Doctor of Philosophy Program

PhD candidates must successfully complete the following:

Course Requirements

Complete Philosophy 6800 6.0: First-Year Seminar and Philosophy 6850 6.0: PhD Research Seminar, plus another six half courses (or the equivalent), with no more than one full course equivalent a reading course and no more than one full course equivalent integrated with an undergraduate course. Philosophy 6800 6.0 must be taken in Year 1. The six half courses must normally be completed by the end of Year 2, and Philosophy 6850 6.0 by the end of Year 3, in order to remain in good standing in the program.

With the permission of the Graduate Program Director, students may take one half graduate course outside the program, either at 91ŃÇÉ« or elsewhere, and count it towards these course requirements.

Breadth Requirements

History Requirement
Include, among their courses, at least two half courses each of which focuses in depth on a single significant problem or philosopher, and covers different periods in the history of philosophy. Students who have taken such courses during their MA may place out of all or part of this requirement.

Area Requirement
Include, among their courses, at least two half courses in metaphysics and/or epistemology (understood as including philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, and philosophy of science), and at least two half courses in ethics, political, social and/or legal philosophy.

Logical Requirement

Normally, by the end of the second year students must demonstrate to the logic examination committee a mastery of the semantic and syntactic elements of sentential and first-order predicate logic. This includes understanding validity, logical truth, and natural deduction derivations for both sentential and predicate logic. Mastery may be demonstrated by passing an exam in logic that is set by the logic examination committee, or by passing a graduate level course in logic, normally Philosophy 5460 3.0: Philosophical Logic, that assumes an introductory logic course as background. Students who fail to fulfill the logic requirement by the end of the second year will be withdrawn from the program.

Paper Examination

Submit two papers by the end of the first term of Year 3, to be examined by three anonymous examiners in the program. To pass the examination, at least two of the three examiners must pass both papers. A one-time-only option of revising and resubmitting both papers is available. Students must resubmit within 6 weeks of the original decision. The papers, which may be based upon previous term papers, will demonstrate the skills that are needed to successfully pursue advanced doctoral research. As they are to be written with a view to the norms and expectations of professional philosophical venues, such as peer-reviewed philosophy journals, they should include a carefully reasoned defence of a philosophical position, as well as demonstrate originality. One paper will be in the student’s primary area of research, and the other paper will be in a closely related (but not identical) area. The papers will normally be no more than 30 pages long, double spaced. Students who do not pass this exam after the second submission will be withdrawn from the program.

Dissertation Proposal

Submit a suitable dissertation proposal acceptable to the supervisory committee.

Proposal Defence and Literature Examination

Successfully defend the dissertation proposal and pass an oral examination on literature relevant to the dissertation topic. The list of literature will be compiled jointly by the supervisor and the student after the supervisory relationship is formed and before the proposal is written. The examiners will consist of the student’s supervisory committee plus one outside examiner from the program.

This requirement must be met by the end of PhD 3 in order to remain in good standing in the program.

Dissertation

Write an acceptable dissertation embodying original research and defend it at an oral examination. It is recommended that candidates whose field of study necessitates a reading knowledge of a language other than English acquire sufficient knowledge of that language. Candidates may be asked to demonstrate their proficiency to the examining committee.

Program Entry

The PhD program can be completed on a full- or part-time basis. Entry is fall term.

Program Length

The length of time required to complete the PhD is normally four years (12 terms). Doctor of Philosophy students must register and pay fees for a minimum of the equivalent of six terms of full-time registration. All requirements for a doctoral degree must be fulfilled within 18 terms (6 years) of registration as a full-time or part-time doctoral student in accordance with Faculty of Graduate Studies’ registration policies.