MA in Practical Philosophy & Applied Ethics
Graduate Certificate in Applied Ethics

Admission & Contacts

The Philosophy Department admits graduate students for the MA in Practical Philosophy & Applied Ethics each Fall semester. Students for the Graduate Certificate in Applied Ethics are admitted both Fall and Spring. MA students who need additional background in philosophy may be admitted for the Spring semester (details see below).

The department offers several Graduate Teaching Assistantships. The GTA positions will be compensated with a stipend as well as a substantial tuition remission. In addition, the Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Florida Center for Ethics, Public Policy in the Professions at UNF provides a student with a year-long Ethics Center Fellowship.

For information concerning application, requirements, and details of the Masters Program and the Graduate Certificate, please contact Prof. Andrew Buchwalter, Graduate Studies Coordinator, at abuchwal@unf.edu

To be placed on our graduate mailing list, please write to Gayle Stillson, Department of Philosophy Office Manager: gstillso@unf.edu, or call her at 904 620-1330.

The graduate program seeks to foster application of ethical and philosophical knowledge to concerns in social, political, economic, and cultural life. The primary objective is to offer practically oriented but philosophically grounded expertise in ethics and normative theory generally. The program leads to two distinct ends: an MA or a Graduate Certificate in Applied Ethics.

The MA provides training in cultural understanding, ethical decision-making, and analytic reasoning needed to address the dilemmas that increasingly confront present and future professionals, policy makers, and citizens generally. It is designed to ensure that its graduates have a command of the basic disciplines of philosophy as well as a specialized knowledge of their applications in medicine, business, education, law or other areas of public life. Accordingly, the curriculum includes both core courses basic to a solid foundation in philosophy and specialized courses in practical philosophy and applied ethics.

Two options are offered for meeting the MA requirements. The thesis option, recommended for students wishing to pursue a teaching career, further graduate study, or specific training in the articulation of applied philosophy, requires 24 credit hours of core and specialized courses plus 9 hours of thesis writing and supervision, and defense of the thesis. The internship option offers an opportunity for immediate work in public life and requires 27 credit hours of courses in addition to the actual hours of internship work and a written report, together counting for 6 credit hours.

The Graduate Certificate in Applied Ethics is designed for professionals and policy makers who wish to develop an expertise in ethics that is directly relevant to their working environments. It will provide a valuable credential to those who, for example, serve on ethics committees and compliance boards or seek advanced ethics training to meet licensure requirement.

Year One: 18 credit hours
While students entering the program are not required to have a BA in philosophy, they are expected to have completed at least one undergraduate course in each of the following areas: upper-level logic, history of philosophy, and theoretical philosophy. Entering students who have not met this requirement will be expected to take courses in these areas before starting their MA graduate courses, which will involve up to nine credit hours of additional course work.

Graduate Coursework for the MA includes:

Two proseminar courses (6 credit hours, required)
• PHI 6937 Proseminar in Practical Philosophy in Culture and Society
• PHI 6938 Proseminar in Methods in Applied Ethics

Three core courses (9 credit hours))

One course in ethical theory:
• PHI 5605 Ethics (3 credit hours, required)

One course in applied ethical issues (3 credit hours)
• PHI 5627 Ethics of Sex andGender
• PHI 5628 Business Ethics
• PHI 5634 Bioethics
• PHI 5668 Ethics East and West
• PHI 5675 Moral Conflict
• PHI 5691 Environmental Ethics
• PHI 5886 Ethics and Literature
• PHI 6125 Ancient Greek Ethics
• PHI 6907 Directed Indep Study
• PHM 5056 Death and DyingPhilosophy of Terrorism

One course in practical philosophy (3 credit hours):
• PHI 5808 Aesthetics
• PHI 6405 Philosophy of Science
• PHI 6425 Philosophy of Social Science
• PHI 6458 Philosophy of Psychiatry
• PHI 6907 Directed Indep Study
• PHM 5105 Social Philosophy
• PHM 5305 Political Philosophy
• PHM 5365 Philosophy of Democracy
• PHM 5405 Philosophy of Law
• PHM 6345 Contemporary Political Philosophy
• PHP 5764 Pragmatism

An elective in a graduate-level course (3 credit hours)
PHH PHI PHM PHP

Year Two: 15 credit hours

Thesis option: 9 thesis credit hours (PHI 6971) plus 6 credit hours in graduate-level courses, including specialized graduate courses

Internship option: 6 credit hours of internship (PHI 6942) plus 9 credit hours in graduate-level courses, including specialized graduate courses

Specialized Graduate Courses (PHI 5934 or PHI 6936) include (offerings vary)
• Special Topics in Ancient Ethics
• Educational Ethics
• Intercultural Philosophy
• Issues in Biomedical Ethics
• Issues in Business Ethics
• Mental Health Ethics
• Normative Rationality
• Philosophy of Culture
• Philosophy of Globalization

Four courses
One course in ethical theory:
• PHI 5605 Ethics

One proseminar course:
• PHI 6938 Methods in Applied Ethics

Two of the following:
• PHI 5627 Ethics of Sex and Gender
• PHI 5628 Business Ethics
• PHI 5691 Environmental Ethics
• PHI 6937 Proseminar: Pratical Philosophy in Culture & Society
• Educational Ethics
• Engineering Ethics
• Information Technology Ethics
• Issues in Biomedical Ethics
• Issues in Business Ethics
• Media Ethics
• Professional Ethics

Application

Applicants must satisfy both the general requirements for graduate study at the University of North Florida and the specific requirements of the Department of Philosophy.

