Philosophy (M.A.)
All master's students in philosophy take 30 credit hours, including one course in each of the major historical areas of philosophy. To remain in the program, master’s students must maintain a minimum of a 3.0 GPA (based on a 4.0 scale).
Students must obtain the approval of the Director of Graduate Studies when selecting courses.
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Area Courses | ||
| One course in each area: | 12 | |
Ancient Philosophy | ||
Medieval Philosophy | ||
Modern Philosophy | ||
Contemporary Philosophy | ||
| Elective Courses | ||
| Four elective courses 1 | 12 | |
| Capstone | ||
| One of the capstone options below: | 6 | |
| Special Project | ||
| Master's Special Project 2 | ||
One additional elective course 1 | ||
| Thesis | ||
| Masters Thesis 2 | ||
| Total Credits | 30 | |
- 1
Elective courses can be any graduate-level course in the Philosophy department, or any PHIL 5000+. A list of these courses can be found on our department page.
- 2
Information on the Master's Thesis and Master's Special Project for Philosophy can be found on our page on the Fordham website.
CIP Code
38.0101 - Philosophy.
You can use the CIP code to learn more about career paths associated with this field of study and, for international students, possible post-graduation visa extensions. Learn more about CIP codes and other information resources.
Ancient Philosophy courses
Courses in this group have the PGAN attribute.
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| PHIL 5001 | Introduction to Plato | 3 |
| PHIL 5009 | Introduction to Aristotle | 3 |
| PHIL 5209 | Ancient Philosophy | 3 |
| PHIL 6025 | Philosophy's Origins | 3 |
| PHIL 6101 | Presocratic Philosophy | 3 |
| PHIL 7009 | Plotinus | 3 |
| PHIL 7012 | Plato's Dialogues | 3 |
| PHIL 7018 | Ancient Psychology | 3 |
| PHIL 7310 | Self-Cultivation Philosophies | 3 |
| PHIL 7650 | Aristotelian Ethics | 3 |
Medieval Philosophy courses
Courses in this group have the PGMD attribute.
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| PHIL 5010 | Introduction to St. Thomas Aquinas | 3 |
| PHIL 5012 | Introduction to St. Augustine | 3 |
| PHIL 6110 | Philosophy of the Islamic World | 3 |
| PHIL 6460 | Intentionality | 3 |
| PHIL 6505 | Medieval Philosophical Theories of the Fall | 3 |
| PHIL 7039 | Aquinas's Philosophy of God | 3 |
| PHIL 7042 | Buridan on the Soul | 3 |
| PHIL 7058 | Bonaventure's Metaphysics | 3 |
| PHIL 7060 | Varieties of Essentialism | 3 |
| PHIL 7069 | Medieval Logic and Metaphysics | 3 |
| PHIL 7071 | Aquinas: Questions on God | 3 |
| PHIL 7076 | Metaphysical Themes in Duns Scotus | 3 |
| PHIL 7080 | Medieval Views on Cognition and Certainty | 3 |
Modern Philosophy courses
Courses in this group have the PGCM attribute.
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| PHIL 5002 | Nineteenth Century Philosophy | 3 |
| PHIL 5005 | Classical Modern Philosophy | 3 |
| PHIL 6104 | German Idealism and Freedom | 3 |
| PHIL 7106 | Kant I | 3 |
| PHIL 7110 | Descartes and Spinoza | 3 |
| PHIL 7120 | Philosophical Writings of Rousseau | 3 |
| PHIL 7140 | Kant and German Idealism | 3 |
| PHIL 7149 | Hegel's Phenomenology | 3 |
| PHIL 7161 | Nietzsche | 3 |
| PHIL 7164 | First Philosophy: Nietzsche, Heidegger, and the Presocratics | 3 |
| PHIL 7166 | Recognition and Intersubjectivity | 3 |
| PHIL 7370 | Moral Emotions | 3 |
| PHIL 7380 | Modern Philosophies of Property | 3 |
Contemporary Philosophy courses
Courses in this group have one of the following three attributes: PGCA, PGCC, or PGOC.
