Degree Requirements

The Ph.D. program in philosophy is composed of the following requirements:

Below is an outline of the requirement details for the degree and the standards of progress. You may also download full requirements in our student handbook as well as a proposed timeline. Faculty and students should consult the student handbook for any questions about degree requirements and the handbook is the principal, overriding document we consult for the PhD degree.

Ph.D. Requirements

Coursework Requirements

Credits
The Graduate School requires a total of 72 hours of credit (formal coursework plus registered research hours) for the Ph.D. Within this 72 credit hours, the philosophy department requires students to complete 47 credit hours of coursework. Graduate students are required to complete at least three three-credit courses each semester, from among those courses approved by the department for credit toward the Ph.D., for each of the first five semesters. During the first fall semester, students are also required to take a two-credit proseminar focusing on research and teaching. Therefore, by the end of the fifth semester students will have taken a minimum of 47 credits of course work, with at least 11 credits in the first semester and 9 credits in each of the following four semesters.

Related requirements concerning graduate credits are as follows:

1. 12 Seminars
By the end of the 5th semester, graduate students must have taken at least 12 regularly scheduled graduate seminars (36 credit hours) in the Department of Philosophy.

2. Proseminar
In the first semester of graduate study, all graduate students must pass a two-credit department seminar on teaching and research methods. This course, graded on an A/F basis, will include guest participation by many members of the faculty.

3. Other Possible Sources of Credit for Remaining 9 Credit Hours
The regularly scheduled graduate seminars and the proseminar must together account for a minimum of 38 of the required 47 credits of coursework in the philosophy Ph.D. program. This leaves students with some flexibility regarding the remaining 9 credits:

Regularly scheduled graduate seminars: Students may take additional regularly scheduled graduate seminars in the Department of Philosophy toward remaining 9 credits.
Independent studies: Students may take, with DGS approval, PHIL 8050: Readings in Philosophy (i.e., an independent study) with department faculty toward the remaining 9 credits. Student and professor must agree in writing to a one-semester (and no more) course of study that includes a reading list and writing assignments. Students must complete the Request for Independent Study/Directed Studies/Readings & Research form in YES to enroll in the course. The form requires original signatures from the student, instructor, and DGS. The form must be filed with the department no later than the first week of classes and submitted to the Graduate School no later than the tenth day of classes.
Enhanced undergraduate-level courses: Students may take, with prior DGS approval, enhanced undergraduate level courses with department faculty toward the remaining 9 credits. In this case, students are expected to do additional work beyond the undergraduate requirements for the course. Student and professor must agree in writing to a one-semester (and no more) course of study that includes writing assignments. Students must complete the Request for Permission to Receive Graduate Credit for an Undergraduate Level or Professional Course form to enroll in an undergraduate class for graduate credit. The form requires original signatures from the student, instructor, and DGS. The form must be filed with the department no later than the first week of classes and it must be submitted to the Graduate School no later than the tenth day of classes.
Transfer credit: Under unusual circumstances and with DGS approval, at most 6 credits can be transferred into the Ph.D. program toward the 47 credit requirement. Students entering the Ph.D. program with graduate credit in philosophy from strong graduate programs who would like to transfer credit can petition to do so at the end of the spring semester of their first year. They need to set up a meeting with the DGS and supply the DGS with their transcript/s, course syllabus/syllabi, and coursework. They should also be prepared to discuss how such transferred credit might fulfill course distribution requirements.

Graduate courses taken while at Vanderbilt in departments other than the philosophy department do NOT count toward the required 47 hours of the departmental coursework, but they do count toward the 72 hours required by the Graduate School for the Ph.D.

After completing coursework, students will enroll in 9 hours of PHIL 8999: Non-Candidate Research and PHIL 9999: Ph.D. Dissertation Research each semester until they have earned 72 credit hours. Once students have sufficient credits, students will continue registering for 0 credit hours of PHIL 9999: Ph.D. Dissertation Research each semester to maintain active student status until graduation.

Course Distribution
Students will take at least five seminars in the history of philosophy and at least five seminars in topical areas of philosophy, with the additional stipulation that students must take seminars from at least three different categories in each. The topical area and historical categories are below, and the categorization of each graduate seminar in any given semester will be designated on the departmental course schedule.

Topical Area Categories:

T1. Mind and Language
T2. Ethics, Politics, and Aesthetics
T3. Metaphysics and Epistemology
T4. Race, Gender, Identity
T5. Contemporary Philosophical Movements

Historical Categories:

H1. Ancient Philosophy
H2. Medieval Philosophy
H3. Modern Philosophy
H4. 19th Century Philosophy
H5. 20th Century Philosophy
H6. Trans-era History of Philosophy

Instructor Distribution
By the end of the fifth semester, graduate students must have taken seminars from at least eight different tenured or tenure-track faculty in the philosophy department.