Graduate Admission Requirements:
In order to be eligible for admission to a graduate program at UNF, students must have a bachelor's degree from a regionally accredited college or university (or an international equivalent) and scores from the Graduate Record Exam (general test). Students with an earned graduate or professional degree from an appropriately accredited institution may have the Graduate Record Exam requirement waived.

Students must have either

• a GPA of 3.0 or higher for the last two years (60 semester hours) of undergraduate course work, or
• a combined score of 1000 on the verbal and quantitative sections of the GRE.

(in the case of a previous MA degree, this requirement is waived)

Application Checklist for Graduate Degree-Seeking Students
The items listed here should be sent directly to The Graduate School at the address listed below. Unless otherwise noted, all items must be received by The Graduate School by the deadline for the intended term.

• Students must submit an application for admission by the posted deadline. Applications are available from The Graduate School and online at www.unf.edu.

• A non-refundable $30 application fee is required of all degree-seeking students. Applications received without the application fee will not be processed until the fee is paid. Former UNF degree-seeking students have already paid the fee and are not required to pay it a second time. Non-degree (certificate only) students are not required to pay the application fee.

• Students must submit official GRE scores and official transcripts from each college and / or university attended.

International Student Admission Requirements:
In addition to the items listed here, international students must provide a course-by-course transcript evaluation from a NACES-member evaluation service (please see the current members at www.naces.org). Students from countries where English is not the official/native language must demonstrate proficiency in English. One method of demonstrating proficiency in English is to score 500 on the TOEFL (173 CBT). Additional information regarding international student requirements may be found online at www.unf.edu/dept/intlctr.

After the application, application fee, and all of the credentials are received, students' files are referred to the Department of Philosophy for review and decision. Please note that without the program specific requirements (see below), the files will not be acted upon. The program specific requirements should be sent directly to the Department of Philosophy.

Admission Requirements for the MA in Practical Philosophy and Applied Ethics:
Applicants must submit

• a letter of application, including a statement of career goals and areas of interest;

• three letters of reference;

• a writing sample (10 - 15 pages)

Students transferring from other graduate programs may be awarded up to six credit hours of graduate study, subject to departmental review. Applicants need not have any prior degree in philosophy. Students without a BA in philosophy may be asked, depending on their background in philosophical training, to take up to three (9 credit hours) courses in general philosophy, including but not limited to theoretical philosophy, history of philosophy, and logical theory.

Admission Requirements for the Graduate Certificate in Applied Ethics:
Students seeking the Graduate Certificate in Applied Ethics must submit the following items by the appropriate deadline to The Graduate School at the address listed below.

• Students must submit an application for admission by the posted deadline. Applications are available from The Graduate School (contact see below) and online at www.unf.edu.

• Non-degree (Certificate only) students are not required to pay an application fee, but if/when a non-degree seeking student converts to a degree-seeking status, the application fee will be assessed.

• A letter of application, including a statement of areas of interest;

• A baccalaureate or equivalent degree -- Students must submit official transcripts from each college and / or university attended.

Application Deadline for the MA in Practical Philosophy & Applied Ethics

• For the Fall term: March 1 of the same year

(special circumstances will allow acceptance and processing of applications until June 1)

No application deadline for the Graduate Certificate in Applied Ethics

How to Reach Us

Dr. Andrew Buchwalter
Graduate Studies Coordinator
Associate Professor
Department of Philosophy
University of North Florida
Jacksonville, FL 32224
904-620-1330
abuchwal@unf.edu

(see also: http://www.unf.edu/coas/philosophy)

The Graduate School
University of North Florida
Jacksonville, FL 32224
(904) 620-1360
FAX: (904) 620-1362
E-mail: GraduateStudies@unf.edu
http://www.unf.edu/graduatestudies

Andrew Buchwalter, Ph.D. (Boston University),Graduate Studies Coordinator Social and Political Philosophy, Philosophy of Law, Globalization Theory

Daniel Callcut, Ph.D. (Johns Hopkins University), Ethical Theory, Applied Ethics, Social and Political Philosophy, and Philosophy of Psychiatry

David E. W. Fenner, Ph.D. (University of Miami), Aesthetics, Environmental Ethics, Educational Ethics

Jennifer Fisher, Ph.D. (City University of New York), Epistemology, Metaphysics, Philosophy of Science

Mitchell Haney, Ph.D. (University of Memphis), Theoretical Ethics, Applied Ethics, Epistemology, Philosophy of Mind

A. David Kline, Ph.D. (University of Wisconsin), Ethics and Biotechnology, Philosophy of Science, Educational Ethics

Hans-Herbert Kögler, Dr.phil. (University of Frankfurt), Department Chair , Philosophy of Culture, Social and Political Theory, Philosophy of Language, Hermeneutics and Philosophy of Social Science

John C. Maraldo, Dr.phil. (University of Munich), Comparative Philosophy and Comparative Ethics, Phenomenology, Intercultural Philosophy

Alissa Hurwitz Swota, Ph.D. (University at Albany, State University of New York), Biomedical Ethics, Clinical Ethics, Philosophy and Law

Rico Vitz,. Ph.D., University of California/Riverside. Specialties include Early Modern Philosophy, Moral Psychology, and Ethics.

Ellen Wagner, Ph.D. (University of Colorado), Plato, Ancient Philosophy, Philosophy of MindApplication