Ph.D. in Philosophy

The curriculum is divided into three areas: (A) obligations associated with dissertation assessment; (B) basic study obligations; (C) professional research or pedagogical activities. The individual study obligations (assessment of studies) for all three areas are indicated in bold below. If not otherwise specified, they are in the form of credits.

1. obligations associated with dissertation assessment

1.1Doctoral Seminar (AXFSDOS01-04; from the 5th year onwards, AXFSDOS01 with repeated enrolment)

- The Doctoral Seminar regularly takes places in each academic year. In the 1st year of studies, only passive participation is required. Starting in the 2nd year, active participation is required, which consists of a presentation relating to the dissertation followed by a discussion and comments.

- At doctoral seminars, students may also do the following:

o Present the first version of a contribution for a Czech or foreign conference

o Discuss the first version of an article prepared as a part of Professional Activities

• Share experiences from study trips, conferences, or other academic events

- A student’s completion of the Doctoral Seminar will be recognized as credit for regular participation in the seminar, presentation of the results of their work, and critical discussion of the presentations of others.

- In the event of an internship, students will be excused from participation. However, students are still obliged to make a presentation.

- Students will be automatically enrolled for the Doctoral Seminar obligation in each year of studies.

1.2Annotated outline of the dissertation (AXFSDIS01)

- An annotated outline of the dissertation with the anticipated content for each chapter. The outline is submitted to the supervisor.

- Submission deadline: 1st year of studies

1.3Chapter or other coherent extract from the dissertation (AXFSDIS04)

- Minimum of 35 standard pages. The procedure for working on the text may be presented in a Doctoral Seminar.

- Submission deadline: 2nd year of studies

1.4Coherent extract from the dissertation for the State PhD Exam (AXFSDIS05)

- Minimum of 70 standard pages. The procedure for working on the text may be presented in a Doctoral Seminar.

Submission deadline: 3rd year of studies and every additional year of studies

2. Basic study obligations

Obligations that are the same for all students

2.1Foreign Language

- Upon consultation with the supervisor, students choose between an exam in German (AXJAZ0005), Italian (AXJAZ0003) or French (AXJAZ0002)[1].

- Deadline: upon agreement with supervisor, 1st – 2nd year of studies

2.2Theoretical-Methodological Seminar I–II (AXFSTMS02-03)

- Students are required to participate in the Theoretical-Methodological Seminar for a period of two years. The seminar includes a joint reading of methodologically important texts and a discussion of theoretical and methodological issues arising from professional activities and the dissertation project. The seminar may also include a presentation of topics prepared for the State PhD Exam and a methodological discussion thereof.

- Deadline: 2nd and 3rd year of studies

2.3Topics for the State PhD Exam I–II (AXFSTEZE1–2)

- Upon agreement with the supervisor, students choose two topics that are not a part of their dissertation. These could be topics that students have taken up anytime during their studies or that loosely relate to the dissertation. These topics must be selected from various areas of the history of philosophy or systematic philosophy. The supervisor designates a guarantor for each of the topics. The supervisor cannot be a guarantor of the PhD topics. The prepared topics may be presented in a Doctoral Seminar. The PhD topics should not exceed two sides of A4 (plus bibliography). Students submit the completed topics with the names of the guarantors to the subject-area board for approval with a request to take the State PhD Exam.

- Deadline: upon agreement with the supervisor, 1st – 2nd year of studies

Obligations set individually based on agreement between the student and supervisor

2.4Subject-Area Exam(AXFSSPE... various codes depending on the subject)

- The supervisor determines the exam according to the nature of the dissertation project. The examiner is selected according to the thematic focus and the previous studies of the PhD student. The examiner may be an instructor of the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, another workplace of the Faculty of Arts, or a staff member of the Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences.

- A completely new exam may be arranged, or one of the following already existing exams may be selected: Philosophy of Art (AXFSSPE03), Political Philosophy (AXFSSPE04), Philosophical Theories of Consciousness and Self-Awareness (AXFSSPE05), Medieval Philosophy (AXFSSPE06), Analytical Metaethics (AXFSSPE07), Hermeneutics and Ethics (AXFSSPE08), History of the Normalization Period (AXFSSPE09), Modern Rationalism (AXFSSPE10), Philosophical Concepts of Finiteness (AXFSSPE11), The Notion of Concept in Antiquity and the Middle Ages (AXFSSPE12), Changes in Scientific Realism (AXFSSPE13), Philosophy of Science (AXFSSPE14), German Classical Philosophy (AXFSSPE15), or Theory of Justice (AXFSSPE16), The Relationship between Reason and Sensuality in Modern Philosophy (AXFSSPE18), Philosophical Translation (AXFSSPE19), Inferentialism (AXFSSPE21), Philosophy and Literature (AXFSSPE22), Philosophy of Language (AXFSSPE23), Philosophy of Logic (AXFSSPE24), Ancient Medical Writings (AXFSSPE25), Philosophy of History (AXFSSPE26), Development of Critical Theory (AXFSSPE27).

- Form of fulfilment: Exam or written work

- Deadline: upon agreement with supervisor, 1st – 3rd year of studies

2.5Individual Study Obligations (AXFSSPE... various codes depending on the subject)

- As a rule, the supervisor sets at least one other obligation according to the nature of the dissertation topic:

• Additional subject-area exam
• Written work (AXFSPP001)

3. professional activities

3.1Internship Abroad (AXFSOAK09)

- The year of fulfilment is not prescribed. Internships depend on the offers of stipends, and these cannot be precisely determined in advance. This obligation may also be fulfilled after the State PhD Exam; fulfilment is a requirement for registering for the dissertation defence.

