PH.D. PROGRAM IN PHILOSOPHY
AT NEW YORK UNIVERSITY



The research interests of the philosophy faculty at NYU include: epistemology, ethics, logic, metaphysics, philosophy of language, philosophy of logic and mathematics, philosophy of mind, philosophy of science, legal and political philosophy, and certain areas in the history of philosophy. The Department will admit a small number of students each year and will emphasize intensive training in writing and research of philosophy. Many courses will be taught by pairs of faculty. The educational ideal that informs the program is that the best way of learning to do philosophy is to do philosophy. Almost all of the course work will be in in areas of current research. There are few rules or requirements and no general examinations. Since NYU participates in the New York Consortium, graduate students can take courses in other participating universities in the New York area.


Courses

The program features five types of regular courses (in addition to a Proseminar for first-semester doctoral students and a Dissertation Seminar for advanced students):

  1. Background Courses. These courses are intended to supply a basic grounding in core areas for students who have not done intensive work in those areas. They cover a few interrelated central topics.
  2. Intermediate Courses. These are more specialized than Background Courses. Topics may include causation, consciousness, parts and wholes, vagueness and indeterminacy, personal identity, the role of content in psychological explanation, the fact-value distinction in ethics and in epistemology, theories of justice and Kant's Critique of Judgement. These courses are intended to be accessible to a broad range of students, and not oriented just to advanced students and faculty who may be attending.
  3. Research Workshop Courses. The topics of these course may be still more specialized, and they may be oriented to advanced students specializing in the subject and to faculty members in attendance.
  4. Associated Writing Courses. These courses may be taken in conjunction with Research Workshop courses, though they needn't be. During the semester, the student will submit drafts of the developing paper, discussing each draft with the professor before moving on to the next draft. The aim is for the student to learn the craft of writing a professional level philosophy paper. (The final paper for the Associated Writing Course can also serve as the term paper for the Research Workshop course.)
  5. Research Seminars. Each year, the Department offers two Research Seminars:
    • The NYU Colloquium in Law, Philosophy and Political Theory. This course has been taught by Professors Dworkin and Nagel for many years and is attended by many professors. In a typical session, the members of the seminar receive copies a week in advance of work in progress from a thinker at another university. After reading the week's work, the students discuss it with Dworkin on the day before the Colloquium. Then at the Colloquium the next day, Nagel and Dworkin give critiques of the work, and the author responds to the critiques and also to questions from others in the audience. In recent years, the thinkers of the week have included John Rawls, Derek Parfit, Bernard Williams and Judith Thomson.
    • The NYU Seminar in Mind and Language. This course is modeled on the Colloquium in Law, Philosophy and Political Theory. In 1997 and again in 2000, the course focused on consciousness and was taught by Professors Block and Nagel. In 1998, it focused on concepts and was taught by Professors Block and Boghossian. In 1999, it focused on objectivity, and was taught by Professors Boghossian and Schiffer. In 2001 it focused on the role of the content of mental states in explanation, and was taught by Professors Field and Schiffer. In 2002 it focused on rule-following, and was taught by Professors Boghossian and Paul Horwich of CUNY. In 2003 it was taught again by Professors Field and Schiffer, on the topic of "factually questionable discourse". In 2004, the course will focus on the philosophy of psychology and will be taught by Professors Fodor and Peacocke.

Requirements

The requirements for the Ph.D. are:

  • Courses: The University requires 18 courses (72 points). The Department requires 10 courses, specified below. These will be referred to as the "basic courses". The remaining 8 courses can all be Dissertation Research, though the student may include other courses as well toward the total. The basic courses are:
    1. The Proseminar. Each Fall, the Department will offer a Proseminar for all (and only) first year PhD students. There will be frequent short writing assignments and the mode of instruction will emphasize discussion rather than lecture. The topic will be up to the instructor but will normally cover basic texts and ideas in analytic philosophy.
    2. Seven courses drawn from Background courses, Intermediate courses, Research Workshop courses, and Research Seminars. At least one of these must be in value theory (ethics, aesthetics, philosophy of law, or political philosophy). At least one of these must be in a "core" area (metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of language, or philosophy of mind); at least two more must be outside value theory. With the permission of the Director of Graduate Studies, students may use upper level undergraduate courses (with extra work, assigned by the instructor) to fulfill the above requirements of one value theory course and one "core" course. Out of these seven courses, no more than two may be either Background courses or (given permission) undergraduate courses.

