Doctor of Philosophy in Philosophy
Program Description
The Doctor of Philosophy in Philosophy Program is a doctoral degree program under the academic track. It aims to provide students who already have a master’s degree in philosophy or in any other related field with excellent opportunities to further expand and deepen their grasp of the crucial issues in philosophy with a view to developing a specialized focus, either in the context of tradition or in relation to recent trends in world philosophy. Eclectic and creative, the program provides a diverse curriculum of course offerings covering a wide range of philosophic concerns as seen from the perspectives of the various philosophical traditions. From Analytic Philosophy to Continental Philosophy, from Asian and Comparative Philosophy to the newly emerging Filipino philosophy, the program ensures that differing philosophical inclinations are given equal treatment.
Academic Courses (See Appendix for Description of Courses)
Basic Courses
Philosophical Research (required), Philosophy of Language, Phenomenology and Existentialism,
Philosophy of Mind, Postmodernism, Philosophy of Science, Filipino Philosophy, Eastern
Philosophy (Or: Buddhist/Chinese/Indian Philosophy), Philosophical Problems
Major Courses
Analytic Philosophy, Continental Philosophy, Hermeneutics, Symbolic Logic, Ethics, Feminist
Philosophy, Metaphysics, Epistemology, Social and Political Philosophy, Philosophy of
Education, Aesthetics.
Electives
Philosophy of History, Process Philosophy, Critical Theory, Marxist Humanism, Classical Eastern
Philosophy, Philosophy of Technology, Comparative East-West Philosophy, Metaethics,
Philosophy of the Unconscious, Structuralism/Post-Structuralism, Philosophy of Action,
Buddhist Philosophy, Chinese Philosophy, Indian Philosophy, Special Topics 1, 2, & 3, Individual
Philosopher 1, 2, & 3
Cognate Courses
- Students may enroll in a 3-unit graduate course offered as a cognate course by any other
department in the College of Liberal Arts (CLA). Such course will be credited as an elective
course. - All graduate courses offered by the Department of Philosophy, being foundational and having
no prerequisite courses, may be taken as cognate courses by graduate students of other CLA
departments.
Foreign Language Requirement
Any one foreign language (except English) that is suitable for the topic of one’s dissertation. The
credit units for the courses taken should amount to 6 (or its equivalent of 84 hrs. of instruction)
and should be completed with passing grades.
Course Repetition and Completion
A grade below 2.5 for courses taken under the doctoral programs would require repetition of
such courses. A grade of “Incomplete” or “Deferred” incurred in a term automatically becomes
a “W” (Withdrawn) if not completed within the succeeding term, and its highest possible
completion grade is 3.5.
Financial Aid
Full and partial scholarships are available through the Office of Admissions and Scholarships
(OAS).
Admission Requirements
1. The applicant must have a master’s degree in philosophy or in any other course. If the latter,
the applicant, in his/her first term of enrollment, will be required to enroll in one or two
refresher courses to be determined by the Graduate Program Coordinator or the Chair of the
Department of Philosophy.
2. A letter of application and two letters of recommendation from former professors or present
employers.
3. Passing a qualifying examination.
4. An interview with the Graduate Program Coordinator or the Chair of the Department of
Philosophy.
Curriculum
Ph.D. in Philosophy
(1) 42 Units of Coursework
- At least 15 units of basic courses (which must include Philosophical Research)
- At least 9 units of major courses
- The rest may be basic, major, or elective courses.
(2) 6 Units of Foreign Language Study
(3) Written Comprehensive Examinations in Five (5) Areas of Study
- At least two (2) basic courses
- At least one (1) major course
- The rest may be basic, major, or elective courses
(4) Publicly Defended Dissertation (12 units)
- Public oral defense of dissertation has two stages: proposal and final.
(5) 1 Publication in a Refereed and Indexed/Abstracted Journal or Juried Creative Work
- Publications may have single or multiple authors; and journals may be published
nationally or internationally. Additional supporting documents may be required.
