I have been searching the archives but have not found a US-based PhD program in Philosophy that is DL. Is there such an animal? Thanks!
I'm thinking the degree in philosophy would complement my MA in Theological Studies and my future MSc in Astronomy at Swinburne. I hope to teach in the future.
Now, now Stefan, we are very pluralistic here at degreeinfo and can appreciate that different people value different things. We gladly welcome all sorts of inquiries. Right this minute we have on the board a similar inquiry regarding the field of History so we don't need to snipe at the field of Philosophy, do we? It would be nice if all areas of interest were available through online study but that simply is not the case. Stefan might need to brush up on his ettiquette but his post is generally accurate in that there is insufficient interest in such degrees for anu US school to create an online option. The reason? I can only imagine that it is because these types of degrees do not lead to jobs and there are a decreasing number of people who are willing to spend their hard-earned money on degrees that have little or no return on investment. However, there are PhD degrees in the area of Philosophy available from non-US universities. If you'd like I"m sure we could come up with a short list. This will likely involve "the usual suspects" in the Australian and South African university systems.
Kiz - I was investigating, rather unsuccessfully, the Australian option of Charles Sturt (theology/divinity). Any other suggestions re Oz, noting your comment above re SA/Oz options. Thx.
With all due respect, this post seems condescending. My question was legitimate. I have no idea why anyone would want a PhD in philosophy (side note: doesn't the nomenclature seem redundant) beyond the obvious "personal interest." There is almost no job market for philosophy profs, and it certainly isn't going to open doors in industry. The difference with philosophy vs. history is HUGE. Although jobs in the humanities are few and far between, philosophy may be one of the worst. At least with history, usually 6-12 hours of general education courses are required for an undergraduate degree. Also, a steady flow of history majors and social studies education majors creates at least some demand for professors. Philosophy is often not even a general education requirement, and philosophy majors are few.
If you want to teach, don't pursue a PhD in philosophy. It would be a waste of time. You would have a much better job outlook with a PhD in almost any other field. If you want further training in philosophy, you might want to look at an MA program instead.
I'm sorry to add even more negative news, but there is not much of a job market for doctoral degree holders in most fields. University teaching is very difficult to break into these days. I'm not saying that it can't be done, because a few manage to do it, but it's not an easy task. There are a few, low-paid jobs available for adjunct professors, but even those jobs are pursued by large numbers of competitive applicants. Most fields outside of education do not require a doctoral degree.
Not quite. The doctorate in theology can be used in church and parachurch contexts outside of academia. The job market for teaching is also quite slim in theology, but there are options outside of academia as well. Philosophy has no such options. That being said, if anyone wants to teach theology, I would highly recommend that the individual consider the limitations of the job market.
