Below you will find short guide through the administration aspect of preparing graduate thesis. 

1. Supervisor and Reviewer

• Student chooses the academic teacher who will be supervising the preparation of his/her Thesis.
• In accordance with Regulations of Studies at the University of Warsaw academic teachers holding the degree of doktor (or higher) have the right to supervise the preparation of the Thesis.
• Ask your Supervisor about the choice of Reviewer.

2. Diploma Seminar

• Diploma Seminar is the one conducted by the Supervisor, which Student attends at his/her third year of studies.
• In case when the Supervisor does not conduct any seminar in particular academic year, student can choose another seminar as his/her Diploma Seminar; however the theme of such seminar should be connected with the subject area of  Student’s Thesis and it should be conducted by academic teacher holding the degree of doktor (or higher).

3. Thesis Title Submission

• The Thesis title is submitted via email to the ISiP Secretariat by the Supervisor and must follow this template:
  • the student’s personal data,
  • the student’s index number,
  • name of the study program (International Studies in Philosophy),
  • type of studies (full-time),
  • cycle of studies (1st cycle),
  • thesis title in English and Polish,
  • thesis language (English).
• The student whose thesis title is being submitted should be added in copy (cc) to the email.
• Any modifications to the thesis title or supervisor must also be submitted via email to the ISiP Secretariat

4. The Thesis

• The Thesis must be written in English.
• The content, length, and other details of the Thesis should be discussed and agreed upon with the student’s supervisor.
• The format of the first pages is standardized – templates are available here: . These templates must be followed precisely when preparing the first four pages of the thesis.
• Editorial aspects of the Thesis (e.g. font type, spacing, footnote and bibliography formatting) should be in accordance with the guidelines provided by the Supervisor.

5. Submitting the Thesis

• After the thesis title has been submitted, the Didactic Council of the Faculty of Philosophy must approve it before the thesis can be officially submitted – this applies only if the student has completed all curriculum requirements.
• To submit the thesis, the student must:
  • link courses in the USOS system,
  • deliver the study program for checkup via USOS,
  • notify the Secretariat that the program has been submitted for checkup and express their readiness to take the diploma exam in the near future.
• Once these steps are completed, the student must log in to the Archive of Diploma Theses: https://apd.uw.edu.pl/, enter the thesis abstract and keywords, and upload the thesis as a PDF file.
• Before the Diploma exam, the student must also send the following via email to the ISiP Secretariat:
  • confirmation of payment for the diploma (a pdf file) – an additional 40 zł if the student wants an English version (the Polish version is free of charge).
• Payment for the English version of the diploma should be made by bank transfer to the student’s individual account number in USOS, with the title “opłata za dyplom”.

6. Diploma Exam

• After submitting the Thesis, the student must take the Diploma Exam, which is conducted in the form of an interview.
• The date of the Diploma Exam must be arranged in cooperation with the supervisor.
• The Diploma examination Committee consists of the Supervisor, the Reviewer, and a faculty representative who acts as the Head of the Committee.
• Student rights expire on the day of the Diploma Exam.

EXAM RULES

1. The student is asked three questions during the diploma exam.
2. One question concerns the problems addressed in the diploma thesis.
3. Two questions are drawn from the list (see below or download PDF here), according to the following rules:
a) the student draws four questions from the list (each of the questions drawn is from a
different group of subjects passed by a student during his/her studies);
b) the student selects two questions from the four questions drawn and answers them.

Analytic Philosophy + Philosophy of Language
1. Compare and contrast the views of any two of the following authors on propositions: Frege, Russell, Wittgenstein, Carnap, Quine.
2. The use of linguistic and logical analysis in dissolving metaphysical puzzles
3. Language as a mirror of the world versus language as an instrument of action – compare the two views of language.
4. Compositionality in the context of the philosophy of language and mind
5. Theories of cognitive architecture (computationalism, connectionism, modularity, anti- representationalism, etc.)
6. Describe at least two distinct theories of behavior of one of the following categories of singular terms: descriptions, proper names, indexicals. Present argument in favour of each and main problems they have to face.
7. Describe the problem of substitutivity in intensional (modal and psychological) contexts and possible reactions to it.
8. Present and compare at least two theories of meaning from the following list: Mill’s theory of connotation and denotation, Frege’s theory of sense and reference, Carnap’s theory of extension and intension, Directival Theory of Meaning, Inferentialism, Kaplanian semantics, Putnam’s theory of meaning.

Ancient Philosophy + Medieval Philosophy
9. Ancient systems of virtue ethics: Aristotle, Epicurus and the Stoics. What is the structure of Aristotle’s system of virtue? (definition of virtue, types of virtue, connection with the division of the soul, ways of acquiring virtue). How are Stoic and Epicurean systems of ethics connected with their physics? What is their understanding of good and evil?
10. Compare Plato’s and Aristotle’s theory of soul (division of the soul, the powers of the soul, relation of soul and body).
11. Compare metaphysical systems of Plato and Plotinus (first principle, the nature of Forms, the place of soul in the system, generation of the lower levels of reality from the first principle).
12. Describe some medieval views on the problem of universals and the principle of individuation.
13. Discuss the validity of Anselm’s ontological argument for the existence of God.

