220 Humanities Office Building II; (714) 824-6525
Gerasimos Santas, Department Chair
Faculty
Jeffrey Barrett, Ph.D. Columbia University, Assistant Professor of Philosophy (philosophy of science, philosophy of physics)
Ermanno Bencivenga, Ph.D. University of Toronto, Professor of Philosophy (logic, history of philosophy, philosophy of language)
Andrew Cross, Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley, Assistant Professor of Philosophy (nineteenth- and twentieth-century continental philosophy and ethics)
Lara Denis, Ph.D. Cornell University, Assistant Professor of Philosophy (ethics, Kant)
J. Karel Lambert, Ph.D. Michigan State University, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy (logic, philosophy of science, metaphysics)
Penelope Maddy, Ph.D. Princeton University, Professor of Philosophy and of Mathematics (logic, philosophy and foundations of mathematics)
Alan Nelson, Ph.D. University of Illinois at Chicago, Associate Professor of Philosophy (history of philosophy, philosophy of science)
Terence D. Parsons, Ph.D. Stanford University, Professor of Philosophy (metaphysics, philosophy of language)
Nelson C. Pike, Ph.D. Harvard University, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy (philosophy of religion, history of philosophy)
Gerasimos Santas, Ph.D. Cornell University, Department Chair and Professor of Philosophy (ancient philosophy, history of philosophy, ethics)
Martin Schwab, Ph.D. University of Bielefeld, Associate Professor of Philosophy and of Comparative Literature (aesthetics, philosophy of mind)
Brian Skyrms, Ph.D. University of Pittsburgh, Director of the Emphasis and Minor in the History and Philosophy of Science and Professor of Philosophy (philosophy of science, metaphysics)
David W. Smith, Ph.D. Stanford University, Professor of Philosophy (phenomenology, metaphysics, epistemology, existentialism)
Gary Watson, Ph.D. Princeton University, Associate Professor of Philosophy (ethical theory, philosophy of mind, political philosophy)
Peter Woodruff, Ph.D. University of Pittsburgh, Associate Professor of Philosophy (philosophy of logic, metaphysics)
Affiliated Faculty
Francisco J. Ayala, Ph.D. Columbia University, Founding Director of the Bren Fellows Program, Bren Chair, and Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and of Philosophy
Jacques Derrida, Doctorate d'Etat ès Lettres, Professor of French, Comparative Literature, and Philosophy (philosophy, critical theory)
Matthew D. Foreman, Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley, Professor of Mathematics and of Philosophy
Gordon G. Globus, M.D. Tufts University, Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and Human Behavior
Donald Hoffman, Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Professor of Psychology and of Information and Computer Science
Ruth Barcan Marcus, Ph.D. Yale University, Visiting Professor of Philosophy
Roger N. Walsh, M.B.B.S., Ph.D. University of Queensland, Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Philosophy, and Anthropology
Philosophy addresses itself to questions that arise insistently in every area of human experience and in every discipline within the university. Each discipline inevitably poses problems concerning the nature of the standards appropriate to it and the place of its subject matter within the total framework of human knowledge. If we are to understand science or art or literature, or such human practices as religion and moral thought, we are bound to address ourselves to philosophical issues relating to their nature, the uses of reason appropriate to them, and the contributions they make to our understanding and appreciation of ourselves and the world in which we live.
The study of argument and the precision and clarity of thought and writing required of Philosophy majors are excellent preparation for a variety of careers. Many undergraduates trained in Philosophy go on to professional schools in medicine, business, or law. The analytical skills developed in Philosophy courses are especially useful in legal education; indeed, many UCI Philosophy graduates have been successful at top law schools. Former Philosophy students have also used their skills to advantage in careers in government, business, teaching, law enforcement, and computer programming. Many Philosophy majors also continue their education at the graduate level, either in philosophy or a related discipline.
The Career and Life Planning Center provides services to UCI students and alumni including career counseling, information about job opportunities, a career library, and workshops on resume preparation, job search, and interview techniques. See the Career and Life Planning Center section for additional information.
