Graduate Specializations in the Department of Philosophy at Michigan State University

Graduate Specializations

Doctoral Concentration in Philosophy and Ethics of Health Care
Social and Political Thought
Graduate Specialization in Ethics and Development

Doctoral Concentration in Philosophy and Ethics of Health Care

The Concentration

The Department of Philosophy, Michigan State University, in collaboration with the Center for Ethics and Humanities in the Life Sciences, offers a special doctoral concentration in Philosophy and Ethics of Health Care. Besides the usual course work leading to the doctoral degree, the concentration offers special seminars in health care issues; practicum experiences in clinical and policy-making settings; and special opportunities for teaching and research in health care. This concentration is available both to individuals who choose to write a dissertation in this area as well as individuals writing in other areas.

Sponsoring Units

Michigan State University's Department of Philosophy has a large faculty with diverse interests and backgrounds. The curriculum covers the standard areas of western philosophy and offers a wide range of seminars each year. The Department emphasizes teaching, and boasts several faculty who have won University teaching awards. Interdisciplinary interests (besides health care) represented among the faculty include Womens Studies, Cognitive Science, Evolutionary Theory, Philosophy of Science, Agriculture, Cultural Studies, and Sociology. Programs of study are offered at the undergraduate, masters, and doctoral levels.

The Center for Ethics and Humanities in the Life Sciences serves as a teaching, research, and public service unit for the Colleges of Human Medicine, Osteopathic Medicine, Nursing, and Veterinary Medicine, besides its ties to the Colleges of Arts and Letters, Natural Science, Social Science, and Agriculture and Natural Resources. Center faculty team-teach courses with health professionals, and offer medical ethics consultations in local hospitals. The Center serves as the headquarters for the Medical Ethics Resource Network of Michigan, operates the networks ethics computer bulletin board, and publishes the networks bimonthly newsletter. The Center also publishes its Medical Humanities Report three times yearly. (Graduate assistants are involved in all aspects of the Centers operations.)

The Center works closely with the Bioethics, Humanities and Society of the College of Medicine. Besides an undergraduate specialization in Health and Humanities, BHS offers two programs of interest to doctoral students in this concentration. First, the interdisciplinary Masters in Health and Humanities offers a possible route of entry into the doctoral concentration. Students may select two or three fields of interdisciplinary concentration from philosophy/ethics, history, literature, sociology, and anthropology. Second, BHS runs an overseas study program in Ethics and History of Medicine, based in London; concentration students may enroll in this course for doctoral credit.

Michigan State University offers a broad range of academic programs, and with guidance committee approval, students in this concentration may take some of their course work from other departments. Depending upon specific student interests, courses in sociology, anthropology, literature, history, psychology, political science, and economics might be pertinent.

Admissions

Admission to the doctoral program requires degree completion of a masters degree (either in Philosophy, or in an appropriate multidisciplinary program such as described above), with a graduate grade point average of at least 3.0. Students for whom English is not a first language must demonstrate competence upon a standard examination. Admission decisions are made by an Admissions Committee that considers academic record, letters of recommendation, a statement of purpose, a sample of philosophical writing, and any other materials that document capacity for graduate study in philosophy. Admission is usually for the academic year beginning fall semester, though in very special circumstances students may be considered for admission in spring or summer. In order for an applicant to be considered for all types of available financial aid, all application materials should be received by the department no later than December 31. For admission without consideration for financial aid all admission materials should be received no later than March 15, since usually the admissions quota will be filled by early April and applications after that may be denied for lack of places.

General Requirements for the Ph.D.

Earning the Ph.D. requires completion of a minimum of 24 credits at the 400 level or higher, determined by the student's guidance committee. This includes PHL 801 Teaching Philosophy, a seminar requirement, and a distribution requirement. Part of the distribution requirement is a Minor Field requirement that may be interdisciplinary. Course work usually must be completed by the end of the fourth semester. A 3.0 minimum grade point average must be maintained, with no more than 6 credits falling below a 3.0. Grades below 3.0 will not count towards the degree. Students must demonstrate competence in at least one foreign language in which there is a substantial philosophical literature. Those for whom English is not the native language may use their own language for this requirement if it possesses a substantial philosophical literature.

Doctoral students must work closely with their guidance committee to formulate their plan of study. This includes an annual evaluation by the full guidance committee made up of four faculty members and a meeting with the guidance committee chair each semester to discuss the annual evaluation, progress toward the degree, and professional development. The guidance committee will administer the comprehensive examination by the end of the sixth semester.

