Doctor's degree Philosophy - Southern Illinois University Carbondale

Doctor's degree Philosophy from Southern Illinois University Carbondale is a Campus Ph.D Philosophy degree that prepares you for a Liberal Arts career. Ph.D. Program Ph.D. REQUIREMENTS IN PHILOSOPHY Students in the M.A. program intending to pursue a Ph.D. must apply for admission to the Doctoral program and take the M.A. Comprehensive Examination no later than their third semester in residency. The decision on admission to the Doctoral program will be made by the Philosophy faculty. A Ph.D. degree should be pursued only by students with a strong enough commitment to philosophy to continue their studies for another three or four years and undertake a major research project in an area of specialization. For general Graduate School requirements, the Graduate Catalog should be consulted, under heading DEGREE REQUIREMENTS. Department requirements for a Ph.D. are as follows: Course Work ? Completion of 30 semester hours of work beyond the M.A. level Requirements in the History of the Analytic Movement - In order to make sure that SIUC Philosophy doctorate candidates have at least a minimum literacy in analytic philosophy, all students will be required to take a seminar in the history of the analytic movement. This course will survey the key figures, ideas and arguments from the beginning of the twentieth century. Incoming students may request to have this requirement waived by the Graduate Director if they have already taken courses in this material. Other courses offered by the Department may be approved as fulfilling this requirement, at the discretion of the Graduate Director. Logic Requirements ? Demonstration of competence in formal logic in one of the following ways: By having met the logic requirement for the Master's degree . By having earned a grade of 'B' or better in an undergraduate course covering sentential calculus and first order predicate logic. By having earned a grade of 'B' or better in Philosophy 105 as an undergraduate at SIUC. By passing with a grade of 'B' or better, during one's first year of residence, an examination covering sentential calculus and first order predicate logic. By passing with a grade of 'B' or better, Philosophy 420 during one's first year of residence. Incoming Doctoral Candidates ? Incoming doctoral students from other universities will be required to take the history comprehensive examination on the history of philosophy . This must be completed by the end of the first year of residence. Candidates who have already passed a comprehensive examination on the history of philosophy, or who have taken a range of courses in the history of philosophy may appeal to the Graduate Director to be waived from taking this examination. All doctoral candidates must complete Philosophy 480-3 History of Analytic Philosophy prior to sitting for the Preliminary Examinations. Students who believe they have the requisite background in analytic philosophy may appeal this requirement with the Director of Graduate Studies. Preliminary Examinations ? Each doctoral candidate should take the preliminary examinations after (s)he has accumulated between 24 to 30 hours of credit beyond the Masters degree level and before (s)he begins work on the dissertation. (Students who have incompletes older than one month may not sit for these examinations. Students are expected to make up incomplete grades within one month of completion of the course in which the incomplete was awarded. The Graduate Committee may address special considerations.) Candidates should see the Graduate Secretary for a copy of the Department's Study Guide, which lists recommended readings and study questions. The examinations, each of which will not take more than five hours, will cover the following areas: (a) Metaphysics and Epistemology; (b) Value Fields. Examinations will be offered the week before classes begin in the Fall Semester. Students failing one or both may sign up to sit for a retake in the Spring Semester. The preliminary examination papers will be read by five members of the Department's faculty. These readers will submit to the Department's Director of Graduate Studies a 'high pass,' 'pass,' 'low pass,' or 'fail' recommendation. No student may sit for a preliminary examination in either area more than two times without the written consent of the Graduate Committee. The Graduate Committee will make such decisions on a case-by-case basis. Research Tools ? Fulfill a language/research tool requirement in one of the following ways: As indicated in the M.A. level requirements (paragraph I, C), for a second language in addition to that studied for the Master's degree . The level of proficiency required is the same as the M.A. level and fulfilling the M.A. requirement counts as one of the two required. By showing greater proficiency in the same language that was used to meet the same requirements for the Master's degree. By demonstrating a reading knowledge of one language as indicated in the M.A. level requirements and by completing, satisfactorily, at least two courses in a research related area, such as mathematics, history, archival work, editing, and so on, pursued outside the Department at the graduate level. This option must be approved by the Graduate Director prior to being undertaken. Fulfilling these requirements does not count toward the completion of 30 semester hours of work beyond the M.A. level, unless the work is done as Directed Readings (PHIL 591). Admission to Candidacy ? After 30 hours of course work have been completed, the logic and the language requirements have been fulfilled and the preliminary examinations passed, the Director of Graduate Studies (in