Good evening Lipton and welcome to the forum, enjoy your stay. Interesting that you're doing a masters in Philosophy.
Thanks.

Thanks for your welcome, Caroline. In Europe the Master has a bit of a different meaning than in the US, I think. For us, it's the prerequisite for a PhD, whereas there as I gather, it's more like something you do instead of a PhD. Is that right?

Cheers

No, I'm from the UK, so it's the same here.

Oh sorry, my mistake!:whistling:

Lol.
A masters eh, what exactly are you studying then.

Well, Philosophy and English lit

Or do you mean what fields in philosophy? A lot of epistemology, metaphysics, Kant, Aristotle, Wittgenstein. Starting on Plato next semester.

And you?

Me? No I don't study I work mate. Work hard I do and play hard.

Oh, ok. Is that something i could have gathered from your profile? I still haven't figured out how to find stuff like that out in Philosophy Forum.

No it's not on my profile I just left my job today anyway so it doesn't matter.

Oh ok!
And now you will write the great work of philosophy for the 21. century, I hope? :-)

Welcome to the Philforum!
In the US, an MA is a degree in itself; many post graduate students will end their formal studies after attaining it while others, having that prerequisite, will continue to work toward their Ph.D.
Most universities require a student to present a Thesis to achieve their Master's degree, although there seems to be a trend towards granting it after completion of coursework; the requirements for a doctorate are more stringent and usually require the student to defend a dissertation that reflects original research. Generally, but there are many variations, a Masters can take one or two years of study after the Bachelors, and a Doctorate an additional year or two (depending on the major).

The combination of Philosophy and English Literature seems a happy one, since many of the English philosophers were also good writers.
Regards,
John

Yeah why not...............

Hey John

thanks for the info. I used to think that in the US it was customary to go for the PhD after the Bachelor, with the MA being something you get if you do not complete your PhD (so half a PhD or something). But what you are describing seems different. I also heard that a lot of people now view the MA as a preparation for the PhD.

Are you studying philosophy in the US? In a graduate school?

Cheers, Tea ;-)

Hello and welcome Lipton. Glad you joined the forum. We offer a variety of things for any kind of philosopher, and we have a chat too, which I recommend to new members.

The usual progression of BA, MA, and Ph.D, completing each step one at a time, is the normal academic course here in philosophy. Very few philosophy students, unlike some other areas of academic work, stop at an MA since a Ph.D is a virtual necessity if one wants to teach it.
Few students, though, remain at the same institution for all of their degrees, preferring to migrate to different faculties more congenial to their areas of interest or specialisation. I received a BA from one university, and an MA from another, for example.
Cheers,
John