Graduate education at Princeton is distinguished by its residential character, the small size of its formal seminars (usually 5 to 15 students), and the opportunity for a good deal of individual consultation with members of the faculty. The total number of graduate students in Philosophy who are in residence during a given academic year is about 40, so the ratio of students to faculty members in the department is roughly two to one.

Applications are not accepted from students desiring a terminal M.A., but only from those seeking a Ph.D. degree, study for which normally requires four or five years.

In the Standard Program, the first four semesters of graduate study are typically devoted to formal course work and independent research; by the end of the fifth semester, the student takes the General Examination; having passed Generals and demonstrated a capacity for doing scholarly work, the student proceeds to write a doctoral dissertation. The requirements for the three Special Programs—the Logic and the Philosophy of Science Track, the Interdepartmental Program in Classical Philosophy, and the Interdepartmental Program in Political Philosophy—are all variations on the requirements for the Standard Program.

Although there is no admission with advanced standing, regardless of previous work in Philosophy, students with a strong undergraduate background, or who have done graduate work at other institutions, may be able to satisfy the standard pre-generals requirements more quickly and hence take the General Examination in two years or less.

All students are eligible for full financial support, including summer support.

The number of graduate students is very strictly limited. In recent years, it has been possible to offer admission to only about one of each dozen applicants. Decisions concerning admission are made on the basis of a careful comparative evaluation of the credentials submitted by the applicants. These credentials must show that the candidate has done superior work in his or her studies and has the capacity to complete successfully a program of graduate work at Princeton.

An applicant need not have had a full undergraduate major in philosophy if the quality of previous work gives evidence of strong philosophical promise. For students who wish to enroll in one of the three Special Programs, a major in a relevant field other than philosophy may in fact be an asset. All applicants are required to submit a sample of their written work with their applications.

Students pursuing advanced degrees at other institutions occasionally come to Princeton as Visiting Student Research Collaborators. Details of this program can be found here.

The department has no program of postdoctoral study and offers financial assistance only to candidates for the Ph.D. degree at Princeton.

Summary of requirements

In their first semester, all students must attend the First Year Seminar.

In their first five semesters, students must complete ten units of work, distributed across various areas, and successfully take the General Examination.

Prior to taking Generals, students must give an undergraduate lecture in the presence of a faculty member.

The General Examination, which provides evidence that students are prepared to write a dissertation, is normally taken in October or January of the fifth semester, but may also be taken earlier, for example in May of the fourth semester. The Department does not have discretion about the dates for the General Examination. These are determined by the Graduate School. A student who fails the General Examination may be given permission to take it again later.

After passing Generals, students must successfully write a dissertation and take a Final Public Oral examination in which he or she must demonstrate a capacity for scholarly research in the area of the dissertation.

Units of work, deadlines, and distribution requirements

A unit of work is an essay, or a written exam, or an oral exam, or some combination of these. Units of work may be, but need not be, associated with material covered in graduate seminars.

After consultation with the faculty member(s) who will award the unit, students are free to decide which units of work they will submit for assessment and when, on condition that they meet the following deadlines:

three units by the end of the first semester,

five by the end of the second semester,

seven by the end of the third semester,

nine by the end of the fourth semester.

ten by April 30 of the fourth semester for May Generals, September 20 of the fifth semester for October Generals, or by December 15 of the fifth semester for January Generals. Late submissions will not normally be accepted and, in any case, require the prior permission of the Graduate Committee.

Up to three units may be satisfied by submission of papers written before the student's arrival at Princeton, but neither of the first two units, and only one of the first five, may be satisfied in this way. At least one of the first three units must be for new substantive work in philosophy.

Units must satisfy the following distribution requirements:

at least two in history of philosophy,

at least two in metaphysics and epistemology,

at least two in ethics,

at least one in logic,

one by passing a reading test in either French or German; or by passing a reading test in a foreign language relevant to the student's proposed course of study; or by completion of a unit of advanced work in another department, in accordance with a plan previously approved by the department's Graduate Committee (this may not be work also used to satisfy any other requirement); or by completion of an additional unit of work in any area of philosophy.

