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1240 Social Science and Humanities
University of California, Davis
One Shields Avenue
Davis, CA 95616
Phone: (530) 752-0703
Fax: (530) 752-8964

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Philosophy Department > Graduate Program
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Graduate Program

The Graduate Program in Philosophy at UC Davis is a small collegial and supportive program with a largely analytic orientation. The faculty specialize in a variety of areas, including history of philosophy (both ancient and modern), metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of language, philosophy of science (especially biology), philosophy of mathematics, philosophical logic, ethics, metaethics, and social and political philosophy. The Program has both M.A. and Ph.D. “tracks.” Students who aim to complete a Ph.D. should apply directly to the Ph.D. track, even if they have not yet earned an M.A. in Philosophy. Ph.D. students may earn the M.A. in the course of working toward the Ph.D. Students who do not aim to complete a Ph.D. in philosophy should apply for admission to the M.A. track. Students who enroll in the M.A. track may, however, later petition for admission to the Ph.D. track if they so desire. At present, there are 25 students in the Ph.D. program, including eleven who have passed their qualifying examination and are working on their dissertations. The student/faculty ratio is 2 to 1.

Graduate Adviser and Coordinator

  • Faculty Graduate Adviser: Fall 2012, Cody Gilmore (csgilmore@ucdavis.edu)  (530) 554-4924; Winter, Spring 2013, Elaine Landry (emlandry@ucdavis.edu) (530) 554-1391.
  • Staff Graduate Coordinator: Heidi Williams (hlwilliams@ucdavis.edu) (530) 752-0607.

Ranking

The 2010-2011 Philosophical Gourmet Report ranks the program 44th among graduate programs in Philosophy in the United States. The program is ranked 9-17 in Philosophy of Biology, 21-39 in Philosophy of Language, 23-43 in Ethics, 21-31 in Philosophy of Mathematics, 30-46 in Mathematical Logic, 14-29 in Metaethics, and 27-47 in Philosophical Logic.

Davis and the Campus

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 on the applications page. 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.

Berkeley-Stanford-Davis Conference

Philosophy graduate students participate annually in the Berkeley-Stanford-Davis Graduate Conference in Philosophy. The conference is rotated through the three campuses; for example, in 2011-2012, Stanford was the host.

Application

Application and fellowship deadline for the 2013-2014 academic year is December 15, 2012. An on-line application form is used by Graduate Studies. Click here for application details.

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