Program: Philosophy, PhD - University of North Texas

Apr 17, 2025

2011-2012 Graduate Catalog

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 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, and agility in several topic areas of philosophy, students in the PhD program in philosophy must pass, with a grade of B or better, 21 hours of course work from among the courses listed to satisfy their course-distribution requirement:

First year environmental philosophy sequence preferably taken the first year of graduate study, depending upon regularity of course offering (6 credit hours):

PHIL 5000 - Environmental Ethics (Proseminar)
PHIL 5010 - Seminar in the Philosophy of Ecology (Proseminar)

Philosophical history sequence (6 credit hours):

Philosophical specialization, two courses selected from the following( 6 credit hours):

Departmental pedagogy seminar (3 credit hours):

PHIL 5050 - Professional Development Seminar

Additional program requirements include the following:

Tool-subject requirement: environmental science graduate course (3 hours): In order to ensure an interdisciplinary strength in the department’s primary specialty, environmental philosophy, students in the philosophy PhD program must pass, with a grade of B or better, a further 3 hours of graduate course work in environmental science.This requirement satisfies the Toulouse Graduate School tool-subject requirement. In the event that a student has a strong background in environmental science, the graduate course in environmental science can be waived, but the tool-subject requirement must be satisfied by taking a graduate course of 3 hours, with a grade of B or better, in another discipline to be chosen in consultation with the department’s graduate advisor.

Focus elective graduate course requirement (24 hours): In addition to fulfilling the department graduate course distribution requirement students must pass, with a grade of B or better, a further 24 hours of course work to be taken at the 6000 level in philosophy or in related fields that would strengthen a student’s focus of study (to be determined in consultation with graduate advisor). Student’s study focus may be designed to strengthen specific areas of environmental philosophy, other departmental strengths (e.g., philosophy of science and technology studies, philosophy of religion, history of philosophy), interdisciplinary strengths connected with the department (i.e., environmental sciences, environmental literature, policy studies, etc.), or complimentary philosophical strengths offered through the UTA philosophy curriculum.

Dissertation course (12 hours minimum): After completing all other course requirements and the special requirements of foreign language and comprehensive exams, students will enroll in a minimum of 12 semester credit hours of dissertation writing.