Research in the Department
A very important function of the Department of Philosophy is the promotion of the culture of research - in the true spirit of studia humanitatis - among the philosophy faculty members.
In order to realize this, the Department has taken concrete steps to motivate the faculty members to involve themselves in the research culture of the University.
Gleaned from the faculty profile (specific specializations and publications of each faculty member), the following specific areas of study are the Department’s areas of research strengths which it envisions to develop:
Filipino PhilosophyOriental Thought and East-West Comparative PhilosophyAristotelian-Thomistic Philosophy and ScholasticismContinental European PhilosophyAnglo-American Philosophy
The above areas should be taken together and considered as a singular research agenda of the various philosophy programs offered in UST. This means that, although selected faculty members will each be having their own individual research, each individual research contributes to one or two areas of strength.
The Department’s research agenda is administered or realized through the following:
- Institutional research partnership with the university's research centers, namely the Research Center for Culture, Arts, and Humanities (RCCAH) and the Research Center for Religious Studies and Ethics (RCRSE)
- Publication partnership with the UST Publishing House
- Work-in-Progress seminars, M.A. peer colloquia, and Ph.D. inaugural lectures
- Administration and publication of institutionally supported academic journals
- Graduate and undergraduate research mentorship system
- Individual research of faculty
Guided Philosophical Research
The UST Philosophy graduate programs are unique in the entire Philippines because these are the sole graduate philosophy programs that incorporate Guided Philosophical Research (GPR) as a requirement toward the completion of the degrees.
The GPR was introduced in order to integrate graduate students of Philosophy into the academic culture of the Department of Philosophy. The Department considers graduate students as contributors to the academic culture. As such, the GPR serves as a vital component to the academic and progressional development of each graduate student. The students' participation in the various activities of the Department is beneficial to their personal academic growth while at the same time providing them an opportunity to become familiar with the research and teaching strengths of the Department members. Such integration will foster not only a closer interaction with the faculty and other students, but also a broader awareness of what is going on outside the Department of Philosophy. The GPR introduces and integrates the graduate students to the Department while the latter serving as a liaison between the graduate students and the outside world, informing them of national and international conferences, scholarship programs, and research fellowship programs--among other things. For both the MA and PhD level, the GPR is designed to guide graduate students in Philosophy to cope with the challenges during the initial stages of their thesis/dissertation proposal writing and to introduce them to the life-long task of research and philosophic inquiry.
Guided Philosophical Research - PhD (GPR-PhD 1, 2, and 3) (9 units)
Prerequisites: 18 units of Specialization Courses and a thesis adviser formally assigned by the Philosophy Program Lead.
Stage 1: GPR- PhD 1 – Work-in-Progress Seminar Attendance and Presentation (3 units)
Requirements:
- Compulsory attendance Work-in-Progress Seminar sessions sponsored by the Department of Philosophy.
- Submission of three "thought-pieces” (maximum of 1000 words each) based on at least three sessions attended to be assessed by the thesis adviser and certified by the Program Lead.
- Presentation of the tentative dissertation proposal in at least one of the Work-in-Progress seminars. The paper should be duly approved by both the thesis adviser and Program Lead. Assessment is based on a certificate of presentation signed by the Chair of the Department of Philosophy and submission of the full paper presented.
- Terminal submission: GPR Form 1, Form 2, paper presented, and 3 marked thought-pieces.
Stage 2: GPR-PhD 2 – Conference paper presentation (3 units)
Requirements:
- Presentation of a paper in a public philosophical forum outside the university, either locally or internationally. The paper should be duly approved by both the dissertation adviser and Program Lead.
- Terminal submission: GPR Form 3, certificate of acceptance/invitation from event organizer, full paper presented.
Stage 3: GPR-PhD 3 – Publication (3 units)
Requirements:
- Publication in either a local or international journal of philosophy or journal of the humanities.
- Terminal submission: GPR Form 3, certificate of acceptance from journal editor, letter of endorsement from dissertation adviser, and copy of full paper (N.B. The same publication may be submitted as partial fulfillment for Dissertation Writing II-III).
NB: Application for research fellowships abroad is strongly encouraged. In the event that the Ph.D. student has successfully secured a research fellowship in a foreign institution, the fellowship could be credited in lieu of GPR-PhD 1 and GPR-PhD 2 (a total of 6 units). A full report of the research experience of the Ph.D. student should be submitted to the Program Lead upon completion of the fellowship.
Guided Philosophical Research 1A:
Work-in-Progress Seminar Attendance and Presentation
Prerequisites: 12 units of Specialization Courses and a thesis adviser formally assigned by the Philosophy Program Lead.
Requirements:
- Compulsory attendance Work-in-Progress Seminar sessions sponsored by the Department of Philosophy.
- Submission of three thought-pieces” (maximum of 1000 words each) based on at least three sessions attended to be assessed by the thesis adviser and certified by the Program Lead.
- Presentation of the tentative thesis proposal in at least one of the Work-in-Progress seminars. The paper should be duly approved by both the thesis adviser and Program Lead. Assessment is based on a certificate of presentation signed by the Chair of the Department of Philosophy and submission of the full paper presented.
- Terminal submission: GPR Form 1, and 3 marked thought-pieces.