Regarding the four fields of study, the following rules apply:

• At least one unit must include an oral examination administered by at least two members of the faculty. Oral examinations shall be preceded by a written examination on the same topic.

• History of philosophy: At least one unit must be in ancient philosophy (philosophy in Greece and Rome from the pre-Socratics through the Platonists of the 6th c. AD), and at least one in modern philosophy (philosophy in Europe from the 15th c. to the end of the 19th c.).

• Metaphysics and epistemology: This area is interpreted broadly to include metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of science, philosophy of mind, parts of philosophy of language, and parts of philosophy of mathematics.

• Ethics: Students must do at least two units in moral philosophy, political philosophy, philosophy of law, social philosophy, philosophy of religion, or aesthetics. At least one unit must be from among the first four options

• Logic: For the logic requirement, students must successfully complete: one of the following undergraduate courses [PHI 312 (Intermediate Logic) or PHI 323 (Advanced Logic) or PHI 340 (Philosophical Logic)]; or the graduate course PHI 520 (Logic); or pass an examination equivalent to the final examination in a course that has been, or could appropriately be, offered under one of these numbers. Other work in this area may include formal work, as well as philosophy of logic, and parts of philosophy of language and philosophy of mathematics.

In all cases, satisfaction of a particular distribution unit through a course, paper, or examination depends on the recommendation of the appropriate faculty members. A unit report will be submitted by the faculty member within one month of the completion of the unit of work.

Students who wish to do especially intensive work in one area of philosophy, through extra work either in the Department of Philosophy or in related areas in other departments, may be granted variances permitting them to do less than the norm in some other areas of philosophy, if this is required to allow them to pursue their special interests. Such variances will require approval of the department.

All graduate students in philosophy may avail themselves of the other resources of the Graduate School. Courses in other departments are normally open to interested and qualified students by permission of the instructor. Students with special interests and qualifications in fields other than philosophy have the opportunity to pursue these interests by taking appropriate courses. The University offers extensive and often unique opportunities for advanced work in fields cognate to philosophy (e.g., Linguistics, Psychology, Computer Science, Economics, Physics, Biology, Mathematics, Political Science, Comparative Literature, etc.). Those interested should consult the Graduate School Announcement under the appropriate department heading. Philosophy students are eligible to participate in the interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience and receive a Certificate in that Program. Information about that Program is available online at: http://neuroscience.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/neuro/site/graduate.pl .

There are, in addition, three specific alternative tracks that lead to the Ph.D. degree in philosophy, all of which provide special opportunities for combining the study of philosophy with other disciplines: the Logic and Philosophy of Science track, and the interdepartmental programs in Classical Philosophy and in Political Philosophy. These are described in the Special Programs section, below.

The General Examination and the MA Degree

Once students complete their ten units, they prepare for the General Examination.

For more detailed information about the Generals proposal click here.

Generals consists in an oral examination lasting approximately one hour, preceded by a written examination of typically 3-4 hours, in the field within which the candidate proposes to write a dissertation. The examinations are administered by a committee of the faculty, the composition of which will ensure that the student is questioned from a variety of points of view. The subject of the examinations will be broadly construed. The candidate will not be expected to defend a thesis plan in detail, but instead to present and defend some ideas in the area of the planned dissertation.

Advancement to continued candidacy for the Ph.D. is based on an assessment of a student's performance on the General Examination in the light of the student's level of achievement in gaining the required units.

The Master of Arts degree in Philosophy is earned by obtaining at a sufficient level of achievement the units required before taking the General Examination. This degree is granted at Princeton only as an incidental degree, offered after completion of part of the requirements for the doctorate; the University offers no program designed for students aiming at the Master of Arts in philosophy as a final degree. Except for Visiting Students from other universities, only Ph.D. candidates are admitted to do graduate work in philosophy.

