Department of Philosophy

• Home
• About the Department
• News & Events
• People
• Student Information
• Department Resources


• If you are interested in making a financial contribution to the Department of Philosophy through the Campus Campaign. Our fund number is # 307612.
  
  
  Happy that you had a particular professor? Then Thank a Prof!

Undergraduate Students

Honors Degree in Philosophy

There are two main tracks toward graduation with honors in Philosophy, beyond the standard major program: Graduation with Honors in the Liberal Arts and Graduation with Distinction in Philosophy. And, there are two plans to Graduation with Distinction in Philosophy: a thesis plan and an examination plan. A student may plan his or her course of study to lead to both Graduation with Honors in the Liberal Arts and Graduation with Distinction in Philosophy.

The guidelines for the foregoing tracks are as follows:

I. Graduation with Honors in the Liberal Arts

On the GHLA track, the student must be a member of the Arts and Sciences Honors Program, which includes completing a contract that spells out in detail the special course of study the student proposes to undertake for her or his degree, including GEC requirements, major requirements, minor requirements, if any, and electives. The student will work out the contract in collaboration with the Undergraduate Honors Advisor in the Department of Philosophy and with her or his Honors Advisor in the Arts and Sciences Honors office.

The GHLA degree requires a minimum GPA of 3.3 and a major that is substantially more challenging than a regular major in Philosophy. This degree builds upon the requirements for a regular major in Philosophy-namely, a minimum of 45 hours in Philosophy above the 200 level (not including the prerequisite course, Philosophy 250), of which ten hours must be at or above the 600 level. For example in order to build a sufficiently more challenging major, a student following the GHLA track will typically take 25 hours at or above the 600 level rather than just 10. The program will be designed with permission of and in consultation with the Honors Advisor in the Department of Philosophy.

II. Graduation with Distinction in Philosophy

The GDP degree requires a minimum GPA of 3.3; a minimum GPA in Philosophy of 3.5; and a major that is substantially more challenging than a regular major in Philosophy. This degree builds upon the requirements for a regular major in Philosophy-namely, a minimum of 45 hours in philosophy above the 200 level (not including the prerequisite course, Philosophy 250), of which ten hours must be at or above the 600 level. The difference is that the GDP degree requires a minimum of 53 hours in philosophy above the 200 level (not including the prerequisite course); and, further, that, of these hours, 28 be at or above the 600 level. The program will be designed with permission of and in consultation with the student's advisor (either the Honors Advisor or the Undergraduate Advisor in the Department of Philosophy, depending upon the student's status).

Graduation with Distinction in Philosophy also requires the student to undertake a project in consultation with a faculty project director, to be selected in consultation with the student's advisor. The project will be undertaken according to one of the following two plans.

Plan 1

On this plan, the student will, in consultation with a faculty project director, write a senior thesis and defend it in a one-hour oral examination. In order to work on his or her thesis, the student will enroll in at least 8 but not more then 15 senior thesis (H783) hours during his or her last few quarters of study, for the purpose of writing the thesis and preparing for the final thesis examination. Of these hours, 15 can be counted toward the student's total requirements of 53 hours at or above the 200 level, and 13 can be counted toward the student's total requirement of 28 hours at or above the 600 level.

An examination draft of the student's thesis is to be completed by the third week of the student's final quarter. This draft, which is usually approximately 35-45 pages long, will be evaluated by a committee consisting of the student's director and two other committee members. The committee may require that the thesis be modified before a final draft is deposited with the College of Arts and Sciences Honors office. All three committee members will participate in the student's one-hour oral examination, which will be devoted to a defense of the thesis.

The student shall be considered to have satisfied the requirements for graduation with distinction in philosophy only if each of the three members of the examination committee finds both the senior thesis and the oral examination to be passing.

Plan 2:

On this plan, the student will, in consultation with a faculty project director, create a file of three papers to be collectively evaluated by a committee consisting of the student's director and two other committee members and to be defended in a final oral examination. Normally, these papers will be from fifteen to twenty pages in length. The paper can be based on papers written for courses taken by the student, but they must represent extensive expansion and revision of the original work. The file of papers will be created according to the following Schedule:

• The first paper will be submitted by the end of the third week of Spring Quarter of the student's junior year.
• The second paper will be submitted by the end of the third week of Fall Quarter in the student's senior year.
• The third paper will be submitted by the end of the third week of Winter Quarter of the student's senior year.

In order to revise the student's file of papers and to prepare for the final examination during the last few quarters of his or her undergraduate career, the student will enroll in at least 8 but not more than 15 senior thesis (H783) hours. Of these hours, 15 can be counted toward the student's total requirement of 28 hours at or above the 200 level and 10 can be counted toward the student's total requirement of 28 hours at or above the 600 level.

The file of papers will be evaluated by a committee consisting of the student's director and two other committee members. The committee may require that the papers be modified before a final file is deposited with the College of Arts and Sciences Honors office. All three committee members will participate in the examination of the candidate, which will be devoted to questions about the material in the student's file of papers.

The student shall be considered to have satisfied the requirements for graduation with distinction in philosophy only if each of the three members of the examination committee finds both the file of papers and the oral examination to be acceptable.