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Doctor of Philosophy in Literature

Program description.

The graduate program in literature brings together scholars, creative writers and translators who share a commitment to transnational and interdisciplinary approaches to literary study and practice. The PhD in literature provides students with a flexible context in which to pursue research across a wide range of literary traditions, critical approaches and theoretical debates. In addition to coursework in literary studies, students have the opportunity to participate in creative writing and/or literary translation workshops as well as seminars in other disciplines, such as film studies, the history of ideas, philosophy and the visual and performing arts.

Students pursuing the PhD in literature may, if their coursework supports it, submit a translation or creative writing project as part of their dissertation.

Career Opportunities

Graduates of the program seek positions such as: teacher/educator, writer, editor, publisher, translator and critic. Career settings may include higher education, nonprofits, cultural and historical organizations, publishing houses, government agencies, international development organizations, museums and archives, business/corporate entities and independent consulting.

Marketable Skills

Review the marketable skills for this academic program.

Application Requirements

Visit the  Apply Now  webpage to begin the application process.  

Applicants to the Doctoral degree program should have:  

• A baccalaureate degree (BA or MA) or its equivalent from an accredited institution of higher education, normally in an arts and humanities field.  
• Letters of Recommendation: Applicants must submit 3 letters of recommendation from faculty, or other individuals, able to judge the candidate’s potential for success in the program.  
• Admissions Essay: Applicants must submit a 650-word narrative essay, which should be reflective rather than factual. The essay should address the applicant’s academic interests and goals and indicate how the program would enable such pursuits.  
• A writing sample: Submit an academic writing sample (e.g., a seminar paper or a critical essay). 
• International applicants must submit a TOEFL score of at least 80 on the internet-based test.  Scores must be less than two years old. See the  Graduate Catalog  for additional information regarding English proficiency requirements for international applicants.  
• Each application is considered holistically on its individual merits. You must submit all supporting documents before the Graduate Admissions Committee can review your application. 
• The Graduate Record Examination is not required. 

Deadline:  The application deadline is January 15. All applications completed by the deadline will be reviewed for admission. Applications submitted or completed after January 15 may be reviewed for admission only if spaces remain within the upcoming cohort and will be reviewed in order by the date the application file became complete.

Contact Information

Literature Graduate Programs Email: [email protected]

Dr. Charles Hatfield Associate Professor and Program Head Phone: 972-883-2780 Email: [email protected]

Graduate Advising Kelly Erb Phone: 972-883-6167 Email: [email protected]

Graduate Admissions Phone: 972-883-6176 Email: [email protected] Request Bass School Graduate Program Information

Harry W. Bass Jr. School of Arts, Humanities, and Technology The University of Texas at Dallas, JO31 800 W. Campbell Road Richardson, TX 75080-3021

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The Graduate Program in Philosophy

Graduate Degree

Stanford's graduate program in Philosophy is by any measure among the world's best. We attract  excellent students , we provide them ample access to  leading scholars  for instruction and advice, and we turn out accomplished philosophers ready to compete for the best jobs in a very tight job market. We offer both MA and PhD degrees.

Doctoral Program

Masters Program

Our  graduate students  are part of a vigorous philosophical community.

Our tradition is to treat and regard our graduate students as much like colleagues as like students. Faculty and graduate students participate in workshops, in reading groups, in colloquium discussions and in nearly all department life on an equal basis. The Department covers the cost of graduate student participation in lunches and dinners with visiting speakers. Our graduate students participate in the running of the department. Two graduate students serve as representatives at department meetings, a graduate student serves on the Graduate Studies Committee, and graduate students also serve on faculty hiring committees. Graduate students are essential to our efforts to recruit new graduate students each year.

Graduate students have a lively society of their own, the Hume Society that is responsible for a range of both intellectual and social events.

Graduate students take a mixture of courses and seminars both in our department in other departments. They also regularly take directed reading courses or independent study courses when special needs are not met by scheduled courses or when students are working directly on their dissertations.

Our  calendar  is packed with a range of philosophical events. We have a regular  Colloquia series  with visiting speakers on Friday afternoons. Our Colloquia are followed by receptions for the speakers hosted by the graduate students followed by dinner with the speaker. In addition to the regular colloquia series, every year we host the  Immanuel Kant Lectures . Our graduate students, along with other local graduate students,  organize the  Berkeley/Stanford/Davis Conference  where every year graduate students have the opportunity to present papers to an even larger philosophical community.

Many more informal reading and research groups,  including the Social Ethics and Normative Theory Workshop, the Global Justice and Political Theory Workshop, and the  Logical Methods in the Humanities Workshop , existing within the department and the university and are able to invite speakers from all across the world.

The affiliated  Center for Ethics in Society  hosts many different events including the annual lectures such as   Tanner Lectures in Human Values , the   Wesson Lectures on democratic theory and practice , and the  Arrow Lecture Series on Ethics and Leadership , in addition to a vast range of other  conferences, lectures and workshops  on ethics and political philosophy.

The  Center for the Explanation of Consciousness  (CEC) is a research initiative at  Center for Study of Language and Information  which is devoted to studying materialistic explanations of consciousness. The CEC hosts talks and symposia from a variety of viewpoints exploring the nature of conscious experience. They also sponsor reading groups during the term, led by faculty and graduate students.

PhD Admissions

Dates and Deadline

The online application for 2024 entry is now closed. The  APPLICATION DUE DATE for the entering class of 2025 is TBD. Please check back at the end of Summer 2024 for an update. 

What You Need to Know

• The application, including the statement of purpose, the writing sample, the names of three recommenders, and unofficial transcripts must be submitted  VIA THE WEB.  Late applications will not be accepted.
• The Stanford Application will be available as of late September.
• Do not wait until the last day to submit your application to allow for the possibility for technical difficulties. 
• Please make sure to include an unofficial transcript in your application materials. Official transcripts are not required until an offer of admission is made.  
• The Graduate Record Exam (GRE) is not required.
• Interfolio letters of recommendation may be sent by email to An Nguyen ( antnguyn [at] stanford.edu (antnguyn[at]stanford[dot]edu) ).
• Admissions decisions will take place during the last two weeks of February.
• Applicants will be notified by early March.

The selection of PhD students admitted to the Program in Modern Thought & Literature is based on an individualized, holistic review of each application, including (but not limited to) the applicant’s academic record, the letters of recommendation, the statement of purpose, personal qualities and characteristics, and past accomplishments.

The Program in Modern Thought and Literature recognizes that the Supreme Court issued a ruling in June 2023 about the consideration of certain types of demographic information as part of an admission review. All applications submitted during upcoming application cycles will be reviewed in conformance with that decision.

Application Procedure

The Program in Modern Thought and Literature seeks to admit students who, as individuals, exhibit great intellectual capacity and the intent to carry out innovative interdisciplinary programs of study, and who, as a group, are of diverse backgrounds and interests. Successful applicants show a commitment to literary or cultural studies, but must also be prepared to make their way in their chosen non-literary field or fields. The Program has a commitment to supporting non-traditional and emergent forms of scholarship. We accept students who have just completed their undergraduate degrees and also welcome students who have pursued careers or degrees in other fields.

An application to the Program in Modern Thought and Literature must include the following elements:

Statement of Purpose

• Supplemental section regarding your proposed interdisciplinary project

Writing Sample

• Letters of Recommendation

To apply for admission, please go to Graduate Admissions

To reach Graduate Admissions, please submit a ticket using the help section of your application in the SLATE portal.

Of primary importance, the  statement of purpose  should demonstrate that the applicant’s focus is interdisciplinary and can be effectively pursued at Stanford.  You should suggest a project or two that would provide a sense of how you wish to pursue interdisciplinary study, and why the Program in Modern Thought and Literature is a good fit for you.  Although there is no hard and fast requirement regarding length, the Statement of Purpose should be a concise description of your academic goals,  no longer than 1500 words.

