Philosophy Research

Course detail Description

We offer close personal supervision to students in a wide variety of areas, with particular strengths in the history of philosophy, philosophy of mind and psychology, metaphysics and philosophy of science, ethics and politics, and philosophy of language and linguistics. Philosophy postgraduates are normally supervised within the philosophy department. Students wishing to work with someone at King's who is not a member of the Philosophy department are urged to apply directly to the relevant department for admission as a graduate student.

There are two kind of research degrees offered by this Department: Master of Philosophical Studies (MPhilStud) and PhD. The MPhilStud is a two-year structured research degree incorporating work on specific topics as well as a dissertation, giving the opportunity to acquire broad expertise at an advanced level. The general MPhilStud has a wide range of topics to choose from, one of which must be historical (relating to a specific philosopher or school of philosophy). There are also specialised MPhilStuds in Ancient Philosophy and in Philosophy of Psychology. These have a similar structure to the general MPhilStud but require some specific topic choices. We offer PhDs in Philosophy and Linguistics. Students admitted to the PhD programme will already have a Master's degree.

Joint PhD programme

The Department of Philosophy at King's is delighted to be able to offer research students two exciting options for joint-PhD study. The programmes offered provide candidates with the opportunity to divide their PhD study between two prestigious universities, enjoying full supervision at both. The programme builds on an extensive network of existing institutional links, joint teaching experience and collaborative graduate programmes between King’s and the partners universities.

The Department of Philosophy at the Humboldt University has strengths in the following research areas: Classical German Philosophy, especially Kant, Early Modern Philosophy, especially Leibniz and Locke, Philosophy of Mind (Berlin School of Mind and Brain), Ancient Philosophy (Graduate School of Ancient Philosophy) and Analytic Metaphysics. These areas complement the research in King’s in the history of philosophy, in ancient philosophy, modern philosophy, philosophy of mind and metaphysics. We encourage applications from students who intend to write a PhD in one of these areas. The joint PhD offers the opportunity to do some graduate work in German. Hence, it should be of interest to PhD students who want to work on a German speaking philosopher.

The Department of Philosophy at the National University of Singapore is a thriving community with 16 full-time tenured or tenure track faculty members. In addition, there are more than thirty graduate students pursuing the PhD and Masters in philosophy. Its faculty members engage in research in a wide range of fields, including Moral and Practical philosophy, Continental European, Buddhist, Indian, Chinese and Comparative Philosophy. It thus offers a range of study options for potential PhD students that complement well King's own research strengths in, for example, ancient philosophy, modern philosophy, philosophy of mind and metaphysics. Students would spend a significant portion of their time in Singapore, thereby enabling them to access expertise in fields of philosophy where King's alone would not be able to offer supervision.

FAQs about joint PhDs can be found on the King's Worldwide web pages.

All first-year research students attend the first-year research seminar once a week. All other research students attend a weekly thesis-reading/advanced-research-methods seminar. The department has a computer room and a graduate common room.

Students in the department participate fully in the induction and training programmes offered by the Faculty Graduate Programme. The progress of all graduate students is overseen by the Department's Postgraduate and Research Committee. Research students gain training at presenting their work to their peers through the weekly research seminars, and are encouraged to attend conferences (small travel bursaries are available to support this). The Department's Placement Officer provides training for advanced research students in preparing them for the academic job market.

Professor Bill Brewer

Postgraduate Admissions, Admissions Office tel: +44 (0) 20 7848 1649 fax: +44 (0) 20 7848 7200

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