The Philosophy Department offers graduate programs leading to both the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees, with most students pursuing the latter. The Ph.D. program is designed to prepare students for the profession in terms of both research and teaching experience.
Prerequisites
The Admissions committee may look at your overall GPA, but will primarily be interested in your grades in philosophy classes. Doing well outside of philosophy might help, if you do well in any area relevant to your philosophical interests. For example, if you're interested in philosophy of physics, doing well in advanced physics courses will help; if you're interested in classical Greek philosophy, doing well in Greek and Latin language courses will help. But since we're primarily interested in your philosophical abilities, your philosophy courses matter more.
Structure
The Ph.D. program comprises a core program consisting of basic seminars in logic, epistemology, philosophy of science, ethics, social-political philosophy, metaphysics, philosophy of language, history of ancient, and history of modern philosophy; and a research program consisting of advanced seminars in a wide range of more specialized areas. The Department offers twelve to fourteen graduate courses a year, divided about evenly between the core program and research program.
Requirements
Students are expected to take a total of 54 hours of courses on the way to a Ph.D.. Students seeking a Ph.D. ordinarily must meet the following requirements prior to candidacy: (1) Core Requirement: pass six 800-level core classes with a B+ or better. Two of these should be in metaphysics and epistemology broadly construed, along with one course in each of logic, value theory, history of ancient philosophy and history of modern philosophy. (2) Research Seminar Requirement: pass upper-level seminars in each of metaphysics and epistemology, value theory, and history. (3) Area Paper Requirement: submit and have accepted research papers in the two of these three areas in which they are not pursuing dissertation work. (4) Advancement Paper Requirement: Submit and have accepted a paper in their dissertation area and pass an oral exam on the paper administered by a subcommittee of the faculty.
Normal Progress
Graduate Teaching Assistants usually take three courses per semester. In their first year, students typically take four basic seminars, including one or two in the history of philosophy, and two research seminars. In their first two years, students normally complete all of the core requirements, most of the research area requirements, and submit at least one research area paper for review. Students normally complete all course work and satisfy all requirements other than the dissertation by the end of their third year. Work on the dissertation begins in the first semester of the fourth year and is normally completed in five years. Students who have completed an MA in philosophy elsewhere are able to accelerate this schedule up to a year.
Faculty
The Philosophy Department currently has 13 regular faculty members, several visiting or adjunct faculty members, and approximately 30 graduate students in residence. The research and teaching interests of the faculty span all the major subject areas of philosophy (ethics, epistemology, history of philosophy, logic, and metaphysics), and many of the important specialties (including aesthetics, philosophy of language, philosophy of law, philosophy of mathematics, and political philosophy).
Facilities
Computers and printers are available for graduate student use. Office space is provided for students holding teaching assistantships or fellowships. A comfortably furnished common room housing a variety of philosophical journals, books, computers and printers provides a study area for students and a setting for faculty-student interaction outside the classroom.
Information for Prospective Graduate Students booklet
For further information about the graduate program in philosophy, contact:
Jennifer McKitrick,
Admissions Chair
Department of Philosophy
University of Nebraska
Lincoln, Nebraska 68588-0321
PHONE: 402-472-2073
FAX: 402-472-0626
jmckitrick2@unl.edu
