The Philosophy Department offers a one-year MA program and a four-year PhD program. MA students take five seminars over the course of the Fall and Winter terms, and write either a thesis or three papers during the Spring term, which runs from May to August. PhD students take courses during their first and second years, do work in two directed research area studies, defend a dissertation proposal, then write the dissertation.

Both the MA and PhD programs at Waterloo are exceptional among Philosophy programs for their flexibility. There are no particular distribution requirements; rather, students work with their supervisor and the graduate chair to determine which courses are best for them. MA students can write a traditional thesis, or choose a three paper option, which entails working with three different professors on three different topics. For their directed research area studies, PhD students work intensively with two professors on topics chosen by the student in consultation with faculty.

Our officially approved fields are Language, Logic and Metaphysics, Philosophy of Mind and Cognitive Science, Ethics and Political Philosophy, and Philosophy of Science and Mathematics. Recent student directed area research studies and thesis work has been in these areas and others such as Epistemology and Applied Ethics. To learn more about what faculty are currently working on in their own research and with students, see the links under the People section at left. Interested graduate students in the Department also have the option of pursuing a Cognitive Science Diploma or a Diploma from the Centre for Theoretical Neuroscience.

Please explore our site to find out more information about our programs. Detailed information regarding degree requirements, application instructions, funding opportunities, etc. can be found using the menu at left.

The Department of Philosophy is proud to announce that our former MA student Nora Boyd was awarded a University of Waterloo Governor General’s Gold Medal, “for outstanding academic performance in a master’s program” at the recent
June 16, 2011 convocation.  Congratulations, Nora!