Incompletes
If a student wishes to get a grade of incomplete for a given course, the student must meet with the instructor at least one week before the final week of classes. In that meeting, the instructor must approve a specific plan for completion of the work, including a submission date. The instructor should also specify the grade the student will receive if s/he does not meet the deadline for the incomplete. For final approval, the student must then submit to the DGS an Incomplete Request Form signed both by the student and the instructor (this form specifies the agreed-upon completion plan and the student’s current incompletes). An incomplete grade will not be approved if a student already has an incomplete. No incompletes may be carried past August 1. Also, incompletes may negatively impact the possibility of receiving departmental support for professional development, so students are advised to discuss this possibility with the DGS.

Course Grades
A student must earn a grade of B or higher in each course counted toward the 47 hours. Grades in the A range are the norm for graduate students, while grades in the B range are the exception. If a student accumulates two grades in the B range, they will need to meet with the DGS to discuss their status.

Students enrolling in Philosophy 8999: Non-Candidate Research and Philosophy 9999: Ph.D. Dissertation Research will be assigned S/U grades, in accordance with the Graduate School’s policy:

“One U grade requires consultation between the student and the research advisor; a second U grade triggers a locally defined program-level intervention process involving (at least) the student, the research advisor, the student’s thesis or dissertation committee and the DGS; and a third U grade leads to de-matriculation. These steps are triggered by the accumulation of U grades, not simply U grades in succession. Each U represents approximately one-half of one academic year of unsatisfactory progress. No credit hours are awarded for an enrollment that earns a grade of U.”

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Logic Requirement

All graduate students must satisfy the department’s logic requirement in one of two ways:

By passing a departmental logic exam, or
By receiving a “B” or better in PHIL 3003: Formal Logic & Applications. PHIL 3003 is offered only in the fall semester. Students with no or minimal training in logic are strongly encouraged to audit PHIL 3003 in their first semester. The logic requirement must be satisfied by the end of the third semester. If students wish to formally audit the logic course, they must submit the Permission to Audit form. The form requires original signatures from the student and instructor. The form must be submitted to the department during the first week of classes and submitted to the Graduate School by the tenth day of classes.

The logic exam and coursework will cover the following three areas and will require a demonstration of competence at a level sufficient to teach an introductory symbolic logic course:

Informal concepts of logic;
Translation into symbolic notation for both propositional and predicate logic; and
Natural deduction proofs for both propositional and predicate logic.

Students should contact the DGS to arrange for the administration of the exam. The exam will be given only once at the end of each semester.

Students who fail the exam or who fail to receive a grade of “B” or better in PHIL 3003 may re-take the exam or re-do the work for the course the next time the department schedules the exam and/or the course.

Students must take the logic exam by the end of the first semester and must pass the logic exam by the end of the third semester.

PHIL 3003: Formal Logic & Applications does not qualify for graduate credit and so does not count toward the minimum of 47 credits students must accumulate by the end of the fifth semester.

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Foreign Language Requirement

All graduate students must satisfy the department’s foreign language requirement by passing a departmental exam that tests for competence in an approved foreign language. The student should request the exam from the administrative assistant to the graduate program, who will then arrange for the exam with the DGS. The timed translation exam will be blind-reviewed and graded by faculty (typically but not necessarily in the philosophy department) with special competence in the given foreign language. The exam will consist of the students translating into English:

A text (selected by the faculty member administering the exam, in consultation with and approval by the DGS) by a single philosopher (selected by the student), and;
A second text (selected by the faculty member administering the exam, in consultation with and approval by the DGS) by a different philosopher (selected by the faculty member).

During the exam, students may use only a hard-copy dictionary. The translation exam will be marked pass or fail; passing it requires a demonstration of competence as measured by quality and quantity of translation. Students must first take the foreign language competence exam by September 1 of the third semester and must pass the exam by April 15 of the fourth semester.

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Field Exam Requirement

Rationale for the Exam

Progress towards the PhD involves selecting a field of specialization within the discipline in which one’s dissertation topic will reside. The field of specialization will reflect the categories recognized in the broader discipline as standard “Areas of Specialization” (AOS). The selected field will be the focus of a Field Exam (FE), which includes both a written focus statement and an oral examination to be conducted in the 6th semester by an appointed three-person committee of Philosophy Department faculty.

