DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY

College of Social Sciences & Philosophy

University of the Philippines
Diliman, Quezon City

Ph.D. in PHILOSOPHY PROGRAM:

Information for Applicants
 The Department of Philosophy is pleased to offer its Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D)
program to qualified applicants. The Program Faculty is composed of the following:

Program Faculty

o Karen Connie Abalos-Orendain, PhD Philosophy in Ethics, Kobe

University, Japan. Associate Professor of Philosophy. Social & Political
Philosophy, Modern and Contemporary Philosophy, Japanese Philosophy, Ethics,
Feminism, Cosmopolitanism and Universal Norms, Migration Issues

o Ciriaco M. Sayson, Jr., PhD Philosophy, University of Massachusetts

Amherst. Associate Professor of Philosophy, Department of Philosophy.
Ancient Philosophy, Metaphysics, Logic, Philosophy of Language.

o Earl Stanley B. Fronda, PhD Philosophy, University of Wales-Lampeter.

Professor of Philosophy. Philosophy of Language, Philosophy of Religion,
Contemporary Philosophy.

o Ma. Theresa T. Payongayong, PhD Philippine Studies, University of the

Philippines. Professor of Philosophy. Ethics, Applied Ethics, Feminism,
Filipino Philosophy.

o Jeanette L. Yasol-Naval, PhD Environmental Studies, Miriam College.

Professor of Philosophy. Ethics, Applied Ethics, Ancient Philosophy, Logic.

o Ma. Liza Ruth A. Ocampo, PhD Philosophy, Pontifical University of the

Holy Cross, Rome. Professor of Philosophy. Medieval Philosophy,
Metaphysics, Continental Philosophy.

o John Ian Boongaling, PhD Philosophy, University of the Philippines, Diliman.

Associate Professor of Philosophy. Epistemology, Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of
Language, Philosophy of Mind, and Mathematical Logic.

o Lily Beth Centeno-Lumagbas, PhD in TransGlobal Health and PhD in

Pharmacovigilance-Epidemiology. Assistant Professor in Philosophy. Ethics,
Applied Ethics, Bioethics.

o Lumberto G. Mendoza, PhD in Philosophy, University of Bergen,

Norway. Associate Professor of Philosophy. Philosophy of Language,
Wittgenstein and Eastern Philosophy, Social and Political Philosophy,
Philosophy for Children, Logic and Critical Thinking as Gestalt, Science,
Technology and Society, Research Ethics.

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 Lecturers

o Leonardo D. De Castro, PhD Philosophy, University of Wales-Swansea.

Professorial Lecturer of Philosophy. Bioethics, Ethical Theory, Philosophy
of Religion.

o Perseville U. Mendoza, PhD in Philippine Studies, University of the

Philippines. Professorial Lecturer of Philosophy. Filipino philosophy,
Philosophy of Art, Ethics, Philosophy of Sport, Martial Arts philosophy,
Critical Learning

o Francis Julius N. Evangelista, PhD History and Philosophy of Education,

University of the Philippines Diliman. Senior Lecturer of Philosophy.
Philosophy of Education, Philosophy of Religion.



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To be considered for admission, you must:

(a) hold a Master’s degree in Philosophy or a related field such as

Theology, Sociology, Political Science, Mathematics, and others;

(b) submit a letter of application, addressed to the Admissions Committee,

indicating why you wish to pursue a doctorate in Philosophy, and defining
your area(s) of interest in philosophy or, better, a specific problem that
could become the subject of a doctoral dissertation; and

(c) submit the following:

i. a certified true copy of your undergraduate and graduate

transcripts ofrecords;

ii. a sample of your written work in philosophy, which may consist in a

term paper written for a graduate course in Philosophy, or a
published article on a philosophical topic; and,

iii. three letters of recommendation from former professors (for non-U.P.

M.A. graduates; U.P. graduates must submit two letters of
recommendation) ; and,

iv. Dissertation Thesis Proposal

 The letter should be addressed to:

The Admissions Committee

Ph.D. Philosophy Program
University of the Philippines Diliman

The letter should address the following points about the applicant: (a) preparedness to
undertake doctoral studies in Philosophy; (b) critical/analytical skills; (c) interest in and
commitment to philosophy as an academic discipline. The recommendation letter must be
placed in a mailing envelope, and affixed with the recommender’s signature on the outer flap.
The applicant may deliver the envelope to the Graduate Program Office together with the other
application documents, or he/she may request the recommender to mail the recommendation
letter to the following address:

Office of the Graduate Program

College of Social Sciences & Philosophy
Palma Hall Rm. 107
University of the Philippines Diliman
Quezon City 1101

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 (d) pay an application fee of 100 Php.

