The Catholic University of America

The Doctor of Philosophy

Students admitted to the doctoral program must first secure the M.A. or Ph.L. degree in accordance with this school's requirements for these degrees. M.A. degrees conferred by other institutions which meet these requirements are recognized.

  1. Students must spend at least two additional years (four semesters) for the doctorate following special courses approved by the dean and the faculty. A minimum of twenty courses or sixty semester hours of course work is required for the Ph.D. This includes work completed for the M.A. degree (but not credits awarded for the completion of an M.A. thesis). A maximum of two semesters of graduate work in philosophy may be transferred from another institution. Students may not repeat a graduate philosophy course in order to raise their grade.
  2. Ph.D. candidacy follows upon:
    1. completion of all course work for the Ph.D.
    2. passing one part of the three-part Graduate Reading Program Examination.
  3. Ph.D. Dissertation:
    1. Within two years of attaining Ph.D. candidacy, the student must have the Ph.D. dissertation proposal approved by the student's faculty board and submitted to the dean for approval by the faculty of the School of Philosophy and the university.
    2. The candidate must present a dissertation which gives evidence of power of research, of ability to do independent scientific work, of mastery of the candidate's part of the chosen field, and is of sufficient merit to warrant publication.
    3. When the dissertation is completed and tentatively approved by the director and readers, a public oral examination will be conducted by an oral examination board. The board will consist of a chair and a secretary who will be appointed from university faculty outside the School of Philosophy, plus the director and the two readers of the dissertation.
    4. The completed Ph.D. dissertation must be defended no later than five years after approval of the proposal by the faculty of the School of Philosophy.
    5. The defense of the Ph.D. dissertation cannot take place until all other requirements for the Ph.D. have been fulfilled.
    6. Final approval of the dissertation is realized after the defense, when all conditions on the part of the board have been met and any objections satisfied.
  4. Candidates must pass the following examinations:
    1. Regular examinations in all courses.
    2. Written examinations on two of the three parts of the Graduate Reading Program.
    3. In addition to the university's language requirement, written examinations administered by the School of Philosophy in which they demonstrate their ability to read both French and German. Both languages are prerequisite for the Ph.D. degree. These examinations must be passed one year before the degree is granted.
    4. A public oral examination on the Ph.D. dissertation.
  5. The Ph.D. degree is granted when all the above requirements have been fulfilled by the candidate and approved by the faculty of the School of Philosophy and the Academic Senate of the university.


Procedures:

Graduate Reading Program

The Graduate Reading Program of primary sources is required of all Ph.D. degree candidates. The program is divided into three parts with reading lists corresponding to a threefold chronological division of the history of philosophy. List I ranges over texts from the pre-Socratics to Averroes, List II over texts from Aquinas to Kant, and List III over texts from Hegel to Wittgenstein.

The purpose of these examinations is to evaluate a student's capacity to understand classical texts in philosophy. The examinations are open-book: the student brings approved editions of the relevant texts (see the lists, below) to the examination. In answering a question students should not simply copy passages from the text; short citations are appropriate but the answers should be formulated in one's own words. View the list.

To be admitted as a candidate for the Ph.D. degree, a student must pass an examination on one of the reading lists (I, II, or III).

To qualify for the Ph.D. degree, a student must pass an examination on a second list, thus passing examinations on any two of the three reading lists.

Both examinations must be passed before students are entitled to defend their doctoral dissertation. Students may take the two examinations in any order.

Graduate Reading Program Examinations

Examinations on each part of the Graduate Reading Program are written examinations given on two consecutive days, each day's session consisting of a continuous four-hour period.

At each session the student will write essays on four questions chosen from the six presented by the examiner. Each of the eight essays will be corrected by two faculty members, who will grade them on a scale of A, B, or F. The final mark for each essay will be the average of the marks of the two correctors. If, however, one corrector passes the essay while the other fails it, a third faculty member will grade the essay, and the final grade will be the average of all three marks. The average of the final eight marks constitutes the grade for that part of the Graduate Reading Program Examination. Essay topics will be contributed, and the examination graded, by the reading program committee, consisting of five members appointed by the dean.

Graduate Reading Program Examinations will be offered twice a year, in October and March, and only at The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C. All three parts of the reading program will be available in each of these two examination periods, although no student may attempt more than one part in a given two-day examination period. No student may attempt any part of the three-part examination more than three times.

Copies of past Graduate Reading Program Examinations or sample sets of questions will be distributed in advance of the examination dates and can be obtained in Aquinas Hall, room 200.