Contemporary Analytical Philosophy (PGCA)
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| PHIL 5114 | Normative Ethical Theory | 3 |
| PHIL 5305 | Confronting Moral Controversy | 3 |
| PHIL 6102 | Human Rights | 3 |
| PHIL 6105 | Laws of Nature | 3 |
| PHIL 6108 | Communitarianism | 3 |
| PHIL 6109 | The Epistemology and Ethics of Artificial Intelligence | 3 |
| PHIL 6410 | Understanding and Wisdom | 3 |
| PHIL 6420 | Expertise | 3 |
| PHIL 6436 | Philosophy of Time and Persistence | 3 |
| PHIL 6440 | The Epistemology of John Henry Newman | 3 |
| PHIL 6457 | Mind-Body Problem | 3 |
| PHIL 6471 | Responsibility and Blame | 3 |
| PHIL 6472 | Responsibility, Blame, and Forgiveness | 3 |
| PHIL 6580 | Virtue Epistemology | 3 |
| PHIL 6805 | Topics in Phil of Rel. | 3 |
| PHIL 7060 | Varieties of Essentialism | 3 |
| PHIL 7204 | Wittgenstein and Later Wittgenstein | 3 |
| PHIL 7215 | Wittgenstein's 'Philosophical Investigations' | 3 |
| PHIL 7240 | Contemporary Metaethics | 3 |
| PHIL 7340 | Humility and Arrogance | 3 |
| PHIL 7350 | Evidential Undermining | 3 |
| PHIL 7360 | Scientific Realism | 3 |
| PHIL 7465 | The Emotions | 3 |
| PHIL 7680 | Classics of Analytic Ethics | 3 |
| PHIL 7730 | Recent Work in Epistemology | 3 |
| PHIL 7752 | Divine Providence | 3 |
| PHIL 7760 | Dimensions of Political Justice | 3 |
| PHIL 7857 | Topics in Contmp Metaphy | 3 |
Contemporary Continental Philosophy (PGCC)
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| PHIL 5051 | Existentialism and Critical Phenomenology | 3 |
| PHIL 5075 | Continental Philosophy and Faith | 3 |
| PHIL 5250 | Philosophies of Race | 3 |
| PHIL 6103 | Dialectical Thinking and Ideology Critique | 3 |
| PHIL 6107 | Philosophy and Translation | 3 |
| PHIL 6215 | French Philosophy of Education | 3 |
| PHIL 6630 | Discourse Ethics | 3 |
| PHIL 6850 | Hermeneutics | 3 |
| PHIL 7031 | Alienation and Reification | 3 |
| PHIL 7035 | Recent Critical Theory | 3 |
| PHIL 7145 | Phenomenology and Religious Experience | 3 |
| PHIL 7153 | Husserl's Later Thought | 3 |
| PHIL 7156 | Husserl and Heidegger | 3 |
| PHIL 7157 | Phenomenology | 3 |
| PHIL 7159 | Kierkegaard | 3 |
| PHIL 7161 | Nietzsche | 3 |
| PHIL 7164 | First Philosophy: Nietzsche, Heidegger, and the Presocratics | 3 |
| PHIL 7203 | Merleau-Ponty | 3 |
| PHIL 7229 | Derrida | 3 |
| PHIL 7235 | Husserl's 'Ideas II' | 3 |
| PHIL 7236 | The Emotions and Moral Perception | 3 |
| PHIL 7245 | Moral Psychology of Anger | 3 |
| PHIL 7459 | Heidegger's Being and Time, Black Notebooks | 3 |
| PHIL 7580 | Biopolitics and Necropolitics | 3 |
| PHIL 7605 | Philosophical Aesthetics | 3 |
| PHIL 7664 | Philosophy of Literature | 3 |
Contemporary Philosophy - Other (PGOC)
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| PHIL 5003 | Natural Law Ethics | 3 |
| PHIL 6106 | Autonomy and Paternalism | 3 |
| PHIL 6111 | Affective Injustice | 3 |
| PHIL 6120 | Democratic Political Economy | 3 |
| PHIL 6190 | Feminist Political Philosophy | 3 |
| PHIL 6251 | American Pragmatism | 3 |
| PHIL 6252 | American Philosophy | 3 |
| PHIL 6270 | Pragmatist Ethics | 3 |
| PHIL 7210 | Whitehead | 3 |
| PHIL 7675 | Moral Genealogies | 3 |
| PHIL 7770 | Philosophical Bioethics | 3 |