Contact Info

Phone:314-935-6670
Email:philosophy@wustl.edu
Website:http://philosophy.wustl.edu/graduate-programs

To earn a PhD at Washington University, a student must complete all courses required by their department; maintain satisfactory academic progress; pass certain examinations; complete all requirements for doctoral candidacy; fulfill residence and Mentored Experience Requirements; write, defend, and submit a dissertation; and apply for program completion (graduation) via Workday Student.

For the details of doctoral degree general requirements in Arts & Sciences, including an explanation of Satisfactory Academic Progress, students should review the Doctoral Degree Academic Information page of the Arts & Sciences Bulletin.

Program Requirements

  • Total Units Required: 45 units
  • Degree Length: Five years
    • Note: Students must be enrolled in 9 graduate credits each semester to retain full-time status. As students complete their coursework, if enrolled in fewer than 9 graduate credits, they must enroll in ASGS 9000 Full-Time Graduate Research/Study. This will show 0 units but does count as full-time status. Students should connect with their department to ensure proper enrollment prior to Add/Drop.
  • Grade Requirement: All courses must be passed with a grade of B– or higher.

Required Courses

All students must take 15 graduate courses, defined as 3-unit courses at the 5000 level or above. If a student needs to take a course that is relevant to their research but it does not have a 5000-level section, then the student will need to meet with the Director of Graduate Studies to discuss other options.

Credits taken outside of Washington University or its programs cannot be transferred in or applied to the PhD program requirements.

Formal Methods Requirement (One course)

All students must take a course in formal methods, either PHIL 5090 Formal Methods for Philosophy, which is normally offered once a year, or another course approved by the Director of Graduate Studies.

Distribution Requirement (Six courses)

All students must take six regular graduate-only courses offered by the Philosophy Department, including at least one in each of the four distribution areas:

  • Epistemology and Metaphysics
  • Mind and Language
  • Value Theory
  • History of Philosophy

Note: Courses satisfying the distribution requirement are "graduate only" in the sense that they do not have associated 4000-level sections. Normally, only graduate students will be able to enroll in these courses.

Prospectus Seminar Requirement (One course)

All students must take the following course:

  • PHIL 5030 Prospectus Seminar

In the prospectus seminar (normally taken during the student's fifth semester), graduate students work intensively on the preparation of their prospectus.

Electives (Seven courses)

To complete the required 15 courses, students must take seven additional graduate courses. Elective courses may include courses in Philosophy or Philosophy-Neuroscience-Psychology, courses outside of philosophy, independent studies in philosophy, and graduate philosophy courses at Saint Louis University or the University of Missouri–St. Louis through the Inter-University Exchange Program.

Colloquium Attendance

Students are expected attend departmental colloquium talks held during each semester. Exceptions may be granted by the Director of Graduate Studies when appropriate (e.g., if a student needs to attend a class that is scheduled at the same time).

Qualifying Examinations

Progress toward the PhD is contingent upon the student passing examinations that are variously called preliminary, qualifying, general, comprehensive, or major field exams. The qualifying process varies according to the program. In some programs, it consists of a series of incremental, sequential, and cumulative exams over a considerable time. In others, the exams are held during a relatively short period of time. Exams may be replaced by one or more papers. The program, which determines the structure and schedule of the required examinations, is responsible for notifying the Office of Graduate Studies, Arts & Sciences, of the student’s outcome, whether successful or unsuccessful.

The successful completion of the distribution requirement (six graduate-only courses), the formal methods course requirement, and the prospectus seminar requirement, with grades of B– or better in each course, constitutes the passage of the qualifying exam.

Doctoral Candidacy

Candidacy marks the transition from coursework and initial study to independent research and dissertation writing. At this stage, the student is considered prepared to contribute to their field through independent scholarship.

The status of candidacy for WashU Arts & Sciences doctoral students indicates a student has, at minimum, completed and passed their qualifying exam/paper and pre-candidacy requirements. Pre-candidacy requirements are determined by each PhD program. Those requirements may include, for example, completion of required coursework; completion of required foreign language exams; completion of the Mentored Experience Requirement; successful submission of the Title, Scope and Procedure form; and completion of the oral presentation to propose the dissertation to their Research Advisory Committee.

Students normally complete all pre-candidacy requirements (coursework and qualifying exams) and advance to doctoral candidacy by the end of the fifth semester.

