The Department of Philosophy at the University of New Mexico offers programs leading to the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in philosophy. Many areas of concentration are open to students. Both Anglo-American and Continental approaches are well represented, and the department has special strengths in the history of philosophy, ethics, philosophy of art and literature, philosophy of mind, philosophy of psychology, American philosophy, philosophy of religion, phenomenology, and Asian philosophy. Because of our small size, students can expect a high degree of personal attention and interaction with the faculty.

The Department of Philosophy maintains an active colloquium series with frequent visiting lecturers. The department also has an endowed lecture series: the Brian O'Neil Memorial Lecture Series in the History of Philosophy. Past speakers in this series have included Richard Popkin, Richard Wollheim, Barry Stroud, Alan Code, Alexander Nehamas, Alasdair MacIntyre, and Allen Wood. In recent years the department has hosted the American Philosophical Association Pacific Division meeting and the annual meeting of the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy.

The University of New Mexico is located in Albuquerque. Founded in 1706, Albuquerque is New Mexico’s largest city with a population of approximately 500,000. The metropolitan area boasts a population of over 700,000. With a relatively mild climate (not too warm...not too cold) the city has become a relocation destination for people across the country.

Albuquerque lies at the base of the Sandia mountains and straddles the Rio Grande river. Both offer hiking and mountain-biking year-round and skiing is available in the Sandia's as well as Santa Fe, Taos and many other locations in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado. Fly fishing is another outdoor activity enjoyed by UNM philosophy faculty and graduate students.

The arts are well represented and include theater, opera and light opera, symphonic and chamber music, ballet and dance, and many art galleries. Two other culturaly renowned cities, Santa Fe and Taos, are within easy driving distance.

Albuquerque also has a host of other recreational activities including excellent golf courses, a world class zoo, the botanical gardens, aquarium and, of course, the world famous Albuquerque International Baloon Fiesta. Parks, tennis courts and bike trails are generously scattered across the city.

New Mexico is uniquely multi-cultural, incorporating Native-American (Pueblo, Navajo, and Apache), Hispanic, and Anglo populations. Traditional Native-American and Hispanic-American arts and crafts abound. The area is also rich in important archaeological sites.

For more information on Albuquerque or New Mexico, please visit:

http://www.cabq.gov or http://www.state.nm.us

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The M.A. is a two-year program requiring thirty-two hours of graduate coursework. (UNM is on a semester calandar. A course usually carries three hours of credit. A normal course load for a graduate student is nine hours.) Twelve of those hours-four courses at the graduate seminar level-must satisy distribution requirements in the history of philosophy, metaphysics, ethics, and the theory of knowledge. At the end of his or her period of study each M.A. student must pass an oral M.A. exam, focused on a paper of 30-40 pages.

The Ph.D. is a four-to-six year program requiring forty-eight hours of graduate coursework, of which fifteen must satisfy distribution requirements in the areas mentioned above. Ph.D. students must pass a comprehensive exam in the fourth semester (see comprehensive exam reading list), a language exam (reading competence in one language is required for the Ph.D.; a course in metalogic may be substituted for the language requirement by students working in appropriate areas), a dissertation prospectus exam, and an oral dissertation defense based on the dissertation.

In addition to these requirements, all graduate students, whether M.A. or Ph.D., must meet a "background core" requirement consisting of six courses in basic areas (namely, metaphysics, theory of knowledge, ethical theory, Greek philosophy, modern philosophy and symbolic logic; courses taken to satisy the graduate distribution requirements will not count toward satisfying the background core requirement). Most students entering the program with a B.A. in philosophy will already have satisfied this requirement.

Usually, thirty-three of the forty-eight hours of coursework required for the Ph.D. and twenty hours of the courses required for the M.A. may be taken in subjects of the student's choosing. For the Ph.D. in particular, we encourage students to focus early on a particular area of interest while continuing to acquire a broad education in philosophy which will qualify them to become teachers.

