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The University of Rochester's Philosophy Department places its PhD program at the heart of its academic community. With a compact size (around 10 faculty members and 20 doctoral candidates), the program fosters close mentorship between students and professors. Beyond formal seminars, students engage in semesterly reading groups and substantial independent research projects under faculty guidance. Doctoral candidates gain teaching experience as teaching assistants and may lead their own courses.
Faculty specialties cover a broad philosophical spectrum including epistemology, ethics, historical philosophy, logic, mathematics philosophy, metaphysics, language philosophy, mind philosophy, religion philosophy, and socio-political philosophy. The ethics faculty particularly focuses on normative theory, bioethics, metaethics, and AI ethics.
The doctoral program mandates 90 course credits and a philosophical dissertation, structured for completion within five years. Our department boasts philosophers with diverse specializations and methodological approaches.
We prioritize preparing students for academic research and instruction. The department collaborates with computer science, cognitive science, and linguistics departments through an interdisciplinary cognitive science graduate program.