Overview of Undergraduate Program
The Philosophy Department offers a major and minor in philosophy. Qualified majors in philosophy have the further option of entering the honors program. Details on the requirements for a major, minor and honors in philosophy follow.
Major in Philosophy
The course requirements for completing a major in philosophy are structured to ensure that student gets a broad education in philosophy. At least twelve (12) courses must be completed in total, fulfilling the distribution requirements detailed in the table below. For more information about the undergraduate major in philosophy, including advising sources within the Department and UC Berkeley, see the Frequently Asked Questions page.
| Course Requirements for Philosophy Majors | ||
|---|---|---|
| Course Area | Course Numbers | Course Offered |
Logic | 12A | [every semester] |
Ancient Survey | 25A | [every fall] |
Modern Survey | 25B | [every spring] |
Methods | 100 or equivalent | [every semester] |
Ethics (1) | One from 104, 105, 107, 115 | [1 or more per year] |
History (2) | One
from each group: | [1 or more per semester] |
Epistemology/ |
Two courses from different groups: |
[1 or more per semester] |
Electives (3) | Three additional upper division philosophy courses |
|
One of the above 12 courses may be taken P/NP. One elective may be a course offered in another department, provided the course is approved by the Undergraduate Advisor. H195, 198, and 199 do not count as electives. | ||
[PDF checklist of major requirements]
Undergraduate Honors
The Honors Program is for undergraduate majors who want to work more intensively and independently on a subject that they have studied in the course of their undergraduate studies. Admission into the Honors Program requires:
- the consent of the Undergraduate Faculty Advisor
- an overall grade-point average of at least 3.5, and
- a grade-point average of 3.7 or higher in the major
The requirements of the honors program are:
- completion of a graduate seminar in the Department of Philosophy, and
- completion of an honors thesis
Admission into a seminar is by consent of the instructor only. To write an honors thesis, students must secure the agreement of a department faculty member to supervise the work. Work on the thesis is done under the rubric of Philosophy H195. Completing the honors program requirements is necessary but not sufficient for receiving departmental honors. Honors are awarded by the department faculty based on the quality of the senior thesis and the student's overall record.
Students interested in applying for honors should download and fill out a Petition for Honors.
Minor in Philosophy
To minor in philosophy, students must take six courses meeting the following distribution requirements:
| Course Requirements for Philosophy Minors | ||
|---|---|---|
| Course Type | Course Area | Course Numbers |
Lower Division | History |
25A or 25B |
Upper Division | Ethics (1) | 104 or 105 or 107 or 115 |
Epistemology/Metaphysics (1) |
122 or 125 or 131 or 132 or 133 or 135 |
|
Electives (3) | Three additional upper division philosophy course. |
|
Of the five required upper-division courses, at least three must be taken at Berkeley. All six required courses must be taken for a letter grade. Students must maintain a minimum GPA of 2.0 in all six required courses and also in all five required upper-division courses. |
||
When you have completed the requirements for the minor, you should submit a Petition for Confirmation of Minor Program Completion for Undergraduates. You can download the petition from Letters and Science Advising. For more detailed information about declaring the minor, please see the Frequently Asked Questions.