For Detailed information on the Graduate Program and its requirements, click here.

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Indian Philosophy

The UNM Department of Philosophy encourages applications from students who wish to specialize in Indian philosophy at the Ph. D. level. The department has three faculty members who either specialize or have research interests in Indian thought: Richard Hayes (history of Buddhism, Buddhist logic and epistemology), John Taber (history of the Brahmanical systems, Indian logic, metaphysics, epistemology, and philosophy of language), and John Bussanich (Greek philosophy, mystical and religious philosophies, Indo-Greek comparative philosophy). For students concentrating on Indian thought the department emphasizes:

1. Developing the ability to read Indian philosophical texts in Sanskrit, and
2. Approaching Indian philosophical issues on the basis of a solid background in Western philosophy.

The department is able to provide instruction in Sanskrit through the advanced level but also encourages students to attend intensive language courses offered elsewhere (e.g., the University of Chicago, American Institute of Indian Studies summer program in Pune). At this time we have four Ph.D. students working in Indian philosophy. Please see the graduate student's interest page for more infromation on all of our students.

American Philosophy

Information on study in American Philosophy is currently being written. Please check here again soon for further details.

Continental Philosophy

The UNM doctoral program in Philosophy offers a wealth of resources and opportunities to students desiring to focus their studies on topics in Continental philosophy ranging from the early nineteenth century up through the present.

Nine faculty members in the department specialize in Continental philosophy or have research interests related to this area: Andrew Burgess, Russell Goodman, Barbara Hannan, Adrian Johnston, Brent Kalar, Paul Katsafanas, Paul Livingston, John Taber, and Iain Thomson. The figures covered by these faculty members include: Fichte, Schelling, Hegel, Husserl, Marx, Kierkegaard, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Freud, Heidegger, Sartre, de Beauvoir, Lacan, Levinas, Foucault, Derrida, Deleuze, Irigaray, Kristeva, Badiou, Žižek, and Agamben. (UNM is also home to the Max Scheler Archives, one of two such archives in the world.)

The major movements and orientations in the Continental tradition are well-represented and regularly taught in the department: German idealism, existentialism, phenomenology, structuralism, post-structuralism, critical theory, and psychoanalysis.

Given the importance of the history of philosophy to the continental tradition, our Ph.D. program should be especially attractive to prospective doctoral students, who will have the opportunity to develop a thorough understanding of the historical contexts crucial to comprehending the discussions and debates central to Continental philosophy.

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Of the eight students who received their Ph.D. in philosophy at UNM since 1999, five have been hired for full-time tenure-track positions, three have been hired for full-time, non-tenure-track positions, and one is teaching part-time. For a complete list of our Ph.D. graduates and where they are today, click here.

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Applications to the M.A. or Ph.D. program involve submission of some materials to the Office of Admissions (Office of International Admissions) and some to the Department of Philosophy. Please visit the Office of Graduate Studies for more information about the Application process.

One may apply directly to the Ph.D. program without an M.A. in philosophy. Applicants who are not admitted to the Ph.D. program and who do not already have an M.A. in philosophy will automatiically be considered for admission to the M.A. program.

Materials required by the Office of Admissions (International Admissions) include:

1. Application (Our major code is PHIL)
2. Residency Information form (paper application only)
3. Application Fee ($50.00, non-refundable)

In addition to the above materials, the Department of Philosophy also requires the following be sent directly to the department (our address is listed below):

1. A Statement of Purpose/Letter of Intent.
2. A scholastic resumé (CV) indicating schools attended, degrees in progress and degrees received, and current contact information (address, phone and e-mail address).
3. A writing sample of not more than 20 typed pages on a philosophical topic.
4. Official Transcripts, one set is required from each institution you have attended. International Applicants should send their transcripts directly to the Office of International Admissions.
5. Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores. The School/Institution Code is 4845 and the Department code is 2801.
6. A minimum of three letters of recommendation.

