Overview of Undergraduate Program
The Philosophy Department offers a major and minor in philosophy, as well as a minor in logic. Qualified majors in philosophy have the further option of entering the honors program. Details on the requirements for a major in philosophy, minor in philosophy, minor in logic, and honors in philosophy follow, as well as information on domain emphases in philosophical foundations available within the Data Sciences Major.
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.
We recommend that majors and prospective majors consult the statement of learning goals that has been developed in connection with the Undergraduate Student Learning Initiative.
| Course Area | Course Numbers | Course Offered |
|---|---|---|
| Logic | 12A (or W12A) | [every semester and summer] |
| Ancient Survey | 25A | [every fall and summer] |
| Modern Survey | 25B | [every spring and summer] |
| Methods | 100 or equivalent | [every semester] |
| Ethics (1) | One from 104, 107, 108, 114, 115 | [1 or more per year] |
| History (2) | One from 160–178 One from 18, 19, 153, 155, 156A, 160–188 |
[1 or more per semester] |
| Epistemology/ Metaphysics (2) |
Two courses from different groups: Group A: 122 Group B: 125 Group C: 132, 136 Group D: 133, 134, 135 |
[1 or more per semester] |
| Electives (3) | Three additional philosophy courses, two of them upper-division, and one either upper- or lower-division |
- One of the above 12 courses may be taken P/NP.
- One elective may be a course offered in another department, provided the course appears on our list of eligible outside electives, or 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.
Interested students should seek admission to the Honors Program a year before their expected graduation (typically, the end of spring of their junior year). Admission into the Honors Program requires:
- the agreement of a faculty member to supervise an honors thesis
- the consent of the Undergraduate Faculty Advisor
- an overall grade-point average of at least 3.50,
- a grade-point average of 3.70 or higher in the major, and
- completion of the Petition for Honors.
The requirements of the honors program are:
- PHILOS H195 (Tutorial), taken with the thesis supervisor, in the student’s second-to-last semester
- PHILOS H196 (Senior Seminar), or, if H196 is not offered, then either PHILOS 190 (Proseminar) or (with consent of the instructor) PHILOS 290 (Graduate Seminar)
- an honors thesis, around 35–45 pages, due about a month before the end of the student’s last semester.
Students admitted to the Honors Program should begin work on the thesis as soon as they are admitted to honors. So, typically, they should start their research over summer before senior year. Note that H195 does not count toward the twelve required for the major. However, H196, 190, and 290 do count toward the required twelve, as upper-division electives.
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. See the FAQs for answers to further questions about Honors, such as
- Does honors help for admission to graduate school?
- If I start the honors program, will I be awarded honors?
- How much time does the honors program take?
Minor in Philosophy
To minor in philosophy, students must take six courses meeting the following distribution requirements:
| Course Type | Course Area | Course Numbers |
|---|---|---|
| Lower Division (1 total) |
History | 25A or 25B |
|
Upper Division (5 total) |
Ethics (1) | One of 104, 107, 108, 114, 115 |
| Epistemology/Metaphysics (1) | One of 122, 125, 132–136 | |
| Electives (3) | Three additional upper division philosophy courses. |
- 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 Completion of L&S Minor form, which you can download from Letters and Science Advising. For more detailed information about declaring the minor, please see the Frequently Asked Questions.
Minor in Logic
The Logic Minor at Berkeley consists of three core courses in symbolic logic, which may be pursued in parallel tracks within Philosophy or Mathematics, plus a choice of three upper division electives from a list of courses across Philosophy, Mathematics, Linguistics, and Computer Science.
| Course Area | Course Numbers |
|---|---|
| Introductory (1) | PHILOS 12A or W12A (Introduction to Logic) or MATH 55 (Discrete Mathematics) or equivalent. Please note: students who wish to count a different course as “equivalent” to PHILOS 12A or MATH 55 must submit a petition to the Logic Minor Committee. |
| Mathematical Logic (1) | PHILOS 140A (Intermediate Logic) or MATH 125A (Mathematical Logic). |
| Computability and Logic (1) | PHILOS 140B (Intermediate Logic) or MATH 136 (Incompleteness and Undecidability). Please note: MATH 125A and MATH 136 may have additional prerequisites, determined by the instructor. Note, for planning purposes, that PHILOS 140B and PHILOS 140A are typically offered in alternate years. |
| Electives (3) |
At least two of these electives must be at the undergraduate level (unless an exception is granted by petition to the Logic Minor Committee). Note also that undergraduate enrollment in graduate seminars requires the consent of the instructor. Students may optionally fulfill (at most) one of their electives with a course on related formal methods and reasoning, or other courses approved by petition:
|
Please note that at most one upper-division course may be used to satisfy requirements both for the Logic Minor and your major (see the Guidelines for Minors Offered by the College of Letters & Science).
When you have completed the requirements for the minor, you should submit a Completion of L&S Minor form, which you can download from Letters and Science Advising. For more detailed information about declaring the minor, please see the Frequently Asked Questions.
Domain Emphases in the Data Science Major
Students in the Data Science Major may pursue a domain emphasis in Philosophical Foundations, along either of two tracks:
These domain emphases require taking one lower division and two upper division courses from lists of eligible courses, including many from our department. See the web page for Domain Emphases in the Data Science Major for more details.