Supplemental section

In addition to the statement of purpose, you will be asked to complete a supplemental section regarding your proposed interdisciplinary project. 

Because they must forge links among disciplines and seek out relevant faculty members from across the university, students in Modern Thought and Literature need to develop their projects earlier than students in more traditional fields. Applicants should also bear in mind that the academic job market is overwhelmingly discipline-focused. Please answer the following questions BRIEFLY (2-3 sentences for each) to indicate that you’ve considered these issues. It’s of course assumed that your project will change and evolve as you study; this is in no way a binding statement of purpose. (*All three questions are required.)

1. What is the central question you intend to pursue?

2. Describe the need for an interdisciplinary approach.

3. Explain the relevance of your project to at least one discipline or field within which you could situate yourself upon completion of your doctoral degree.

Similar issues should be addressed by those not planning to pursue an academic career. Where do you see your project taking you?

Submit a critical or analytic sample of scholarly writing, approximately  7000 words maximum . Although we encourage applicants to choose writing samples that display their interdisciplinary interests, this is not a requirement. Choose a sample that reflects your best scholarly work. The writing sample should not be a sample of creative writing. Applicants may submit two or more shorter samples to a total of about 7000 words, but keep in mind that shorter samples are usually less well suited to demonstrate your research and argumentation skills.

The writing sample and letters of recommendation should again indicate your preparedness for interdisciplinary work, and why your interests would be best served in a program such as ours.

Completed applications must be submitted by the due date above.

Knight-Hennessy Scholars 

Join dozens of  Stanford School of Humanities and Sciences students  who gain valuable leadership skills in a multidisciplinary, multicultural community as  Knight-Hennessy Scholars (KHS). KHS admits up to 100 select applicants each year from across Stanford’s seven graduate schools, and delivers engaging experiences that prepare them to be visionary, courageous, and collaborative leaders ready to address complex global challenges. As a scholar, you join a distinguished cohort, participate in up to three years of leadership programming, and receive full funding for up to three years of your PhD studies at Stanford. Candidates of any country may apply. KHS applicants must have earned their first undergraduate degree within the last seven years, and must apply to both a Stanford graduate program and to KHS. Stanford PhD students may also apply to KHS during their first year of PhD enrollment. If you aspire to be a leader in your field, we invite you to apply. The KHS application deadline is October 11, 2023. Learn more about  KHS admission .

Program Administrator

An Nguyen  (for questions about the application process) E-mail: antnguyn [at] stanford.edu (antnguyn[at]stanford[dot]edu)  

Modern Thought and Literature 450 Jane Stanford Way, Building 460, Room 219 Stanford University Stanford, CA 94305-2022

Only On-Line Applications Will be Accepted

Please note: there is no paper option for applications. All applications must be submitted online. Letters of recommendation should also be submitted online. Modern Thought & Literature will accept letters by mail only in exceptional cases and when absolutely necessary.  Your Statement of Purpose, your Writing Sample, and your Unofficial Transcripts must be uploaded with your online application. 

• University application forms (submitted online)
• A statement of purpose (submitted online)
• Transcripts from every post-secondary institution you have attended for at least one year as a full-time student (submitted online; official transcripts mailed to address below )*
• Three letters of recommendation (although we much prefer that the letters of recommendation will be submitted online, we will accept mailed letters when necessary); recommendation packets sent through Interfolio may be sent via email to An Nguyen ( antnguyn [at] stanford.edu (antnguyn[at]stanford[dot]edu) ).
• A recent (non-fiction) writing sample of approximately 7000 words.  PLEASE NOTE:  The Writing Sample must be submitted online. 
• Fee waivers are available for some applicants. Please visit Graduate Admissions for information on applying for an  Application Fee Waiver
• Application Fee Fee waivers are available for some applicants. Please visit Graduate Admissions for information on applying for an  Application Fee Waiver .
• Funding Package All Ph.D. students admitted to the program receive five years of 12-month financial support which is typically provided as fellowship stipend and tuition. Information about the cost of attendance and funding options are available from  Financial Aid Office . For Incoming Students
• Status Page : Where incoming students can find their matriculation checklist and Graduate Admissions mailing and email address for sending official documents.
• Official Transcripts & Degree Conferral Documents : Complete instructions for sending official documents.
• FAQ : Answers to frequently asked questions on requirements of admission for incoming students.

To access the MTL Applicant Checklist (after you have submitted your application), go to: https://gradadmissions.stanford.edu/applying/starting-your-application

• Check the agreement box and click “start application.”
• At the bottom of the menu on the next screen you’ll find:  Manage Your Account
• Choose “Review Your Activity” and to access the checklist.

Please Note:  Do not be concerned if the checklist indicates that your application is not complete due to missing official scores or official transcripts.

For the review process:

• “Self-reported” scores are acceptable.
• The uploaded “unofficial” transcripts are acceptable.

However, before any formal offer of admission can be made, official scores and official transcripts must be submitted.

Links for international applicants

• Stanford’s assessment of foreign degrees https://gradadmissions.stanford.edu/applying/international-applicants
• Frequently Asked Questions https://gradadmissions.stanford.edu/about/frequently-asked-questions/international-students
• Required Examinations Most international students must take the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language).  Information on the required tests (including information on exemptions from the TOEFL requirement) can be found at: https://gradadmissions.stanford.edu/about/frequently-asked-questions/gre-and-toefl
• Information for international students at Stanford Visit the Bechtel International Center site: https://bechtel.stanford.edu/
• Fee waivers are available for some applicants. Please visit Graduate Admissions for information on applying for an  Application Fee Waiver .

Philosophy and Literature

The Focal Group in Philosophy and Literature brings together scholars and students from eight departments to investigate questions in aesthetics and literary theory, philosophically-inflected literary texts, and the form of philosophical writings. It offers undergraduate major tracks within nine programs, a graduate workshop, and a lecture series.

Please visit the Philosophy and Literature Initiative's website:  http://philit.stanford.edu

Faculty PIs

Joshua Landy

R. Lanier Anderson

Graduate coordinators.

Korinne Hensley

Grant Bartolomé Dowling

William Grant Ray

Past events.

Philosophy + Literature Workshop: Samuel Filby

Johns Hopkins/Stanford Phil + Lit Graduate Student Conference 2024

Philosophy + Literature Workshop: Robert Pippin

Celebrating Natality: Toward A Philosophy of Birth

The Academic Press: A View From the Inside with Jennifer Banks

Philosophy + literature workshop with annabel kim: autofiction as exofiction, philosophy + literature workshop: yi-ping ong.

Philosophy + Literature Workshop with Elaine Auyoung: Epistemic Injustice and the Humanities

Philosophy + Literature Workshop with Nir Evron

Philosophy + literature workshop with manuel vargas: josé vasconcelos and the aesthetic utopia.

Philosophy Ph.D. Program

Approved by Graduate Council and Graduate Division, Nov. 10, 2008. These requirements apply prospectively beginning with those admitted for Fall 2009. Students who entered the program under the old requirements may choose either to continue under that regime or to adopt the requirements below.

The Ph.D. program is designed to provide students with a broad knowledge of the field of philosophy, while giving them opportunities to work intensively on the issues that interest them the most. During the first stage of their graduate education, students meet the Department's course distribution requirements and prepare to take the qualifying examination. This examination assesses the student's strengths in areas chosen by the student in consultation with supervising faculty. After passing the exam, students advance to candidacy and begin writing the Ph.D. thesis. A detailed explanation of the requirements for the Ph.D. in Philosophy follows.

Before Advancing to Candidacy

During the first stage of the program, students are expected to acquire a broad background in philosophy and develop their philosophical abilities by fulfilling the following requirements:

First Year Seminar

A one-semester seminar for first-year graduate students only, conducted by two faculty members, on some central area of philosophy.