Mentored Experience Requirement

Doctoral students, MFA in Writing students, and MFA in Dance students at Washington University must complete a department-defined Mentored Experience Requirement. The Mentored Experience Requirement is a degree requirement that is notated on the student's transcript when complete. Each department has an established Mentored Experience Implementation Plan in which the number of units that a student must earn through Mentored Teaching Experience(s) and/or Mentored Professional Experience(s) is defined. Each Mentored Experience Implementation Plan outlines how doctoral students within the discipline will be mentored to achieve competencies in teaching at basic and advanced levels. Some departments may elect to include Mentored Professional Experiences as an avenue for completing some units of the Mentored Experience Requirement. Doctoral students will enroll in ASGS 8005 MTE - Assistant in Instruction Experience, ASGS 8010 MTE - Assistant in Instruction Experience, or ASGS 8015 MTE - Assistant in Instruction Experience; ASGS 8020 MTE - Mentored Independent Teaching Experience; or ASGS 8120 MTE - Mentored Professional Experience to signify their progression toward completing the overall Mentored Experience Requirement for the degree.

All Philosophy PhD students are required to complete four Mentored Teaching Experiences, normally in their second and third years.

Dissertation Seminar

Starting in the fourth year, all students must satisfactorily complete PHIL 8000 Dissertation Seminar, which is devoted to research training and dissertation project development, whenever it is offered (normally one semester each year).

Note: PHIL 8000 Dissertation Seminar is a 0-unit course and does not count toward the fulfillment of coursework requirements.

Prospectus

All students must successfully defend a dissertation prospectus before a committee of at least three faculty members, one of whom (the “prospectus advisor”) will supervise the preparation of the prospectus and who will normally go on to serve as the dissertation advisor (see below). Normally, students defend their prospectus by the end of the fifth semester.

A dissertation prospectus states a problem, a response to the problem, a reckoning of how this response contributes to existing philosophical literature, and an overview of the case for the response. The prospectus should be accompanied by a working bibliography. The structure and length of individual prospectuses varies and is to be determined in consultation and collaboration with the prospectus advisor.

The possible outcomes of a prospectus defense are Pass and No Pass. Students may make additional attempts in the event of a No Pass outcome. The prospectus advisor will inform the Director of Graduate Studies and the Graduate Program Administrator when a student has successfully defended their prospectus.

The Doctoral Dissertation

A Research Advisory Committee (RAC) must be created no later than the end of the student's second year; departments may set shorter timelines (e.g., by the end of the student's third semester) for this requirement. As evidence of the mastery of a specific field of knowledge and of the capacity for original scholarly work, each candidate must complete a dissertation that is approved by their RAC.

A Title, Scope, and Procedure form for the dissertation must be signed by the committee members and by the program chair. It must be submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies, Arts & Sciences, at least one year before the degree is expected to be conferred or before beginning the eighth semester of full-time enrollment, whichever is earlier.

A Doctoral Dissertation Guide and a Dissertation Template that give instructions regarding the format of the dissertation are available on the website of the Office of Graduate Studies, Arts & Sciences. Both should be read carefully at every stage of dissertation preparation.

The Office of Graduate Studies, Arts & Sciences, requires each student to make the full text of the dissertation available to the committee members for their review at least one week before the defense. Most degree programs require two or more weeks for the review period; students should check with their faculty.

In the Philosophy PhD program, students prepare a dissertation under the supervision of a faculty member (the "dissertation advisor").  A dissertation is a substantial piece of original philosophical research. The structure and length of individual dissertations varies and is to be determined in consultation and collaboration with the dissertation advisor. 

The Dissertation Defense

Approval of the written dissertation by the Research Advisory Committee (RAC) is strongly recommended before the student can orally defend the dissertation. The Doctoral Dissertation Committee that examines the student during the defense consists of at least five members. Normally, the members of the RAC also serve on the Doctoral Dissertation Committee. The dissertation committee is then additionally augmented to ensure that the following criteria are met:

  1. Three of the five members (or a similar proportion of a larger committee) must be full-time Washington University in St. Louis faculty members or, for programs involving Washington University in St. Louis-affiliated partners, full-time members of a Washington University in St. Louis-affiliated partner institution. All members must be authorized to supervise PhD students and have appropriate expertise in the proposed field of study. One of these three members must be the PhD student's primary thesis advisor, and one may be a member of the emeritus faculty.
  2. All other committee members must be active in research/scholarship and have appropriate expertise in the proposed field of study whether at Washington University in St. Louis, at another university, in government, or in industry.
  3. At least one of the five members must bring expertise outside of the student's field of study to the committee, as judged by the relevant department/program and approved by the Office of Graduate Studies, Arts & Sciences.

The approval processes outlined in the RAC section of the Doctoral Council bylaws also apply to the Doctoral Dissertation Committee, including approval of each dissertation committee by the Office of Graduate Studies, Arts & Sciences.

The student is responsible for making the full text of the dissertation accessible to their committee members for their review in advance of the defense according to program rules. Washington University in St. Louis community members and guests of the student who are interested in the subject of the dissertation are normally welcome to attend all or part of the defense but may ask questions only at the discretion of the committee chair. Although there is some variation among degree programs, the defense ordinarily focuses on the dissertation itself and its relation to the student's field of expertise.

