PhD Comprehensive Examination Reading List

About the Reading List

Students are required to take a PhD Comprehensive examination in the history of philosophy. For further full citations and advice on preparing for the examinations, please consult faculty members who teach in the relevant areas.

These reading lists will be the basis for the PhD Comprehensive Examinations. The new format and reading list went into effect for the exam in Fall 2019.

Exam Format

The exam will have four sections by historical period. There will not be separate sections for different topics. Students will answer five questions, at least one from each section.

The instructions for the exam will be: Answer FIVE questions, one from each of the four sections below (A, B, C, and D), and one more from any of the sections (i.e., A, B, C, or D). The exam is three and a half hours.

 

Reading List

A. ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY

  • Plato:
    • Euthyphro
    • Meno, 70A-86B
    • Phaedo
    • Symposium, 201D-212C
    • Republic, II. 357A-369B; IV. 427D-444E; V. 473B-480A; VI. 502C-VII. 521B
    • Parmenides, 127B-135C
  • Aristotle:
    • Categories, Ch. 1-5
    • Nicomachean Ethics, I-III.5; X. 6-8
    • Physics, I. 7-8; II. 1-3, 7-9
    • De Anima, I. 1; II. 1-5, 12
    • Metaphysics, I [Alpha]. 1-2; IV [Gamma]. 1-3; VII [Zeta]. 1-6, 13-17

B. 17TH & 18TH CENTURIES

  • Thomas Hobbes: Leviathan, XIII-XXI

  • René Descartes: Meditations on First Philosophy; 4th Set of Objections and Replies (Arnauld); 5th Set of Objections & Replies (Gassendi)

  • John Locke:
    • Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Bk. I, 1,2,3 (secs. 1-14), 4 (sec. 1); Bk. II, 1 (secs. 1-25), 2-9, 11-13, 17 (secs. 1-5), 22-26, 27 (secs. 1-29); Bk. III,1, 2, 4, 5; Bk. IV, 1, 2, 3 (secs. 1-27), 4-6, 8-11, 12 (secs. 9-15), 14-16, 17 (secs. 23-24), 18, 19
    • 2nd Treatise of Government
  • George Berkeley: Principles of Human Knowledge, Pt. I
  • Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz: Monadology

C. HUME & KANT

  • David Hume:
    • A Treatise of Human Nature, I.iv. 6, II.iii.3, III.i (entire), III.ii.1-2
    • Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
  • Immanuel Kant:
    • Critique of Pure Reason, A1-16/B1-30, A19-41/B33-58, A50-83/B74-113, A84-94/B116-29, B129-69, A130-62/B169-201, A176-211/B218-56, A218-35/B265-88, A235-60/B294-315, A293-348/B349-406, B406-32, A405-515/B432-544, A517-37/B545-65, A567-602/B595-630, A642-68/B670-96
    • Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, Sections 1-2.

D. 19TH & 20TH CENTURIES

  • Mill: "Utilitarianism"; "On Liberty"

  • Peirce: "Fixation of Belief"; "How to Make our Ideas Clear"

  • Nietzsche: Genealogy of Morals (Treatises I and II)

  • Frege: "On Sense and Nominatum"

  • Bertrand Russell: "On Denoting"

  • Husserl: Idea of Phenomenology, Lectures I, II, & IV

  • AJ Ayer: Language, Truth, and Logic, Ch. 1

  • Rudolf Carnap: "Empiricism, Semantics, and Ontology"

  • WVO Quine: "Two Dogmas of Empiricism"

  • John Rawls: "A Kantian Conception of Equality"; originally published in Cambridge Review 96 (1975), pp.94-99; reprinted in Rawls, Collected Papers, pp.254-266

  • Saul Kripke: Naming and Necessity, Lectures 1 and 2

  • Hilary Putnam: "The Meaning of 'Meaning'"

  • JJC Smart: An Outline of a System of Utilitarian Ethics, Ch. 2, 3, and 6

  • Bernard Williams: A Critique of Utilitarianism, Ch. 3, 4, and 5

  • J.L. Mackie: Ethics: Inventing Right and Wrong, Ch. 1

 

Recommended Translations and Editions

The test is not written or graded assuming any particular translations or editions. Students who already have copies of the texts from courses they've taken before are welcome to use those. For those do not have the text yet, here are some recommendations.

  • Plato: Complete Works, ed. J. Cooper and D.S. Hutchinson (Hackett)
  • Aristotle: The Complete Works, revised Oxford translation [2 vols.], ed. J. Barnes
  • Hobbes: Malcolm (Clarendon) or Curley (Hackett)
  • Descartes: Cottingham, Stoothoff, and Murdoch (Cambridge). This is Volume II of the Philosophical Writings of Descartes, and it is also published in a standalone edition.
  • Locke's Essay: Nidditch (Clarendon)
  • Locke's 2nd Treatise of Government: Macpherson (Hackett)
  • Berkeley: print, Dancy (Oxford). Magnus, electronic edition.
  • Leibniz: Ariew & Garber (Hackett) or Rescher (Pittsburgh Press)
  • Hume's Treatise: Norton/Norton (Oxford)
  • Hume's Enquiry: print, Beauchamp (Oxford). Magnus, electronic edition.
  • Kant's Critique of Pure Reason: Guyer & Wood (Cambridge)
  • Kant's Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals: Gregor & Timmermann (Cambridge)
  • Peirce: The two essays are widely reprinted, including Magnus' electronic edition.