Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Degree Requirements

Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Degree Requirements

Overview

The PhD degree requires a minimum of 81 credits of graduate-level course work, of which 18 must be in Dissertation (PHIL 603). Students must complete a logic requirement, demonstrate proficiency in a second language, complete the four course distribution requirements, and pass two comprehensive examinations, in our program these are extensive research projects -- one in history (history paper) and one in the student's area of specialization (literature review). Most students finish their doctoral degrees within 5 to 6 years. The graduate school imposes a limit of seven years for completion of the PhD degree.

Time Table for Completing the PhD

• Logic Requirement: by the end of year 2
• Language Requirement: by the end of year 3
• Distribution Requirements: by the end of fall term of year 3
• History Paper Proposal: by the end of fall term of year 3
• History Paper: by the end of winter term of year 3
• Literature Review: by the end of fall term of year 4
• Prospectus: by the end of winter term of year 4
• PhD Dissertation: by the end of spring term of year 5

Distribution Requirements

Current Courses that Satisfy Distribution Requirements
The distribution requirements can be satisfied by receiving a mid-B or better in the areas listed below. A single course may count toward each of three categories, but no more than once in a single category. For example, a course may count in a sub-disciplinary field such as metaphysics, and, at the same time, apply to both the history requirement and the traditions requirement.
Field satisfaction will be determined by the Graduate Director, in consultation with the faculty member teaching the class, and this information will be posted in advance:

1. Philosophical Traditions

   • Two courses from each of the four philosophical traditions that ground the diverse philosophical perspectives of the department (for those entering Fall 2009 and thereafter, one of the two courses in each of the traditions will be a pro-seminar -- tradition offerings alternate years -- taken within the first two years of graduate study)
     • Continental Philosophy
     • Analytic Philosophy
     • American Philosophy
     • Feminist Philosophy
       

2. Subdisciplinary Fields

   • For students entering fall 2008 or before: three courses in each of the three sub-disciplinary fields listed below.
   • For students entering fall 2009 or after: two courses in each of three sub-disciplinary fields listed below.
     • Society and Value - courses in aesthetics, social and political philosophy, and ethics.
     • Knowledge, Rationality and Inquiry - courses in epistemology, philosophy of science, and philosophy of language.
     • Metaphysics - courses in metaphysics, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of religion.
       

3. Historical Periods

   • One course from each of the four historical periods:
     • ancient and medieval
     • modern (16th, 17th and 18th century philosophy)
     • 19th century philosophy
     • 20th century philosophy.
       

4. ARNL: Asian, Race, Native American, Latin American

   • For those entering in Fall 2009 or thereafter, one course in one of the four ARNL requirement areas:
     • Asian Philosophy
     • Philosophy of Race
     • Native American Philosophy
     • Latin American Philosophy
       

Transfer Credit for Distribution Requirements

Subject to approval by the Director of Graduate Studies, a student may use transfer courses (i.e. graduate courses taken at another university) or graduate courses taken outside the Philosophy Department, as follows: (1) one course in each of the three sub-fields (the other two in each sub-field must be taken in the Department); (2) one course may be counted toward the history course requirement: (3) one course may be used under each of the four traditions (the other one in each tradition must be taken in the Department). However, in satisfying these requirements, the maximum number of transfer and/or outside the department courses that can be counted is five.
Click here for Approval Form for Transfer Courses (pdf)

Language Proficiency

To graduate with an advanced degree in Philosophy from the University of Oregon, students must demonstrate proficiency in a second language equivalent to two years of study in that language at the college level. The language must be approved by the student's advisor and should be relevant to the student's philosophical interests. Proficiency may be demonstrated by:

1. providing an official transcript which shows a passing grade in second-year language coursework (normally the 201, 202, 203 sequence; although second-year competency may also be demonstrated by passing a 300 level language course for which 203 is a prerequisite)
2. successfully testing out (for more information on second-year language tests, contact Beki Holbrook in the UO Testing Center at rebecca@uoregon.edu or 541-346-3230).

