Philosophy, PhD

For admission into the PhD program, prospective students must simultaneously meet the following requirements:

The applicant must hold a bachelor’s degree or its equivalent from a regionally accredited college or university.
The applicant should have a master’s degree in philosophy or a related field or be prepared to complete such a degree prior to completing the PhD in philosophy. (Students with master’s degrees in fields other than philosophy and outstanding bachelor’s degree applicants are welcome to apply. As appropriate, such students may be required to take up to 12 hours of graduate work in philosophy as foundational background for acceptance in the program.) Exceptions will be evaluated on an individual basis.
The applicant must have satisfactory academic standing at the previous institution attended and have at least a 3.0 GPA on the last 60 undergraduate semester hours of work prior to receiving the bachelor’s degree or a 2.8 GPA on all undergraduate work to be considered for unconditional admission. Applicants who have already completed a master’s degree must have at least a 3.4 GPA on the master’s or meet the undergraduate GPA standards as listed to be admitted unconditionally for doctoral study.
Students seeking the PhD in philosophy are required to submit satisfactory scores on the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) or another appropriate standardized examination.
Previous academic performance must demonstrate the potential for graduate work in philosophy.
An applicant whose first language is not English must demonstrate proficiency in oral and written English prior to being admitted.
The applicant must, at a minimum, meet the requirements for acceptance into the Toulouse Graduate School at UNT.

In addition to meeting all of the requirements above, students applying for admission to the doctoral program in philosophy must submit three letters of recommendation, a writing sample representative of their best academic work in the field, a “statement of purpose” describing both their reasons for pursuing doctoral work in philosophy and their specific areas of academic interest (e.g., sub-disciplinary areas of interest within the field), and a curriculum vitae.

Information on requirements for the PhD with a major in philosophy is available from the department and online at www.phil.unt.edu/programs/graduate/phd.

Departmental graduate course distribution requirement

In order to achieve its specific goal of offering its students a foundational training in environmental philosophy, the history of Western philosophy, agility in several topic areas of philosophy, and interdisciplinary experiences, students in the PhD program in philosophy must pass, with a grade of B or better, the course work listed to satisfy the course distribution requirements specific to the student category. Student categories determine the course work required to earn a PhD with a major in philosophy at UNT. Categories for incoming students are determined according to the degree achieved upon admission to the program.

Category 1 students, 72 hours

Category 1 students: accepted to the PhD program with bachelor’s degree in any discipline

Required courses, 21 hours (6 hours of history sequence; 6 hours of environmental philosophy sequence; 3 hours of topic specialization sequence; 6 hours of interdisciplinary study outside department)
Elective courses, 39 hours
Dissertation, 12 hours

Category 2 students, 42 hours

Category 2 students: accepted to the PhD program with master’s degree in a discipline other than philosophy

Required courses, 15 hours (6 hours of environmental philosophy sequence; 3 hours of topic specialization sequence; 6 hours of history sequence)
Elective courses, 15 hours
Dissertation, 12 hours

Category 3 students, 42 hours

Category 3 students: accepted to the PhD program with master’s degree in philosophy

Required courses, 12 hours (6 hours of environmental philosophy sequence; 6 hours of interdisciplinary study outside department)
Elective courses, 18 hours
Dissertation, 12 hours

Environmental philosophy sequence, 6 hours

Required of all students (at least two courses)

Philosophical topic specialization, 3 hours

Required of student categories 1 and 2

Philosophical history sequence, 6 hours

Required of student categories 1 and 2

Interdisciplinary study, 6 hours

Required of student categories 1 and 3

At least two courses outside of philosophy, determined in consultation with graduate advisor and major professor.

Dissertation, 12 hours

After completing all other course requirements and the qualifying exam requirement, students will enroll in 12 semester credit hours of dissertation writing over the remainder of the degree program.

Additional information

Limitation to taking independent study/special problems courses

Graduate students in the Department of Philosophy and Religion Studies will take no more than two special problems or independent studies throughout their graduate career unless approved by the Director of Graduate Studies and the student’s major professor. Students should note that a good use of special problems or independent study course is to arrange one with their major professor in their last year of course work, in order to assist in the development of a literature base, dissertation topic and working relationship between the major professor and the student.

Pass-through master’s requirements

To receive a pass-through master’s degree, on the way from a bachelor’s degree to a PhD, the student is required to take a total of 30 semester credit hours, pass a short non-thesis oral exam with the Director of Graduate Studies and the student’s major professor, as well as complete an Application for Pass-Through Master’s Degree from the Graduate School. At least seven courses (21 credit hours) of the required course work are to be in the Department of Philosophy and Religion Studies.

Limitation on taking course work outside the department

Any student who desires to apply more than 9 semester credit hours of course work taken outside of the department toward the completion of their PhD or MA degree plan must have the approval of the Director of Graduate Studies, in consultation with the student’s major professor.

Qualifying Exam Paper proposal

The proposal for the Qualifying Exam Paper (QEP) consists of a one- to two-page description of the topic of the QEP and how it differs from the student’s proposed dissertation topic. The proposal should be sent directly to the Chair of the Qualifying Exam Paper Committee.

Deadline for the Qualifying Exam Paper

The purpose of the Qualifying Exam Paper (QEP) is for the PhD student in philosophy to develop and demonstrate an area of scholarly competency beyond the specialization of the student’s dissertation topic. Consistent with the Toulouse Graduate School requirement for qualifying examination and admission to candidacy, this qualifying exam paper will require the student to demonstrate competency with exemplary writing, research and analytical skills. Students are to produce a paper of high scholarly merit consistent with publishable quality standards. Specifically, preparing for the QEP entails all course requirements are completed and all requirements set by the department and the Toulouse Graduate School are satisfied. Also, the Qualifying Exam Paper must be on a topic explicitly other than the dissertation. However, content and research for examination may be present in minor portions of the ultimate dissertation project.

Deadlines

During the final semester of course work, in which students will be taking one regular course, the PhD students will prepare to submit the Qualifying Exam Paper according to the following schedule.

QEP proposal due to the chair of the Qualifying Exam Committee by January 15
QEP paper due to the Chair of the Qualifying Exam Committee by May 15
Revisions of papers are due by August 1
Students funded by the department will be advanced to Level 3 pay scale if the revision is submitted by August 1. Any revisions submitted later than August 1, even with extenuating circumstances, will not be advanced to Level 3 pay scale until the following year. This is policy for the university that Level 3 pay scale increases occur only during the fall semesters, and any revised paper submissions after August 1 will fail to meet the departmental arrangements to meet the university policy.