The Dissertation

The dissertation is normally written under the guidance of one or more members of the department (the primary and optionally one or more secondary advisers). Faculty from other departments and other institutions are eligible to serve as secondary advisers. Occasionally, students wish to write their dissertations under the direction of a faculty member from another department at Princeton. Where possible, this can be arranged. While working on the dissertation, students are encouraged to consult not only their advisers but also other members of the faculty.

For more detailed information about choosing a dissertation topic and the form of the dissertation, click here.

The dissertation is normally limited to 100,000 words; a length of 30,000--50,000 words is recommended. The dissertation should be accompanied by a one-page abstract.

Click here for more information on preparing the dissertation for submission.

The dissertation must be accepted by the department, having first been read and recommended for acceptance by two readers, neither of whom may be the student's primary adviser. After the dissertation has been accepted, the student takes a Final Public Oral examination in which he or she must demonstrate a capacity for scholarly research in the area of the dissertation.

After passing the final examination, the student is awarded the Ph.D. degree in philosophy by the University.

Teaching Experience

During their years at Princeton all graduate students in philosophy, including those on outside fellowships, engage in some classroom teaching under the guidance of a faculty member: leading discussion groups, setting and marking examinations and tests, and criticizing written papers. This work will normally amount to three hours of classroom teaching plus attendant preparation, or the equivalent, for three terms; and will in no case total less than six hours. Assignments are made with regard for the student's aptitudes and interests. First year students normally are not assigned teaching responsibilities. All students must give an undergraduate lecture at Princeton observed by a Philosophy Department faculty member prior to taking the General Examination.

Properly qualified graduate students in philosophy who wish to do intensive work in logic and philosophy of science may wish to enroll in the track in Logic and the Philosophy of Science. Applicants should indicate their interest on page 4 of the application form, in the space provided for a statement of the applicant's prospective area of specialization. They should also provide a fuller account of their specialized interests, objectives, and previous training in the area concerned in their career statement.

The programs of students who specialize in logic and philosophy of science are subject to an alternative set of distribution requirements. Students in this track must complete the logic requirement and the language requirement (or an alternative to it), as in the Standard Program, and, in addition must:

1. demonstrate proficiency at the graduate level in a field of science (mathematical or empirical), or in an area in the history of science. Normally this will involve doing satisfactory work in two graduate level courses (or their equivalents) in the science, or in the relevant area in the history of science;
2. earn two units in logic (beyond satisfying the logic requirement) or the philosophy of science;
3. demonstrate an adequate basic knowledge of other areas of philosophy. This is done by earning four units in the areas of (i) history of philosophy, (ii) ethics, and (iii) epistemology and metaphysics. Of these four units, at most two may be in any one of the listed areas.

At least one unit must include an oral examination, as in the Standard Program.

To help guard against overspecialization, the department asks students opting for the logic and the philosophy of science track to submit an overall plan of study for approval by the Graduate Committee. The plan should indicate the proposed field of science, or history of science, the manner in which proficiency in that field is to be demonstrated (e.g. by listing courses), and the general program of study in philosophy proposed to satisfy the remaining requirements. The proposed plan need not be fully specific, especially with respect to exactly how most of the philosophy requirements ("the other four units") are to be met, but enough information should be provided to allow the Graduate Committee to draw reasonable conclusions about the distribution of work by area and other relevant parameters of the student's program.

Although there is no fixed time at which the student must submit such a plan, late in the second semester or early in the third semester would be reasonable choices. Prudence counsels securing approval before embarking too seriously on a program of work that might fail, upon review, to satisfy distribution requirements because it was too specialized. Subsequent modifications to an approved plan must be cleared with the Director of Graduate Studies. Students who elect to follow the track in Logic and the Philosophy of Science must take the General Examination in philosophy of science.

Properly qualified graduate students in philosophy who wish to do intensive work in ancient philosophy may wish to enroll in the Interdepartmental Program in Classical Philosophy. Applicants should indicate their interest on page 4 of the application form, in the space provided for a statement of the applicant's prospective area of specialization. They should also provide a fuller account of their specialized interests, objectives, and previous training in the area concerned in their career statement. Applicants must submit a paper in some area of ancient philosophy.

