FAQ - Studying Philosophy

29th of July 2009, last update: 14th of February 2019

Even though this is a very basic question, it is completely understandable that you are asking this at the beginning of your studies. The answer is pretty clear: Yes, there are certain requirements which you have to fulfill. You cannot do whatever you like!

In order to complete your BA successfully, you have to reach a certain number of ECTS points in your major as well as your minor: If you are studying philosophy in your major, you have to reach 120 ECTS points; if you choose it as a minor, you have to reach 60 ECTS points. Depending on the type of course, there are more or less ECTS required to complete the coursework successfully. For example, a lecture is usually worth 3 ECTS points, whereas a proseminar usually is worth 6 ECTS points. Furthermore, you must be aware that you cannot choose courses, however you please. For every philosophy study program there are specific requirements which are stated in the appendix of the „philosophy study plan“.

You might find your study plan a bit confusing at the beginning. However, don’t worry too much, over time, you will become more familiar with it, and it is not a problem that you don’t understand all of the formulated regulations yet. As a first step, it might be useful to have a look at the study plan modules, which you can find in the appendix of the study plan. At the top, you can see a list of all the possible courses that you have to attend throughout your studies. Right below, you find a chart which indicates how you could organize your studies in the usual time-frame. However, please note that this table is only a suggestion and you are free to attend these courses in a different order.

In the appendix of the study plan, you will find subject-related requirements. For example, it states how many courses you have to attend in theoretical philosophy or philosophy of mind. The requirements refer to the abbreviations “th”, “wp”, “pg”, “pr” and “pp”, which often appear next to the course title (th= theoretical philosophy, wp = philosophy of science, pg = philosophy of mind, pr = practical philosophy, and pp = political, legal and economic philosophy PLEP).

Let us finish with some encouraging advice: Even though there are quite many requirements which you have to consider throughout your studies, please do not forget that besides all the requirements, programs and modules, the most important aspect in your studies is that it is about philosophy. Especially at the beginning of your studies, it is almost impossible to choose the wrong coursework. Instead, you should try enjoy the many interesting topics that you will possibly encounter in this field of study.

6th of July 2009, last update: 14th of February 2019

In principle, you are free to participate in any course from the BA study curriculum. There is no defined order to follow in regard to attendance. Nevertheless, there are courses which are recommended to be attended at the beginning of your studies, such as lectures as well as introductory courses.

Lectures are the least demanding of all course-types. In regard to lectures, your tasks are usually limited to regular participation, attentive listening as well as taking notes, which in the best-case scenario will still be useful to you many years later. During the first semester, it might be particularly advisable to attend the lectures “fundamental problems of practical philosophy” or “fundamental problems of theoretical philosophy”. These two lectures are commonly associated with most philosophy syllabi.

Why it is advisable to attend introductory courses at the beginning, is already given away by the name of the course-type – its purpose consist of offering an introduction to a topic, and this is what you need at the beginning of your studies. There is no introductory course which offers an introduction to philosophy overall – that would be too much content for a single lecture. Therefore, most of the introductory courses target one subdiscipline of philosophy and consequently are entitled “epistemology”, “ethics”, “action theory”, “philosophy of science”, “metaphysics” or “philosophy of mind”. Each of these introductory courses is designed in a way that study beginners can complete them, and there are no topics in these courses, which are more interesting or relevant than others. In contrast to lectures, introduction courses are more demanding. Students receive weekly reading tasks and have to discuss with other participants of the courses; furthermore, the requirements of the course assessments can be more extensive. For example, it is possible that students have to write a paper at the end of the term.

A particularity is the introductory course in logic. Most philosophy syllabi consider this as a mandatory course, and it is recommendable to attend it at the beginning of one’s studies. The course is offered each spring semester.

All of the elaborations above shouldn’t give off the impression that you cannot also attend another type of course during your first semester, such as a proseminar. Proseminars discuss more specific questions or engage with particular philosophical texts and often require more pre-understanding than introductory courses. It is nevertheless possible to participate in a proseminar right at the beginning of your studies, in particular when you have a special interest in the topic that is treated in the proseminar. Sometimes it can be useful to overwhelm yourself, and in principle, proseminars can also be completed by study beginners.

Lastly, if you still feel unsure whether you fulfill the requirements of the study plan after one or two semesters, you can always seek advice from the study counselor.