Logic Requirement

The Logic Requirement has two components:

• Completion of Philosophy 12A or its equivalent, with a grade of B+ or better.
• Completion of 140A or 140B with a grade of B+ or better. Courses with a comparable formal component including, in most cases, courses in the 140 series may satisfy this requirement, with the approval of the Graduate Advisor.

Both parts of the requirement may be fulfilled by successful completion of equivalent logic courses before arriving at Berkeley. Whether taken at Berkeley or elsewhere, courses taken in fulfillment of the logic requirement do not count towards the eight-course distribution requirement.

Course Distribution Requirement

Before taking the Qualifying Exam the student must complete eight courses at the 100- or 200-level completed with a grade of A- or higher. At least four of the eight courses must be graduate seminars. The eight courses must satisfy the following distribution requirements:

Two of the eight courses must be in the history of philosophy: one in ancient philosophy and one in modern philosophy. The courses may be on any individual philosopher or group of philosophers drawn from the following lists:

• Ancient: Plato, Aristotle
• Modern: Descartes, Hobbes, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, Spinoza, Leibniz, Kant, Hegel

Four of the eight courses must be in the following areas, with at least one course from each area:

• Area 1: Philosophical logic, philosophy of language, philosophy of science, and philosophy of mathematics.
• Area 2: Metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of action
• Area 3: Ethics, political, social and legal philosophy, and aesthetics

A seventh course may be any Philosophy course in the 100 or 200 series except for 100, 195-199, 200, 250, 251 and 299.

An eighth course may be either any Philosophy course as specified above or a course from another Department which has been approved by the Graduate Advisor.

In exceptional cases, students may, at the discretion of the Graduate Advisor, meet one distribution requirement by presenting work done as a graduate student elsewhere: typically a graduate thesis or work done in a graduate-level course. Meeting a distribution requirement in this way will not count as meeting any part of the four-seminar requirement.

Language Requirement

Revised requirement approved April 4, 2022 by Graduate Council, for all graduate students who have not already passed the foreign language requirement.

Before taking the Qualifying Examination, the candidate must pass a departmental examination in a foreign language requiring the translation of 300 words in 90 minutes with the use of a dictionary. The language can be any foreign language containing a significant philosophical literature, provided that a faculty member qualified to administer the examination is available. An examination in an approved language may be waived upon approval of the Graduate Division if native ability in the language can be demonstrated through secondary school or university transcripts. A course sequence of four semesters (or six quarters), whether taken at UC or elsewhere, will be accepted in lieu of the language examination if the sequence was completed within four years of admission to Berkeley and the student earned an average grade of C or better.

The Qualifying Examination

Students should aim to take the qualifying examination by the end of the fifth enrolled semester and they must take it by the end of the sixth enrolled semester.

In order to take the examination the student must have fulfilled the department's course requirements and must have passed the language requirement.

The qualifying examination is administered by a committee of three faculty members from the department and one faculty member of another department. The members of this committee are nominated to the Graduate Division by the Graduate Advisor in consultation with the candidate.

Soon after assembling an examination committee, the candidate should, in consultation with this committee, write a 300-word description and compile a list of readings for each of three proposed topics for examination. Each topic should be centered on a major philosophical problem or question. Together the topics should reflect a balance of breadth and depth, and the Graduate Advisor must approve that they meet these criteria.

A week before the qualifying examination, the candidate should submit an overview essay of 1500-3000 words for each topic, which expands on the initial description. The essay should aim to lay out the central problem or question, to explain its importance, and to evaluate critically the attempts to resolve or answer it, with an eye to forming a view within, or about, the debate.

The qualifying examination itself will be a three-hour oral exam administered by the committee. The candidate's essays are meant to serve as a springboard for discussion in the exam. The purpose of the examination is to test the student's general mastery of philosophy. Students are expected to draw on the information, skills and understanding acquired in their graduate study and to demonstrate sufficient breadth and depth of philosophical comprehension and ability to provide a basis for proceeding toward a Ph.D.

If a student fails the qualifying examination, the examining committee may or may not recommend that a second examination be administered by the same committee. The second examination must be administered no sooner than three months and no later than six months following the first attempt. Failure on the second attempt will result in the student being automatically dismissed from the graduate program. (See Section F2.7 of the Guide to Graduate Policy .)

Students should advance to candidacy as soon as possible and they must do so no later than a year after passing the qualifying examination or the end of their sixth semester in the program, whichever comes first, to maintain satisfactory progress in the program. (An exception to the above policy will be made for those students who, having failed the qualifying exam in their sixth semester, may be granted the possibility to take it a second time in their seventh semester. In the case of a successful retake, the student must advance to candidacy by the end of the seventh semester.)

Before advancement to candidacy the student must constitute a dissertation committee consisting of two faculty members from the department and an outside faculty member from another department.

Prospectus Stage

In the semester after passing the qualifying examination the student must take two individual study courses of 4 units each with the two inside members of his or her dissertation committee for the purpose of preparing a dissertation prospectus.

The dissertation prospectus should be submitted both to the inside members of the committee and to the Graduate Advisor by the end of that semester. It should consist of about fifteen pages and outline plans for the dissertation. Alternatively, the prospectus may consist of parts of a possible chapter of the dissertation together with a short sketch of the dissertation project.

Following submission of the prospectus, the candidate will meet with the inside members of the committee for an informal discussion of the candidate's proposed research.

The Doctoral Completion Fellowship

The Doctoral Completion Fellowship (DCF) is a one-year fellowship available to graduate students who have advanced to candidacy and meet several additional conditions. Students are advised to review the eligibility requirements for the DCF .

Additional Requirements

Each student for the Ph.D. degree is expected to serve as a graduate student instructor for at least two semesters.

Dissertation seminar

Students in the first two years after declaring candidacy must register for the dissertation seminar (Philosophy 295) for at least one semester each year, during which they must present a piece of work in progress, and are expected to attend the seminar all year. (The seminar meets every other week.) All students working on dissertations are encouraged to attend the seminar.

Annual Meetings

At the end of each academic year, there will be a meeting of the student and both co-chairs of his or her dissertation committee to discuss the student’s progress over the year and his or her plans for the following year.

Ph.D. in Literature

General info.

• Faculty working with students: 16
• Students: 26
• Students receiving Financial Aid: 93%
• Part time study available: No
• Application terms: Fall
• Application deadline: November 30

Roberto Dainotto Director of Graduate Studies Program in Literature Duke University Box 90670 Durham, NC  27708-0670

Email: [email protected]

Website:  http://literature.duke.edu/

Program Description

The Graduate Program in Literature (GPL) endeavors to train future scholars in theory and global culture. Originally conceived as a critical expansion of "comparative literature" beyond its founding Eurocentrism and its (near) exclusive focus on literature and language, the GPL hosts a robust range of scholarship and teaching in a variety of areas, ranging from feminist and gender studies to political theory and Marxism, from psychoanalysis to cognitive studies and neuroscience, from philosophy of language and experimental literature to media studies in the digital age, and from global cinema and film theory to visual culture and postcolonial studies. The program defines itself through its diverse investment in theory and is dedicated to understanding literary and cultural history as a complex and evolving exchange between the past and the (future-oriented) present.

The immense geopolitical changes of the last decades have challenged the logic of the traditional disciplines, altered the status of the arts, and interrogated classical aesthetic values. With its broad and open-ended embrace of global cultural objects and processes, the GPL seeks to theorize the cultural upheaval of recent times in all of its contemporary richness.  By questioning the traditional conception of literature as a privileged cultural domain, and of the literary text as an isolatable aesthetic object, the GPL adopts a "post-textualist" approach to culture - including literature - that engages the profusion of diverse modes of production across received boundaries. We encourage our students to explore the connections between theory and innovations in other disciplines - anthropology, psychoanalysis, philosophy, art history, film and media, gender and sexuality studies, religious studies, the history and philosophy of science and technology, law - that share an investment in narrativity, structure, communication, and interpretation.

