances, one year) and are making satisfactory progress toward the
doctorate. In addition to a satisfactory grade record, the criteria of normal progress is as
follows for each of four years of graduate study. First year: completing six graded half-courses
or seminars and Philosophy 300. Second year: satisfying the preliminary requirement, the logic
requirement, the second-year paper requirement, and beginning work on the language
requirement. Third year: satisfying the distribution requirement and formulating a dissertation
topic. Fourth year: satisfying the language requirement and passing the topical examination.
Oral Topical Examination—
In the third year, each candidate will enroll in Philosophy 333 and
will be assigned a third-year advisor. In consultation with this advisor, the candidate will
develop a thesis topic and choose a prospective principal thesis advisor. To receive formal
approval of the thesis topic a candidate must pass the oral topical examination. 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. Although called an examination, approximately 90
minutes in length, it is in fact a conference on the thesis topic, not an occasion on which the
candidate is expected to produce a complete outline of arguments and conclusions. It is
intended to determine the acceptability of the topic on which the candidate wishes to write a
thesis, the candidate’s fitness to undertake such a thesis, and the candidate’s command
of
relevant issues in related areas of Philosophy. A thesis 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, after the formation of an examining committee (normally three
faculty members) in consultation with the members involved and the director of graduate
studies. At the same time, the candidate must submit three copies of a typewritten
statement—not of excessive length—describing the thesis project.
Thesis— When
the topical examination is passed, the examining committee normally becomes
the dissertation advisory committee. One member of this committee is designated the
candidate’s advisor. At least three months before the deadline for formal submission of the
thesis, the candidate must submit to the advisory committee a legible draft of the thesis or a
considerable part of it. With the consent of the committee, the candidate may then go on to
prepare a final draft for submission to the department. The thesis must show a mastery of the
field in which it is written; it must demonstrate the candidate’s insight, originality, and power
of
independent research; and it must add to the sum of human knowledge and understanding.
Apart from these general requirements, there are no formal restrictions on the subject or
construction of the thesis, but the candidate is advised to write on a distinct and sharply limited
problem. Theses of more than 75,000 words ordinarily will not be accepted.
Final Examination—
The completed thesis is read and appraised by a committee of three,
usually identical to the candidate’s thesis advisory committee. This committee, if it finds the
thesis sufficiently promising, conducts the final oral examination, in which the thesis must be
adequately defended before its acceptance by the department. (The examination may be
attended by other members of the department if they wish.) The purpose of this last
examination, which is normally about one hour in length, is not so much to test the range and
detail of the candidate’s information as to judge the candidate’s skill in presenting and
discussing matters considered in the thesis and the candidate’s ability to meet friendly but
searching criticism.
Classical Philosophy—
The departments of the Classics and of Philosophy collaborate in an
interdisciplinary doctoral 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 attending 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 on 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
course work. 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.
1. David Borenstein