Additionally, if you are submitting a paper application, include a photocopy of the application with the materials being sent to the department.

The Department of Philosophy requirements should be submitted directly to the department. If these items are sent to the Office of Admissions a delay in processing your application could occur.

To access applications for graduate studies visit the appropriate links below:

Office of Graduate Studies

International Students

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All application documents are reviewed carefully by a departmental committee of at least three, but sometimes as many as six or seven, faculty members. The writing sample, academic record, and letters of recommendation are as important as the GRE scores. For the M.A., we are especially interested in candidates who have the potential to go on to the Ph.D. (at UNM or elsewhere). For the Ph.D., we are particularly interested in candidates whose interests match our strengths and who we think have the potential to be strong candidates for teaching positions when they graduate. Since we only admit students to the Ph.D. for whom we can provide financial aid, and since financial resources tend to be limited, admission to the Ph.D. program can be highly selective. Last year, 28 applied for the Ph.D., 4 were accepted, and 3 of those accepted are now in the program. Admission to the M.A. program, since it does not hinge on financial aid, is competitive but not as selective as for the Ph.D.

The UNM Department of Philosophy takes affirmative action factors into consideration in making admission decisions.

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The UNM Department of Philosophy admits students to its Ph.D. program only if it has a reasonable expectation that it will be able to provide five years of full financial support which may be pro-rated for students who have already completed some graduate work in philosophy. The support may be in the form either of a Philosophy Teaching Assistantship (TA-ship) or an English TA-ship (teaching freshman English courses). TA-ships carry a stipend of at least $15,600 (2008-2009 academic year, with annual increases) and a full tuition waiver. Philosophy TA’s serve as graders for Philosophy 101 their first semester and teach one section of Philosophy 156, Reasoning and Critical Thinking, in subsequent semesters. Philosophy graduate students supported by English TA-ships teach English 101, Exposition and 102, Analysis and Argument, in the English Department. It is possible that students who enter the program supported by English TA-ships may have the opportunity of switching over to Philosophy TA-ships in subsequent years, given the availability of such TA-ships.

Doctoral students are also eligible for the Gwen J. Barrett Memorial Fellowship, a dissertation fellowship which is available to Ph.D. students in their fifth year. The Barrett Fellowship, currently valued at $15,600, is awarded to one or split between two well qualified Ph.D. students per academic year. The award is designed to give the student, or students, the time and freedom necessary to focus on writing his or her dissertation. To qualify for the Barrett Fellowship all requirements for the degree, including the language and prospectus examinations, must be met at the time of application, May 1 prior to the academic year of the Fellowship. Students should also note that the awarding of the fellowship in any given year is contingent on the availability of funding and the quality of the applicants.

Ph.D. students who are in the process of writing a dissertation also may be eligible, by nomination of the department, for the Graduate Dean’s Dissertation Fellowship.

Currently there is no departmentally funded financial aid available for M.A. students in their first year. Many M.A. students, however, are given tuition waivers in their second year upon establishing residency. Also, grading positions and half TA-ships are sometimes offered to M.A. students in their second and subsequent years.

The Office of Graduate Studies has a number of funding programs available to Ph.D. and M.A. students. Many of these programs allow for direct student application. For more information on these programs, please visit the Funding Resources section of the Office of Graduate Studies website.

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The UNM Department of Philosophy has always had a significant number of minority students in its graduate program. One ongoing TA-ship is dedicated to supporting a Hispanic-American Ph.D. student. Other financial aid opportunities for minorities are provided through UNM's Office of Graduate Studies.

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The Department of Philosophy assures consideration of applicants who meet the following deadlines:

Additional information about the department and application materials are available upon request. When requesting information and application materials, please specify whether you would prefere to receive the materials electronically or not.

Contact: thinker@unm.edu

Or By Mail:

Department of Philosophy
MSC 03 2140
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001

Phone: (505) 277-2405
Fax: (505) 277-6362

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