• Literature: PhD Admissions and Enrollment Statistics
• Literature: PhD Completion Rate Statistics
• Literature: PhD Time to Degree Statistics
• Literature: PhD Career Outcomes Statistics

Application Information

Application Terms Available:  Fall

Application Deadline:  November 30

Graduate School Application Requirements See the Application Instructions page for important details about each Graduate School requirement.

• Transcripts: Unofficial transcripts required with application submission; official transcripts required upon admission
• Letters of Recommendation: 3 Required
• Statement of Purpose: Required
• Résumé: Required
• GRE Scores: GRE General (Optional)
• English Language Exam: TOEFL, IELTS, or Duolingo English Test required* for applicants whose first language is not English *test waiver may apply for some applicants
• GPA: Undergraduate GPA calculated on 4.0 scale required

Department-Specific Application Requirements (submitted through online application)

Writing Sample The submission of a writing sample (limited to 15-25 pages) is required.  It should be an essay (nonfiction), preferably a critical or scholarly essay submitted as an academic requirement in a course related to literary/critical theory broadly understood.  The writing sample should be uploaded in the Departmental Requirements section of the application.

We strongly encourage you to review additional department-specific application guidance from the program to which you are applying: Departmental Application Guidance

List of Graduate School Programs and Degrees

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• Ph.D. Degree

The Graduate Program in Literature is a doctoral program, which means that all students enrolled prepare for the Ph.D. degree. The program does not grant M.A. degrees along the way. The typical time to completion for the doctoral program is 6 full years.

Requirements for the Ph.D.

• 12 Seminars
• 7 Literature Program courses
• At least 5 courses in a teaching field of your choice
• Foreign language proficiency in two languages
• Preliminary Exam
• Chapter Workshop
• Dissertation Defense
• Teaching Assistantship
• Responsible Conduct of Research Training

Additional Course Guidelines

Undergraduate-level Courses - There are no restrictions on the number of undergraduate courses a student may take outside the Literature Program during their graduate career. The approval of the DGS must be sought in such cases, and in any case Graduate School Regulations do not allow courses below the 500 level to count toward the fulfillment of coursework requirements or to be included in a student's GPA calculation.  In general undergraduate courses tend to be limited to relevant language courses.

Independent Studies - Students can take up to three independent studies over the course of their careers. Students have to complete the “Independent Study Notification Form” every time they take an independent study and it must be signed by the DGS. Supplies of these forms are kept in the DGS Assistant’s office.

Inter-institutional Courses - The Registrar requires students to follow a special procedure when they register for courses at other Triangle universities (UNC, NCCU, NCSU). Forms and information are available at the Registrar's Office. You’ll need approval from Lit’s DGS & the professor of the course.

Typical Degree Timeline

What follows is a very general timeline that graduate students in the Program may use as a rough orientation for their six-year course of study. It is not meant to replace the guidance that you should actively seek , for your own specific circumstances and research field(s), from your mentors and advisors.

During the first year, you will familiarize yourself with the department, the university, and the profession at large. The many colloquia and conferences offered at Duke, UNC Chapel Hill, NC Central and NC State, present great opportunities for you to get to know your peers, professors, national and international scholars.

During the second year, you can start presenting your work at conferences in your field(s). You should by now identify your main advisor(s), and begin TAing so as to familiarize yourself with teaching duties. You may also begin to plan for a Certificate in College Teaching.

During the third year, you will complete your preliminary exams and start to work towards your dissertation. Make sure to complete, by the end of this academic year, all the required coursework, including any language requirement related to your specific field. To be competitive in a specific field, you may well need more than one language besides English: please consult with your advisors about this matter.

During the fourth year, your focus will be to complete, if not an entire first draft, at least a good part of your dissertation. This is also a good moment to make your work known in the profession by publishing a part of your dissertation and by presenting some of the other parts at professional conferences. Finally, you should attend the dissertation formatting training sessions offered by the Graduate School (either during the fall or the spring): this is very important, to avoid any last-minute surprises that could jeopardize your entire time-plan for the PhD.

If possible, you should try to finish your dissertation during your fifth year at Duke. You should also keep a presence at professional conferences, and you may also want to consider the possibility of public humanities publications. Finally, this is the year to start applying for jobs.

You should be ready to defend by the end of this year.

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PHD in Philosophy, Literature and the Theory of Criticism (PLC)

Philosophy, literature and the theory of criticism (plc) phd program.

The Philosophy, Literature and the Theory of Criticism (PLC) program crystallizes the department’s longstanding commitment to theory and contemporary thought. In addition to an extensive background in literary history and methods of reading, this track provides students significant preparation in contemporary philosophy and modern theories of language and interpretation. As a site for joint research and inquiry with a focus on the politics of understanding and signification, the PLC group draws on exceptional campus resources to bring literary research into vital interplay with work in such fields as anthropology, psychoanalysis, rhetoric, semiotics, and the visual arts. 

Requirements

An undergraduate specialization in philosophy or literature is desirable but not essential for admission.

For students entering with a BA the minimum course requirements for the PhD are 60 credits. 

During the first year of study, students entering with a BA enroll in a master's level program. At the end of the third semester, students take an MA exam. Information about the MA exam is available in the office of the department or the graduate director. A minimum grade of B+ is required to be admitted to the Ph.D. level.

Students who already hold an MA upon admission take 36 credits to complete their course work. 

All students are required to take COLI 592 (the Proseminar). At the beginning of each semester, students should seek approval for their coursework from the graduate director. In the final semester of coursework, all students take a 5-credit independent study with the committee chair in preparation of the dissertation proposal and comprehensive exams. Information about the comprehensive exams is available in the office of the department or the graduate director. A minimum grade of B+ is required to be admitted to the candidacy (ABD level).

Students are expected to demonstrate proficiency in two languages other than English. The standard proficiency-level evaluations accepted by the Comparative literature Department are used. These represent minimal requirements, and students are advised to develop stronger proficiency in languages essential to their dissertations. Students are expected to have satisfied the language requirements before they take their comprehensive exams. 

All students complete a dissertation, generally within five years upon being admitted to the candidacy. 

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Last Updated: 12/27/21

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Philosophy and Literature

• Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Required Supporting Documents

• Transcripts
• Recommendation Letters
• Academic Statement of Purpose
• Personal History Statement
• Graduate Record Examination (GRE)
• Writing Sample

English Proficiency Requirements

The following English proficiency minimum scores are required by this program for the tests listed below. To view additional English proficiency options accepted by this program and the Graduate School, visit the English Proficiency Requirements page.

TOEFL: Internet-Based Test (IBT): Minimum Overall Required Score: 100 Minimum section requirements:

• Reading: 19
• Listening: 14
• Speaking: 18
• Writing: 18

TOEFL: Essentials: Minimum Overall Required Score: 9 Minimum section requirements:

• Listening: 8
• Speaking: 8

Doctoral Degree Program Requirements

• 3.4 or equivalent (A=4.0)
• Master's Degree Completion

Application Deadlines

• *The first round of admission and funding will begin after January 10. Complete your application by January 10.

Program Contact Information

Additional Information

• Applicants for the special Ph.D. programs in English and Philosophy are required to have a Master's Degree in either English, Philosophy or a foreign language for admission.

Study Postgraduate

Phd in philosophy and literature (2022 entry), find out more about our philosophy and literature phd..

The Philosophy and Literature PhD is a leading course, suiting students who thrive on independent, interdisciplinary study. You will explore a topic in depth as part of an active research community, supervised by experts. Study Philosophy with English or Modern Languages.

Course code

3 October 2022

3-4 years full-time; Up to 7 years part-time

Qualification

University of Warwick

About this research graduate course

Course overview.

