Mathematical Philosophy Minor

M.A. in Mathematical Philosophy

The Department of Philosophy offers a Master of Arts in Mathematical Philosophy degree (MAMP). The goal of this degree is to produce skilled and creative scholars who will be able to use advanced formal techniques in their professional activities and go beyond the non-philosophical paradigms in their particular areas of interest. The program is intended for students who are already at Notre Dame pursuing a Ph.D. and does not offer additional financial support. 

Admission is limited to students who are pre-approved. Before formally applying to the Graduate School, a student should find an advisor in the Philosophy Department who agrees to help the student prepare a plan of study and to supervise or co-supervise the interdisciplinary project or thesis. The plan of study also needs the approval of the student’s advisor in their home department. Once the plan of study is ready, the DGS and the Graduate Studies Committee in the Philosophy Department decide whether to recommend the student to the Graduate School for admission. A student who has been recommended in this way applies formally. 

The degree requires coursework, plus a serious interdisciplinary project leading to a written thesis. The program of study for the MAMP consists of a core philosophy component and an interdisciplinary component for a course requirement of 24 credit hours. Work toward the project or thesis makes up 6 credits, for a total of 30 credit hours.

The core component is a solid requirement of philosophy from courses offered by the Department of Philosophy. It consists of 12 credit hours. To ensure a background in formal methods of mathematical philosophy, the student is expected to either complete the Philosophy Department's Intermediate Logic course or demonstrate competence in its contents, and also complete at least one seminar in advanced logic (beyond the content of Intermediate Logic), formal epistemology, evolutionary game theory, decision or social choice theory, or foundations of modern physics. (Math students, or philosophy students who take the logic sequence in math, don't need to take the Philosophy Department's intermediate logic.) 

The interdisciplinary component accounts for the additional 12 credit hours. These can be met by an appropriate selection of courses in any graduate discipline at Notre Dame that makes serious use of formal methods. At most nine credit hours can be double-counted (i.e., counted toward the Ph.D. in another department).

The final requirement for the interdisciplinary degree in mathematical philosophy is the master’s thesis. This is designed to connect the philosophical core to the other discipline that the student intends to pursue.  

More information on the program is available here.