The Ph.D. program offers a rich course of studies in the various areas of philosophy and in the history of philosophy. The Ph.D. consists in a three year program and aims at educating internationally qualified researchers in philosophy in its various branches. The first year is devoted to the acquisition of a strong scientific ground especially in the area of the student’s interests and to a more precise definition of the research topic. During the next two years the student widens her knowledge in the chosen field and gains the skills to develop autonomously an original research project, also by participating to national and international conferences and study periods at outstanding research institutions abroad. During the course of study, students will also publish their first independent scientific papers as an introduction to research.
The Doctorate programme has a teaching staff that includes international members and provides dedicated teaching with specific modules and highly specialised ongoing seminars, as well as conferences and in-depth study activities. The preparation of the final dissertation is supervised by at least two professors from the Ph.D. Faculty.
The PhD program is articulated in four
curricula :
- curriculum A - Theoretical Philosophy and Aesthetics aims at educating - by the acquisition of the required knowledge and specialized skills - qualified researchers in the fields of theoretical philosophy and aesthetics, both from a theoretical point of view and in an historical perspective.
- curriculum B - Ethics and Political Philosophy aims at educating - by the acquisition of the required knowledge and specialized skills - qualified researchers in the fields of moral philosophy, social philosophy, philosophy of law and political philosophy, both from a theoretical point of view and in an historical perspective.
- curriculum C - Logic Epistemology Linguistics aims at educating - by the acquisition of the required knowledge and specialized skills - qualified researchers in the fields of logic, theory of knowledge, epistemology and the philosophy and history of natural and social sciences, the philosophy of language, history of linguistics and linguistic theories.
- curriculum D - History of Philosophy aims at educating qualified researchers in the field of the history of philosophy together with a wider perspective of the history of ideas. A qualifying aim is the acquisition and the use of interdisciplinary methodological tools - historical and philosophical, philological, literary and linguistic - and also of computer technologies applied to text analysis (in print and manuscript form).
The PhD programme in Philosophy is part of a particularly active network of international exchanges and relationships, and includes highly qualified members of prestigious foreign academic institutions in its teaching staff. Joint supervision and mobility of PhD students and lecturers are particularly encouraged. Every year, scholars and PhD students from all over the world are invited and hosted for lectures or visiting periods. The PhD programme promotes international structural agreements and participates in established programmes involving foreign institutions (such as the EGSAMP consortium, LAI “Idealiter”, or the China Scholarship Council programme).
The Doctorate is based at the Department of Philosophy, in the historic Villa Mirafiori, where doctoral students in philosophy can make use of the rich Philosophy Library, with its impressive collection of books, including numerous historical collections such as that of Giovanni Gentile, Guido De Ruggiero, Carlo Antoni, Guido Calogero or Luigi Scaravelli, as well as a large work room exclusively dedicated to them.
A series of publications dedicated specifically to the PhD programme in Philosophy, the "Quaderni di Villa
Mirafiori", is published annually. The volumes contain contributions primarily from PhD students, but also from lecturers and seminar speakers, and are open to the participation of national and international scholars.
The Doctorate has a quality management and assurance system, with a specific Commission (composed of members of the Coordination Committee, the Teaching Board, representatives of doctoral students and the Secretariat), which supports the Teaching Board in the constant monitoring of activities carried out and the opinions of doctoral students. There is also a regular listening system, which provides for periodic meetings between the Coordination Committee and doctoral students.
The Doctorate programme has an Advisory Board, composed of recognised national and international experts in the specialist field of philosophy and representatives of institutions and associations with an interest in the Doctorate programme. The Advisory Board provides valuable advice on the cultural direction, guidelines and specific activities of the Doctorate programme, as well as on external funding opportunities.
The Doctoral Programme Coordination Committee also organises periodic meetings with representatives of stakeholders, mainly from the world of work, who evaluate and discuss the training plan, including in relation to career opportunities.