Instruction in philosophy relies essentially upon discussion in which students are active participants. Wherever possible, therefore, classes are severely limited in size in order to permit sustained interchanges between students and instructor.
Some of the courses offered are of general interest to all students. Others are designed to explore issues that arise in selected and special disciplines such as art or science. The undergraduate advisor should be consulted for advice about courses best suited to the specialized needs of particular students.
The program of course offerings is also designed for those majors in philosophy whose intention may be either to enter some professional school upon graduation (e.g., law) or to engage in graduate work in philosophy.
University Requirements: See pages 5761.
School Requirements: See page 190.
Departmental Requirements for the Major
Philosophy 30A-B, 10, 12, and either 11 or 13; Philosophy 101, 102, 103, and five additional quarter courses from Philosophy 100, 105-199. Students planning to go on to graduate school are strongly advised to take Philosophy 105A and 105B.
Residence Requirement: At least five upper-division courses required for the major must be completed successfully at UCI.
Departmental Requirements for the Minor
The minor consists of two portions: a lower-division portion and an upper-division portion. Both must be satisfied.
Lower division: Three courses selected from Philosophy 1, 4, 5, 30A or three courses selected from Philosophy 1, 6, 7, 30A or three courses selected from Philosophy 10, 11, 12, 13, 30A.
Upper division: Four courses in a given subfield of philosophy, some of which have been pre-approved by the Department and are included below: History of Philosophy (Philosophy 110117); Metaphysics and Epistemology (Philosophy 120124); Value Theory (Philosophy 113B, 130135); Logic and Methodology (Philosophy 105108, 115, 140148). Other four-course sequences may be possible, subject to written permission by the Department. Such a sequence must consist of related courses in a coherent subfield.
Residence Requirement for the Minor: Four upper-division courses must be successfully completed at UCI.
Students are encouraged to seek the counsel of any and all members of the Department whose recommendations the student would deem helpful. It is hoped that there will be a close intellectual relationship between graduate students and professors in order to provide the students with optimum conditions for philosophical development and to expedite their progress toward advanced degrees. In addition, the Department sponsors a series of colloquia each year. Participation in these colloquia is an important part of the graduate student's training.
Every new graduate student is assigned a faculty member whose purpose is to oversee the student's progress through the major requirements for the advanced degree. The student consults with the faculty each quarter about progress and any administrative or academic difficulties. Each student's overall record is evaluated by the Department each year, customarily during the first two weeks of April. When the student has satisfied residency, tools of research, logic, and portfolio requirements, the Candidacy Committee supervises the qualifying examination and the development of a dissertation project, and the subsequent writing of the dissertation itself. The Chair of this committee is the principal person with whom the graduate student will consult on the dissertation.
There is no list of courses required for the M.A. degree. The M.A. program in Philosophy takes one year at a minimum. The student may elect to follow either of the following routes to the degree: write a thesis on a subject to be chosen in consultation with an advisor and defend the thesis in an oral examination, or satisfy the Logic and Portfolio requirements for the Ph.D. degree. Please refer to the Research and Graduate Studies section for information on the minimum number of courses required for the M.A. degree.
Advancement to candidacy for the M.A. degree is not automatic, but requires formal application to the Dean of Graduate Studies via the Philosophy Department Office. Application must be made with the recommendation of the Philosophy Department and must take place before the beginning of the quarter in which the student expects to receive the degree.
There is no set number of courses required for the Ph.D., so that work can be tailored to the individual student's needs and interests. However, as a prerequisite for the Ph.D. degree, every student is required to have some experience in teaching.
The Ph.D. program is designed to take five years for the normally qualified student. In exceptional cases it may be possible to obtain the degree within four years. A Master's degree is not a prerequisite for the Ph.D. The following items are requirements for the Ph.D. degree.
Distribution Requirements. Students are required to take a range of courses designed to expose them to the various historical periods and fields of philosophy. No particular courses are required; when course offerings are announced, students are notified about which courses can be used to satisfy which requirements. In some cases, the requirement satisfied will ultimately depend on the content of the student's term paper(s).
