Our doctoral program offers considerable flexiblity; individual programs of study are developed for each student. Students may also take advantage of cooperative program to work in the Philosophy Department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Our program offers research opportunities across the areas of the history of philosophy; epistemology; metaphysics; philosophy of mind; cognitive science; moral psychology; ethics; political philosophy; Chinese philosophy; philosophy of science; philosophy of biology; philosophy of social science; philosophy of law; philosophy of mathematics; and philosophical logic.
Requirements
15 courses, with up to 5 courses outside the department. These courses will normally be distributed over 5 semesters, with at least 6 courses completed at the end of the first year.
- Area Requirements
- 2 pro-seminars. One pro-seminar is in metaphysics and epistemology, and the second is in value theory
- 1 formal methods course. A 700 level class on formal methods in philosophy, which covers logic, probability, and related topics.
- 1 metaphysics/epistemology course (in addition to the pro-seminar)
- 1 value theory course (in addition to the pro-seminar)
- 2 courses in the history of philosophy. 1 must be in ancient philosophy, and 1 must be in early modern philosophy.
- 1 philosophy of science course. Can come in many different areas (economics, biology, neuroscience, etc.)
- Directed readings course: to be taken in the first semester of Year 3
- Language Requirement - if needed for dissertation work
- Second Year Paper and Third Year Directed Readings Course
- Preliminary Examination
- Dissertation
- Dissertation Defense