PhD in Philosophy online

What are some of the best, cheapest, accredited institutions with online options to get in PhD in? I was going to the union institute and university but my loans have run out and I would like to finish my PhD.

 

Thanks...I looked into hmu but I would prefer a better accredited university. I think I looked into Faulkner. I'll look again. And I'll check out Sofia...thanks!!!

 

I don’t know anything about this guy, but St. Joseph’s College in NY is a known entity for the local region and is regionally accredited. And while I do not know if this professor needed the degree for his job, his D.A. from Harrison Middleton is prominently featured on his faculty bio page.

https://www.sjcny.edu/directory/faculty/edgar-daniels

I’d say that’s a “win” for everyone involved?

 

Thank you. I spoke with someone from HMU and had considered it. I would have to come up with $900 initially to even start there..but maybe it would be worth it.

 

There may also be opportunities to complete through British or South African schools. UNISA for example, is very inexpensive if you can navigate the bureaucracy. And a number of schools provide distance-learning Philosophy PhD programs in England: https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/postgraduate/courses/research/phil/philosophy.aspx

 

Notice that this professor has for more than 40 years teaching experience and holds a junior position (Assistant professor). His first degree is from 1970 so this professor must be in his mid 70s. We don't know if this is a tenure track or just a limited term appointment but in any case, it looks like the DA is just an ice on the cake for someone with a life career so we cannot assume that anyone with with this DA can land an assistant professor job.

 

From the ones you propose, I believe this program is the only ranked University (https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/sofia-university). The price is decent but if you live in the US, the Bulgaria degree might be hard to justify so the non ranked school might be safer if you don't want people to keep asking you how was your life in Bulgaria.

 

I have a fairly close acquaintance who is a PhD in Philosophy. He says that tenure track position openings are nearly non-existent and that if a student is foolish enough to pursue such a career, that student must select one of a very few programs to have any hope at all. There are always exceptions of course but cost and convenience cannot be the deciding factors if the student is serious. By the way, I got the same warnings in the '80s.

 

It depends, I know some people with Engineering or Science degrees that complete a PhD in Philosophy of Mind and do well. A PhD in Philosophy can be good for people with background in Science, Education and Psychology. It is a bit like your general PhD such as Leadership. Some faculty positions just need a general PhD, you can argue that you completed Philosophy of Education and just go for an education job.

 

Ah. The old "degree with an explanation" problem.

Not all PhDs are hard to sell. STEM related degrees and I gather certain business degrees do pretty well. A PhD or DBA in accounting would probably sell pretty well.

 

We discussed this before, but a school with no ranking (e.g. Harrison) might be better than a school with ranking (E.g. Sofia) if you are planning to use it in the US.

However, we don't know where the OP lives.

 

One of the things that bothers me about HMU's D.A. "Great Books" program is that there's no foreign language requirement. Inevitably any graduate study in the liberal arts will entail reading in translation. I understand that. But to have no exposure to reading in original languages means that the student will not have personal experience with the process of translation itself. I do not know whether other PhD programs in the liberal arts require study in original languages but I think they should. Even at the undergrad level I had to read the more basic writings of a few modern German thinkers. I was by no means able to render a good translation on my own but I did begin to understand that a translation can say as much about the translator as about the author. Language itself informs political and philosophical thought.

 

That's a hard sell. General PhDs work best in fields where they're increasing the required education for professors, but there's limited availability of PhD programs in the field at the moment. For example, I had a security studies professor who had a PhD in leadership. The safety field has a similar situation, but they'll just hire someone with a master's in safety plus certification or a PhD in chemistry or industrial hygiene. Before PhD programs in criminal justice were common, they would hire people with PhDs in another social science (mostly sociology) or a JD.

Someone with a PhD in philosophy could possibly teach philosophy of science, but someone with a PhD in a science will be required for other courses. There is no shortage of people with science or psychology PhDs looking for tenure-track positions. There's definitely no shortage of Ed.Ds.

 

Better stick with accounting!

 

Sadly, there is no shortage of anything nowadays. My sister completed a PhD in Medical Research from a top school and never got a tenure track. I believe that if you are willing to move and settle in a different country or small city, then you might be able to find something with an online or DL PhD. Some people just get the PhD to boost an existing consulting or they are looking for an administration job. The PhD in Philosophy from Sofia might score well for someone looking to be an admissions administrator or a research officer at a University, basically anywhere where the general PhD might work.

Yes, it is a long shoot but everything is a long shoot nowadays. In Canada, the University of Toronto that is the number 1 school reports that only 40% of the PhD graduates get a tenure track job somewhere (including international gigs). The average Canadian school is probably under 20%.

 

There's still a good job market for business administration, accounting, computer science, and engineering. If schools are paying $100k+ to associate and assistant professors, then it's probably due to a shortage of doctoral degree holders who want to be in academia.

I was looking at openings for one HBCU. Chemistry professors were being offered a minimum of $50k, non-quantitative business professors were being offered $80k, and accounting and finance professors were being offered six figures.