The purpose of the comprehensive examination is twofold. First, it ensures that doctoral students have mastered the necessary background material in philosophy to begin their own specialized dissertation research. Second, it provides doctoral students with close supervision and advice in the early stages of their dissertation project. To accomplish these related purposes, the comprehensive examination is divided into three steps: 1) the guidance committee determines the format and topic of a paper or written examination over the area in which the student has chosen to write the dissertation -- the format may be, for example, one or more papers or a take-home exam with multiple questions; 2) if the guidance committee approves the paper or the student passes the written exam, then the student will propose a bibliography and prospectus for the dissertation; 3) if the guidance committee approves the bibliography and prospectus, the guidance committee will meet with the student, offer advice on the dissertation, and in consultation with the student set the timetable for writing the dissertation.

Finally, each student must write a dissertation and defend it orally to the satisfaction of the guidance committee.

The comprehensive examination and all course work must be completed by the end of the eighth semester; all requirements for the degree must be completed within sixteen semesters of the time a student first enrolls as a doctoral candidate. Students should consult the MSU Graduate Programs bulletin for University regulations.

Special Courses in Concentration

At least one seminar in a topic related to Philosophy or Ethics of Health Care will be offered each year. Seminars previously taught, and planned to be repeated in coming years, include Medical Epistemology and Philosophy of Medical Science; Justice and Health Policy; and Implications of Medical Ethics for Ethical Theory. A one-semester 4 credit practicum will be divided between a clinical and a policy setting. The clinical practicum will be based on a hospital service or in an outpatient clinic; every effort will be made to match the clinical service to the student's special interests (neonatal, geriatrics, women's health, etc.). The policy practicum will take advantage of Michigan State University's proximity to the state government offices in Lansing to locate students in legislative or regulatory offices dealing with health care issues. Supervising the students will be both on-site preceptors and Philosophy or Center faculty who will offer weekly discussion sessions to explore and analyze the students experiences.

Students in the concentration will ordinarily be expected to complete three of these seminars plus the practicum.

Independent study can also be arranged with faculty associated with the concentration.

Other Activities

Faculty regularly meet informally with students working in this area to provide insights on what it is like to work in this sub-discipline of philosophy. A joint student/faculty journal club in the area provides the opportunity to read and discuss professional writing outside of the classroom setting. A one-credit version of the practicum is available both Fall and Spring semesters -- students need to make their own arrangements with an instructor for this one credit version. Numerous faculty are willing to do independent studies in relevant areas.

Career Opportunities

Interest in health care ethics is growing and career opportunities are expanding into areas not previously considered by Ph.D. graduates in philosophy. Academic appointments are available both in philosophy departments and in medical or nursing schools. Governmental agencies, multihospital corporations, and large medical centers are increasingly adding ethics consultants to their staffs. A few health care ethicists have even established private consulting firms. Career and employment counseling can be readily obtained as students progress through the doctoral concentration.

Financial Assistance

Support is provided primarily in the form of graduate assistantships. In 2002-2003 graduate assistants received at least $11,260 for a half-time assistantship, waiver of nine credit hours of tuition each term, health insurance coverage, and waiver of out-of-state tuition rates (where applicable). The Department of Philosophy sets aside several graduate assistantships each year for entering students; in addition, students enrolling in the concentration will receive preferential access to quarter-time graduate assistantships funded through the Center for Ethics and Humanities. College fellowships and Affirmative Action Assistantships are also available.

The Center and the Department are working to create a special fellowship program for minority graduate students in health care ethics. Funding from a foundation is currently being sought for such a program. In the meantime, some Affirmative Action funds set aside within the University may be applied toward the support of qualified minority students. We especially invite inquiries from minority students interested in this field of graduate study. Michigan State University has a number of internal programs to provide support and counseling for minority students.

Faculty with primary interest in Philosophy and Health Care

Leonard Fleck, Professor, Ph.D., St. Louis University (Medical Ethics, Health Policy), has published on a broad range of topics in health care ethics, especially issues related to health care justice, health care rationing, and health care policy. More recently he has published a number of articles on ethical issues related to emerging genetic technologies, this in connection with his role as co-principal investigator for two three-year NIH ELSI grants. These grants explored the role of community dialogue (rational democratic deliberation)in addressing controversial issues of ethics and policy related to genetics and reproductive decision making. He is currently completing a book for Oxford University Press under the title "Just Caring: The Moral and Practical Challenges of Health Reform and Health Care Rationing." This book explores the role of rational democratic deliberation in addressing problems of health care justice. Professor Fleck is a past president of the Medical Ethics Resource Network of Michigan [MERN], and served for three years as chair of the Philosophy and Medicine Committee of the American Philosophical Association.

