The Department of Philosophy offers a program of study leading to the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees. Students are not admitted to pursue an M.A. only. At present, there are 22 students in the Ph.D. program, including six working on their dissertations and two on leave. The student/faculty ratio is less than 2 to 1.

The 2006-2008 Philosophical Gourmet Report ranks the program 35th among graduate programs in Philosophy in the United States. The program is ranked 8-16 in Philosophy of Biology, 10-23 in Philosophy of Language, 13-29 in Philosophy of Science, 15-22 in Philosophy of Physics, 17-27 in Epistemology, 19-22 in Kant and German Idealism, 21-32 in Philosophy of Law, 22-36 in Philosophical Logic, 28-44 in Political Philosophy, 30-50 in Normative Ethics and Moral Psychology.

The UC Davis campus is located fifteen miles southwest of Sacramento. The city of Davis is a well-planned, environmentally-conscious community of around 60,000 people, surrounded by open space. On the campus is a state-of-the-art 1,800-seat concert hall and a beautiful arboretum, pictured above. Davis is on the edge of the greater Sacramento metropolitan area, with a population of over one million. Seventy miles to the southwest is the San Francisco Bay Area, one of the most beautiful and vibrant population centers in the United States. About 100 miles to the east is Lake Tahoe in the Sierra Nevada mountains, with its world-class recreational opportunities such as skiing and hiking. To the west is the Napa Valley, a world-renowned producer of fine wines. All of these locations can be reached in two hours or less by automobile.

Philosophy graduate students participate annually in the Berkeley-Stanford-Davis Graduate Conference in Philosophy. The conference is rotated through the three campuses, and this year Davis will be the host.

Application and fellowship deadline for 2007-2008 is December 15, 2007.

A new on-line application form has been adopted by Graduate Studies. Click here for application details.

Faculty Graduate Adviser: G. J. Mattey (gjmattey@ucdavis.edu) (530) 752-0609
Staff Graduate Coordinator: Heidi Williams (hlwilliams@ucdavis.edu) (530) 752-0607.