Degrees Offered:

At the moment we offer an MA program in History & Philosophy of Science. It is our intention, in the near future, to apply for permission for a PhD program. We will keep students updated as to the status of that petition.

Degree Requirements:

Upon admission, each graduate student is assigned to a major professor from the graduate faculty. These assignments are based upon research interests and expertise. The major professor will be the student’s advisor and mentor, and should be consulted regularly on the program of study and progress toward the degree.  All students enrolled in the History and Philosophy of Science program are required to take a minimum of twelve courses. Four of these are compulsory: Intro to Phil of Bio (etc  -- use titles given for the courses)
 
All students must engage in a significance piece of independent research. The HPS Program offers a thesis M.A. and a terminal M.A. (without a thesis). The thesis option requires the completion of an M.A. thesis (see below), and the examination option requires the completion of additional coursework and a paper of publishable quality.

The thesis option requires a student to write an MA thesis (approximately 75 pages). A successfully completed thesis will count the equivalent of four courses. The terminal M.A. option requires the student to write a research paper, with the intent to publish. There is no word limit (upper or lower), for this will depend on the topic and other factors. (For instance, philosophy papers are generally shorter than history papers.)

For specific requirements related to both options for completing the M.A. program, click here for the graduate student handbook.

All M.A. students are required to complete 4 courses drawn from the 6 courses listed below. Students must have at least one course from each of the areas (History, Philosophy, and Religion)
 
A B- is the lowest passing grade, and students are expected to maintain a B average

Required History Courses:
• Historiography and Science
• History of Life Sciences

Required Philosophy Courses:
• Selected Topics
• Survey of Basic Topics

Required Religion Courses:
• Historiography of Science and Religion
• Religion, Medicine and Natural Philosophy in the 17th & 18th Centuries

Elective Courses:
• Conditioning and Learning
• Introduction to Symbolic Logic
• Gender, Authority, and the Politics of Representation in Science and Art
• Science, Technology and Society
• WST 4930-86/WST 5934, Women and Science
• CLA2810 Science in Antiquity and The Middle Ages. Download the course syllabus here.
• Biology, Philosophy, and Religion
• Science and American Political Culture
• U.S. Intellectual History II
• The Darwinian Revolution: Science and Society
• History of Environmental Sciences
• Disease, Race, and Environment
• North American Environmental History
• Florida Environmental History
• Scientific Explanation
• Applications of Game Theory to Evolutionary Biology
• The History of Racial Thought In Modern Europe
• Science, Medicine, and Race In Modern Europe
• Science, Technology and Society
• Approaches to Bioethic
• The Ethics of Reproductive Technology
• Philosophy of Science and Educational Research
• Modern Logic I
• Introduction to Symbolic Logic
• Aristotle’s Metaphysics and Biology
• Aristotle’s de Anima
• Plato’s Timaeus
• Gender, Authority and The Politics of Representation In Science and Art
• Biogeography
• Evolution of The Brain and Cognition

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