The Distribution Requirements are:
1. History. To satisfy this requirement, students must receive a grade of B or better in at least four courses covering at least three of the following five historical periods: Ancient, Medieval, Modern, Kant and Nineteenth Century, and Twentieth Century.
2. Field. To satisfy this requirement, students must receive a grade of B or better in two courses in value theory and one course each in metaphysics and epistemology.
These requirements must be completed by the end of the seventh quarter in residence.
Logic Requirement. Students entering the program are expected to be familiar with elementary propositional and quantificational logic, including natural deduction techniques for both. A student with a weak background may wish to audit the lower-division courses Philosophy 30A and 30B or review the material in an independent study course (299) under the supervision of individual faculty members.
Given that background, to satisfy the Logic Requirement, students must receive a grade of B or better in Philosophy 205A and 205B. The first of these covers the language and techniques of elementary set theory: basic operations with sets, relations and functions, natural numbers and mathematical induction, and cardinal numbers. The second covers basic proof theory and model theory of first-order logic, including the deduction theorem, soundness and completeness theorems, compactness, and Löwenheim-Skolem theorems. These courses are devised to provide students with (a) the tools to assess logic-based arguments in the contemporary literature, and (b) a firm foundation on the basis of which students can explore further logical topics as their area of concentration requires.
This requirement must be completed by the end of the seventh quarter in residence.
Tools of Research. This requirement allows students to pursue the tool which they and their advisors deem most useful for their area of concentration, either a foreign language or some course of study outside philosophy. To satisfy this requirement, a student must pass an examination in a single appropriate foreign language or receive a grade of B or better in each of three appropriate graduate-level courses in a discipline other than philosophy.
The two-hour foreign language examination (administered by the Philosophy Department) requires students to translate, with the aid of a dictionary, passages from one or two philosophical authors. For the second option, courses of study outside philosophy will be approved (by the Director of Graduate Studies) when they bear on a student's area of philosophical concentration. Though the courses must be in a discipline other than philosophy, they may in fact be taught in the Philosophy Department (e.g., a course in mathematical logic taught by a Philosophy faculty member).
This requirement must be completed by the end of the ninth quarter in residence.
The Portfolio. A portfolio is an extended writing sample designed to demonstrate a student's ability (a) to understand, analyze, and evaluate positions and arguments in classical and contemporary philosophical literature, and (b) to formulate and defend an original philosophical thesis. These virtues must be displayed at a level of sophistication that indicates the student's ability to write a Ph.D. dissertation.
The portfolio must be submitted to the Graduate Coordinator at the end of the fourth week of the student's seventh quarter in residence.
Candidacy Examination. In preparation for the Candidacy Examination, students consult with their thesis advisor and other appropriate faculty to prepare a reading list on their area of concentration and a brief dissertation proposal. Students apply for candidacy by filing appropriate forms, including a list (devised in consultation with their advisor) of appropriate members for their Candidacy Committee; one of these, the External Examiner, must come from outside the School of Humanities. The Committee is then appointed by the Department, on behalf of the Dean of Graduate Studies and the Graduate Council, to administer the oral Candidacy Examination on the reading list and proposal to determine whether or not the student is prepared to begin work on the dissertation.
This requirement must be completed by the end of the ninth quarter in residence. The Department Chair, on behalf of the Dean of Graduate Studies and the Graduate Council, then appoints a Doctoral Committee (typically taken from the Candidacy Committee and naturally including the dissertation advisor) to supervise the writing of the dissertation.
Dissertation Defense. Students must defend their dissertation during an oral examination administered by their Doctoral Committee.
Both faculty and graduate students participate in this exchange of scholars between the University of Salzburg and the UCI Philosophy Department. To be eligible, students must have advanced to candidacy. Students who are selected spend one semester in Salzburg and teach one course in the general area of their dissertation topic. An upper-division course may be taught in English, but lower-division courses must be taught in German. (Some previous visitors have learned serviceable German by attending a Goethe institute during the preceding summer.) Typically, a Salzburg visitor receives a Salzburg Fellowship intended to cover travel expenses, and a stipend; those who teach while in Salzburg also receive a salary intended to cover living expenses (including health and dental insurance).
