The MA graduate student handbook contains program requirements and other relevant information that are explained below. All masters students should read and be familiar with these requirements.
The MA in Philosophy is independent of the UArizona Philosophy PhD program. Students completing the MA in Philosophy will be given no special consideration relative to other applicants if they choose to apply to the doctoral program.
Students should plan to be physically in residence during the fall and spring semesters. MA-level courses meet in person and it is not possible to complete degree requirements long-distance. Students receiving financial support from other sources and/or who are subject to international visa restrictions may need to meet additional enrollment requirements. It is the student’s responsibility to be aware of and satisfy requirements of both the university and external agents such as funders or visa regimes.
MA Philosophy Learning Objectives
The learning objectives of the MA Philosophy program are to train students to:
1. Write a knowledgeable philosophical essay.
2. Exhibit confidence in knowledge of an area or subarea of philosophy.
Course Requirements
30 units of graduate-level coursework (10 semester-courses) are required for the MA in Philosophy. Coursework and an optional thesis are the core requirements of the master’s program.
The requirements for completion of an MA in Philosophy include attaining a 3.0 grade point average in 10 three-unit graduate courses at or above the 500 curricular level offered by the faculty of the Philosophy Department. Typically, three of these courses will be graduate seminars numbered between PHIL 596A and PHIL 596Z. The remaining seven courses will be graduate surveys numbered between 500 and 594. Of these 10 courses, students must take at least one from each of the following distribution areas:
- Metaphysics or epistemology
- Ethics, political philosophy or value theory
- History of philosophy
- Philosophy of language, philosophy of science, philosophy of mind or cognitive science
At the end of this document is a list of courses that may be taken for each distribution requirement. These are guidelines rather than strict rules. Unstarred courses under a given heading will usually count toward the requirement in question. Starred courses will sometimes count toward the requirement in question, depending on how the course is taught. Courses not on these lists might also count toward the relevant requirements, depending on their content. The final decision of whether a given offering of a course satisfies a given distribution requirement will usually be made by the Director of MA Studies, in consultation with the instructor of the course and with faculty members in the relevant fields. One faculty member in each area is designated as a consultant to whom students can direct questions and with whom the MA Director may consult. See the end of this document for the current consultants.
Coursework taken outside of Philosophy will need approval from the Director of MA Studies prior to enrollment. External credit hours are limited to 6 units.
Thesis Option
The MA in Philosophy does not have a thesis requirement. You may, however, opt to write a thesis instead of taking one of the graduate seminars. For a petition to be successful, the student must secure a faculty member to supervise the thesis and two other faculty members to serve on the thesis committee and conduct an oral defense. In such cases, the thesis will be a paper of approximately 6,000-10,000 words.
Master’s theses present significant research by students and are a vital part of the University of Arizona’s academic contributions. A master’s student who completes a thesis is required to submit the final approved thesis for archiving.
Accelerated MA Program (AMP in Philosophy)
The Philosophy Department offers an accelerated MA to current UArizona undergraduates majoring in Philosophy or PPEL. Typically students who meet special Graduate College admission requirements, Accelerated Master's Programs (AMP) | UArizona Graduate College, apply in their junior year and, if admitted, can complete up to four graduate classes toward the MA while completing the bachelor’s degree. Graduate classes can be used toward both master’s and bachelor’s requirements.
To enroll in graduate classes while an undergraduate, please fill out the 500-level course petition with your Director of MA Studies.
After completion of the bachelor’s degree, AMP students must submit a simplified application for admission to the non-accelerated Master’s program. The second application fee is automatically waived for conditionally admitted AMP students. AMP students will then have access to the steps to degree to be completed in GradPath.
Plan of Study (Complete by Semester 2)
Students will complete all steps to degree in GradPath (on UAccess Student Center) in order to earn the MA in Philosophy. Step 2 is the MA Plan of Study where students will indicate the courses you intend to apply toward the master’s degree. This should be done in consultation with the Director of MA Studies during your first year (and can be updated as needed).
Transfer Credit
As per Graduate College policy, no more than 6 of the 30 required units can be transferred from other accredited institutions. All transfer credit must be reviewed and approved by the Director of MA Studies. Transfer of credit will not be made unless units were for graduate credit, and the grade earned was A or B. Grades of transfer work will not be used in computing the student’s grade point average.
Committee Appointment Form (Complete during final semester)
All MA students must fill out the Committee Appointment Form on GradPath.
If you are not taking the thesis option, respond No and confirm the name of your Director of MA Studies.
If you are taking the thesis option, select your three committee members by filing your Committee Appointment form at least 10 days in advance of your oral exam. Two members must be UArizona Graduate Faculty. If the third member is not a member of the UArizona Graduate Faculty, he or she must be approved by the Graduate College as a Special Member. Special Member requests are submitted by the graduate program coordinator. Special Members are not eligible to serve as committee chair, but may co-chair with a Graduate Faculty Member. Make any logistical arrangements for the exam with the graduate program coordinator.
Courses
Graduate courses in philosophy are divided into graduate seminars and graduate survey courses. Graduate seminars are numbered Philosophy 596A, 596B, and so on. Their enrollment is restricted to graduate students (in philosophy and possibly other departments), with occasional exceptions at the discretion of the instructor. Graduate survey courses are numbered Philosophy 5xx. These courses are usually offered simultaneously with an undergraduate course Philosophy 4xx, with common meetings.
Students will usually take three courses per semester. Seminars usually meet once a week for 150 minutes (Monday-Thursday) at 3:30 pm or later. Survey courses usually meet in the morning or the afternoon before 3 pm and have two 75-minute meetings or three 50-minute meetings a week, in addition to a possible graduate meeting.
