philosophy phd

Graduate School
1

<p>Could someone please explain to me what specifically one does for a phd in philosophy? Does it mainly consist of analyzing previous works or is it more of trying to formulate original works?</p>

2

<p>So… nobody knows?</p>

3

<p>Probably either, I’m not sure though, you can always go and read some PhD thesisses</p>

4

<p>Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Where would I be able to find PhD theses on Philosophy?</p>

5

<p><a href=“http://www.google.com%5B/url%5D”>www.google.com</a> ?</p>

6

<p>I think PhD programs in phil generally of both. They generally consist of two phases, coursework and thesis writing. </p>

<p>Not all doctorate programs have coursework. Notably many English programs have a research only option.</p>

<p>Coursework consists largely in analyzing previous stuff and writing papers critiquing it. This critique might be something original, or it might just be a new restatement of something that already exists (whether or not you know about it). In some ways, this is like the thesis writ small.</p>

<p>The thesis is supposed to be some original contribution to the field.</p>

7

<p>Theses from your university will be found in the library (sometimes in the department, sometimes in the main library). </p>

<p>You can find out the basic requirements for a Philosophy PhD from any department’s website. Here’s Penn’s:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.phil.upenn.edu/graduate/graduate.html[/url]”>http://www.phil.upenn.edu/graduate/graduate.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Looks like fun to me.</p>