The School of Humanities offers an Emphasis in Critical Theory. Students may petition the Critical Theory Committee for admission to the emphasis, normally by the middle of the second year of graduate study, after completing the Critical Theory Workshop, and with the recommendation of a workshop instructor or a faculty representative from Philosophy. In addition to the requirements for
the Ph.D. in Philosophy, students must satisfy the following requirements:
1) The Workshop. Students must successfully complete the three-quarter Critical Theory Workshop. This sequence is conceived as a reading group, normally conducted by a team of instructors, and developed with the input of all participants. Significant texts are discussed and analyzed in class; no term papers are required. (Students receive 0 units and In-progress grades for the fall and winter quarters; passing students receive 4 units and a Satisfactory grade for the spring quarter.
2) Advanced Critical Theory. Students must receive a grade of B or better in three Humanities 270 courses offered under the supervision of the Critical Theory Committee. At least three such courses will be offered each year. With the approval of the Department, these courses can be used to satisfy the Tools of Research requirement.
3) Students must participate in two committee-sponsored mini-seminars (sixeight hours each) offered by visiting scholars on their ongoing research.
4) Students must complete a research paper under the guidance of a three-member committee, selected in consultation with the Director of the Emphasis; at least one member must be from outside of the Philosophy Department. This paper may (but need not) be part of the portfolio or dissertation.
Upon completion of the Emphasis requirements, a letter certifying that fact, signed by the Dean of Humanities and the Director of the Emphasis, will be added to the student's dossier.
An interdisciplinary group of faculty in the humanities and various sciences offers an emphasis in History and Philosophy of Science. In addition to the requirements for the Ph.D. in Philosophy, students must satisfy the following requirements:
1) History of Science. Students receive a grade of B or better in History 275 and two sections of independent readings in the history of science, which are often offered in conjunction with an upper-division undergraduate section of History 135A-F. With the approval of the Department, this sequence can be used to satisfy the Tools of Research Requirement.
2) Philosophy of Science. Students must receive a grade of B or better in three courses from the following list: Philosophy 205C, 206, 240, 245, 247. (These may be repeated as topics vary, except Philosophy 205C.)
3) The portfolio must contain at least one paper in the philosophy of science.
4) The dissertation must contain a significant philosophy of science component. With the recommendation of a Department of Philosophy faculty member of the History and Philosophy of Science Committee, the dissertation proposal may be submitted to the Committee for approval.
An interdisciplinary group of faculty in the humanities and various sciences offers an emphasis in Logic and Methodology. This Emphasis is offered for students who wish to study topics related to logic, the philosophy of mathematics or logic, or the philosophy of science. In addition to the requirements for the Ph.D. in Philosophy, students must satisfy the following requirements:
1) Mathematics or Science. Students must receive a grade of B or better in three graduate-level courses in mathematics or in the same science which have methodological content. With the approval of the Department, these courses can be used to satisfy the Tools of Research Requirement. Students may elect to satisfy a more stringent requirement (the math track) by taking a series of at least six mathematics courses either at UCI or at UCLA through the Intercampus Exchange Program. The courses are selected in consultation with the student's UCI Philosophy advisor. Regular mathematics department qualifying examinations may be substituted for some of the course work.
2) Philosophy of Science. Students must receive a grade of B or better in three courses from the following list: Philosophy 205C, 206, 240, 245, 247. (These may be repeated as topics vary, except Philosophy 205C.) Courses used to satisfy this requirement cannot also be used to satisfy requirement 1.
3) The portfolio must contain at least one paper in logic, the philosophy of mathematics or logic, or the philosophy of science.
4) The dissertation must contain a significant logic, philosophy of mathematics or logic, or philosophy of science component.
