1. Course requirement.

Students in the Ph.D. program are required to take 16 graduate philosophy courses (48 semester hours other than 899), at least eight of which are at the 700 level. Ph.D. students are required to pass four core courses, normally within the first two years of course work, and at least one course in philosophy of science. Ph.D. students are also required to pass at least one course in each of three historical areas. The proseminar cannot be used to satisfy the core, science, or history requirements.

2. Proseminar requirement.

All Ph.D. students must take PHIL 765 Proseminar, in their first term in the program.

3. Core courses.

All Ph.D. students must pass the following core courses, normally within the first two years of course work:

4. Philosophy of science requirement.

Ph.D. students must pass at least one course in philosophy of science. Which courses count as satisfying this requirement is at the discretion of the graduate director.

5. History requirement.

Ph.D. students must pass at least one course in each of three historical periods:

6. Language requirement.

A reading knowledge of one foreign language is required of all Ph.D. students; in addition, when a student’s research area demands knowledge of a particular foreign language, the student will be expected to be proficient in that language.

7. Admission to candidacy.

To be admitted to candidacy for the Ph.D. degree,

a. The student must have obtained a Distinction or a Ph.D. Pass on the Ph.D. Qualifying Exam.

b. The student’s written work in graduate courses taken at USC must have been strong enough to justify a high expectation of success in the remainder of the program.

c. The student must have demonstrated proficiency in any teaching duties assigned throughout the course of their graduate work, either as instructional assistants or teaching assistants.

8. Students are also required to pass a two-part Ph.D. comprehensive examination (consisting of both a written and an oral part) and to write and defend a doctoral dissertation.

Requirement for Ph.D. students with Teaching Assistantships

Advanced Ph.D. students with teaching assistantships may be given responsibility for teaching a course. Before graduate students are allowed to teach a course, they must have taken PHIL 790  Teaching Philosophy for at least one semester. Students must also take this one-credit-hour course during any semester when they are actually teaching a course. This course does not count toward the 16 courses required for the Ph.D. degree.