the person of the Graduate Secretary) must file an Admit to Candidacy form with the Graduate School. This form is to be filed at least six months before the expected date of graduation. The student is responsible for seeing whether this form has, in fact, been filed. The student must have obtained the agreement of a faculty member to serve as dissertation director. Dissertation DISSERTATION DIRECTOR ?The dissertation director is responsible for selecting a dissertation committee for the student. The committee shall consist of five graduate faculty members, at least one of whom shall be from an SIUC graduate program outside the student's academic unit. The Department allows for the possibility of faculty from other institutions to serve on the student's committee in addition to the requisite number of SIUC faculty. Once the dissertation director has been chosen and the committee formed, any subsequent changes to the dissertation directorship position must be approved by the Director of Graduate Studies. The appropriate change form must be sent to the Dean of the Graduate School for approval. PROSPECTUS REVIEW ? In preparation for the writing of the dissertation, the candidate must have a prospectus review. The Director of the dissertation is responsible, in consultation with the candidate, for determining what appropriate background reading is necessary for beginning the dissertation and for the initial formulation of the project. The candidate will proceed to generate the prospectus. A prospectus should be approximately 10 - 20 pages in length; it should also include a proposed outline for the dissertation and a working bibliography. The Director of the dissertation will appoint a committee (four professors, including one from outside the Department) that will convene for the review of the prospectus. The review will help the candidate in the final formulation of the project before proceeding with the writing of the dissertation. The committee members will fill out a comment sheet for the candidate. DISSERTATION HOURS ? While working on the dissertation, the student must register for the course numbered 600. The student is to devote at least one academic year of full-time work to complete the dissertation and will register for 24 semester hours of dissertation credit (Students may sign up for from 1 to 16 hours of PHIL 600 per semester). For example, the student wishing to complete the dissertation in one year may register for 12 hours of dissertation credit for each of two terms. Students who have registered for 24 semester hours of dissertation credit and have not completed the doctoral dissertation are subject to the continuing enrollment requirement course number 601. Students are required to complete 24 hours of Philosophy 600. The student may take only 6 of these 600 level hours prior to formal admission to candidacy, and only 6 of these hours will count towards the residency requirement. CONTINUING ENROLLMENT REQUIREMENT ? Students who have completed all but the dissertation requirements, but who have previously enrolled for the minimum number of research, thesis, or dissertation credit hours required of the degree , must enroll every semester for at least one hour until all degree requirements have been completed (Summer sessions exempt). Whether in residence or not, students are required to enroll in Continuing Enrollment (PHIL 601 - 1 hour p/semester) if not otherwise enrolled. Concurrent registration in any other course is not acceptable. See the Graduate Catalog for more specific details, under heading GENERAL REGULATIONS AND PROCEDURES. WRITING ? The candidate will do the required research and write the dissertation. There is no given length for a dissertation, but 150 to 250 pages is the average length of a philosophy dissertation. An instruction booklet for dissertation preparation should be secured from the Graduate School or the Department Graduate Secretary. PREPARATION FOR DEFENSE ? The candidate and the dissertation director should work together until the document is ready to receive critical input from the committee. When the dissertation director indicates that the dissertation is ready for defense, it shall be required of the dissertation director to submit to each committee member a copy of the dissertation for the members' examination. This must be delivered at least one month in advance of the scheduled defense. The committee must then decide whether or not the dissertation is acceptable for defense. ORAL DEFENSE ? The candidate shall conduct an oral defense of the dissertation and related topics in the field before the dissertation committee. The oral defense is open to the public. Only the committee members vote or make recommendations concerning the acceptance of the dissertation and final examination. At the discretion of the dissertation director, guests may be permitted to ask questions of the candidate after the committee members have conducted the examination. A student will be recommended for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy only if the members of the committee judge both the dissertation and the performance at the final oral examination to be satisfactory. One dissenting vote is permitted. AWARD OF DOCTORATE DEGREE ? An application for graduation should be filed with the Graduate School at least six weeks before the date of graduation; grade records must be checked; a survey of earned doctorates and microfilm contract must be signed; a cap and gown should be ordered through the University Book Store, if the candidate plans to take part in the graduation ceremony. View more details on Southern Illinois University Carbondale . 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