Fred Gifford, Professor, Ph.D., Pittsburgh (Philosophy of Science, especially biology and medicine, and Ethics, especially medical ethics), has published articles on philosophy of biology, causation, and medical ethics. He is currently serving as a member of the University's review board on research on human subjects.

Hilde Lindemann, Associate Professor, Ph.D., Fordham University, (Practical Ethics (esp. bioethics), Feminist Philosophy, Moral Philosophy), is the author of Damaged Identities, Narrative Repair, and with James Lindemann Nelson has coauthored both Alzheimer's: Answers to Hard Questions for Families and The Patient in the Family. She has also edited two collections: Feminism and Families and Stories and Their Limits: Narrative Approaches to Bioethics. Her ongoing research interests are in feminist bioethics, the ethics of families, and narrative approaches to ethics. She is coeditor of a Rowman and Littlefield series, Feminist Constructions, and a Routledge series, Reflective Bioethics.

James Lindemann Nelson, Professor, Ph.D., State University of New York at Buffalo, (Ethical Theory, Practical Ethics (esp. bioethics)), works primarily in bioethics, but is interested in a number of areas — particularly moral theory (concentrating currently on the realism/antirealism controversy) and the more speculative reaches of the philosophy of language. He attempts to bring to bioethical questions resources from areas of philosophy that the current discussion tends to overlook. This has been rewarding in thinking through questions in reproductive ethics, pondering the just allocation of medical resources, and considering moral issues involved in caring for demented people. He is also interested in philosophical issues that arise from thinking about intimate relationships — particularly families and family-like contexts.

Tom Tomlinson, Professor, Ph.D., Michigan State (Ethics, Medical Ethics) has published widely in the medical and medical ethics literature, and has special interests in resuscitation decisions, competency determinations, empirical studies bearing on ethical issues, and the use of computers in ethics teaching.

For More Information on this program contact:

Fred Gifford
Associate Chairperson
Department of Philosophy
503 South Kedzie Hall
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1032
Phone: (517) 353-9391, (517) 355-4490 (messages)
Fax: (517) 432-1320
Email: gifford@msu.edu

Applications for the Ph.D. program can be obtained from the Philosophy Department at the above address.

Tom Tomlinson
Director
Center for Ethics and Humanities in the Life Sciences
C-201 East Fee Hall
Michigan State University
East Lansing,MI 48824
Phone: (517) 355-7550
Email: tomlins4@msu.edu

For information on the affiliated masters program in Interdisciplinary Program in Health and Humanities contact:

Harry Perlstadt
Director
Programs in Bioethics, Humanities and Society
C-218 East Fee Hall
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824
Phone: (517) 432-2691
Email: bhs@msu.edu

Social and Political Thought

Several faculty in the Department of Philosophy at Michigan State are working in an area in which traditional debates over justice, freedom, and political obligation are increasingly joined in contemporary philosophy by concerns with inequality, power, identity, and the rationalization of institutions and practices. In recent years individual faculty have published books and articles on themes in feminism, African American thought, democratic theory, the politics of knowledge, and the history of liberalism. Several dissertations have been written in these areas, and ongoing discussion groups have formed around themes concerning gender, race and ecology.

Upper level and graduate courses have in the past few years been given on such topics as "Philosophy and Race," "French Feminism," "Categories and Feminist Thought," "Identity, Recognition and Rights," "Democracy and Difference," "New Directions in Legal Theory," "Marx and Philosophy," "Discourse Ethics in the Public Sphere," "Social Being and Philosophy," "Classics of Liberal Philosophy," "Race, Racism and the Social Contract," "Feminist Theories of Power."

Students may make Social and Political Thought their main area of interest or may define a more specific focus within this field. Students are encouraged to combine topics from this area with work in other areas of philosophy, including philosophy and medicine. Interdisciplinary work is also encouraged, particularly at the doctoral level. Students may pursue course work in other units or draw on relations faculty have developed with such units as Women's Studies, Urban Affairs, Sociology, History, English, German, French, American Studies, and Social Work.

Faculty working in this area include:

Steve Esquith: democratic theory, justice, philosophy of law, international ethics.
Publications: Intimacy and Spectacle: Liberal Theory as Political Education (Cornell, 1994), Democratic Dialogue: Theories and Practices (Rodopi,1996). Articles on Hobbes, Emerson, Marx, Rawls, democratic citizenship, political education, rule of law, and service-learning.