MA on the Way to PhD

When PhD students have completed both the distribution and language proficiency requirements, they are eligible to apply for an MA and are encouraged to do so. The Philosophy MA requirements for PhD students are the same as those for MA students, except that a PhD student is encouraged to apply for the MA as soon as possible after the MA requirements have been met (the Graduate School has a policy of not granting MA and PhD degrees at the same time, i.e. when the student has completed the Ph.D). If applying for the MA on the way to obtaining the PhD, the "Permission to Re-Register in the Graduate School" form at http://gradschool.uoregon.edu/policies-procedures/reregistration must also be submitted before the term following the award of the MA.
Begin "Application for Advanced Degree" process at http://gradschool.uoregon.edu/?page=graduation for doctoral and master's students.
NOTE: the deadline for applying for the advanced degree is the second Friday of the expected term of graduation.

Logic Requirement

As a condition for advancement to candidacy in the doctoral program, the student must satisfy the logic requirement in one of four ways:

1. Earning a grade of B or higher in PHIL 325 (Logic, Inquiry, and Argumentation);
2. Earning a grade of B or higher in an advanced undergraduate logic course taken before entering the doctoral program;
3. Completing (with a B or higher) an appropriate 4-credit reading and conference course (PHIL 605) in logic within the Philosophy Department; or
4. Earning a grade of B or higher in a logic course offered by another UO department (e.g., mathematics or computer science). Courses taken for logic credit under 2.- 4. above must be approved by the Director of Graduate Studies.

Comprehensive Exams (Research Papers)

The comprehensive examinations are passed by completing two substantial research papers under the supervision of faculty. Students are advanced to candidacy upon completion of the comprehensives.
Registration for the History Paper and Literature Review
When students write the History Paper, they may register for it once, for up to 5 research credits (PHIL 605). They may receive an incomplete once, which will be corrected the term following the term in which they have registered for it. Students may register once for up to 9 research credits for their Literature Review and are expected to complete the Literature Review in the term they have registered for it.

History Paper

(click here for History Paper Certification form)
History Paper Requirement. For students entering fall 2011 and thereafter (students entering before fall 2011 may elect to follow these guidelines): The history paper constitutes half of the comprehensive examination requirement of the Graduate School. The literature review constitutes the second half.
The purpose of the history paper is to provide students with the opportunity to deepen and broaden their knowledge of and approach to main topics in the history of philosophy, and to produce a paper as an independent research project. Papers should be approximately 7000 words in length and make appropriate use of secondary literature (25 pages not counting bibliography and endnotes, 35 pages inclusive is the maximum).
Procedure:
• Forming a Committee: After completing their coursework, students will be asked to form a committee of two philosophy faculty members, one of whom will serve as chair of the committee.
• History Paper Proposal: Students will submit to their committee for approval a research project in the history of philosophy. The proposal should be no more than five pages long.
• Registration for PHIL 601 Graduate Research: Following approval of the proposal, a student will register for Phil 601: Research for up to 5 credits. Students may only register for history paper credits once and may receive no more than one incomplete for history paper research. The incomplete will be changed to “P” on successful completion of the requirement. Once the proposal is approved, the student will work independently to complete a final draft of the paper during the term of registration for PHIL 601. If a student is not taking classes while researching and writing their history paper, the balance of credits should be taken as PHIL 605 Reading, and should not result in an incomplete at the end of the term even if the history paper is not completed.
• Completion: Students should complete their history papers in no more than two terms.
• Submission of the Paper: When the paper is complete, it will be submitted to the examining committee and reviewed.
• Evaluation of the Paper: The committee will meet with the student to provide an evaluation of the paper. The paper will be accepted, accepted pending revisions, or rejected. If it is accepted pending revisions, the revised version of the paper will be evaluated again by the committee and accepted, accepted pending revisions or rejected. If it is accepted pending revisions, the final paper will be evaluated again by the committee and accepted or rejected. If the paper is rejected at any point, then upon consideration by the Graduate Studies Committee and a two-thirds vote of the Faculty, the student will be asked to leave the PhD program.
Topic Guidelines: The purpose of the paper is to lead students to deepen and broaden their knowledge of and approach to main topics in the history of philosophy. To that end, the paper will provide occasion for coming to an understanding of the development of philosophical traditions in their historical and cultural settings.
Papers will consider some philosophical question formulated and debated in major works prior to 1980, or the work of one philosopher whose major works were published before 1980. Students should consider the intellectual—historical context of the philosopher or question and current relevant secondary literature. The paper can take a single tradition as its primary focus, but it should establish and assess this tradition’s interaction with other philosophical traditions as part of its historical development. Students may adopt a comparative approach (comparing figures or traditions with respect to a sufficiently precise topic), a broad intellectual historical approach (e.g., discerning the broader intellectual historical background for a problem shared by otherwise divergent traditions or figures) or a bridge-building approach (e.g. showing how a particular philosophical topic is addressed by tools and methodologies drawn from diverse philosophical traditions, figures, and/or periods). Depending on the topic, it may be important also to consider what it means to read philosophy in an historical context. The chosen topic may be, but need not be, related to the student’s planned area of specialization and field of dissertation research, though it should not be narrowly focused on the topic of the dissertation.
History Paper Examples

