Graduate Program

Delphi from aboveGraduate education in the Penn State Department of Philosophy is characterized by a focus on, and commitment to, the history of philosophy conceived as a basis for pursuing philosophy in an international context. Specifically, the program includes special emphases on both contemporary Continental philosophy (including phenomenology, existentialism, hermeneutics, social theory, and postmodernism) and classical American philosophy (including transcendentalism, naturalism, semiotics, pragmatism, and contemporary cultural issues).  The curriculum is designed to foster and promote genuine dialogue across international borders and philosophical traditions, both established and emerging.  The program is organized to facilitate the ability to engage meaningfully a variety of philosophical approaches—including feminist theory, analytic philosophy, critical race theory and social/political philosophy—and a range of systematic fields—including aesthetics, ethics, political philosophy, metaphysics, epistemology, and philosophy of science.  Our faculty maintain strong professional relationships in Europe and Latin America. Members of the faculty work in close collaboration with students to ensure the depth and breadth of their philosophical education.

Interdisciplinary study is also possible across the humanities, the social sciences, the arts, the natural sciences, and interdisciplinary programs such as Women’s Studies, Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies, Bioethics and Medical Humanities, and Science, Technology, and Society.  The Philosophy Department offers students the opportunity to earn a dual-title doctoral degree in Philosophy and Women’s Studies (http://www.womenstudies.psu.edu/academics/programs/phd.htm).  There are doctoral minors available in social thought and in literary theory, criticism, and aesthetics. Study abroad is possible as well through exchange programs or individual arrangements with leading departments of philosophy in, for example, Freiburg, Lyons, and Sao Paulo.

Graduate students benefit from the many colloquia, conferences, symposia, and special events on campus and sponsored by the department.  In addition to these programs, graduate students can participate in the Rock Ethics Institute (http://rockethics.psu.edu), the Institute for Arts and Humanities (http://php.scripts.psu.edu/dept/iah/index.php), the Program in Aesthetics, the Graduate Program in Social Thought, and the Program for Semiotic Research in Law, Government, and Economics.

The philosophical richness and complexity of our students’ training prepares them well for success in the profession.  This preparation is further augmented through a faculty mentoring program, instruction in research methods and the development of foreign language abilities, a teaching apprenticeship and teaching certificate program that are central to all students’ studies, and a highly effective placement program.

Graduate