Required Courses: 9 hours

Nine hours from one of the following three options

• Option 1: Thesis Stream

  The Thesis Stream requires the completion of a Thesis in philosophy. A committee of three members, chaired by the student’s faculty advisor, is responsible for confirming the student’s preparedness, approving the topics and readings, and accepting the thesis. One committee member may be from outside the philosophy section. The thesis must be publicly defended.

• PHIL 601 - First Year Seminar in Philosophy 3 hrs
• PHIL 690 - Thesis 1 hr
• PHIL 691 - Thesis 2 hrs
• PHIL 692 - Thesis 3 hrs

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  Option 2: Project Stream

  The Project Stream requires the completion of a project (i.e., a substantial life experience, such as an internship, study abroad, an investigation, a consulting project, or a program - e.g. Peace Corps, paired with traditional philosophic research culminating in an oral presentation and substantive paper). A committee of three members, chaired by the student’s faculty advisor, is responsible for confirming the student’s preparedness, approving the topic and readings, and accepting the project’s substantive paper must be publicly presented after approval by the committee.

• PHIL 601 - First Year Seminar in Philosophy
    3 hrs
• PHIL 693 - Project 1 hr
• PHIL 694 - Project 2 hrs
• PHIL 695 - Project 3 hrs

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  Option 3: Course Work Stream

  The Course Work Stream requires a student to take two more courses than Thesis and Project Stream students. In addition, students in the Course Work Stream will focus on learning about philosophy as a profession. They will submit a long paper (usually drawn from coursework, and usually 15-30 pages in length) for blind review by two faculty members of the philosophy section. Students will (1) incorporate the feedback from the blind review into a final version of the paper, and they will (2) either (a) submit the paper to a conference or (b) submit the paper for accepting the paper and the student’s work regarding the presentation or publication.

• PHIL 601 - First Year Seminar in Philosophy
    3 hrs
• Any two PHIL courses from the 500 & 600 Level (others by permission)

Restricted Electives Courses: 9 hours

The M.A. in Philosophy has two Divisions. All M.A. students, regardless of Stream, will belong to one of the two Divisions allowing them to concentrate on a set of philosophic ideas and issues. Students will decide their Division in consultation with Graduate Program Director prior to the assignment of a faculty advisor.

Select nine hours from one of the two divisions below (others by permission).

• Social Justice Division

• PHIL 520 - Ethical Theory 3 hrs
• PHIL 523 - Philosophical Perspectives on Disability 3 hrs
• PHIL 524 - Food Justice 3 hrs
• PHIL 525 - Theories of Justice 3 hrs
• PHIL 527 - Social Epistemology 3 hrs
• PHIL 528 - Comparative Ethics 3 hrs
• PHIL 529 - Topics in Environmental Philosophy 3 hrs
• PHIL 543 - Philosophical Approaches to Moral Psychology 3 hrs
• WGST 526 - Topics in Feminist Philosophy 3 hrs

• WGST 526 may be used to meet the course hour requirement of the Social Justice Division, depending on its specific content.

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  Methods Division

• PHIL 575 - Contemporary Philosophical Practices 3 hrs
• PHIL 580 - Philosophy of Science 3 hrs
• PHIL 581 - Philosophy of Life Sciences 3 hrs
• PHIL 593 - Comparative Philosophy 3 hrs
• PHIL 594 - Chinese Philosophy 3 hrs
• PHIL 595 - Phenomenology 3 hrs
• WGST 526 - Topics in Feminist Philosophy  3 hrs

• WGST 526 may be used to meet the course hour requirement of the Methods Division, depending on its specific content.

Elective Courses: 12 hours

The remaining 12 credit hours of the program will be met by some combination of Unrestricted Electives, Complementary Concentration Courses,  or Cognate Courses, as described below.

Unrestricted Electives: 0-12 hours

Any 500 or 600 level PHIL course may be used to complete the number, of course, hours remaining once the core and restricted electives have been met. If a student opts for a complementary concentration or cognate courses, there may be little room for unrestricted electives (see below).

Complementary Concentration Courses: Maximum 6 hours

Students working on the M.A. in Philosophy may wish to take courses outside of philosophy that complement their particular project or thesis. Our Graduate Program Director can approve courses for use in this way. Here is a list of disciplines students might wish to consider for complementary concentration:

• African American Studies
• Criminology
• History
• Linguistics
• Literature
• Mathematics
• Political Science
• Psychology
• Social Foundations of Education
• Women’s and Gender Studies

Cognate Courses: Maximum 6 hours

Cognate Courses are courses in programs outside of philosophy that are (1) graduate courses and (2) have substantial philosophical content. The Graduate Program Director can approve courses for use in this way.