APPENDIX: DESCRIPTIONS OF THE ACADEMIC COURSES
A. BASIC COURSES
Philosophical Research
3 units
This is a research course where the student is trained to use proper documentation, that is the
proper use of parenthetical references (PR) and reference lists (RL). The parts of a paper or
book or thesis are discussed. Students are trained how to use the library, how to write a book
review, and related matters. In particular, they are trained to write an Introduction, a
Theoretical or Conceptual Framework, and a Review of Related Literature.
Philosophy of Mind
3 units
A study of modern and contemporary trends in the philosophy of mind among European and
Anglo-American thinkers.
Phenomenology and Existentialism
3 units
A thorough study of the views of Brentano and Husserl on the project of phenomenology and
how existentialist philosophers such as Sartre, Heidegger, and Merleau-Ponty react to such
views.
Philosophy of Language
3 units
A critical study of the nature of language, meaning and communication, including the theories
of Frege, Russell, Wittgenstein, Chomsky, Austin, Searle, and others. Open to students of
Linguistics and Languages.
Postmodernism
3 units
An examination of a contemporary movement called postmodernism in terms of its
philosophical and cultural roots, claims, scope and influences, and critical reactions to certain
dominant ways of thinking that have characterized modernist thought, such as those described
by Derrida as “logocentric,” as expressed in various areas that include literature, art,
architecture, film, and philosophy.
Philosophy of Science
3 units
A critical study of the philosophical problems related to science, including what the laws of
nature are, causality, explanation, theories, models, the ontological status of theoretical
entities, induction, probabilities, value judgment in science, and others.
Eastern Philosophy
3 units
A thorough and holistic approach to philosophies traditionally classified as Eastern which
include Buddhist Philosophy, Indian Philosophy, Chinese Philosophy, and Islamic philosophy.
Filipino Philosophy
3 units
An in-depth review and analysis of available philosophical writings by Filipinos: cultural,
traditional, and constitutional/national approaches to Filipino philosophy.
Philosophical Problems
3 units
The course aims to introduce students to the philosophical endeavor through examining some
of the significant and key issues in philosophy such as the problem of evil, the problem of value
and the problem of free will, and other problems that matter. As philosophers, we try to find
out whether our views on the above can be supported with rational arguments, or whether we
have to give them up in light of closer scrutiny.
B. MAJOR COURSES
Analytic Philosophy
3 units
A critical study of the works of analytic philosophers from Bertrand Russell and G. E. Moore to
the present.
Continental Philosophy
3 units
An introductory course on continental philosophy with emphasis on the philosophers of
existentialism, phenomenology, hermeneutics, and postmodernism.
Hermeneutics
3 units
An in-depth study of hermeneutics as culled from the writings of Dilthey, Gadamer, Ricoueur,
Derrida et al.
Advanced Symbolic Logic
3 units
A survey of recent trends approaches in the study of modern (symbolic/mathematical) logic or
of modern methods and principles used in distinguishing good (correct) from bad (incorrect)
reasoning.
Ethics
3 units
An in-depth study of the classical and contemporary theories in moral philosophy covering both
normative ethics and meta-ethics.
Feminist Philosophy
3 units
A critical examination of feminist perspectives on traditional philosophical methods or ways of
doing philosophy in the areas of ethics, social philosophy, philosophy of science, and
epistemology, among others, as advanced by the movement’s leading figures which include de
Beauvoir, Kristeva, Gilligan, Smith, Collins, and Harding.
Advanced Metaphysics
3 units
A rigorous and formal analysis of the basic assumptions of classical metaphysical systems and
their expressions in the history of philosophy, as well as their consequences for modern science
and philosophy.
Advanced Epistemology
3 units
A critical in-depth discussion of the most significant theories of knowledge, including both the
continental, pragmatic, and analytic traditions.
Social and Political Philosophy
3 units
An analytical study of the various theories on social justice as advanced by the Social
Contractarians (Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau), Marx, Rawls, Nozick, Dworkin, and others.
Philosophy of Education
3 units
A critical survey of the philosophies of various education thinkers from the Sophists to the
present day but with emphasis on contemporary thinkers.