The Warwick PhD in Philosophy and Literature is aimed at outstanding students who wish to pursue advanced research and ultimately to become professional researchers in, and/or teachers of, philosophy. The Philosophy and Literature degree is for candidates whose research projects combine philosophical and literary concerns. The combination can be achieved in a number of ways, as aspects of literature can be treated as topics of philosophical inquiry, or a more combined and interdisciplinary approach can be taken.

While many UK philosophy departments possess strength in analytic philosophy or continental philosophy, we are distinctive in having world-leading philosophers from both fields. We also collaborate extensively with academics and practitioners in other subjects including English and other modern European languages.

Teaching and learning

In addition to regular supervisions, in the first year you will also take our core PhD seminar, which engages you with a broad range of philosophical issues beyond your thesis topic that are central to different philosophical traditions.

Additionally, you are expected to attend any relevant postgraduate seminars, including modules on our taught MA programmes.

General entry requirements

Minimum requirements.

A Master’s level degree in Philosophy or a Master’s degree (or equivalent) with a significant Philosophy component; a writing sample of 2,500 words; a strong research proposal.

English language requirements

You can find out more about our English language requirements . This course requires the following:

• IELTS overall score of 7.0, minimum component scores of two at 6.0/6.5 and the rest at 7.0 or above.

International qualifications

We welcome applications from students with other internationally recognised qualifications.

For more information, please visit the international entry requirements page .

Additional requirements

There are no additional entry requirements for this course.

Our research

The department has particular research strengths in:

• Philosophy of Mind and Psychology
• Epistemology
• The Philosophy of Art and Literature
• Moral and Political Philosophy
• 20th Century Continental Philosophy
• Kant and 19th Century Post-Kantian Philosophy

Full details of our research interests are listed on the Philosophy web pages .

You can also read our general University research proposal guidance.

Find a supervisor

Please see our Philosophy 'How to Apply' web page for guidance on completing your application form.

Before completing your application you may wish to make contact with the convenor of the programme to discuss your application.

Tuition fees

Tuition fees are payable for each year of your course at the start of the academic year, or at the start of your course, if later. Academic fees cover the cost of tuition, examinations and registration and some student amenities.

Taught course fees   Research course fees

Fee Status Guidance

We carry out an initial fee status assessment based on the information you provide in your application. Students will be classified as Home or Overseas fee status. Your fee status determines tuition fees, and what financial support and scholarships may be available. If you receive an offer, your fee status will be clearly stated alongside the tuition fee information.

Do you need your fee classification to be reviewed?

If you believe that your fee status has been classified incorrectly, you can complete a fee status assessment questionnaire. Please follow the instructions in your offer information and provide the documents needed to reassess your status.

Find out more about how universities assess fee status

Additional course costs

As well as tuition fees and living expenses, some courses may require you to cover the cost of field trips or costs associated with travel abroad. Information about department specific costs should be considered in conjunction with the more general costs below, such as:

As well as tuition fees and living expenses, some courses may require you to cover the cost of field trips or costs associated with travel abroad.

For departmental specific costs, please see the Modules tab on the course web page for the list of core and optional core modules with hyperlinks to our  Module Catalogue  (please visit the Department’s website if the Module Catalogue hyperlinks are not provided).

Associated costs can be found on the Study tab for each module listed in the Module Catalogue (please note most of the module content applies to 2022/23 year of study). Information about module department specific costs should be considered in conjunction with the more general costs below:

• Core text books
• Printer credits
• Dissertation binding
• Robe hire for your degree ceremony

Scholarships and bursaries

Scholarships and financial support

Find out about the different funding routes available, including; postgraduate loans, scholarships, fee awards and academic department bursaries.

Living costs

Find out more about the cost of living as a postgraduate student at the University of Warwick.

Philosophy at Warwick

Can living morally be too demanding? Could what you see be just an illusion? How do we know what’s going on in other people’s minds?

Explore these questions with our expert teachers and researchers. Learn how to think independently and analytically and take on different points of view. Interact with other subjects, like psychology, law, politics, economics or literature.

Join our open and friendly learning environment and become a confident communicator with the resilience to thrive in the pursuit of your goals.

Find out more about us on our website.

Our Postgraduate courses

• Continental Philosophy (MA)
• Philosophy (MA)
• Philosophy and Literature (PhD)
• Philosophy and the Arts (MA)
• Philosophy (MPhil)
• Philosophy (PhD)

Taught course applications

Here is our checklist on how to apply for taught postgraduate courses at Warwick.

Research course applications

Here is our checklist on how to apply for research postgraduate degrees at the University of Warwick.

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Find out how we process your application.

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Admissions statement

See Warwick’s postgraduate admissions policy.

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Ask questions and engage with Warwick.

Postgraduate Open Day

Postgraduate fairs.

Throughout the year we attend exhibitions and fairs online and in the UK. These events give you the chance to learn about our Master's and PhD study routes, and the wider context of postgraduate study.

Find out more

Every week, you can connect directly with representatives from Warwick, who will be answering your questions on applying to and studying postgraduate studies at Warwick.

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Departmental events

Some academic departments hold events for specific postgraduate programmes, these are fantastic opportunities to learn more about Warwick and your chosen department and course.

See our online departmental events

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Learn more about Postgraduate study at the University of Warwick.

Why Warwick

Discover why Warwick is one of the best universities in the UK and renowned globally.

6th in the UK (The Guardian University Guide 2022) Link opens in a new window

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About the information on this page

This information is applicable for 2022 entry. Given the interval between the publication of courses and enrolment, some of the information may change. It is important to check our website before you apply. Please read our terms and conditions to find out more.

Philosophy and Literature

Garry L. Hagberg, Bard College

Journal Details

Submissions:.

Articles should be submitted as email attachments. Please include a 100-word abstract (required for articles only; instructions below).                Address submissions to: [email protected]                Submissions may be emailed in any bibliographical, footnoting, or end-noting style or format; if accepted, we will ask you to bring your article into conformity with the Style Guide below.

We welcome submissions in these categories:

• Articles of between 6000 and 8000 words;
• shorter pieces for our Notes and Fragments section column of between 1500 and 4000 words;
• Critical Discussions (review essays) of approximately 3000-4500 words;
• Book Reviews of approximately 800-1200 words;
• Creative Directions , which we have published at lengths between one page and 7000 words;
• Lines of Thought, multiple-book review essays, assessing an intellectual trend or development, of 4000-5500 words; and
• Coda articles of any length up to 6500 words, discussing a broad cultural issue.

In the subject line of your submission, please include the category of submission, with your last name placed first, e.g., “Werthamer, Article submission,” or “Hagberg, Notes and Fragments submission,” etc. All submissions of any length go through editorial review.

In addition, the editor will on occasion bring articles together into either Symposia , a set of four or five articles that speak to each other on a given topic or author, or In Focus columns, with two or three articles on a specific and narrowly defined topic.

PLEASE NOTE: Address all correspondence concerning Philosophy and Literature to [email protected] only : using other email addresses at Bard College or Johns Hopkins University Press will only complicate and delay matters. We receive an extraordinary number of submissions and emails from around the world, and we try to reply as quickly as humanly possible. Patience is a virtue—one that we particularly appreciate. If a delay is longer than what you regard as reasonable, please resend your email.

Style Guide

PLEASE NOTE AGAIN: This Style Guide is relevant ONLY for ACCEPTED submissions; you are welcome to submit your piece in any format.  

Philosophy and Literature follows the specifications of the most recent edition of the Chicago Manual of Style. Authors who are unable to locate this valuable book should carefully study the bibliographic style of previous issues of the journal. Among the most important aspects to note: The journal uses endnotes rather than footnotes, and does not use Works Cited lists.

We urge authors to cooperate in careful manuscript preparation and adherence to this guide and the Chicago Manual . Such assistance will expedite the appearance of your manuscript.

