Programme Requirements

The MRes, including the dissertation component, is a twelve month programme. Note that NIP seminar activities will take place during the NIP semesters which, for 2010-11, run from 20th September - 17th December and 21st March - 15th July

Students must accumulate a minimum of 180 credits made up of a mixture of compulsory and optional modules:

All students must complete each of:

• Dissertation (60 credits)
• Philosophy Proseminar (15 credits)
• Funding Skills (15 credits)
• Conference Skills (15 credits)

• Research Project 1: Basic Knowledge (15 credits)
• Research Project 2: Contextualism and Relativism (15 credits)
• Research Project 3: The Self and Self-knowledge (15 credits)
• Research Project 4: Formal Epistemology (15 credits)

• Independent Research Project (30 credits)
• The selection of one or more Level 5 courses from School of Divinity, History and Philosophy MLitt programme (see here for current information on courses running in 2010-11).

Further Details on the Modules

Dissertation (60 credits)

The MRes dissertation (word limit 15,000) will be on a topic of the students choosing, in consultation with their supervisor, to be submitted by August 31.

Philosophy Proseminar (15 credits)

This module will be taught in the first term as a Proseminar in which students will meet weekly with a member of staff to study a selection of classic research papers in philosophy. Each weekly meeting will presuppose a close reading of one such paper and will involve a student-led discussion of it, with all students submitting five short commentaries on the papers, the class discussions of them, and key issues arising, in the course of the term.

Funding Skills (15 credits)

Whether as part of a Ph.D. application, or when applying for a job, or by way of an external funding application once in post, early-career philosophers are repeatedly expected to write up research proposals, or more general statements of intended research. In this module you will be advised about how to put together a successful research proposal, identifying the key issues of your project, and explaining why they are of interest and how the project coheres with and furthers current research in the area. The module will be examined by assessment of a submitted proposal.

Conference skills (15 credits)

The module is delivered via a mock conference in the late spring. Candidates will be asked to respond to a “call for papers” issued in January. They will receive guidance with the drafting of an abstract and, later, with tailoring their chosen presentation to the allocated time, and the use of presentation technology. Finally they will make a full-fledged presentation at one-day ‘conference’, receive a response (from another student) and participate in Q&A with philosophy staff and graduate students. The module will be examined by assessment of the submitted abstract and written version of a response to another speaker’s paper.

Research Practices: Collaborative Research

Each Research Practices module operates in the same way and has the same aims. Each module will be run in the context of one of the NIP Collaborative Research Projects. In the first half of the session students will work through allocated background readings relevant to the current stage of the Project, meeting each week in a dedicated seminar to discuss the material, and issues arising, with one of the Project postdoctoral fellows. In the second half of the session students will participate in four meetings of the Project research seminar itself, together with the minute-taking sessions for the meetings attended. Examination will be by assessment of two mid-length research papers identifying the research questions in play in two of the attended seminars, the key points raised in the meting, and offering discussion of the issues concerned.

The Collaborative Research Project modules on offer in 2010-11 are:

• Research Project 1: Basic Knowledge (15 credits)
• Research Project 2: Contextualism and Relativism (15 credits)
• Research Project 3: The Self and Self-knowledge (15 credits)
• Research Project 4: Formal Epistemology (15 credits)

Further details concerning the planned agenda for these Projects during 2010-11 may be obtained by email request to p.sweeney@abdn.ac.uk

Level Five taught modules from the School of Divinity, History and Philosophy

Click here for information on modules that will run in 2010-11 and their modes of assessment.

Independent Research project (30 credits)

This additional mini-dissertation option (6000) will be on an approved topic of your choosing in consultation with your supervisor.

Student Mentoring Scheme

In addition to their academic supervisor, each MRes student will be assigned a PhD student to act as programme mentor.

The role of the student mentor is to provide informal help and support with all manner of issues can that can arise throughout the Masters year, from the purely philosophical to finding out where to get the best coffee on campus to managing the work-load.

Example of assignments for a typical MRes student

Semester One

• Submit two, mid-length research papers on topics relating to the Basic Knowledge project.
• Submit two, mid-length research papers on topics relating to the Self and Self Knowledge project.
• Submit five short commentaries on your choice of proseminar papers with discussion of the issues that arose.
• Complete course requirements for level 5 course eg. Advanced Logic.

Semester Two

• Submit two, mid-length research papers on topics relating to the Contextualism and Relativism project.
• Submit two, mid-length research papers on topics relating to the Formal Epistemology project.
• Submit your research proposal for the Research Skills component.
• Submit abstract for and present research paper at the mock conference.
• Respond to another speaker’s research paper at the conference and submit a written version of your response.
• Submit MRes dissertation