Marilyn Frye: feminist philosophy (with emphasis on language and ontology).
Publications: The Politics of Reality (The Crossing Press, 1983); Willful Virgin (The Crossing Press, 1992); "The Necessity of Differences: Toward a Positive Category of Women," SIGNS 1996, vol. 21, no.4.

Fred Gifford: philosophy of biological science and medicine; history and philosophy of science; ethical issues in health care, life and environmental sciences, and biotechnology.
Publications: articles on ethical and methodological issues in medical research, ethical issues in biotechnology, scientific integrity, genetic determinism, and philosophy of biology.

Richard Peterson: continental social and political theory, Hegel, Marx, race.
Publications: Democratic Philosophy and the Politics of Knowledge (Penn State, 1996), Philosophy, Children and the Family (Plenum, 1982), articles on Foucault, Marx, Rawls, critical theory, intellectual mediation, philosophy and the division of labor, race and recognition, and democratic multiculturalism.

Frederick Rauscher: Kant, Early Modern Philosophy, Post-Kantian Idealism, Ethical Theory.
Publications: articles on metaphysical issues in Kant's ethics and a book in progress on naturalism in Kant's ethical theory; translations of material in ethics, political philosophy, history, and other practical topics for Kant's "Notes and Fragments" volume (Cambridge University Press, forthcoming).

Dissertations written by recent doctoral students in social and political thought include:

Jordy Rocheleau, Universalism and Its Critics: a Defense of Discourse Ethics
Amber Katherine, Radical White Western Feminism: Toward a Reconstruction of Mary Daly's "Gyn/Ecology"
Vasile Pirau, Rationality and Cross Cultural Understanding
Mohamed Hassabelnabi, Concepts of Freedom in Locke & Marx with Relation to Sudan
David Howell, Aristotle's and Hegel's Contextual Approaches to Justice and the Distribution of Knowledge
C. Michael Liberato, Rethinking the Meaning of Political Stability and Democratic Participation
Michael A. Squillace, Taking Free Speech Seriously: Equality, Harm, and the Electronic Media
Edwin N. Teall, A Dutiful Reading of Kant's Political Philosophy
Michael W. Jankoviak, Environmental Philosophy: A Pragmatic Reconstruction
Bernard J. Mulvey, Sartre and Foucault on Knowledge and Practical Commitment
Nancy R. Crocker, Ethical Agency in Modernity Sponsoring Units

Graduate Specialization in Ethics and Development

The Specialization in Ethics and Development provides graduate students and faculty with the opportunity to address collaboratively and in a philosophically sophisticated manner the difficult ethical issues that arise in the course of social, economic, political, and cultural development within an increasingly inter-connected global context. These issues include, but are not limited to, the introduction of transgenic crops, climate change, foreign aid, economic liberalization, the representativeness of international political organizations, gender equity, the effectiveness of war crimes tribunals and international courts, and the role of traditional medicine in addressing health care needs. They are related to the more general moral problems of autonomy, community, identity, and justice; and they are issues that are felt acutely within the economically poorer regions of the world, but are often equally salient in the economically richer regions.

These issues in development are part of a complex set of questions about the ethics of development that connect rich and poor countries. In whose interests has development occurred? Who has participated in development projects and initiatives? What exactly ought to be the goals of development? When we speak of sustainable development, what social and cultural goods as well as material resources ought to be sustained that currently exist now and which ones ought to be transformed or replaced?

Faculty working in this area include:

Judith Andre: feminist ethics; ethical issues in health care; commodification.
Publications: Rethinking College Athletics (1991); articles on the limits of the market, on the ethical impact of professional education, on interaction with the media, on confidentiality as a social custom, on power and gender, on role morality, on the goals of ethics work within hospitals.

Daniel Steel: Professor Steel's primary interest lies in the philosophy of science, particularly, explanation, causation, confirmation, philosophy of social science, and philosophy of biology. His recent or current research includes work on causal inference in social science, reductionism in biology, and fundamental principles in causal inference.

Paul Thompson: Professor Thompson is the author of The Spirit of the Soil: Agriculture and Environmental Ethics; The Ethics of Aid and Trade; Food Biotechnology in Ethical Perspective, and co-editor of The Agrarian Roots of Pragmatism. He has served on many national and international committees on agricultural biotechnology and contributed to the National Research Council report The Environmental Effects of Transgenic Plants. He has continuing interests in environmental and agricultural ethics.

For more information, please see the Ethics and Development page.