Literature Review

(click here for Literature Review Certification form)
Constituting your Dissertation Committee: Upon completing distribution requirements and passing the history paper comprehensive, students are to constitute their PhD dissertation committee (which needn't include the outside member at this point) in preparation for their second comprehensive, a literature review in the Area of Specialization, in relation to the dissertation project. Each dissertation committee consists of a chair, who is the student's advisor, and two readers from within the department. For the prospectus, a 4th member is added, this external member of the dissertation/thesis committee must be a member of the University of Oregon faculty not in the Department of Philosophy. The committee may also include other members from outside the University of Oregon at the discretion of the student and adviser and with the approval of the Department Head and the Graduate School.
Sources: The students should work with their committee members to develop a list of 50-100 sources that will be important to their dissertation projects. Once this list is approved, the student will write a review of the literature, following these guidelines:

• The completed literature review should be no more than 50 and no less than 30 pages long, double-spaced, 12 pt. font.
• The review should be written in narrative style (i.e. the student should avoid simply handing in an annotated bibliography, though he/she may well complete such a bibliography in preparation for writing the literature review).
• Each work that is addressed in the literature review should be discussed in terms of its relation to an articulated philosophical question or problem related to the area of the dissertation project, rather than simply summarized.
• When the review is finished and the committee reads it, the student may be asked to do additional work on the review.

Advancement to Candidacy for the PhD

PhD students will be advanced to candidacy after they have completed their comprehensives (i.e. after successfully completing the distribution requirements, history paper, and literature review).

Prospectus

(click here for the Dissertation Prospectus Approval Form (pdf))
The Prospectus and Prospectus Examination is a key step towards earning a Ph.D. in philosophy at the University of Oregon.
Constituting a Dissertation Committee: Students should form a dissertation committee. A committee typically consists of four members, three, including the advisor, who are regular members of the department, and one from a department in the University other than the philosophy department. (The committee may also include an additional member who may not be at the University of Oregon.) Please note the following:

1. The selection of the dissertation advisor should be made with the following considerations in mind: First, the advisor should have a research focus in the central area of the proposed topic. Second, the advisor should be someone that the student can work with. Third, the advisor has the responsibility for the reading and evaluation of initial drafts of the dissertation.
2. The membership of the committee should be formed in consultation with the dissertation advisor, who can provide suggestions about the selection of the outside member. Typically, other committee members will read a draft of (parts of) the dissertation when the thesis advisor considers them to be ready for other committee members to see them and comment.
3. After preliminary discussions with a thesis advisor, students should prepare a draft of the Prospectus and submit it to the thesis advisor.
4. When the advisor and student agree that the Prospectus is ready for submission to other members of the Ph.D. committee, a version of it should be presented to them; committee members may request revisions of the Prospectus, and students should allow time for these revisions (in order to be in compliance with Departmental expectations).
5. A Prospectus Examination should be scheduled (for about sixty minutes) in consultation with the thesis advisor and other members of the committee. The Examination is expected to be attended by the candidate and all of the members of the dissertation committee. It should be held only when the advisor and the committee members believe that there is a workable project, something they determine after their evaluation of a submitted draft of the Prospectus.