The complete application set should be submitted to the Office of the Graduate
Program, College of Social Sciences & Philosophy, Palma Hall Rm. 107, during
office hours. The applicant will also be asked to fill out an information sheet. This can
be done either at the Office of the Graduate Program, or at the Department of
Philosophy Office, 2nd Floor Palma Hall Pavilion 2.

The Admissions Committee may also require applicants to submit to an

interview, and/or to take an essay exam. The essay exam will consist in writing an on-
the-spot essay on a topic to be determined by the Admissions Committee, but according
to your background in philosophy. Applicants who have not written a Master’s thesis
inphilosophy may be required to submit more than one sample of their written work in
philosophy; this will be determined by the Admissions Committee upon receipt of your
application documents.



All applicants are expected to have an adequate background in the history of
philosophy, logic, ethics, and epistemology. Any applicant who is deemed deficient in
any of these areas may be required to take foundation courses in Philosophy, on either
the 100 level or the 200 level, without graduate credit before their admission to full
status as doctoral students. For instance, a student whose background in logic is
deemed insufficient by the Admissions Committee may be required to enroll in either
Philosophy 100 (Mathematical Logic), Philosophy 211 (Seminar in Logical Theory), or
both. The need to take such courses will be determined by the program faculty on an
individual basis.

Applicants with a Master’s degree in a field other than Philosophy will also be
required to take Philosophy courses on the 100 and 200 level, or both, before admission
to the doctoral program. The specific courses to be required of such applicants will be
determined by the program faculty. Applicants required to take such courses must
obtain a grade of 2.0 or better in each of the courses, with a cumulative average of 1.75 or
better. Applicants will not be admitted to the doctoral program in philosophy until they
have completed these courses.

Upon admission to full status as a doctoral student in Philosophy, each student

shall be assigned an Academic Adviser, who will be responsible for advising the studentin
all matters pertaining to his/her enrollment in the doctoral program.

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Transfer of Units

Accepted students who have done previous work in a doctoral program in

Philosophy in another institution may apply for a maximum of six (6) graduate units in
Philosophy for transfer to his/her course work in the program, provided that: (a) these
units were taken during the last five (5) years prior to the student’s admission to the
doctoral program; and (b) these units have not been credited to any degree previously
obtained by the student. In exceptional circumstances, the department may recommend
for approval transfer units of up to nine (9) units. In no case, however, shall a student’s
total approved transfer units exceed nine (9) units.

Under normal circumstances, graduate courses taken in disciplines other than

Philosophy, whether from the university or from outside the university, shall not qualify
for transfer units into the program. Only under exceptional circumstances may such
cases be considered; for instance, courses in logic taken as doctoral-level Mathematics
courses may be recommended for transfer units upon due consideration.

The Ph.D. Philosophy Program Curriculum

A. Course Work

Students must complete a minimum of thirty-three (33) units of course work for
the program, of which fifteen (15) units are core courses, nine (9) units are area courses,
and nine (9) units are elective courses:

1. Core Courses:
History of Philosophy (301, 302, 303, 304) ....................... 12 units
Metaphysics. (330) ................................................................... 3 units
Sub-total........ 15 units
2. Area Courses:
Epistemology/Philosophy of Language (350 or 395).......... 3 units
Logic (310, 311, or 312) .............................................................. 3 units
Ethics/Social and Political Philosophy (371 or 376) ............ 3 units
Sub-total ..........9 units

3. Elective Courses:
Any three (3) courses in Student’s Area of Interest
and Specialization (with the approval of the
Student’s Academic Adviser) ................................................ 9 units

Total Course Work ........................................................................... 33 units

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 1. Core Courses. The core courses requirement must be satisfied by taking the
following courses: Philosophy 301 (Advanced Topics in Ancient
Philosophy), Philosophy 302 (Advanced Topics in Medieval Philosophy),
Philosophy 303 (Advanced Topics in Modern Philosophy), Philosophy 304
(Advanced Topics in Contemporary Anglo-American Philosophy), and
Philosophy 330 (Advanced Topics in Metaphysics).

2. Area Courses. The area courses represent the main disciplines within
Philosophy, and are divided into three:

2a) Epistemology/Philosophy of Language Requirement. The epistemology/

philosophy of language requirement may be satisfied by taking either
Philosophy 350 or Philosophy 395.

