The department believes that each student’s education should include some study of the history of philosophy whether or not the student’s interests are primarily historical. The program is designed to prepare students both to teach philosophy and to contribute to the advance of philosophical inquiry.

There are generally 40 full-time philosophy graduate students in residence at Syracuse. Most full-time students in the Ph.D. program are awarded financial assistance in the form of a teaching assistantship, a fellowship, or a tuition scholarship. The student seeking the M.A. in philosophy will ordinarily complete 24 credits of coursework and defend viva voce a 6-credit master’s thesis. With the permission of the department, a student was admitted to the Ph.D. The program may receive the M.A. in philosophy after completing all pre-dissertation requirements for the Ph.D. degree.