***********

Your abstract: some friendly advice . We like to see abstracts, of 100 words or fewer , with submitted papers (though some sections of P&L do not include abstracts). Please give us an abstract that entices, or intrigues, or even exerts a special conceptual magnetism. We want an abstract that people will read and think of your article, “I simply cannot go on without reading this!”

(1) Quotation . Please check and double check all quotations. In general, avoid very long block quotations; readers come to your article because they want to know what you have to say. Never begin an article with a quotation of longer than one sentence. Quotations of up to seven lines in typescript should be run in as part of the main text. Quotations of more than seven lines should be set as block quotations.

(2) References . Where the same book is to be referred to more than once in your article, use an endnote for the first citation (with all relevant bibliographic information, including principal city of publication). Subsequent citations should appear in the text in a shortened form, using either the name of the author or (preferably) an abbreviated form of the book title. Here is an example, complete with references to two books by the same author.

1. E. D. Hirsch Jr., Validity in Interpretation (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1967); hereafter abbreviated VI .

2. Richard E. Palmer, Hermeneutics (Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1969), p. 60.

3. One should also consult Jesse Kalin, “John Barth and Moral Nihilism,” Philosophy and Literature 1 (1977): 170–82.

4. One of the most interesting criticisms of Hirsch is that of Monroe Beardsley in The Possibility of Criticism (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1970), esp. pp. 24–31. Joseph Margolis criticizes Beardsley’s ideas in “Robust Relativism,” Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 35 (1976): 37–46; hereafter abbreviated “RR.”

5. E. D. Hirsch Jr., The Aims of Interpretation (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1976); hereafter abbreviated AI .

And here is how the references appear in the main text:

He calls this “the only practical norm for a cognitive discipline of interpretation” ( AI , p. 7). Again, “the object of interpretation is no automatic given, but a task that the interpreter sets himself” ( VI , p. 25). For Margolis, on the other hand, “a relativistic conception of interpretation . . . may well be required” (“RR,” p. 44).

When only a single book is being discussed in your text, the bibliographic endnote should say “hereafter cited by page number,” and used thus in the text:

Critical modes are treated “not as positions to be defended but as locations or openings to be explored” (p. 339). Whatever you do, don’t rule your opponent out of the community (p. 28); follow Booth in his “simple effort to be a good citizen in the republic of criticism” (p. 34).

Be careful that the quotation “is followed by the page number in parentheses before the period” (pp. 23–24), except following a block quotation, where the period precedes the citation. Don’t pepper your page with numbers: if you have many separate quotations from a one- or two-page stretch of text, a single reference at the end of the paragraph will suffice. When citing the same book multiple times in a single paragraph, use the shortened form in the first reference, then page number only for subsequent references in that paragraph.

(3) Bibliographic style . Again, the aim is simplicity and clarity, consistent with Chicago style. Avoid “ibid.” and never use “op. cit.” or “loc. cit.” Here are some examples of bibliographic citations:

Single-author book .

6. Northrop Frye, Anatomy of Criticism (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1957), pp. 115–28.

Translated book . Note volume number in arabic, not roman, numerals:

7. Umberto Cassuto, A Commentary on the Book of Genesis , vol. 1, trans. Israel Abrahams (Jerusalem: Hebrew University, 1961), p. 69.

8. Letter to Witold Hulewicz, the Polish translator of Duino Elegies , November 13, 1925.  R. M. Rilke, Briefe (Wiesbaden: Insel, 1950), p. 480 (my translation).

9. Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness , trans. Hazel Barnes (New York: Philosophical Library, 1966), p. 42.

10. Ludwig Wittgenstein, Zettel , ed. G. E. M. Anscombe and G. H. von Wright, trans. G. E. M. Anscombe (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1967).

Same article in journal and book . Note that journal references use a colon before page numbers; books use “pp.”:

11. For an excellent discussion of this ode, see C. P. Segal, “Sophocles’s Praise of Man and the Conflicts of the Antigone ,” Arion 3 (1964): 46–66; reprinted in Sophocles: A Collection of Critical Essays , ed. T. Woodard (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1966), pp. 62–85.

Mixed references with one author . Note again use of colon and “pp.”:

12. See W. T. Jones, “Philosophical Disagreements and World View,” Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association 43 (1969–70): 461–83; “World Views: Their Nature and Their Function,” Current Anthropology 13, no. 1 (Feb. 1972): 79–109; “Talking about Art and Primitive Society,” in The Study of Primitive Art , ed. A. Forge (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1973), pp. 256–77; “World Views and Asian Medical Systems,” in Towards a Comparative Study of Asian Medical Systems , ed. C. Leslie (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1976), pp. 383–404.

Reference to a daily or monthly . Use date of issue instead of standard journal citation:

13. Since I developed this interpretation of Descartes’s work I have read Frances Yates’s review of Brian P. Copenhaver’s Symphorien Champier in the New York Review of Books (Nov. 22, 1979).

(4) Reference to a webpage . We request that authors only cite URLs when absolutely necessary, since URLs can change. An adequate solution is simply to say that an article already identified and quoted is on the internet. Readers can then go and find it for themselves.

(5) Miscellaneous matters.

Section headings within the text are simple roman numerals (I, II, III), not titles. We trust you will make your point without needing spotlights.

Wherever possible, avoid passive subject/verb phrases such as “there were” or “it is.” The sentence in (4) above holds more immediacy by stating, “An adequate solution is simply to say. . .” than “It should be enough simply to say. . .”

The editors have noticed the increasing misuse of “cf.” “Cf.” stands for “confer,” and it means “compare with.” It is never italicized. Do not use “cf.” when you mean “see also.” “See” and “see also” are perfectly acceptable. We also do not use “ff.”; please indicate full range of page references.

All commas and periods “fall within quotation marks.” The only exception is where a page reference is given “at the end of the sentence” (pp. 463–64). (Note en-dash instead of hyphen in page citation.)

When you cite an article or a book for the first time in a numbered endnote, do not supply only partial information about the source, even if you repeat some of what is already given in the main text. Provide complete information, including author’s full name and the work’s full title, in the citation’s first endnote appearance. In other words, we do not want a reference to Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn to take the reader to an endnote that reads: “17. (New York: Harcourt Brace, 1958), pp. 132–33.” Give all the normal information about author and title in the note.

Avert the need to place a capital or lower-case letter in brackets. “[T]edious, academic bracket-mongering must be avoided!” A way around such nonsense is almost always available, as for example quoting in mid-sentence the editor proclaiming that “tedious, academic bracket-mongering must be avoided!” Rarely in the history of this journal have we been driven to this pedantic fussiness—and in those cases only because we didn’t have the original source material to accurately recast the quotation ourselves.

Also, please note that Chicago Manual of Style allows for insertion of capital or lower-case letters in quotations if warranted in the context.

If possible, avoid references to current political or other fleeting contemporary events that would tend to date your article in a way that might obscure its broader relevance and longer-range significance.

Provide English translations of all but the most obvious quotations in foreign languages; of course, cite the source, and if the translations are your own, please say so.

Finally—and a matter definitive of the spirit of this journal: jargon . The natural home for jargon is the natural sciences, where the need for technical language is undisputed. But the farther we move into the humanities, the more does a reliance on jargon become a matter of trying to attain prestige by using big words, or big phrases borrowed from what some regard as a social science. “Mutually interactive dyadic postdictive social interaction processes” can be translated into untortured English as “two people talking to each other.”

Of course, specialized language does have a place in humanistic studies—in the history of grammar, rhetoric, linguistics, and philosophy generally, to name some instances. Where necessary, use it and explain it. In some quarters of literary theory, however, within recent decades the reliance on it became a form of what our much-missed founding editor called intellectual kitsch and, whatever its name, a replacement for hard thinking. Since Philosophy and Literature deals with technical philosophers from Aristotle and Kant to Husserl and Heidegger, we do not “outlaw” jargon as some popular publications might. On the other hand, we do not appreciate where it is used to obscure and mystify. In our opinion, the most erudite, sophisticated, interesting, elegant, and intellectually disciplined writers in humanistic studies find fresh ways to articulate their views in voices that are their own. Conceptual clarity remains central among our ideals.

