The Comprehensive Examinations normally begin two Wednesdays before Commencement and, normally, the examinations are finished and results are announced by the following Wednesday.

The Comprehensive Exams are designed to test knowledge of the history of philosophy from Plato to Gadamer. Students are expected to know the particulars if not the details of what is stated in the texts of authors in that history. That is, students are expected to know what is said, who says it, in what context, in response to what questions, to what effect, and so on. Students are also expected to interpret what is said in those texts, to say what it means to say such things in such a context in response to such questions. And students are expected to evaluate these texts critically, to say whether and why the argument is persuasive or not, whether and why it responds adequately or not to the questions raised and to the context of these questions, whether and what other philosophers have contributed relevantly to this issue or your evaluation of the issue.

The exam is given in two parts.

• A written part given in two four and one half hour sessions on two non-consecutive days. The written part is divided into Ancient, Medieval, Modern, and Post-Hegelian sections. On day one, students are tested on Ancient and Post-Hegelian Philosophy, on day two, Medieval and Modern Philosophy. Students must answer four questions each day including at least one question from each author selected.
• An oral part lasting approximately one hour given in the week after the completion of the written part.  The oral exam consists of a clarification and expansion on the answers given in the written exam. In addition, it is expected that students participate in an active dialogue in the oral exam that demonstrates a depth of knowledge about the texts and the issues in question.

Requests for substitutions and a complete list of selections from the official list of texts must be submitted to the Graduate Director no later than December 1 of the academic year.

Students are allowed just one substitution from the official list of texts. This substitutions must be approved by the Graduate Committee. Lists will be approved at a meeting of the Graduate Committee in December.

Students may choose to compose their exam on computer. The Graduate Program supports IBM compatible software and will make computers with Word 2003 or higher available for students taking the exam. Students may choose to use their own portable computer. Students who choose to use other software or an Apple computer and software, will have to provide their own equipment, arrange their own set-up, and produce both an IBM compatible disc and a hard copy of their exam at the end of the testing session. Portable computers can typically be rented from local vendors for about $100-150 per week.

Official List of Texts for the Comprehensive Examination

DAY ONE – Students must answer one question on each of four different authors

ANCIENT – Students must choose either Plato or Aristotle. They may choose both.

• Plato Republic and two other dialogues
• Aristotle Metaphysics or Physics and Nicomachean Ethics or Politics

Students who do not choose both Plato AND Aristotle must select one of the following:

• Kiekegaard Fear and Trembling
• Marx The German Ideology (part I)
• Nietzsche On the Genealogy of Morals

POST-HEGEL – Students must choose Husserl or Heidegger. They may choose both.

• Husserl Cartesian Meditations
• Heidegger Being and Time

Students who do not choose both Husserl AND Heidegger must select one of the following:

• Sartre Being and Nothingness
• Merleau-Ponty The Phenomenology of Perception
• Gadamer Truth and Method

DAY TWO - Students must answer one question on each of four different authors

MEDIEVAL – Students must choose Augustine or Aquinas. They may choose both.

• Augustine Confessions and two other texts
• Aquinas Summa Theologiae I: 1-3, 5-7, 11-13, 75-87; II: 49-55, 90-97

MODERN – Students must choose Kant or Hegel. They may choose both.

• Kant The Critique of Pure Reason
• Hegel The Phenomenology of Spirit

Students who do not choose both Augustine and Aquinas must select one of the following:

• Descartes Meditations on First Philosophy
• Spinoza Ethics
• Hume Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding

Students who do not choose both Kant and Hegel must select one of the following:

• Hobbes The Leviathan
• Locke Second Treatise on Government
• Rousseau Social Contract