Departmental Reading List

After declaring a field of specialization in consultation with the DGS, students will access the departmental reading list for their selected field. The departmental reading lists, composed of roughly 40 sources (including books and articles), are developed by departmental faculty with the relevant expertise, and reflect a baseline lingua franca within the AOS, rather than a substantive judgment about what is best or most important in the field. The reading lists represent the rudiments within the field – the materials that those working in the field expect everyone else in the field to know. Mastery of the materials on the departmental reading list provides the foundation against which the more specific research for the dissertation can be built.

Students will devote the summer of their second year in the program to the departmental reading list in their chosen field.

Fifth Semester DGS Consultation and Forming of FE Committee

In the first two weeks of the 5th semester, each student will have a consultation meeting with the DGS. During this consultation, the DGS, working with the department chair, will appoint an FE committee composed of three Philosophy faculty members with the relevant expertise, identifying one as the FE Committee Chair. Students must arrange to meet with the entire FE Committee at least once during the fall semester to discuss their progress with the departmental reading list. By the close of the 5th semester, students are expected to have completed all coursework and to have read all of the materials contained in the departmental reading list of their chosen field.

The Focus Statement

Beginning early in the 6th semester, the student will work with their FE Committee Chair to develop a “Focus Statement” identifying the topic, issue, problem, or debate within the student’s field on which the student intends to write a dissertation. The Focus Statement should be roughly 5000 words, reflecting an engagement with the current state-of-play regarding its topic. The Focus Statement need not propose a novel thesis, but it should (a) present a survey of the current dialectical terrain within which the student intends to work, and (b) establish that this is philosophically rich terrain for the student’s dissertation by showing that there are one or more important unresolved problems or lacunas in this terrain that the student could reasonably be expected to resolve or fill within the scope of their dissertation. The Focus Statement must therefore demonstrate both a command of its topic adequate for someone beginning to formulate a dissertation project, and that the dialectical terrain presented is fertile ground for philosophical intervention and development.

The Focus Statement will normally require the student to master specialized materials that go beyond the department reading list for their field. The Focus Statement must include a bibliography of any such material. It is expected that the Focus Statement will serve as the preliminary basis for the early part of the student’s dissertation prospectus.

The Focus Statement must be approved by the FE Committee Chair and distributed to the FE Committee and DGS by February 15th of the 6th semester.

The Examination

The FE is an oral examination conducted by the FE Committee. The FE will test the student’s command of the materials on the department reading list, as well as any additional materials invoked in the student’s Focus Statement.

The purpose of the FE is twofold. First, it aims to help the student sharpen their mastery of the rudiments within their chosen field. Second, it aims to help the student sharpen their command of the topic identified in the Focus Statement, so that they could more successfully begin formulating a dissertation topic.

The FE must be conducted before Spring Break.

Typically, a student will appoint the internal members of their Dissertation Committee shortly following the passing of their FE. There is no expectation that the Dissertation Committee and the FE Committee are composed of the same members, although there can be overlap between the two committees. The FE Committee is appointed by the department, whereas students form their dissertation committees guided by advice from faculty.

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Dissertation Prospectus Process and Dissertation Requirements

Ph.D. Candidacy
Admission to the philosophy graduate program does not imply admission to candidacy for the Ph.D. degree. To be admitted to Ph.D. candidacy, the student must satisfy departmental requirements, the last of which are the Dissertation Prospectus Abstract, the Dissertation Prospectus, and the Dissertation Prospectus Defense (Qualifying Exam). Once students have successfully defended their Dissertation Prospectus, they are admitted to the Ph.D. candidacy and have All But Dissertation (ABD) status.

Dissertation Prospectus Abstract
After a student successfully passes the Oral Defense of their Dissertation Field Exam, they must next complete a Dissertation Prospectus Abstract by April 15 in the sixth semester. This abstract should be one page long, single-spaced. The student should email this abstract to their DFE Committee members, the DGS, and the administrative assistant to the graduate program.

The abstract should be submitted to an agreed-upon dissertation adviser and at least one more faculty member who has agreed to serve on the Dissertation Committee. Students must meet with these members individually by May 1 of the sixth semester for feedback on the abstract, and they must send an email to all with whom they have met, the DGS, and the administrative assistant to the department reporting that they have held their meetings.

Dissertation Committee
The Ph.D. Dissertation Committee is appointed by the Graduate School on the advice of the director of graduate studies. The committee consists of no fewer than four members. Three of the members must be graduate faculty member from within (“internal” to) the Department of Philosophy; a fourth “external” member must come from outside the department. Graduate faculty include full-time tenured and tenure-track faculty with primary appointments in the philosophy department. Tenured or tenure-track faculty having secondary appointments in the philosophy department may also be considered “internal” committee members. The “external” committee member may be an appropriate academic from outside of Vanderbilt and needs to be approved by the DGS and the Graduate School.