A remark that the elderly Kant made about jargon is as good today as it was when he wrote it, about 1790: “One doesn’t know whether to laugh harder at the charlatan who spreads all this fog . . . or at the audience which naively imagines the reason it cannot clearly recognize and grasp the masterpiece of insight is that new masses of truth are being hurled at it” ( Critique of Judgment , section 47). Our readers are not the audience to which Kant is referring, and the editors of this journal ask authors to keep this in mind when preparing their final drafts for submission.

The Hopkins Press Journals Ethics and Malpractice Statement can be found at the ethics-and-malpractice  page.

PHL  Peer Review

All submissions are read initially by the editor; some are declined at that stage as inappropriate or unacceptable in their present form. A larger number of submissions move to a second stage of closer and more detailed review by the editor, often but not invariably in consultation with members of the editorial board or, in some cases, other experts. Following this second-phase consideration, the editor makes the final decision. Intellectual depth, conceptual power and clarity, quality of writing, insightfulness, and sense of serious humane engagement are the only criteria allowed to enter into the consideration of a given submission; no external considerations of stature, academic affiliation, reputation, or of political, social, or religious identity ever come into play. We try to get answers back to authors within approximately four months of the date of submission; while we do send letters in response to all submissions, we regret that we cannot provide readers’ reports. All authors of accepted pieces are first sent a set of requests by the editor, and following authors’ revisions according to those requests, all pieces of every category are then worked through carefully and in detail with our managing editor in preparation for publication. Our acceptance rate varies depending on the number of submissions, but ranges between 6 percent and 9 percent.

Garry L. Hagberg,  Bard College

Founding Editor

Denis Dutton (1944–2010),  University of Canterbury, New Zealand

Editor Emeritus

Patrick Henry,  Whitman College

Managing Editor

Cynthia Werthamer,  Bard College

Editorial Advisory Board

Garry L. Hagberg, Bard College (ex officio), Chair   Cynthia Werthamer, Bard College (ex officio), Vice Chair

Robert Alter, University of California, Berkeley    Eva T. H. Brann, St. John’s College, Annapolis    Anthony J. Cascardi, University of California, Berkeley    Nancy Easterlin, University of New Orleans    Richard Eldridge, Swarthmore College    Kathleen M. Higgins, University of Texas    Walter Jost, University of Virginia    Deborah Knight, Queen's University, Canada    Joshua Landy, Stanford University  ​   Ray Monk, University of Southampton    Alexander Nehamas, Princeton University    Alex Neill, University of Southampton    Martha Nussbaum, University of Chicago    Thomas Pavel,  University of Chicago ​   Marjorie Perloff, Stanford University    Steven Pinker, Harvard University    Gerald Prince, University of Pennsylvania    Martin Puchner, Harvard University   Wang Ning,  Tsinghua University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University    

Journal editor Garry Hagberg has joined JHUP for both a video and a podcast about the journal's importance in the field. 

Send books for review to: Prof. Garry Hagberg Bard College Annandale-on-Hudson, NY 12504-5000

Email:  [email protected]

Please send book review copies to the contact above. Review copies received by the Johns Hopkins University Press office will be discarded.

Abstracting & Indexing Databases

• Arts & Humanities Citation Index
• Current Contents
• Web of Science
• Dietrich's Index Philosophicus
• IBZ - Internationale Bibliographie der Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaftlichen Zeitschriftenliteratur
• Internationale Bibliographie der Rezensionen Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaftlicher Literatur
• Academic Search Alumni Edition, 4/1/2005-
• Academic Search Complete, 4/1/2005-
• Academic Search Elite, 4/1/2005-
• Academic Search Premier, 4/1/2005-
• Current Abstracts, 4/1/2005-
• Humanities International Complete, 4/1/2005-
• Humanities International Index, 4/1/2005-
• Humanities Source, 4/1/2005-
• Humanities Source Ultimate, 4/1/2005-
• International Bibliography of Theatre & Dance with Full Text, 4/1/2005-
• MLA International Bibliography (Modern Language Association)
• Poetry & Short Story Reference Center, 4/1/2005-
• Russian Academy of Sciences Bibliographies
• The Philosopher's Index
• TOC Premier (Table of Contents), 4/1/2005-
• Scopus, 2002-
• Book Review Index Plus
• ArticleFirst, vol.14, no.1, 1990-vol.34, no.2, 2010
• Electronic Collections Online, vol.19, no.1, 1995-vol.34, no.2, 2010
• Periodical Abstracts, v.24, n.1, 2000-v.34, n.1, 2010
• Repertoire Bibliographique de la Philosophie (Online)
• Personal Alert (E-mail)
• Art, Design & Architecture Collection, 04/01/1996-
• Arts & Humanities Database, 04/01/1996-
• Arts Premium Collection, 4/1/1996-
• Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts (Online), Selective
• Literary Journals Index Full Text
• Periodicals Index Online
• Philosophy Collection, 04/01/1996-
• Professional ProQuest Central, 04/01/1996-
• ProQuest 5000, 04/01/1996-
• ProQuest 5000 International, 04/01/1996-
• ProQuest Central, 04/01/1996-
• Religion Database, 04/01/1996-
• Research Library, 04/01/1996-
• The Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature (ABELL)

Abstracting & Indexing Sources

• Children's Book Review Index   (Active)  (Print)
• Abstracts of English Studies   (Ceased)  (Print)
• Index to Book Reviews in the Humanities   (Ceased)  (Print)
• Literary Criticism Register   (Ceased)  (Print)
• MLA Abstracts of Articles in Scholarly Journals   (Ceased)  (Print)
• Social Planning - Policy & Development Abstracts   (Ceased)  (Print)

Source: Ulrichsweb Global Serials Directory.

0.2 (2022) 0.1 (Five-Year Impact Factor) 0.00021 (Eigenfactor™ Score) Rank in Category (by Journal Impact Factor): 19 of 53 journals, in “Literary Theory & Criticism” 53 of 204 journals, in “Literature”

© Clarivate Analytics 2023

Published twice a year, in April and October; each issue is approximately 250 pages. 

Readers include: literature scholars, teachers, and students; academics throughout the humanities and the arts; philosophy scholars, teachers, and students; and general readers.

Print circulation is 131. 

Online circulation is extensive.

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Arts & Letters Daily

eTOC (Electronic Table of Contents) alerts can be delivered to your inbox when this or any Hopkins Press journal is published via your ProjectMUSE MyMUSE account. Visit the eTOC instructions page for detailed instructions on setting up your MyMUSE account and alerts.  

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Hopkins Press Journals

Gateway Course

"philosophy and literature" .

(CLASSICS 42, COMPLIT 181, ENGLISH 81, FRENCH 181, GERMAN 181, ILAC 181, ITALIAN 181, PHIL 81, SLAVIC 181)

What, if anything, does reading literature do for our lives? What can literature offer that other forms of writing cannot? Can fictions teach us anything? Can they make people more moral? Why do we take pleasure in tragic stories?

This course introduces students to major problems at the intersection of philosophy and literature. Team-taught by one philosophy and one literature professor, it addresses key questions about the value of literature, philosophical puzzles about the nature of literary language, and the surprising uses of literary style in philosophical texts.

Readings span literature, film, and philosophical theories of art. Authors may include Sophocles, Dickinson, Toni Morrison, Proust, Woolf, Walton, Nietzsche, and Sartre. Students master close reading techniques and philosophical analysis, and write papers combining the two. See sample past syllabus below.

See the schedule on ExploreCourses

Sample Past Syllabus

Here is a sample syllabus from a previous year. (The syllabus changes year to year, so please do not assume that a given text will be on the reading in a given year.)