Attendance by a minimum of four members of the Doctoral Dissertation Committee, including the committee chair and an outside member, is required for the defense to take place. This provision is designed to permit the student's defense to proceed in case of a situation that unexpectedly prevents one of the five members from attending. Students should not plan in advance to only have four members in attendance. If four members cannot attend, the defense must be rescheduled. The absence of all outside members or of the committee chair also requires rescheduling the defense.

Students, with the support of their Doctoral Dissertation Committee chair, may opt to hold their dissertation defense in person or by utilizing a virtual or hybrid format.

In the Philosophy PhD program, the possible outcomes of a dissertation defense are Pass, Revisions, and No Pass. When revisions are required, the dissertation advisor will provide, in writing, a description of what revisions are required and a deadline for revisions that is no more than three months after the dissertation defense. When the dissertation is resubmitted, the dissertation advisor will determine if the revisions are satisfactory. 

Submission of the Dissertation

After the defense, the student must submit an electronic copy of the dissertation online to the Office of Graduate Studies, Arts & Sciences, by the established deadline for their graduation term. Dissertations must be submitted no later than three months after the oral defense of the dissertation. Petitions for an extension to the three-month limit may be submitted to the director of graduate studies for consideration and approval. 

The submission website requires students to choose among publishing and copyrighting services offered by ProQuest's ETD Administrator. Students are asked to submit the Survey of Earned Doctorates separately. The degree program is responsible for delivering the final approval form, signed by the committee members at the defense and then by the program chair or director, to the Office of Graduate Studies, Arts & Sciences. Students who defend their dissertations successfully have not yet completed their PhD requirements; they finish earning their degree only when their dissertation submission has been accepted by the Office of Graduate Studies, Arts & Sciences.

Master's Degree Along the Way

In the Philosophy PhD program, students can receive a Master of Arts once they have completed their required coursework and fulfilled the qualifying examinations requirement.

Visit the Philosophy page
for additional information about this program.

As part of their degree requirements, PhD students must complete a program-defined Mentored Experience Requirement (MER) as per these guidelines. The Mentored Experience Implementation Plan (MEIP) is the written articulation of a program-defined degree requirement for PhD students to engage in mentored teaching activities and/or mentored professional activities, collectively referred to as the MER.

Mentored Experience Requirement (MER)

Philosophy of Teaching

Teaching is central to philosophy. The practice of philosophy has required dialogue with other practitioners and novices for about 2400 years, and there is no way to teach philosophy except by teaching the doing of philosophy. So an education in philosophy is unavoidably an education in how to engage others in philosophical inquiry. The PhD in philosophy is not viewed as a specific qualification for any job other than teaching university and college courses. So it is important to offer specific training to help young philosophers begin to learn how to engage others in philosophical inquiry in the specific formats that universities and colleges impose, where that is consistent with their educational and professional goals.

Preparatory Engagement

Preparatory Engagement activities are those that represent an introduction to the foundational skills associated with teaching or communication. Pedagogical preparation engagement activities are normally completed before students are permitted to engage in assisting or teaching in a classroom.

Philosophy PhD students are required to do two Preparatory Engagement activities:

  1. All students are required to participate in the Center for Teaching and Learning's Teaching Orientation before their first Mentored Teaching Experience (MTE) engagement.
  2. In any academic year in which they are doing an MTE, students are required to participate in an MTE Orientation organized in the Fall by the Philosophy Department. 

Mentored Teaching Experiences (MTEs)

Assistant in Instruction (AI)

An Assistant in Instruction (AI) is a PhD student who is directly engaged in the organization, instruction, and/or support of a semester-long course primarily taught by a faculty member. An AI receives mentorship from a faculty member related to best practices in classroom engagement, instruction in the field, interpersonal engagement, and other relevant skills. Students and mentors complete a mentorship plan prior to the start of each AI experience. To complete each AI assignment and to ensure that it applies toward their degree requirements, students must register for the appropriate course number for each semester of engagement. Refer to the "Required Pathways for Completion" section below for course numbers and details.

Philosophy requires 60 MER units of AI engagement at 15 MER units each. AIs are normally expected to grade assignments, hold office hours, and deliver two observed guest lectures. AIs are assigned to various courses in Philosophy and Philosophy-Neuroscience-Psychology (PNP), normally at the 1000, 2000, or 3000 level. There are no restrictions on which courses can have an AI.

Ordinarily, students will complete their AIs in their second and third year of their PhD program. Thus, they should have expected to complete MER by the time that they advance to candidacy, and can spend their final years of fellowship focusing on the dissertation and research.

Required Pathways for Completion

Students work with their faculty mentor and their Director of Graduate Studies to plan how and when they will complete their MER. Students register during the normal registration period for courses in accordance with one of these approved pathways.
ASGS 8015 Take four times