Students will normally complete 15 courses, with up to five courses outside the department to count toward this total. These courses will normally be distributed over 5 semesters, with at least 6 courses completed at the end of the first year.
The student must satisfy departmental requirements in each of the following areas: history of philosophy; philosophy of science; metaphysics, epistemology and philosophy of mind; value theory; logic
These requirements are satisfied as follows:
If a student’s dissertation is devoted to any considerable extent to an author, that student must be able to read the author’s works in their original language.
Reading knowledge is demonstrated either by (1) receiving at least a grade of ‘B’ in language courses that the DGS has approved in advance (with the possibility of petitioning the DGS for a waiver of the requirement when there is evidence that comparable work has been done elsewhere), or (2) passing a departmentally administered translation exam.
Future Research Statement
In the spring of the second year, students shall submit a short Future Research Statement (FRS) that proposes a course of research for the summer and that includes a bibliography that will guide that research. The FRS is to be no more than 5 pages, excluding the bibliography, and is to be submitted to an FRS committee that standardly is composed of three faculty. Students are welcome to submit drafts of the FRS and bibliography to anyone on their FRS committee.
In the fall of the third year, students shall undergo an oral examination by the FRS committee on the results of the research proposed in the FRS. It is assumed that both the understanding of the area of research reflected in the FRS and the research interests of the student will have evolved due to summer research. Also, it is natural for research interests to shift after the completion of the FRS requirement, and there is no presumption that the FRS advisor or committee will be included in later preliminary and dissertation committees. However, it is advised that sometime during the third year students undertake a directed readings course in their area of specialization that involves work on the dissertation proposal, to be defended in the preliminary examination.
By the fifth week of the sixth semester, a draft of a dissertation proposal should be submitted to the student’s Preliminary Examination Committee. The proposal should include an outline of the proposed dissertation, as well as a rationale for the project that situates the proposed research within the context of relevant literature, as determined by the dissertation advisor. After review and revision, and once the committee has judged the written submission to be satisfactory, an oral examination will be conducted by the Preliminary Examination Committee. After passing the examination, the dissertation proposal should be revised in accordance with suggestions from the Committee no later than the end of the sixth semester.
Students who have completed their preliminary examination are required to meet annually during the fall term with their doctoral committee to report on the progress of their work on the dissertation. Whether or not they are in residence, students need to arrange for such a meeting, and submit to committee members, by at least a week prior to the meeting, a written report on the progress of their dissertation work.
If you have any questions concerning the program, please contact the Director of Graduate Studies, Professor Karen Neander (kneander@duke.edu).