In cases where a faculty member who had been chairing a dissertation committee departs Vanderbilt for another institution, that faculty member may serve as a co-chair of a dissertation committee but must count as an “external” member. Emeritus philosophy faculty may not serve as the sole chair of a dissertation committee, but they may co-chair dissertation committees, and they count as “internal” committee members.

The functions of the Ph.D. Dissertation Committee are to:

Administer the Dissertation Prospectus Oral Exam (Qualifying Examination);
Approve the dissertation subject;
Aid the student and monitor the progress of the dissertation; and
Read and approve the dissertation and evaluate the final Oral Dissertation Defense.

Dissertation advisers are responsible for submitting the following paperwork to the director of graduate studies (or the administrative assistant to the graduate program) to appoint the Ph.D. Committee, at latest three weeks before the Qualifying Exam:

Request to Appoint the Ph.D. Committee form
Rationale for selecting external reader (a few paragraphs)
CV for the external reader

The paperwork will then be submitted to the Graduate School at least two weeks in advance of the Qualifying Exam.

Students are encouraged to begin assembling a Dissertation Committee during the sixth semester, during or soon after the DFE process, in order to make progress on their Dissertation Prospectus Abstract. It is strongly recommended that the committee be formally appointed during the summer following the sixth semester. At latest, Dissertation Committees may be appointed in the early fall of the seventh semester, with at least three weeks notice before the Dissertation Prospectus Oral Defense (Qualifying Exam), which itself must be completed by September 30 of the seventh semester.

Any changes to the Ph.D. Committee need to be approved by the Graduate School through the Request to Change the Ph.D. Committee form. If a new external reader will be added to the committee, the adviser needs to provide a rationale and the reviewer’s CV to the director of graduate studies or the administrative assistant for the graduate program.

Dissertation Prospectus Oral Defense (Qualifying Exam)
Under the direction of the dissertation adviser and with appropriate input from members of the Dissertation Committee, graduate students must write a Dissertation Prospectus. Once the Dissertation Committee has deemed the prospectus worthy of defense, the student must take and pass a Dissertation Prospectus Oral Defense (or Qualifying Exam). This exam must be passed by September 30 of the seventh semester.

The final version of the Dissertation Prospectus must be distributed to the Dissertation Committee well in advance of the Dissertation Prospectus Oral Defense. It should reflect prior consultation, though not necessarily agreement, with each member of the committee.

It is the responsibility of the Dissertation Adviser to schedule the Dissertation Prospectus Exam and to submit the Request to Schedule the Qualifying Exam form to the DGS or to the administrative assistant to the graduate program at least three weeks in advance of the defense. This request must be received by the Graduate School at least two weeks in advance.

The Dissertation Prospectus Oral Defense is administered by the student’s Dissertation Committee in consultation with and approval by the DGS. The Dissertation Prospectus Oral Defense will test the student’s mastery of the proposed dissertation topic as well as the student’s overall knowledge of the sub-field within which the proposed dissertation project resides.

If a majority of Dissertation Committee members grade the Dissertation Prospectus Oral Defense as passing, the student passes the exam.

Students who fail the Dissertation Prospectus Oral Defense may be required to pursue one or more courses of action, including: re-writing the prospectus and then re-taking the exam; re- taking the exam; assembling a different Dissertation Committee to prepare for a different exam; perhaps pursuing a different course of study; or being dismissed from the graduate program. If a student fails the Dissertation Prospectus Oral Defense on a second attempt, the student must, according to Graduate School policy, be “officially dismissed from the Graduate School unless s/he has been given the option of receiving a master’s degree (insert link).” Because all possible Dissertation Prospectus Oral Defense re-takes must be completed by September 30 of the seventh semester, students are encouraged to schedule their exams in the spring or summer before their seventh semester.

It is the responsibility of the dissertation adviser to complete the Results of the Qualifying Exam form and submit the results to the director of graduate studies or the administrative assistant for the graduate program following the defense. Once the form has the final approval of the director of graduate studies, the results will be forwarded to the Graduate School.

Final Dissertation Defense
After the Dissertation Prospectus Exam, students begin writing a dissertation under the guidance of the dissertation adviser and committee. Once the committee judges the dissertation worthy of defense, the student must take and pass a public oral examination of the dissertation. It is the responsibility of the dissertation adviser to schedule the Final Dissertation Defense and to submit the Request to Schedule Final Defense form to the director of graduate studies or to the administrative assistant to the graduate program at least three weeks in advance of the defense. This request must be received by the Graduate School at least two weeks in advance.

