MA in History of Philosophy by Research

Overview

MA in History of Philosophy by Research

The MA in History of Philosophy by Research is intended for those students who wish to pursue their interest in a particular figure or topic within the history of philosophy. The history of philosophy is one of the research strengths of the Department of Philosophy at the University of York with 10 members of the faculty actively engaged in scholarly research and editorial work relating to most periods. We also have a close involvement with the British Society for the History of Philosophy.

Topics

Topics we can supervise:

Ancient Philosophy

  • Amber Carpenter: Plato's metaphysics, epistemology and ethics. Aristotle's ethics. Stoic ethics
  • Stephen Everson: Plato's method. Aristotle's philosophy of mind and ethics

Medieval Philosophy

Early Modern Philosophy

  • Keith Allen: Locke and Descartes on perception and ideas
  • James Clarke: Rousseau on amour-propre
  • Tom Stoneham: Idealism/immaterialism, especially Berkeley, Collier and Burthogge. Deism, especially Cherbury and Toland
  • Andrew Ward: Theories of personal identity throughout the period. Empiricist theories of aesthetics or ethics in the 18th century, especially Hutcheson, Hume and Reid. Comparisons between Hume and Kant

Kant and Post-Kantian Idealism

  • James Clarke: Fichte's idealism. The political philosophies and ethics of Fichte and Hegel
  • Andrew Ward: Any major topic in one (or more) of Kant's three Critiques. Kant and Schopenhauer on aesthetics

Modern and Early Analytic Philosophy

  • Tom Baldwin: British Idealism, especially Bradley. Russell, Moore, Broad, C. I. Lewis and Carnap
  • Mike Beaney: Frege, Russell, Wittgenstein. The relationship between analytic philosophy and other traditions. Analysis and methodology in all periods
  • Christian Piller: Classical utilitarianism: Bentham and Mill. Brentano and his school. The Vienna Circle

Modern European Philosophy

Structure

Course structure and assessment

The MA may be studied either full-time over twelve months or part-time over twenty-four months. Students on the MA in History of Philosophy by Research follow an approved programme of research supervised by a member of academic staff and informed by a Thesis Advisory Panel. Alongside this academic support, students are supported by a programme of training in research methods and transferable skills. Students are assessed solely on the basis of their thesis (20,000 - 30,000 words), which must include original work, by at least two individually appointed examiners, one of whom will be external to the University.

The structure of the MA in History of Philosophy by Research (full-time) is as follows:

  • Autumn term: Defining the research question
  • Spring term: Literature Survey
  • Summer term: Formulating your conclusions
  • Summer vacation: Writing up

Students will also be strongly encouraged to take a relevant language course from the University's Languages for All programme.

Admissions

Admission criteria

The criteria for admission to the programme is a 2.1 undergraduate degree in any subject, a satisfactory research proposal of 1,000 - 2,000 words, and for students whose first language is not English, meeting the Department's English language requirement, one of:

  • IELTS: 6.5 overall, with a minimum of 7.0 in Writing, 6.5 in Reading, 6.0 in Listening and 6.0 in Speaking
  • TOEFL: paper-based: 580; CBT: 237, and TWE 5; iBT: 92
  • Cambridge Proficiency: A, B, C.

All UK-based applicants will have a formal interview with their prospective supervisor and another academic, normally the Chair of the Graduate School Board.

Applications

When making their application, candidates are advised to make their research proposals as specific and clear as possible. All candidates are required to submit one or two samples of written work (4,000 words in total) and a research proposal (1,000 - 2,000 words) with their application. Where possible, they should indicate the member(s) of staff that they would wish to work with. Preliminary enquiries are encouraged and should be addressed to James Clarke. As part of their course of study, research students engage in a programme of training in transferable skills and research management. This training is delivered by both the Department and the University. For more information, see information for current graduate students. For funding opportunities, please see Postgraduate Funding.

 
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