Description

An introduction to the some of the most intriguing and illuminating points of intersection between philosophy and literature, with specific attention to the function(s) of literature and to the function(s) of literary form in certain philosophical writings. We will raise the following questions: Why would a writer whose aims are philosophical produce anything other than a treatise? Why would a writer whose aims are literary make use of philosophical ideas, motifs, and vocabulary? What, in general, can literary forms achieve that non-literary forms cannot? What is (or can be, or should be) the effect of imaginative literature? Should we think of it as conveying (special kinds of) truth; transmitting idiosyncratic visions; inventing glorious lies; or simply setting up useful make-believe scenarios? Is it a storehouse of philosophical examples, of phenomenological data? Or is it instead a formal model for ways of living one’s life? And can literature improve its readers morally? Or does its function precisely depend on a refusal to offer clear positions and adopt definitive stances? We will explore three general kinds of connection between philosophy and literature:

• philosophy on literature: philosophical approaches to the understanding of literary texts (issues of truth, authorship, selfhood);
• philosophy in literature : literary texts that explicitly invoke philosophical problems or approaches, particularly those belonging to the ethical domain;
• philosophy as literature : problems raised by certain philosophical texts whose proper use requires careful attention to their form.

Texts to order

• Sophocles, Oedipus The King
• Plato, Gorgias
• Milan Kundera, Ignorance
• Toni Morrison,  A Mercy
• (All other readings are on Canvas.)

Films we'll screen

• “Adaptation” (w. Charlie Kaufman, d. Spike Jonze, 2002, 114 min)
• “Get Out” (w. & d. Jordan Peele, 2017, 104 mins)
• “Vertigo” (w. Alec Coppel/Samuel Taylor, d. Alfred Hitchcock, 1958, 128 min)  

Monday: Introduction: What is Literature For? Wednesday: Literature as Truth, Literature as Lies Literature : Sophocles, Oedipus The King ;                   Lydia Davis, “New Year’s Resolution” Philosophy : Plato, Republic X, 595a-608b;                   Arthur Schopenhauer, The World as Will and Representation vol. I, section 51;                   vol II, section 37, p. 450; two-page introduction. (Suggested: vol. I, sec. 34)

Monday: Literature as Good  Lies Philosophy : Friedrich Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy §7, §24, §25;                     Beyond Good and Evil §24;                     The Gay Science §54, §78, §107, §290, §299, §344;                     The Will to Power §853.                    (Suggested: Beyond Good and Evil §4) Literature : Sophocles, Oedipus The King Wednesday: Literature as Expression (Metaphor) Literature : Marcel Proust, The Steeples at Martinville [excerpt from Swann’s Way ];                  Kay Ryan, “Intention”;                  Charles Baudelaire, “The Swan” Theory: Marcel Proust, The Septet of Vinteuil [excerpt from The Captive ] Wednesday, 7p.m.: Screening: “Adaptation” (w. Charlie Kaufman, d. Spike Jonze, 2002, 114 min)

Monday: Literature as Expression: An Objection [“Death of the Author”]  Theory: Michel Foucault, “What is an Author?” [read for the general idea]              Roland Barthes, “The Death of the Author” [read for amusement]              Alexander Nehamas, “The Postulated Author” [read carefully]              Virginia Woolf, Incandescence [excerpt from A Room Of One’s Own ] Literature/Film: Jorge Luis Borges, “Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote”;              Charlie Kaufman, “Adaptation” Wednesday: Literature as Emotion-Generator Literature/Film: Charlie Kaufman, “Adaptation”;                          Rita Dove, “Five Elephants”;                          Philip Larkin, “Aubade”;                          Charles Johnson, “Moving Pictures”;                          Toni Morrison,  A Mercy  (pp. 3-35) Theory: William Wordsworth, Preface to Lyrical Ballads , paragraphs 5-8, 15, 26;              Leo Tolstoy, What is Art , pp. 50-51

Friday, 5 p.m.: close reading / argument reconstruction due.

Monday: Literature as Catalyst (Metaphor II) Literature: Emily Dickinson, “I dwell in possibility…”;                  Wallace Stevens, “Man and Bottle”;                  Louise Glück, “Ithaca”;                  Ernest Hemingway, “Hills Like White Elephants”;                  Lydia Davis, “Away from Home";                  Toni Morrison, A Mercy (pp. 36-42) Philosophy: Max Black, “Metaphor”                     Donald Davidson, “What Metaphors Mean” [difficult] Tuesday, 7pm: Screening: “Get Out” (w. & d. Jordan Peele, 2017, 104 mins) Wednesday: Literature as Make-Believe Philosophy: Kendall Walton, “Fearing Fictions” Literature/Film: Jordan Peele, “Get Out”; Toni Morrison,  A Mercy  (pp. 43-66)

Monday: Literature as Make-Believe (II) Literature: Toni Morrison,  A Mercy  (pp. 67-100) Philosophy: Kendall Walton,  Mimesis as Make-Believe , Ch. 1, esp. pp. 11-16, 21-43, 51-4                    (recommended further reading: pp. 57-69) Wednesday: Literature as Simulation Philosophy: Gregory Currie, “The Moral Psychology of Fiction”  Literature: Toni Morrison,  A Mercy  (pp. 101-115) Friday, 5 p.m.: First Paper Due  

Monday: Literature as Imagination Literature: Toni Morrison,  A Mercy  (pp. 116-134) Philosophy: Richard Moran, “The Expression of Feeling in Imagination” Tuesday, 7pm: Screening: “Vertigo” (w. Alec Coppel/Samuel Taylor, d. Alfred Hitchcock, 1958, 128 min) Wednesday: Literature as Edification Philosophy: Martha Nussbaum, “‘Finely Aware and Richly Responsible’: Literature and the Moral Imagination” Literature/Film: Toni Morrison,  A Mercy  (finish the novel: pp. 135-167);                         Coppel/Taylor/Hitchcock, “Vertigo”  

Monday:  Literature as Clarification Literature/Film: Coppel/Taylor/Hitchcock, “Vertigo”;                  Lydia Davis, “The Old Dictionary”;                  Geoffrey Chaucer: “The Nun’s Priest’s Tale” Theory: Joshua Landy, “Chaucer: Ambiguity and Ethics” Wednesday: Literature as a Way of Life: Life as a (True) Story Philosophy: Alasdair MacIntyre, “The Virtues, the Unity of a Human Life and the Concept of a Tradition”;                     Michel Foucault, “On the Genealogy of Ethics” (pp. 348-51; pp. 340-43 also recommended) Literature: Jean-Paul Sartre,  Nausea  (excerpts)

Monday: Literature as a Way of Life: Life as a (Tall) Story Literature: Samuel Beckett,  Krapp’s Last Tape Philosophy: R. Lanier Anderson, “Nietzsche on Truth, Illusion, and Redemption,” esp. pp. 185-7, 196-212;                     Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science §34, §54, §78, §110, §290, §307, §335, §341, §354 Wednesday: Literature as a Way of Life: Life as a Poem/Portrait Philosophy: Michel de Montaigne, “To the Reader”; “Of Giving the Lie”; “Of the Art of Discussion” Literature: Shakespeare, Sonnet 35  

Monday: Literature as Personal Trainer: Formative Fictions Philosophy/Literature: Plato,  Gorgias Wednesday: Literature as Personal Trainer: Formative Fictions (II) Philosophy/Literature: Plato,  Gorgias  

Monday: Literary Philosophy and Philosophical Literature (I) Literary Philosophy: Michel de Montaigne, “Of Repentance” Philosophical Literature: Milan Kundera,  Ignorance Wednesday: Literary Philosophy and Philosophical Literature (II) Philosophical Literature: Milan Kundera,  Ignorance Literary Philosophy: Michel de Montaigne, “Of Repentance”  

Friday, 5 p.m.: Second Paper Due