2b) Logic Requirement. The following courses will satisfy the logic
requirement: Philosophy 310, 311, 312.

2c) Ethics/Social and Political Philosophy Requirement. The following courses

will satisfy the ethics/social and political philosophy requirement:
Philosophy 371, 376, 385, and 387.

3. Elective Courses. The elective courses may be selected from all the non-core
courses in the program, as well as from among the area courses not selected
by the student in fulfillment of the area courses requirement. The student
shall select his elective courses according to his intended area of dissertation
research and writing, and in consultation with his Academic Adviser.

Upon completion of these course requirements, and upon passing the foreign
language requirement (if applicable) and the comprehensive examination, the student
advances to candidacy and may enroll the twelve (12) units required for dissertation
credits.

SUMMARY OF UNITS REQUIRED

Courses No. of Units

Core Courses 15 units

Area Courses 9 units
Elective Courses 9 units
Dissertation 12 units

Total: 45 units

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 B. Comprehensive Examination

Upon completion of the course work, the student must pass a comprehensive
examination to be administered by the program faculty. The examination will be given
in three stages, and in three different areas: (a) History of Philosophy; (b) Philosophy of
Language and Epistemology; and (c) Ethics and Value Theory. A committee shall be
constituted to administer each area of the comprehensive exam to every student taking
it.

A student who fails the comprehensive examination may retake it within one (1)
year of the initial try. Failure at a second try shall disqualify the student permanently
from the doctoral program.

A student who passes the comprehensive examination will be deemed as having

advanced to candidacy for the doctoral degree.

C. Foreign Language Requirement

A student intending to write a dissertation on a philosopher whose original work

is in a language other than English will be required to demonstrate a reading knowledge
of that language. If required, the foreign language requirement must be satisfied before
the student can defend his/her Dissertation Proposal.

D. Dissertation Proposal

Upon passing the Comprehensive Examination and advancing to candidacy, or

upon fulfillment of the Foreign Language requirement, the student is qualified to begin
work on a dissertation.

A Dissertation Committee of three (3) members shall then be constituted; of

these, one shall be designated as Dissertation Adviser and the other two (2) as Readers.
In consultation with his/her Dissertation Adviser, the student shall write a proposal for a
dissertation project. The proposal must include a preliminary Bibliography. The
student shall defend the proposal before his/her Dissertation Committee, who must
approve it by a unanimous vote.

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 E. Dissertation

Every candidate for the doctoral degree in Philosophy must write a dissertation.
In writing the dissertation, a student is expected to work closely with his/her
Dissertation Committee.

The dissertation must be an original and worthy contribution to philosophical

research and writing. It must give strong evidence of the candidate’s theoretical grasp
of the dissertation problem, as well as of his/her ability to present both his/her own and
other thinkers’ sides of a philosophical issue with analytical clarity and precision.

F. Oral Examination

After the Dissertation Committee shall have approved the written dissertation, a
date shall be set for a final oral examination. An Oral Defense Panel of not less than five
(5) members, including the three members of the Dissertation Committee, shall be
appointed to conduct an oral examination on the dissertation. The oral examination
shall be open to the public. Failure at a second try in the oral defense or failure to re-
defend the dissertation within the prescribed period of one year shall disqualify the
candidate from other doctoral programs in the college.

Courses Offered in the Ph.D. Philosophy Program

A. Courses in the History of Philosophy

1. Philosophy 301. Advanced Topics in Ancient Philosophy. Socratic

perplexity and the nature of philosophical inquiry, Plato’s early and late
theory of Forms, Aristotle’s theory of the soul, the Hellenistic turn in ancient
Philosophy.

2. Philosophy 302. Advanced Topics in Medieval Philosophy. Scholastic

Nominalism, proofs for God’s existence, faith and reason, the problem of
universals, the nature of the human soul in high scholasticism, with emphasis
on the texts of Augustine, Aquinas, and Anselm.

3. Philosophy 303. Advanced Topics in Modern Philosophy. The Cartesian

cogito, the Rationalist concept of substance, Hume’s theory of induction,
Kant’s critique of pure and practical reason.

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4. Philosophy 304. Advanced Topics in Contemporary Anglo-American
Philosophy. Frege and problems of sense and reference, the metaphysics of
logical positivism, the linguistic turn, epistemology naturalized, the shift
towards pragmatism, and the notion of a linguistically-ordered reality.