Likewise, it is the responsibility of the dissertation adviser to complete the Results of Dissertation Defense form and submit the results to the director of graduate studies or the administrative assistant for the graduate program following the defense. Once the form has final approval of the director of graduate studies, the results will be forwarded to the Graduate School.

At least a majority of the Ph.D. Committee must be present at the Dissertation Prospectus Oral Defense and at the Final Dissertation Defense and original signatures from at least a majority of the committee are required on the “results” forms.

After the Final Defense
Following a successful Dissertation Defense, students are responsible for preparing and submitting the final version of their dissertation to the Vanderbilt Library. Students are also responsible for completing the required paperwork for the official conferral of the Ph.D. and graduation from Vanderbilt. These matters may be discussed with the DGS at the appropriate time.

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Standards of Progress

Overview of Requirements and Standards of Progress

To maintain good standing in the Ph.D. program, students must satisfy all requirements by the deadlines specified above. Failure to maintain good standing will result in departmental action, which may include expulsion of the student from the Ph.D. program.

Training for the Ph.D. goes beyond formal coursework and the dissertation; it includes participating in the life of the department. Students are expected to regularly attend departmental events, including colloquia, public lectures, workshops, and other events. Moreover, students are expected to exhibit an appropriate level of professionalism and responsibility in their roles as students, scholars, teachers, colleagues, and academic citizens. All graduate students should check and respond to their departmental email daily and should check their ground mail at least twice a week.

A student’s fellowship funding and good standing in the graduate program are conditional upon the student’s meeting appropriate standards of progress. In usual cases, these standards are as follows:

End of the first semester:

Students must have completed eleven credits, including three three-credit courses and the required two-credit Proseminar.

End of the second semester:

Students must have completed three additional three-credit courses for nine additional credits, thereby bringing the student’s total number of coursework credits to 20, and must have taken the Logic Exam or earned a “B” in PHIL 3003: Formal Logic and Its Applications.
- First summer: The department strongly encourages students to study for the Foreign Language Exam if they have not already satisfied this requirement and/or study for the Logic Exam if they have not already satisfied the Logic Requirement.

End of the third semester:

Students must have completed three additional three-credit courses for nine additional credits, thereby bringing the student’s total number of coursework credits to 29, and must have passed the Logic Exam (or have previously earned “B” or higher in Logic 3003). Students must also take the Foreign Language Exam by September 1.

End of the fourth semester:

Students must have completed three additional three-credit courses for nine additional credits, thereby bringing the student’s total number of coursework credits to 38. Students must pass the Foreign Language Competence Exam by April 15.
- Second Summer: The department strongly encourages students to begin work on their Dissertation Field Exam Bibliography. They should also begin organizing the bibliography into levels of priority and should begin reading material from the bibliography. Students may also want to start putting together their Dissertation Field Exam committee. Students must be in compliance with all departmental requirements by August 20 in order to qualify for the upcoming sixth semester off from teaching.

End of the fifth semester:

Students must have completed three additional three-credit courses for nine additional credits, thereby bringing the student’s total number of coursework credits to 47 and must have satisfied all distribution requirements.

End of the sixth semester:

In the sixth semester, students must register for at least nine research hours. By the end of this semester, students must have successfully completed their Dissertation Field Exam Bibliography, the DFE (Preliminary Exam), the DFE Oral Defense, and the Dissertation Prospectus Abstract.
- Third Summer: Students should complete their Dissertation Prospectus if they have not already done so, should defend the Dissertation Prospectus, or should be working on their dissertation.

End of the seventh semester:

In the seventh semester, students must have passed the Dissertation Prospectus Oral Exam (Qualifying Exam) by September 30.
- If students are not ABD entering the seventh semester, they should register for a sufficient number of PHIL 8999: Non-Candidate Research credits to stay on pace for the timely completion of the required 72 credit-hours by the time they are ready to defend the dissertation.
- If students are ABD at the start of the seventh semester, they should register for PHIL 9999: Ph.D. Dissertation Research instead. Please note the policy on “S” and “U” grades for PHIL 9999.

Eigth, ninth, and tenth semesters:

Students must register for a sufficient number of Ph.D. Dissertation Research credits (PHIL 9999) to ensure the completion of the required 72 credit-hours by the time they are ready to defend the dissertation. Please note the policy on “S” and “U” grades for PHIL 9999.
By the end of the tenth semester, students should have completed a dissertation and passed a public Final Dissertation Defense, thereby completing all requirements for the Ph.D. Graduate students for whom the faculty have approved a longer course of study should complete and defend the dissertation and all Ph.D. requirements according to the schedule. No funding is guaranteed beyond this tenth semester.

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