This program is a cooperative undertaking of the Departments of Classics and Philosophy. It is administered by an interdepartmental committee which is composed as follows:

• John M. Cooper, Department of Philosophy, Director

• Melissa Lane, Department of Politics

• Hendrik Lorenz, Department of Philosophy

• Benjamin Morison, Department of Philosophy

• Alexander Nehamas, Department of Philosophy

• Christian Wildberg, Department of Classics

The program provides training, special skills, and knowledge not normally included in the education of professional classicists or philosophers, while equipping students for scholarly work and teaching in either classics or philosophy.

Students may apply for admission to either of the cooperating departments, in accordance with their interests and qualifications. Those who are admitted to this program by the Department of Philosophy are considered graduate students in philosophy and receive their doctorate in philosophy. The program offers them the opportunity of taking seminars in classics as a substantial part of their regular course of study. They will thus be able to improve their knowledge of the classical languages, extend their acquaintance with classical literature, history, and culture, and do intensive work on classical philosophical texts.

Language Requirement

A knowledge of Greek and Latin is required of all students enrolled in the program, if not on entry then as soon as possible afterwards. Applicants to the Philosophy Department must possess a basic knowledge of Greek, up to the level of Plato's Socratic dialogues, and are recommended to have comparable abilities in Latin. Applicants to the Classics Department must fulfill that department's language requirements for entering students. Sight examinations are given at the beginning of the first year, to determine the student's level of competence in the classical languages. When advisable, the study of the classical languages is carried on as part of the first year graduate program of candidates in Philosophy. Philosophy students in the program must demonstrate a reading knowledge of French or German, and Classics students a knowledge of both these languages, before taking the general examination.

Examinations

Graduate students who are enrolled in the Program will take the sight-reading tests in Greek and Latin and, as soon thereafter as possible, examinations on reading lists on Greek and Latin authors. (Copies of these lists are available to applicants upon request.) The General Examination will be especially adapted to meet the student's interests and aptitudes.

Distribution Requirements

Philosophy students enrolled in the Interdepartmental Program in Classical Philosophy must complete fourteen units. These will include the ten units of the standard philosophy program (except that no alternative unit may be substituted for French or German). One of these ten may be achieved by passing a non-philosophical course with graduate credit in the Classics Department. The additional four units must be obtained by satisfying the following:

1. passing a sight-reading test in Greek
2. passing a sight-reading test in Latin,
3. passing the Greek reading list exam,
4. passing the Latin reading list exam.

The schedule for completing units is the same for the first two years as in the regular program. Classical philosophy program students are further expected to have completed eleven units by the end of their fifth semester, thirteen by the end of their sixth semester, and fourteen before generals, which must be taken no later than October of the fourth year. It is advisable to take generals by May of the third year, with an accelerated rate of unit completion.

Dissertation

After passing the General Examination, the student writes a dissertation for submission to the department and takes a final examination as provided for in the general regulations of the University. The departmental length limit applies.

Work in Classical Philosophy for Students Not Enrolled in the Program

The seminars of the program are open to all departmental students who meet the relevant prerequisites, whether or not they are enrolled in the Interdepartmental Program in Classical Philosophy. With the permission of the department, students who wish to concentrate in Greek philosophy, but do not meet all the requirements of the Interdepartmental Program, may pursue courses of study planned to suit their particular interests and qualifications.

Colloquium in Classical Philosophy

There is an annual two-day Classical Philosophy Colloquium in early December at which outside speakers and commentators present papers on a common theme, varying year by year. Additional meetings of the Colloquium are held from time to time during the academic year, providing an opportunity for listening to and discussing papers by visiting scholars.

Properly qualified graduate students in philosophy who wish to do intensive work in political philosophy may wish to enroll in the Interdepartmental Program in Political Philosophy. Applicants should indicate their interest on page 4 of the application form, in the space provided for a statement of the applicant's prospective area of specialization. They should also provide a fuller account of their specialized interests, objectives, and previous training in the area concerned in their career statement.