5. Philosophy 305. Advanced Topics in Continental European Philosophy.

Hermeneutics from Heidegger to Gadamer and Eco, ideology and dialectical
materialism, truth and power, the “pensiero debole” of the Italian school,
European philosophy and culture in the current global dynamics.

B. Logic Courses

1. Philosophy 310. Advanced Mathematical Logic. The metatheory of the

propositional calculus and the predicate calculus, proofs of consistency,
completeness, and decidability of formal systems, and their philosophical
implications.

2. Philosophy 311. Philosophy of Logic. Theories of the nature of formal

systems, the nature of proof, the meaning of logical implication, truth and
reference, existence and the nature of quantification, the justification of
deduction.

3. Philosophy 312. Advanced Modal Logic. Formal systems using the key
modal notions of necessity and possibility, formal proofs of consistency and
completeness of modal systems, actualism, possibilism, trans-world identity,
backward time travel, mereological essentialism, four-dimensionalism.

C. Courses in the Major Fields in Philosophy

1. Philosophy 330. Advanced Topics in Metaphysics. The nature of

metaphysics as philosophical inquiry, Aristotle’s theory of substance,
traditional and recent understandings of the meaning of “being,” time and
change, identity, causality.

2. Philosophy 350. Advanced Topics in Epistemology. Problems of rational

belief formation and epistemic justification, the Gettier problem, Plantinga’s
theory of epistemic warrant, the internalism/externalism debate.

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3. Philosophy 370. Advanced Topics in Philosophy of Mind. Functionalism,
the individuation of mental states, the nature of mental representation,
Searle’s theory of intentionality, computationalism, supervenience theory,
eliminative materialism, Chalmers on the irreducibility of consciousness.

4. Philosophy 371. Advanced Topics in Ethical Theory. The logic of moral

reasoning and theorizing, moral realism and moral relativism, rational desire
and moral action, the justification of moral norms, deontology,
consequentialism, and the concept of human excellence and its role in moral
theory.

5. Philosophy 372. Advanced Topics in Philosophy of Religion. The nature of

religious experience and the interpretation of religious language, the concept
of the divine, faith and subjectivity, the relation between morality and divine
commands.

6. Philosophy 376. Advanced Topics in Social and Political Philosophy.

Theories of individualism and political rationality in the Anglo-American
tradition, the theory of justice, the state, civil society, ideology, and the nature
and transformations of political theory in the globalizing context.

7. Philosophy 395. Advanced Topics in Philosophy of Language. Current

issues in the theory of reference, the semantic conception of truth, Searle’s
theory of speech acts, Grice’s theory of nonnatural meaning, Grice’s theory of
conversational implicature, Davidson’s theory of metaphor.

D. Courses in Applied Philosophy

1. Philosophy 380. Issues in the Philosophy of the Social Sciences. Current

debates on the nature of social knowledge, human agency, the interpretation
of social reality, and the nature of social scientific knowledge vis-à-vis
traditional, indigenous knowledge fields.

2. Philosophy 385. Research Seminar in Philosophy of Law. Recent theories

of law, punishment, responsibility and consent, the philosophical analysis of
legal discourse, case studies of selected historical-juridical problems at the
intersections of law and morality.

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 3. Philosophy 387. Research Seminar in Bioethics. The human person,
biological death, brain death, and personal death, selective fetal
termination, assisted reproductive technologies, genetic testing, fetal-
maternal conflicts, the human genome project, assisted suicide, and
eugenics.

E. Courses in Asian Philosophy

1. Philosophy 393. Research Seminar in Filipino Philosophy. Filipino

thinkers through history, the Filipino concept of self, society and reality, the
articulation of philosophical problems from a Filipino perspective, the
definition of what makes a perspective “Filipino”.

2. Philosophy 396. Research Seminar in Asian Philosophy. Development and

interrelations of various Asian philosophies, current discussions of
nationalism, language, history, as possible points of articulation for defining
a conception of Asianness in philosophy.

F. Other Courses

1. Philosophy 391. Directed Readings. Selected readings on the nature of

philosophical texts and of translation in philosophy, and on the connections
between the form of philosophical discussion (dialogue, treatise, aphorism)
and the role of philosophy in culture.

2. Philosophy 397. Readings: Selected Philosopher. Intensive reading of

works by a single philosopher.

3. Philosophy 398. Advanced Topics in Philosophy. Intensive discussion and

readings on a single problem in the history of philosophy.

G. Dissertation (12 Units)

1. Philosophy 400. Doctoral Dissertation.

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