24th of August 2010, last update: 14th of February 2019

Both, in the BA Minor as well as in the BA Major, the according study plan refers to the task of having to complete a written paper. Through this written task, students should demonstrate that they are capable of independently engaging with a philosophical topic. The goal consists of composing a written paper about a topic which is independent from any of the previously attended courses. The topic can be freely chosen by the student. Furthermore, students can also freely choose the supervising lecturer from the whole pool of institute members.

The first step to fulfill the requirement of the “written paper” consists of choosing a topic which one would like to engage in in a written format. The topic should match the required scope of the paper, which exists of the usual length of a paper in the context of a proseminar (10 – 15 pages). Examples of a poorly chosen topic would be “Kant’s practical philosophy” or “the concept of knowledge”. Such topics cannot be treated in any meaningful way in the limited scope of 10 -15 pages. A suitable topic according to the required length could be topics such as “the second formulation of the categorical imperative of Kant” or “the Gettier cases and their relevance for the classical definition of knowledge”. Once you have composed a topic and researched some relevant literature, you should find a lecturer of the philosophy institute. The quality of the supervision depends on your ability to describe your plan clearly. It will be difficult for a supervisor to offer you help if you come to the consultation and describe your endeavor with phrases such as “I would like to do something in practical philosophy… there is a book of a US-philosopher, who has a first name which is called something like John…” In the best-case scenario, you even prepare a small essay (sometimes a paragraph is enough) where you mention your main idea, the question you are interested in and the relevant literature with complete information. There are no official fix dates to hand in your written paper. It is up to the student to decide when to write the paper, and the closing date will be individually set with the supervising lecturer, who is also solely responsible for grading the paper.

The paper can be written during any phase of the studies, although it is advised to write the paper in the second half of one’s studies (In the case of a major it could be even useful to write the paper shortly before starting one’s Bachelor thesis as preparation task).

The requirement that the topic of the paper cannot overlap with one of the topics which have been discussed in the context of an attended course, has to be interpreted with caution. For example, if one has attended an introductory course in epistemology, this doesn’t imply that one cannot write the written paper about a topic in epistemology; you only have to choose a topic which hasn’t been extensively treated throughout the course and choose new texts to read. In the end, the supervisor has the final say about the matter.

29th of June 2009, last update: 14th of February 2019

No, neither for BA studies nor for MA studies there is a requirement for Latin skills. In exceptional cases, a lecturer might make the knowledge of Latin or Greek a requirement for attending his or her particular course – in that case, you wouldn’t be able to participate in the course. But as already said, such courses are the exception. Nonetheless, Latin and Greek are important languages in philosophy as many great works have been written in these languages. Hence, if you feel eager and have time, it cannot harm to attend the appropriate language class in another institute. If you study philosophy as your BA Major, you can even accredit such language courses in the context of your electives. But once again: This is not at all mandatory.

25th of June 2009, last update: 14th of February 2019

It depends on the interpretation of “attend”. One can think of three different options:

(1) You are interested in a topic of the MA study plan, and you would like to participate in the meetings of the course passively.
In that case, you have to consider that the level of MA courses is higher than the level of the BA courses, and therefore, it might be more advisable to stick to the BA courses, in particular at the beginning of your studies. However, passive participation is a possibility if there is a strong interest, but this case should stay an exception. If you have such an exceptional case, you must contact the according lecturer before the start of the course (per Email or consultation-hour) and ask the lecturer about the possibility of your participation (where appropriate, also elaborate on the reason for your attendance of a the MA course).

(2) You are an advanced student and plan to continue with a MA program after the completion of your BA studies. For example, you are currently busy with the composition of your BA thesis and have some time to additionally participate in a MA course which you would like to accredit for your later MA studies.
This is possible. If you desire to do so, you have to register for the according course on KSL. The ECTS points for this course will be added to the column “preliminary master accomplishments” together with the corresponding grade, and you can transfer the credits for this course to your MA credits once you have finished your BA degree and registered for your MA studies. Also, in this case it is advisable to consult with the lecturer before of the course starts.

(3) You are interested in the topic of a MA course, and you would like to participate in this course to accredit it in the context of your BA studies.
This is not possible at all. Even though the ECTS points of the MA degree have the same name as the ECTS points of the BA degree, MA ECTS credits cannot be accumulated and used for the BA degree. That would be comparable to paying with Swiss francs in New York.