Graduate Program in Political Philosophy
This program is offered jointly by the Departments of Philosophy and Political Science. It is administered by an interdepartmental committee whose members are:
Anna Stilz, Department of Political Science
Niko Kolodny, Department of Philosophy
Daniel Viehoff, Department of Philosophy
Other Affiliated Faculty
Mark Bevir, Department of Political Science
Johann Frick, Department of Philosophy
Kinch Hoekstra, Department of Political Science
Christopher Kutz, Berkeley Law School (also affiliated with Philosophy and Political Science)
Véronique Munoz-Dardé, Department of Philosophy
Hans Sluga, Department of Philosophy
Sarah Song, Berkeley Law School, (also affiliated with Philosophy and Political Science)
R. Jay Wallace, Department of Philosophy
The program is designed to produce scholars with broad and deep expertise in philosophy, political theory, and political science. Philosophical or theoretical work on political issues is often enriched by knowledge of current social science, and vice versa. The program will provide the training and specialist knowledge required to undertake scholarly research and teaching in both fields.
Students should apply for admission to either of the participating departments in accordance with their qualifications and interests. They will be treated as regular graduate students in either the Department of Philosophy or the Department of Political Science. The program will offer graduate students in Political Science an opportunity to receive credit for the full range of courses in political philosophy offered at UC-Berkeley, and to be co-advised by faculty who work in contemporary political philosophy but are officially appointed outside the Political Science department.
Students from the two departments will meet each other regularly through the Kadish Workshop in Law, Philosophy, and Political Theory; the Political Theory Workshop; and the Philosophy Colloquium, which all students are encouraged to attend. We also plan to facilitate an annual joint conference with students and faculty in the program.
Political Science Students
Political Science students in the program will fulfill the standard requirements for the first two years of coursework in political science. Students must take at least three courses in political philosophy, including at least one taught in the Philosophy department. Students should discuss their course selections with the Political Theory subfield coordinator, who must approve them. By the end of the third year, students in the program must pass a Preliminary Examination on three different fields of political theory; one of these fields must be Political Philosophy. Students’ dissertations may be co-chaired by faculty in the Philosophy department. (Philosophy faculty who co-chair dissertations in Political Science will receive the same credit toward teaching relief that they would for co-chairing dissertations in Philosophy.)