This program, offered under the joint auspices of the departments of Classics, History, Philosophy, Politics, and Religion, is administered by an interdepartmental committee, which is composed as follows:

• Kwame Anthony Appiah, Philosophy
• Charles R. Beitz, Politics
• Robert A. Kaster, Classics
• Melissa Lane, Politics
• Stephen Macedo, Politics
• Philip Pettit, Politics
• Daniel T. Rodgers, History
• Michael Smith, Philosophy
• Jeffrey L. Stout, Religion
• Maurizio Viroli, Politics

with associated faculty from Philosophy, Romance Languages and Literatures, Politics, and Sociology.

The program enables students to supplement their philosophical training with specialized work in one or more of three general areas:

1. the history of political ideas,
2. the investigation of contemporary problems of political philosophy,
3. the study of the relations between institutional and social history on the one hand, and systems of political thought on the other.

The doctoral dissertation is written on a problem in political philosophy, generally within one of the three areas listed above.

Language Requirements

A student is expected to develop competence in any languages required by his or her specialized program.

Distribution Requirements

Students participating in the Interdepartmental Program in Political Philosophy must take at least one special seminar in political philosophy during their first two years of graduate study. In consultation with their advisers, and with the permission of the department, they may also modify the list of four fields in which students in the Standard Program are required to demonstrate adequate basic knowledge. For example, a student might wish to substitute the fields of political or legal philosophy for either logic or metaphysics and epistemology. Otherwise, students in the Interdepartmental Program are subject to the same requirements as students following the Standard Program.

The Firestone Library on the campus of the University is an open-stack library offering easy access to books and journals. Carrels, equipped with bookshelves and a desk, are available there for graduate students after their first year. There are normally two students assigned to a carrel.

Besides the Library's central reserve area, where books relevant to current seminars are assembled, there is a departmental library and reading room for graduate students in philosophy in Marx Hall, and there is also an adjacent computer cluster. It contains the current and recent issues of many major philosophical journals and a collection of frequently used works in philosophy. The university also subscribes to electronic editions of many philosophy journals, making these accessible from any university computer.

For students with special interest in logic, mathematics, and physics, the mathematics and physics library possesses one of the most extensive collections anywhere of books and journals in those fields.

The Firestone Library on the campus of the University is an open-stack library offering easy access to books and journals. Carrels, equipped with bookshelves and a desk, are available there for graduate students after their first year. There are normally two students assigned to a carrel.

Besides the Library's central reserve area, where books relevant to current seminars are assembled, there is a departmental library and reading room for graduate students in philosophy in Marx Hall, and there is also an adjacent computer cluster. It contains the current and recent issues of many major philosophical journals and a collection of frequently used works in philosophy. The university also subscribes to electronic editions of many philosophy journals, making these accessible from any university computer.

For students with special interest in logic, mathematics, and physics, the mathematics and physics library possesses one of the most extensive collections anywhere of books and journals in those fields.

For students with special interest in logic, mathematics, and physics, the mathematics and physics library possesses one of the most extensive collections anywhere of books and journals in those fields.

All students admitted to Princeton are eligible for fellowships covering living expenses, including summer support, and tuition, which includes the use of the library and gymnasium, access to the clinical service of the McCosh Health Center, and a health and accident insurance policy.

Routine questions about graduate work in Philosophy should be addressed to the Graduate Administrator, Josephine Kelly (email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ). More specific inquiries should be addressed to the Director of Graduate Studies, Gilbert Harman, (email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ). The Department's address is:

Department of Philosophy,

Princeton University,

Princeton, NJ 08544-1006

For information about applications and deadlines, and to submit an application, see the Graduate Admissions website.

All applicants are required to submit a sample of their written work, in English, with their completed application. Those applying for the Classical Philosophy Program must submit a paper in the area of ancient philosophy, and should make clear in the first sentence of their personal statements that they are applying to the program.