Graduate Faculty: Barnhart, Bell, Callicott, Gunter, Hargrove, James, Oelschlaeger, Yaffe.
The Department of Philosophy and Religion Studies offers the following degree:
Graduate courses in philosophy may also be taken as part of the Master of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies through the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies of the Toulouse School of Graduate Studies. This program permits students, in close consultation with a faculty adviser, to create their own degree plans, which involve study in three or more related areas. This degree can be completed in one year including summer.
Because of its high concentration of specialists in the field of environmental ethics, the department offers humanists, scientists and professionals unique opportunities for postdoctoral work and professional development either through independent study and research or organized course work.
Philosophy courses also may be taken as a minor on the master's degree in other disciplines and as a minor or supporting work on the doctorate. Philosophy department faculty participate in the Faculty of Environmental Ethics, a university wide group within the Center for Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies. See the Toulouse School of Graduate Studies section for more information about this faculty and its research and instructional activities.
Because the graduate degree program in the department is recognized as a unique program by the Academic Common Market, students from 14 southern states may enroll on an in-state tuition basis.
A $500 fellowship is provided to one student each semester by the Richardson Environmental Action League, a nonprofit recycling organization in Richardson, Texas. To be eligible a student must have completed 15 semester credit hours.
Applicants normally should have the equivalent of an undergraduate major in philosophy at this institution. Deficiencies will be evaluated on an individual basis. A score of 1100 (verbal plus quantitative) on the GRE is required.
For the thesis option, the student takes 24 semester credit hours of approved course work and a thesis carrying 6 hours of credit. The student will normally take a minimum of six courses in philosophy. Six semester credit hours may be elected by the student in supporting fields with the consent of the department. An oral examination is scheduled after the completion of the thesis.
The non-thesis option consists of 36 semester credit hours. The student will normally take a minimum of six courses in philosophy. A 9-semester-credit-hour minor in a supporting field is required. Nine additional semester hours may be elected by the student in philosophy or in one or more supporting fields. The examiners at the oral examination will include a faculty member representing the minor field and, at the option of the department, one or more representatives of other supporting fields.
Students pursuing either option are expected to complete PHIL 5450, 4700 (or an equivalent 5960) and 5700.
Candidates must demonstrate proficiency in a foreign language. The language will normally be French or German, unless another language is specifically required for the student's research for the thesis. See the General Information section of this catalog for further details.
The Center for Environmental Philosophy encourages and supports workshops, conferences and other special projects, including postdoctoral research in the field of environmental ethics. Activities currently include the publication of Environmental Ethics: An Interdisciplinary Journal Dedicated to the Philosophical Aspects of Environmental Problems, which is now in its 18th year of publication; Environmental Ethics Books, a reprint series of important books dealing with environmental ethics and philosophy; and annual workshops on college and university curricula development and on nature interpretation. National research conferences focusing on selected topics in environmental ethics are held on an irregular basis.