Advanced Aesthetics/Philosophy of Art
3 units
A critical examination of classical and contemporary theories that seek to explain the nature of
beauty and art.
C. ELECTIVES
Philosophy of History
3 units
A study of philosophies of history by ancient Greeks and Romans, Augustine, Vico, Voltaire,
Bossuet, Nietzsche, Dilthey, Hegel, Marx, Schleiermacher, von Herder, Croce, Collingwood,
Popper, Spengler, Dondeyn, Ricoeur, et al. open to students of History.
Introduction to Philosophy
3 units
A panoramic holistic survey of the divisions of philosophy with emphasis on the basic concepts
and ideas of philosophy. The latest edition (15th ed.) of the Encyclopedia Britannica listed
seventeen (17) divisions of philosophy. This Introduction may include Filipino Philosophy and
other Asian philosophies. This course is summarize courses in philosophy.
Process Philosophy
3 units
A study of the philosophies of Heraclitus, Whitehead, Hick, and Hartshorne, among others
Critical Theory
3 units
An in-depth study of the presuppositions and development of the fundamental views and
claims of the philosophical movement called critical theory as put forward and argued for by its
key figures (Habermas, Marcuse, Horkheimer, Adorno, et al.)
Marxist Humanism
3 units
An in-depth study of Marx’s theory of alienation as expounded in his work Economic and
Philosophic Manuscripts and as analyzed and developed by other thinkers like Lukacs, Fromm,
Marcuse, and Sartre, among others.
Asian/ Eastern Philosophy
3 units
An in-depth study of the major works of Confucius, Lao Tzu, Buddha, Hindu philosophers, and
others.
Comparative East-West Philosophy
3 units
A comparative and dialogical analysis of Eastern and Western philosophical currents.
Metaethics
3 units
A study of contemporary analytic moral theories especially on moral discourse (referential
theory, verificationist theory, causal theory, and meaning-as-use theory); the intuitionism of
Moore, Pritchard, and Ross; the rejection of non-naturalism; the emotivism of Stevenson; the
prescriptivism of Hare; the descriptivism of Searle; and compatibility of freedom and
determinism theory.
Philosophy of the Unconscious
3 units
A critical and reflective examination of the various philosophical views concerning the existence
and nature of the unconscious, as well as the philosophical issues that it gives rise to.
Philosophy of Technology
3 units
A critical examination of the philosophical views concerning the nature of technology and its
effects on society from the classic contrast in the views of Dewey and Heidegger to the
contemporary approaches of Baudrillard, Borgmann, Feenberg, and Haraway, among others
Structuralism/Post Structuralism
3 units
A study of the philosophy of methods of structuralism and poststructuralism. This will explore
the ideas of Claude Levi-Strauss, Noam Chomsky, Jacques Lacan, Roland Barthes, Louis
Althusser, Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, and others.
Buddhist Philosophy
3 units
A thorough study of the origin, basic teachings, and various branches of Buddhism
Chinese Philosophy
3 units
An in-depth study of the philosophies of Confucius, Mencius, Lao Tzu, Han Fei Tzu, Mo Tzu et al.
Indian Philosophy
3 units
An in-depth study of Indian though contained in the Vedas, Upanishads, Ramayana and
Mahabharata, and Buddhist writings.
Any Individual Philosopher
3 units
An in-depth study of the seminal works of any individual philosopher.
Seminar in (any philosophical topic)
3 units
A critical analysis of the competing philosophical positions on a specific philosophical
controversy
D. BRIDGING COURSE
Introduction to Philosophy for Non-philosophy Majors
This course is a remedial course for non-philosophy majors who are taking up graduate studies in philosophy. It should provide a background of the study of philosophy and equip students with basic knowledge in undertaking its study. This course will introduce students to some of the main areas of research in contemporary philosophy such as epistemology, philosophy of science, philosophy of mind, moral philosophy and others. Topics included: understanding what philosophy is, its characteristics, aims and methods, and how it differs from other subjects. This course is an introductory overview of several different areas of philosophy.