This is a newly introduced form of Masters programme in philosophy, presently unique to Aberdeen and the Northern Institute. It is principally designed for able graduates with a reasonably broad undergraduate philosophical experience who wish to begin to acquire the specialised skills needed for independent research in philosophy prior to application to PhD programmes and/or without having to commit from the outset to the time and resourcing involved in undertaking a PhD. The programme will include elements of conventional Masters coursework but will involve a much greater explicit emphasis on research skills and practices than is normal in Masters courses in philosophy. These will be developed ‘hands on’ via participation in the collaborative research activities of the Northern Institute and the supervised pursuit of small research projects of one’s choosing.

The Aims and Scope of the Training

Besides those directly demanded by philosophical thought itself, there are a variety of intellectual and operational skills involved in effective research in philosophy and its communication. Some, like logic, set theory and probability theory, are technical and are demanded especially of those who wish to work in the philosophies of logic, language, mathematics, science, metaphysics and certain aspects of epistemology and ethics. The MRes will involve dedicated philosopher-friendly training in these skills. Other forms of know-how are more purely philosophical: they include analysis of the specific research questions raised by a broad problem and their interrelations and dependences, the orchestration of a progressive order of approach to them, the search for and organisation of relevant sources, the ability to identify parallels in issues in different areas of philosophy and to know when and how to profit from collateral investigation of them, the development of presentational skills to enable one to secure the most effective feedback on one’s work, and the ability to write up in ways that maximise the accessibility and impact of one’s ideas. And increasingly, in the current economic milieu, philosophers need to be able to explain the interest of their work to non-specialist constituencies.

All these aspects will be covered within the training of candidates for the MRes, who will experience all facets of best research practice in philosophy. An important part of this experience will be the active mentored participation within the research activities of the Institute, as well as taking part in its programmes of knowledge-transfer and wider communication.

The Training team

The MRes is a joint programme offered in collaboration between the Philosophy teaching staff of the School of Divinity, History and Philosophy of the University of Aberdeen and the members of the Northern Institute of Philosophy. The group involves philosophers specialising in Philosophy of Physics, Philosophy of Biology, Philosophy of Logic, Philosophy of Language, Epistemology, History and Philosophy of Science, History of Analytic Philosophy, Early Modern Philosophy, Metaphysics, Continental Ethics, Philosophy of Religion, Philosophy of Mathematics and Philosophy of Mind. For further details about the Department of Philosophy and staff research interests see the departmental webpages.

The Northern Institute of Philosophy is currently host to two major AHRC funded research projects: Contextualism and Relativism (2008-12) and Basic Knowledge (2007-12) and three pilot projects: The Self and Self Knowledge, Formal Epistemology, and Truth and Paradox. In addition to the resident members of staff, the Institute has a wide network of active Associate Fellows and a vigorous programme of distinguished international research visitors who, besides leading seminars on their own work, participate fully during their visits in the schedule of weekly project research seminars and frequent workshops that structure the NIP calendar. MRes students will be expected to participate in a number of the Institute’s activities, as dictated by the module requirements, but will also be most welcome to participate fully in all Institute activities.

Supervision

Each student will be appointed an academic supervisor on the basis of his or her principal areas of prospective research interest, who will provide guidance and support for all aspects of the student’s work throughout the programme.