      Starting with the class entering in 2005, the requirments will be changed so as to include a distribution requirement in the history of philosophy. The new requirement will be:
        Seven courses drawn from Background courses, Intermediate courses, Research Workshop courses, and Research Seminars. These must include at least one course in value theory (ethics, aesthetics, philosophy of law, or political philosophy), at least one course in metaphysics/epistemology (construed broadly so as to include philosophy of language and philosophy of mind), and at least one course in the history of philosophy (ancient, medieval, modern, or nineteenth century). At least three of the courses must be outside value theory. With the permission of the Director of Graduate Studies, students may use upper level undergraduate courses (with extra work, assigned by the instructor) to fulfill the above requirements of one value theory course, one metaphysics/epistemology course, and one history of philosophy course. Out of these seven courses, no more than two may be either Background courses or (given permission) undergraduate courses.

    3. Two Associated Writing Courses.

  • Third Year Review: By the first day of the fifth semester in the program, students will submit three papers (normally the product of courses in the first two years). The Third Year Review requirement is completed when the faculty judges that the student has written three good papers.

  • Third Year Thesis Prospectus Examination: By the 10th week of their 6th term in the Department, students will submit to the Director of Graduate Studies a proposal for a thesis, normally about 5 pages long, and suggestions as to whom they would most prefer as advisors. The Director of Graduate Studies will then appoint a committee, of at least two faculty members, but normally three faculty members, who will meet with the candidate about the proposal. This meeting is the oral thesis prospectus examination. This meeting must take place by the end of the third year in order for the student to maintain Good Standing. Once it takes place, the student remains in Good Standing even though the advisors may require him/her to revise the thesis proposal and meet to discuss it further. The student must pass the examination by the end of the 7th term in the Department. The thesis-prospectus examination should satisfy the committee that the candidate can write a passing thesis meeting the description in the candidate's submitted prospectus.

  • Logic Requirement: Students should satisfy the Department of their competence in the following: formalization of English sentences; derivations within a system of predicate logic; formal definition of truth and validity for a first-order language; basic meta-logical tools, including the use-mention distinction, the concept of rigor, and proof and definition by mathematical induction; statement and proof of basic meta-logical results, including the deduction theorem, soundness and completeness for sentential and predicate logic, completeness for predicate logic. The Director of Graduate Studies will count the student as having passed the requirement when presented with appropriate evidence (e.g., of a pass in a relevant course at NYU or elsewhere).

  • Language Requirement: There is a university requirement of proficiency in one language other than English. Knowledge of a computer language or of logic can be used to satisfy this requirement.

  • Thesis and Oral Examination: The thesis can consist of three outstanding papers (including papers written for courses), even if they are on diverse philosophical topics. Alternatively, the student can write a short monograph.

The Department envisions that in most cases, the thesis will grow out of work done for Research Workshops and Associated Writing Courses and that there will be no sharp distinction between years of course work and years of dissertation writing. Students are expected to complete their dissertations in 5 years. Special permission from the Department is required to extend work on the dissertation past a 7th year.


Further Requirements

A minimum of 7 of the 10 basic courses must be taken in the NYU Philosophy Department. In addition, in order to receive the Ph.D., a student must be in residence as a full-time student for two full years at NYU.

Each term's program must be approved by the student's advisor and the Director of Graduate Studies in the first week of classes.

Also see the Requirements for Good Standing.


Transfer Credit

Transfer credit will be apportioned on a case-by-case basis and is normally restricted to courses taken in philosophy PhD programs. Normally, credit for a maximum of 3 basic and 3 non-basic courses will be allowed for work done elsewhere.


Admissions

There are four ways of obtaining an application:

Application and Admissions FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
Link to Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Admissions Page
Link to the Bulletin for the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, 2001-2003


Financing

NYU has competitive fellowships for qualified candidates that provide 5 years of full support (stipend and tuition waiver); no teaching is required in the first 3 years.


Deadline

The official NYU deadline is January 4th, 2004, but applicants are strongly urged to send in their applications by December 15, 2003. Applicants should include a sample of their philosophical writing with the application.


For Information:

The Department no longer sends out an information packet, since the information that one would contain can now be found within our web site. If you have any questions that are not answered in this site, you should contact:

  • Deborah Bula, Administrative Coordinator, db7@nyu.edu, (212) 998-8325
The four ways of obtaining an application are covered above under the heading "Admissions". Please do not call Ms. Bula to obtain one.

updated 5/10/03
philo.web@nyu.edu