In general, survey courses offer a broad exploration of an area of philosophy and include a greater emphasis on instruction from the professor, while seminars are more specialized and include a greater emphasis on discussion and student presentations. However, seminars may sometimes also serve as broad explorations, and professors are encouraged to devote at least some portion of their seminars to more basic issues in a field before proceeding to specialized material.
Students may also occasionally take an independent study course with a faculty member for 1-3 units. This will typically involve focused reading in an area of interest, several meetings, and a pre-arranged amount of written work.
In a given course, students will usually be assessed on some combination of participation, presentations, and written work. A final grade of A, B, C, D, or E will be assigned by the instructor and submitted to the Graduate College. Grading practices vary between faculty members, but generally speaking, a grade of A indicates very good work, while a grade of B indicates work that is less than fully satisfactory in some significant respect. Grades below B are rare.
Each course's policy on taking an Incomplete (I) will be described in the syllabus. In addition to the particular policies on Incompletes specific to each course, the university policy will also apply in all cases. The university policy automatically converts an I to an external grade of E if no petition for a grade change from I to a letter grade has been approved by the appropriate university authorities within a calendar year from the date on which a grade for the course in question was originally due.
Satisfactory Progress
The Philosophy Department regards a minimally satisfactory first-year GPA as one that exceeds 3.5. The Graduate College requires a minimum grade-point average of 3.0. Toward the end of every academic year, the faculty conducts a review of graduate student progress. The progress of each graduate student is discussed, and areas of success and concern are identified. After the annual review meeting, the Director of MA Studies will write a memo to those students whose progress is in need of feedback. This memo is sent to the student and placed in the student’s file.
When a student's progress or other conduct is deemed unsatisfactory, the student will receive written notification of that fact. After the written warning, and after the student has been given adequate time to improve his or her performance, the faculty may vote to request that the Graduate College remove the student from the philosophy graduate program. The student may appeal this request for removal in writing within 15 working days of notification. The student should provide a written rationale for the appeal, along with supporting documentation, to the Department Head. The Department Head will then convene a committee consisting of the members of the Executive Committee and the Director of MA Studies to review the student's case and notify the student of its final decision within 15 working days of receipt of the request for appeal. Students should also feel free to meet with the Director of MA Studies at any time to discuss issues that may arise, to ask for advice, and so on.
Time Limitation
As per Graduate College policy, all requirements for the master’s degree must be completed within six years to ensure currency of knowledge.
Courses for Distribution Requirements
The following is a list of courses that may be taken for each distribution requirement. These are guidelines rather than strict rules. The final decision about whether a given course counts for a requirement is up to the faculty. Unstarred courses under a given heading will usually count toward the requirement in question. Starred courses will sometimes count toward the requirement in question, depending on how the course is taught. Courses not on these lists might also count toward the relevant requirements, depending on their content. Consult with the Director of the MA program and with the area consultants to be sure.
The area consultants are Michael McKenna (M&E), Julia Annas (History), Mark Timmons (Ethics), Jason Turner (Logic/Language/Science).
Metaphysics and Epistemology
- 540. Metaphysics
- 541. Theory of Knowledge
- 550. Philosophy of Mind
- 551. Philosophy and Psychology
- 555. Philosophy and Artificial Intelligence*
- 567. Early Analytic Philosophy*
- 596B. Metaphysics
- 596C. Epistemology
- 596K. Philosophy of Mind
- 596V. Philosophy and Cognitive Science*
History of Philosophy
- 510A. History of Moral and Political Philosophy
- 510B. History of Moral and Political Philosophy
- 512. Readings in Greek Philosophy
- 570. Greek Philosophy
- 571A. Rationalism and Empiricism
- 571B. Rationalism and Empiricism
- 572A. Ancient Philosophy: Plato
- 572B. Ancient Philosophy: Aristotle
- 596P. History of Philosophy: Ancient
- 596Q. History of Philosophy: Recent
Ethics and Value Theory
- 504. The Ethical Marketplace
- 530A. Ethical Theory
- 530B. Ethical Theory
- 533. Aesthetics*
- 534. Social and Political Philosophy
- 537. Moral & Social Evolution
- 538. Philosophy of Law
- 596A. Ethics
- 596E. Aesthetics
- 596F. Social and Political Philosophy
- 596G. Philosophy of Law
Logic, Language, and Science
- 501A. Symbolic Logic
- 501B. Symbolic Logic
- 516. Philosophy of Mathematics
- 520. Philosophy of Science
- 521. Philosophy of Biological Science
- 526. Philosophical Problems of Space, Time and Motion
- 527. Philosophy of Physical Science
- 563. Philosophy of Language
- 565. Pragmatics
- 567. Early Analytic Philosophy*
- 596H. Philosophy of Physical Science
- 596L. Philosophy of Language
- 596S. Philosophy of Mathematics
- 596V. Philosophy and Cognitive Science*
Formal Requirement
- 501A. Symbolic Logic
- 501B. Symbolic Logic
- 516. Philosophy of Mathematics*
- 526. Philosophical Problems of Space, Time and Motion*
- 527. Philosophy of Physical Science*
Department Colloquium
All students are expected to attend department colloquia, which usually takes plan on Friday afternoons from 3-5pm.
Graduate College Steps to Degree
For requirements to be completed for the Graduate College to advance you to your master’s degree, please consult Master's Degrees | UArizona Graduate College.
- Responsible Conduct of Research confirmation form
- Preparing your MA Plan of Study
- Master’s Committee Appointment Form
- The Master’s Completion Confirmation will be submitted by the MA program coordinator once all your grades are entered.
Graduate Student Resources
The Department of Philosophy promotes family friendly policies. Supportive resources may be found at https://grad.arizona.edu/new-and-current-students and http://basicneeds.arizona.edu/index.html . For resources when a graduate student feels they are being treated unfairly, see our grievance policy.