Philosophy, MA

Contact

Director of Graduate Studies
541 Hall of Languages
315-443-2245

Faculty

Kenneth Baynes, Frederick C. Beiser, Benjamin Bradley, Janice Dowell, Kevan Edwards, Kim Frost, André Gallois, Samuel Gorovitz, Mark Heller, Kris McDaniel, Christopher Noble, Hille Paakkunainen, Kara Richardson, Michael Rieppel, Nathaniel Sharadin, David Sobel, Laurence Thomas, Robert Van Gulick

The graduate program in philosophy offers study in the core areas of Anglo-American philosophy. It also offers work on the thought of some of the major figures of the history of philosophy, e.g., Plato, Aristotle, Hume, Leibniz, Spinoza, Descartes, and Kant. The department believes that each student’s education should include some study of the history of philosophy whether or not the student’s interests are primarily historical. The program is designed to prepare students both to teach philosophy and to contribute to the advance of philosophical inquiry.

There are generally 28 full-time philosophy graduate students in residence at Syracuse. Most full-time students in the Ph.D. program are awarded financial assistance in the form of a teaching assistantship, a fellowship, or a tuition scholarship.

Student Learning Outcomes

1. Write with a good degree of clarity, precision, and organization

2. Have a broad understanding of, and ability to explain clearly, an important philosophical problem and its history

3. Demonstrate familiarity with a large amount of philosophical literature relevant to their topic of study

4. Have a good ability to critically evaluate philosophical theories and arguments

M.A. in Philosophy

The student seeking the M.A. in philosophy will ordinarily complete 24 credits of coursework and defend viva voce a 6-credit master’s thesis. Non-thesis option: With the permission of the department, a student admitted to the Ph.D. Program may receive the M.A. in philosophy after completing 36 credits of graduate coursework. A course in which the student received a grade lower than B will not count towards this degree. No more than 6 credits toward this degree may be transferred from another institution.

Programs in Philosophy and Law

The Philosophy Department joins with the College of Law in offering an opportunity to pursue the J.D./M.A. Philosophy or the J.D./Ph.D. Philosophy degrees at the same time. See the Philosophy Grad Studies departmental web site for a more detailed description of these programs.