Content: There are certain ingredients that a Prospectus must contain. Most importantly, there should be a problem that the Prospectus identifies and explains. To this end, the introduction to the Prospectus should include some motivation for addressing the problem, as well as an attempt at explaining, illustrating and clarifying what the problem is. The Prospectus also should try to make clear how the candidate intends to address that problem. It is not sufficient for the Prospectus to indicate that certain claims will be defended or attacked; it must be made clear how the candidate proposes to establish these claims or to illuminate them. To this end, a synopsis of each chapter is needed together with an indication of how the chapters are linked, why one chapters leads into another. A Prospectus should not be overly long, somewhere from seven to ten pages, not including the bibliography.
Not only is the dissertation expected to be an original piece of work, something that would be reflected in what it has to say about the problem it addresses, but it is also expected to demonstrate the candidate's familiarity with the relevant literature and his or her competence in providing critical readings of this literature. The candidate is expected to know the more influential and important writings on the problem the thesis is to address, and the Prospectus should reflect the fact that the candidate has plans to acquire that knowledge. To this end, the candidate should provide an extensive Bibliography appended to the end of the Prospectus.
Prospectus Examination: The Prospectus Examination provides an opportunity for all of the members of the committee, including the outside member, to share their views of what needs to be done to strengthen the project; how it might need to be expanded or, as is more likely, narrowed in its focus. The concern is that the dissertation address a problem that can be handled adequately by the candidate in a reasonable amount of time. By accepting the Prospectus the committee agrees that the Prospectus presents a project suitable in content and scope for a dissertation.
Dissertation Prospectus Approval Form (pdf)

Dissertation

All candidates must submit a dissertation based on independent and original research. The dissertation must contribute significantly to knowledge, show a mastery of the literature of the subject, be written in acceptable literary style, and conform to the standards outlined in the University of Oregon Style and Policy Manual for Theses and Dissertations. Preparation of the dissertation usually requires the greater part of one or two academic years.
Defense of Dissertation -- A formal, public defense must take place on the campus at a date set by the committee chair and approved by the Graduate School. Tentative approval of the dissertation by the committee is recommended prior to formal defense. This evaluation is based on copies of the final manuscript, which the candidate provides for the dissertation committee at least seven weeks before the Dissertation Defense Date, unless all members of the committee approve of an alternative submission date. The dissertation must be approved by the committee as suitable for oral defense at least three weeks before the formal defense. Four copies of the dissertation abstract (350-word maximum) must also be filed with the Graduate School at this time. The time and place of the defense must be publicly noted. The dissertation committee must be present at the defense, and the chair of the committee must certify to the Graduate School within two weeks following the defense that the defense was held as scheduled.
Completion of Dissertation - Within two weeks following the defense of the dissertation but before the dissertation is submitted in duplicate to the Graduate School, each member of the dissertation committee must confirm in writing either approval or disapproval of the final version. Approval requires a unanimous vote.
NOTE: The "Application for Final Oral Defense" and "Confirmation of Agreement to Attend Final Oral Defense" forms at https://gradweb.uoregon.edu/main/mainStudent.asp must be filed by week 5 of the expected term of graduation and no less than three weeks before the Dissertation Defense date.

Leaves of Absence

Each graduate student is entitled to three terms of leave before he/she advances to candidacy, and three terms after advancing to candidacy. Leaves must be approved, and do not stop the seven-year clock for completion of degree.
The "On-Leave Status for Masters and Pre-Advancement Doctoral Students" form at https://gradweb.uoregon.edu/main/petitions/student/onleave.html, and the "In Absentia Status for Post-Advancement Doctoral Students" form at https://gradweb.uoregon.edu/main/mainstudent.asp must be filed before taking any leave, and must be followed by the "Permission to Re-Register in the Graduate School" form at http://gradschool.uoregon.edu/policies-procedures/reregistration before registration for the term of planned return.

Graduate School Requirements

In addition to specific Philosophy Department requirements, doctoral candidates must satisfy all Graduate School requirements, as specified in the Graduate Catalog and on their website. Students need to take particular notice of the Graduate School residency requirement, which reads:
"For the PhD degree the student must complete at least three years of full-time graduate-level academic work beyond the bachelor's degree. At least one academic year--the residency year--must be spent in residence on the Eugene campus after the student has been classified as a conditionally or an unconditionally admitted student in a doctoral program. During this year of residency the student is expected to make progress toward the degree by completing course credits and satisfying doctoral degree requirements. The residency year consists of three consecutive terms of full-time study, with a minimum of 9 completed graduate credits a term in the student's major.
A doctoral candidate may fulfill the residency requirement during the period in which he or she works toward a master's degree on the university campus as long as the student has been officially awarded the master's degree, the doctoral degree program immediately follows the master's degree program, and both the master's degree and the doctoral degree are in the same discipline.