- For serious reasons (childcare, etc.), an internship abroad may be replaced, based on a request approved by the dean, with some of the following professional activities: active participation in a conference, professional editorial activity, a professional translation, academic instruction, a professional publication.

3.2Publication in a peer-reviewed journal (AXFSOAK10)

- The year of fulfilment is not prescribed.

3.3Elective professional activity I–II (AXFSOAK11-12)

- PhD students fulfil two of the following activities:

• Review of a professional publication
• Active participation in a conference
• Grant project (application for one or active participation in one)
• Professional editorial activity
• Professional translation
• Academic instruction

- The year of fulfilment is not prescribed.

4. state phd exam (ASDZK0001)

- Deadline: 3rd year of studies

- A requirement for submitting the application to take the State PhD Exam is fulfilment of the prescribed study obligations from the part of the curriculum entitled “Basic Study Obligations” and Obligations 1.2, 1.3, and 1.4 from “Obligations Associated with Dissertation Assessment”.

- The State PhD Exam has two parts:

- (1) Presentation of a coherent part of the dissertation and (2) Defence of PhD topics.

- (1) Presentation of a coherent part of the dissertation:

- Requirements for the text: It is not a project relating to the work but a relatively complete part of the dissertation, i.e. a coherent text that meets the requirements of a professional dissertation. It should involve more than one chapter that, after editing, could become part of the final text of the dissertation.

- A brief introduction should be prepared (formulation of the issue, introduction of the topic) and the possible conclusions of the dissertation should be outlined.

- The student submits a structured list of read literature.

- This part of the exam should be a presentation of a coherent extract from the dissertation of 70 standard pages, together with the supervisor’s statement and one opinion of a reviewer, which will include an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the submitted text.

- (2) Defence of topics:

- Students choose two topics for the exam in agreement with their supervisor that do not deal with the topic of their dissertation. These topics must be selected from different periods in the history of philosophy and from different systematic areas of philosophy. The supervisor will appoint a guarantor for each of the topics. The supervisor cannot be the guarantor of the PhD topics. In cooperation with the guarantors, students prepare a specific topic by formulating the issue at hand, justifying its significance, and expressing their own opinion based on the argumentation. This should be a concise formulation that can become the starting point for a discussion, not a general or referential interpretation or a technical analysis of the details of a theory. The PhD topic should not exceed two sides of A4 (plus bibliography). The whole topic should present the issue in a form understandable to a philosophically-minded reader who need not be an expert on the topic. The guarantor of the topic should pay attention to the sufficient professional knowledge of the candidate on the chosen topic and the basic literature related thereto, but also to the suitability of the topic for discussion during the State PhD Exam. The prepared topics are submitted by the PhD students to the subject-area board for approval.

- The committee selects one of the submitted topics. The student first presents it with their interpretation, and then a discussion follows, during which the candidate responds to questions from members of the committee. In the discussion, students should demonstrate not only their knowledge relating to the chosen topic, but also their ability to think about issues related to it and to react to other approaches. If necessary, the committee can invite students to present the second topic.

- The committee and the date of the State PhD Exam are determined individually based on the submitted text of the dissertation extract and the topics. These documents must be submitted no later than by the end of June of the 3rd year of studies, or earlier, but no later than two months before the date on which the student would like to take the State PhD Exam.

- More detailed instruction can be found here: https://ufar.ff.cuni.cz/cs/zakladni-informace-o-studiu/filosofie-2/doktorske-studium/doktorska-zkouska/

5. DEFENCE OF PHD DISSERTATION (AX0007305)

- A requirement for submitting the application for the defence of the PhD dissertation is fulfilment of all obligations prescribed in the individual curriculum.

Standard period of study: 4 years

INSTRUCTIONS FOR PREPARING THE INDIVIDUAL CURRICULUM

The Information Systems Office creates the basic version of the individual curriculum in SIS, automatically enrolling each PhD student for all obligations that are required for all students in the field of study (for which a unique code is provided in the framework curriculum stipulated above). As soon as this basic curriculum is created, students must complete the following in SIS upon agreement with their supervisor:

1. The Foreign Language, which is selected from the offered languages associated in SIS with the specific curriculum.

2. Individual study obligations, i.e. Subject-Area Exam and any additional individual obligations, provided that the supervisor decides to prescribe them. These obligations can be entered either by selecting some of the already existing subjects or (if the subject does not exist in SIS) by entering the “description of the subject”, which describes the obligation in words, keeping in mind that it will be associated with a certain subject in SIS at a later time.

3. The year of fulfilment for all obligations for which the above-mentioned subject-area curriculum determines the time range.

[1] The foreign language obligation is waived for students who hold a bachelor’s or master’s degree in English/German/French philology. The examined language cannot be the native language of the student.

The graduate is a highly educated expert who has shown an ability to develop their knowledge in a creative way. The dissertation demonstrates an outstanding contribution in a specialization chosen from a wide range of themes, including the history of ideas, practical and theoretical philosophy, and topics in contemporary thinking. The graduate is equipped, in terms of knowledge, method, and language skills, to do independent research in philosophy and social sciences. He/she can be employed as a researcher in social sciences, university teacher, editor or translator of expert publications, critic, commentator, or executive worker and analyst in state administration. The graduate has analytical and language skills applicable to a large scale of professions that need critical thinking, ranging from public agencies to private enterprises.