Modality
On Campus
Program URL
https://philosophy.georgetown.edu/
The Philosophy Department at Georgetown University is a pluralistic department that contributes centrally to the University’s core commitments to “justice and the common good, our intellectual openness, and our international character.” We value and promote a variety of approaches to philosophical reflection, including traditional research in contemporary philosophical problems, the study of the history of philosophy, practically engaged and public- facing philosophy, all in both the Anglophone and international linguistic traditions. We have broad strengths in traditional fields of philosophical inquiry, including ethical theory and practical ethics (especially bioethics), social and political philosophy, philosophy of language, epistemology, and the Catholic philosophical tradition. We are currently building a focus in philosophical approaches to race, as well as philosophical traditions rooted in the thought of disadvantaged or marginalized racial groups.
Academic Policies
The academic policies and procedures of the Philosophy program are those specified in Georgetown University’s Bulletin and department handbook.
Program Requirements
Students in the Ph.D. program must earn 45 credits, pass all required comprehensive exams, satisfy the logic requirement, complete the Dissertation Transition Seminar, and hold a pre- proposal meeting within six semesters from matriculation.
Course Requirements
Students must complete 45 graduate-level credits, distributed as follows:
- 1 Ethics Proseminar (6 credits)
- 3 History courses, including one in Ancient, Medieval, or Renaissance philosophy and one in Modern philosophy (9 credits)
- 2 Topically oriented courses at the 8000-level (6 credits)
- PHIL 5001 or its equivalent or more advanced course at Georgetown (3 credits)
- 7 Electives (21 credits)
- Dissertation Transition Seminar (0 credits)
Students are also expected to serve as a Teaching Assistant during their second year of the program.
Required Examinations
All Ph.D. students must pass two comprehensive examinations. Exams are administered during the final exam period of the Fall and Spring semesters and are considered the final exams for the Ethics and LEMMS proseminars.
The Comprehensive Examination in Ethics requires students to write two or three essays within four hours. Exams are graded by a board comprised of the Proseminar director and two other faculty members from the department.
The LEMMS comprehensive exam requires students to write an encyclopedia style article that provides an integrative overview and takes a stand on some of the key philosophical themes discussed over the course of the year-long proseminar. Exams are graded by the director of the LEMMS Proseminar and two faculty members from the department.
Thesis Requirements
As a prerequisite for admission to candidacy for the Ph.D., a student must formally defend a Dissertation Proposal. After the completion of the course work, therefore, the Director of Graduate Studies must officially appoint the provisional Dissertation Mentor selected by the student, with the Mentor’s consent, who will supervise the student's preparation for the thesis proposal defense
To certify that the Dissertations ready for defense, the Dissertation Committee must fill out and the Mentor must submit to the Graduate School a Doctoral Dissertation Reviewers Report.
The Mentor must schedule the Dissertation Defense in consultation with the Readers and the student. The final draft of the Dissertation must be submitted to the Chair of the Department and the Director of Graduate Studies at least two weeks in advance of its defense.
Students must follow all regulations specified by the Graduate School that govern the timing and necessary steps for submitting a completed Dissertation, including any regulations governing the format of the final document.
All defenses are public in the sense that the time and place are announced by the Department when the student submits the final draft to the Department, and all members of the faculty and graduate students may attend. Any attendee who is not a member of the Dissertation Committee who intends to participate in the questioning should inform the Mentor before the defense. The defense may not be scheduled during the summer (except as approved by the Director of Graduate Studies or the Chair).
The candidate will be considered to have passed the dissertation defense when the
Committee certifies by majority vote that the defense was “successful.” (In a four person committee, three must approve.) That is, the Committee must certify that the candidate ha
