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Honours in Philosophy

Overview | Joint Honours Program | Fees | Application Form
Honours courses in Philosophy (2011) | Graduate Diploma | Writing an honours thesis in Philosophy

Overview of the Program

The Philosophy Honours Program offers an exciting and challenging opportunity for intensive philosophy study at a higher level. It is a professionally prestigious extension to an undergraduate degree and a gateway to higher research degrees (such as the Masters (Research) and PhD degrees) in philosophy. Honours graduates have gone on to highly successful careers in fields such as business, journalism, foreign affairs, health, politics, law, academia, education and the arts.

Aims of Program

The Philosophy Honours program has been designed to meet the following aims:

• To provide in-depth coverage of leading topics in three key areas of contemporary philosophy, thus enabling students to take a wide-angled, inclusive perspective on the discipline
• To develop analytic, interpretive, creative, and communicative skills that can be applied in various research contexts
• To enable students to make an original contribution to philosophical enquiry through undertaking a research project of their own.

Structure of Program

From 2010, the Program consists of three parts:

1. Three Coursework Seminar units:

i) ‘Advanced Topics in Mind, Metaphysics and Meaning’
ii) ‘Advanced Topics in Social Philosophy and Continental Philosophy’
iii) ‘Advanced Topics in Ethics and Applied Ethics’.

The units will familiarize students with leading issues and ideas across the spectrum of contemporary philosophical debate. Two of the units run in semester 1, the third in semester 2. Students on each unit attend a weekly 2 hour seminar.

2. A Research Skills Workshop

The workshop covers research skills and methods, and includes specific research assessment tasks. The workshop meets fortnightly for 2 hours in Semester 1. As part of the workshop, students will participate in a review of their thesis progress in August. Completing students will also be expected to make a short presentation on their thesis at the annual Honours Day run by the Department in late October (scheduled for after the thesis submission date.)

3. A Dissertation

Students research and write a dissertation (or thesis) on a topic of their own choosing under the regular supervision of a member of staff with expertise in the field.

 

Assessment

Students are assessed according to their performance in the following assessment tasks.

• 3 Essays (3,500-4000 words each) for the Honours Seminars (worth 15% for each essay, and 45% of the total mark)
• Honours Thesis (12,000 -15,000 words) (worth 55% of the total mark, including 10% for performance in tasks set in the Research Skills Workshop)

Honours theses are externally examined as well as internally marked; all honours essays are double-marked. Final marks and grades are moderated by the Honours Committee.

Joint Honours Programs

It is possible to combine honours in philosophy with honours in another discipline. Joint honours candidates are normally expected to satisfy the honours entry requirements in both disciplines. The precise details of the joint honours program are a matter of negotiation between the two disciplines; however, typically, the philosophy component should amount to half of that required by philosophy honours students (i.e. 1 or 2 coursework units in philosophy, and a thesis jointly assessed by philosophy and the other discipline).

Enrolment Requirement

Full-time honours students (over two semesters): To commence in Semester 1 only of any given year.

Part-time honours students (over four semesters): To commence either in Semester 1 or in Semester 2 of any given year.

 

Eligibility

To be eligible for admission to the Philosophy Honours program, students must have an undergraduate degree with a major or coherency in Philosophy, an overall Grade Point Average (GPA) of at least 2.5 and a GPA of at least 3.25 at 300 level.

In order to gain a major or coherency in Philosophy students are required to have completed a minimum of 24 credit points in Philosophy, of which at least  12 credit points should be at 300 level. In addition, the Department requires intending honours students to take a broad range of units in philosophy prior to commencing their honours program.

Since 2007, PHIL354 "Advanced Philosophy Seminar" has been a compulsory unit for all Honours applicants. From 2010, all intending honours applicants will be required to have completed the new PHL354 Philosophy ‘capstone’ unit (Click here for a brief description of the new unit's content).

In special circumstances applications from students who do not meet one of the above requirements may be considered. In such cases applicants must present a detailed submission explaining their suitability for the honours program despite not meeting all entry requirements. This submission, along with the application, will be assessed by the Honours sub-committee and a recommendation made to the Philosophy Department.

After submitting a formal application for entry into honours, applicants may be invited to an interview with the Honours sub-committee to determine the area of intended research and the availability of supervision. Students will only be admitted if suitable supervision is available for the dissertation component of the degree.

 

Fees and charges

Information is available here.

Application Forms

Applications for admission to the Philosophy Honours Program should be submitted through the Student Enqury Service. Application forms can be obtained from:

Student Enquiry Service
Lincoln Building C8A
Macquarie University NSW 2109
Tel: (61) (2) 9850 7314
or
http://www.studentadmin.mq.edu.au/honours/apply.html

This website contains further information about doing Honours at Macquarie University, including information about how to calculate your grade point average.

Note that applications for admission to the Honours Program in first semester 2010 open on 5 August 2009 and close 30 October 2009. Applications for admission in second semester 2010 open in mid-April 2010 and close in mid-June 2010. Offers of a place for first semester 2010 will be made between December 2009 and February 2010 once exam results and eligibility are deterrmined.

Before submitting your application, you should consult a suitable member of the Philosophy staff to see whether they are willing to supervise your Honours thesis. If you need academic advice about your eligibility for Honours or about any aspect of the Program, please contact the Philosophy Honours Convenor:

Dr Cynthia Townley
Department of Philosophy
Macquarie University NSW 2109
Tel: (61) (2) 9850 8812
Email: cynthia.townley@mq.edu.au

 

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(last updated: 1/2/11 )