Approval of Doctoral Dissertation Topic

The following procedure will be adhered to in securing the approval of a doctoral dissertation topic:

  1. Upon fulfilling the conditions for the Ph.D. candidacy and after consultation with the dean, the student will ask a faculty member to assume the direction of the dissertation.
  2. After securing a director, the student will prepare a written proposal and request the director's signature on the appropriate form, obtained in the office of the dean.
  3. That form will be forwarded to the dean, who, after consultation with the director, will appoint two faculty members to serve under the chairship of the director as members of the dissertation board.
  4. The candidate will be required to submit to the board a five-to-ten page statement indicating the objective of the research methods for the dissertation. Within two weeks, the board will meet with the candidate to discuss the proposal, and at that time will either accept or reject the topic or request a revision of the proposal. If a revision is required, the board will meet again within a period of four weeks to accept or reject the revised proposal. If the proposal is accepted, the candidate is free to pursue the research under the guidance of the major professor, in consultation with other members of the board if this is desired.
  5. The candidate then prepares a one-to-two page proposal according to directives given on the Request for Approval form to submit to the dean for approval by the faculty and the university.

Language Requirements

The language examinations for all candidates for advanced degrees in the School of Philosophy are given according to procedures determined by the Academic Senate of the university. The Graduate School Foreign Language Test is administered by the university Counseling Center.

For the master's degree or the licentiate, a reading knowledge of French or German or Latin or Greek is required. For the doctoral degree, a reading knowledge of both French and German is required. All language requirements must be fulfilled one year prior to the time of the presentation of the candidate's degree.

These language requirements are in addition to those administered by the School of Philosophy.

Language Examinations Administered by the School

The language examinations administered by the school, one in French, one in German, one in Latin, and one in Greek, are given in the fall, the spring, and the summer. They are administered in two parts; in the case of French and German, one part is based on a passage from a primary source, and one part on a passage from a secondary source. The examination is administered in two three-hour sessions in which the student is required to translate the passages presented. The student may use only one dictionary throughout the examination.

Candidates for the M.A. or the Ph.L. degree must pass one part of one such examination either in French, German, Latin, or Greek. Candidates for the Ph.D. must pass both parts of the examinations in both French and German. All candidates must take both parts of the examination. No language will be recognized as a substitute for French and German.

Students intending to fulfill the School language requirement in French or German must first fulfill the University language requirement.

A foreign language examination committee, appointed by the dean, will be responsible for the preparation and the grading of the examination. For further particulars see the Foreign Language Examination Guidelines.

Copies of past Language Examinations will be available in advance of the examination dates and can be obtained in Aquinas Hall, room 200.

Continuous Enrollment of Graduate Students

Every graduate student is required to maintain continuous enrollment from the date of first registration until a degree program is completed, unless granted a leave of absence. The following is a summary of the enrollment regulations that apply to graduate students.

Enrollment Options

Course requirements not completed: Student must register for at least three credits of graduate course work (or approved undergraduate remedial work), unless granted a leave of absence.

  1. Course requirements completed but two parts of the Graduate Reading Program Examination not passed: Student must register for additional course work or in absentia status, unless granted a leave of absence.
  2. Two parts of the Graduate Reading Program Examination passed but the Ph.D. dissertation not completed: Student must register for Dissertation Guidance (three semester hours) each semester until the Ph.D. dissertation defense has taken place, unless a leave of absence or in absentia status has been granted.

Eligibility Criteria for Leave of Absence or In Absentia

Approval for leave of absence requires documentation of sustained ill health, required military service, or other circumstances resulting in involuntary interruption of graduate studies. The cumulative total period may not normally exceed one year.

  1. In petitioning for in absentia status, the student documents that he or she is required to be away from campus while preparing the Ph.D. dissertation. One semester hour of tuition is charged. In absentia status is available only to students who have completed all course requirements. This option is not available for the semester in which the Ph.D. dissertation topic is submitted and approved, nor for the semester in which the oral defense is scheduled.
  2. In absentia status is available for M.A. candidates except for the semester in which the thesis is approved and in which the M.A. oral examination is taken.
  3. Eligibility is usually limited to a total of two semesters.

Continuous Enrollment

A student who fails to maintain continuous enrollment under one of the options available is presumed to have withdrawn from the university and must therefore petition for readmission.

Deadlines

An approved leave of absence period is not counted in determining deadlines.