The UH Philosophy M.A. program has consistently been rated among the top M.A. programs in the country in the Philosophical Gourmet Report. Our faculty have a wide range of philosophical interests; areas in which we have more than one specialist include epistemology, ethics, free will and moral responsibility, metaphysics, and philosophy of language.

Our program is designed to prepare students to gain admission to and succeed in top philosophy Ph.D. programs. In the decade from 2014 to 2024, our students went on to philosophy Ph.D. programs at, among other places, Rutgers, Princeton, Michigan (2 students), UT-Austin (2 students), UNC, Cambridge, and UC San Diego (4 students).

A current list of graduate students can be found here, and a current list of graduate courses here.

Graduate Seminars

We teach three graduate seminars per semester. Our students normally take all three seminars each semester (which is a full course load). We also have a course sharing agreement that gives students the opportunity to take one or two graduate philosophy seminars at Rice University during their time in our program.

Ph.D. Preparation

The department is especially concerned to mentor students in the fine art of philosophical writing. This mentoring is a normal part of every graduate seminar. And, during the fall of their second year, students applying to Ph.D. programs participate in our writing sample workshop to help them prepare and polish the paper they will include with applications.

Living in Houston

Houston is the best kept secret in America.  If you go by national reputation, you'd think it was all highways, sprawl, condos, televangelists, and cigar smoking oilmen.  In fact, it's the most diverse city in America (recently passing New York) with cool neighborhoods, funky bars, over 11,000 diverse and affordable restaurants, and a fairly compact "downtown" area -- most faculty and graduate students live no more than a 15 minute drive away and many bike to campus from their homes (and Houston is adding bike trails by the month).  Houston also has a fantastic arts community with world class museums (many of which offer free admission times), top-notch companies in opera, dance, theater, and symphony, and a lively alternative arts and music scene. Compared to other major metropolitan areas, it also offers a very affordable cost of living.

More information about living in Houston can be found here.