Contemporary Continental Philosophy + Social Philosophy
14. The idea of transcendental reduction in phenomenology
15. Philosophy of life on the relation between life and cognition
16. Concepts of power in contemporary thought
17. A chosen hermeneutical theory of understanding
18. The idea of postmodernity
19. Nature or culture – what determines the organization of social life? Explain using any theory.
20. Consent or conflict – what is the basis of human interactions? Explain using any theory.
21. What is the relationship between the theory of society and the concept of self- consciousness? Explain using any theory.

Epistemology A & B + Philosophy of Action
22. Explain the classical concept of knowledge and the Gettier problem. Explain at least two ways in which the Gettier problem can be solved.
23. Compare and contrast two positions in the debate on the structure of justification.
24. What is epistemological internalism and epistemological externalism? Give at least one argument for each position.
25. What are the main positions in the debate about the object of perception? Explain one argument in the debate.
26. Explain one strategy of dealing with skepticism. Is it a successful strategy? How could a skeptic reply?
27. What are philosophical problems? What do solutions to these problems consist of? Choose an example of a philosophical problem in epistemology to illustrate your answers.
28. “Actions are caused by intentions”. Is this view accepted by all philosophers of action?
29. Explain the logical connection argument. How can one respond to the argument?

Ethics A & B + Political and Legal Philosophy
30. Description and norm. Ethical and cultural relativisms. Evolutionary and societal origins of morality.
31. Main normative ethical theories and their contemporary counterparts, including: perfectionism, consequentialism, principle theory, care ethics. Social contract theories. (The candidate is expected to discuss one of the theories selected by the examination board.)
32. Distributive and retributive justice. Classical and contemporary theories of justice.
33. Selected questions of normative ethics: akrasia, moral knowledge, intention, moral conflict, moral luck, guilt and punishment. (The candidate is expected to discuss one of the questions selected by the examination board.)
34. Selected problems of metaethics: facts, norms and values, naturalistic fallacy, ethical intuitionism, emotivism, ethical nihilism, ethical realism, motivational internalism/externalism. (The candidate is expected to discuss one of the problems selected by the examination board.)
35. Selected argumentative strategies in applied ethics: slippery slope argument, the principle of double effect, argument from potential. (The candidate is expected to discuss one of the argumentative strategies selected by the examination board.)
36. Compare the classical (e.g., Plato, St. Augustin) and the modern (e.g., Machiavelli, Locke) approach to the political community.
37. Outline the most important differences and similarities between liberals and communitarians.

Logic A, B & C
38. What is the difference between inductive and deductive reasoning?
39. Name at least four fallacies of relevance. Give examples.
40. Name three fallacies of clarity. Explain the difference between vagueness and ambiguity.
41. How should definite descriptions be analysed according to Bertrand Russell?
42. Name and explain three natural deduction introduction rules for sentential connectives.
43. How are validity and soundness defined? Give examples of valid/sound arguments.
44. What does a relation have to be like to be a function?
45. Describe the principle of mathematical induction.
46. Describe Russel’s paradox and its role in the development of set theory.
47. Explain the notion of countable and uncountable sets; provide examples.

Ontology A & B + Logical Semiotics
48. Do universals (abstract objects) exist?
49. How do objects persist in time?
50. The role of possible worlds in the metaphysics of modality
51. Compare counterfactual and regularity theories of causation.
52. Explain the concepts of a law of nature, determinism, and fatalism.
53. Discuss the key arguments in the compatibilism versus incompatibilism debate.
54. What is a conversational implicature and how is it generated? Give an example.
55. Present one of Kripke’s arguments against descriptivism.
56. Present one of Frege’s puzzles. How does Frege solve it?

Modern Philosophy A & B + Recent Polish Philosophy
57. Critique of the idea of causality in modern philosophy
58. The problem of psycho-physical dualism and its solutions in modern philosophy (Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz)
59. Modern philosophical concepts of history
60. Freedom and necessity in modern philosophy
61. Origins and development of modern empiricism (Bacon, Locke, Berkeley, Hume)
62. Main ideas of modern rationalism – Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz
63. Describe the differences between the Lvov-Warsaw School and other centres of analytic philosophy.
64. List and characterize five important conceptions of the members of the Lvov-Warsaw School.

Philosophical Problems of Science A & B + Philosophy of Mind
65. The paradigm shift from Aristotelian-Ptolemaic science to Copernican-Galilean- Newtonian science
66. The nature of time and space in classical physics and in relativistic physics
67. Time irreversibility in classical mechanics and in thermodynamics (statistical mechanics)
68. Philosophical and methodological aspects of the Darwinian revolution
69. Altruism and egoism from the vantage point of the theory of evolution
70. What is the intentionality of the mind? Give examples of different kinds of intentional states. Characterize naturalistic and anti-naturalistic approaches to intentionality.
71. Please explain the relations between the following concepts: “reductionism”, “physicalism”, “anti-reductionism”, “emergentism”, “functionalism”, “multiple realization”. Concentrate on their applications to philosophy of mind.
72. Please define weak and strong AI. Discuss arguments for and against strong AI. Consider among others the standpoints of A. M. Turing and J. Searle.

Philosophy of Value Including Philosophical Anthropology A & B + Philosophy of Culture with Elements of Aesthetics: 8
73. What are the distinctive features of philosophical anthropology and/or of an anthropological philosophy of culture?
74. Present at least two conceptions of human subjectivity and describe their cultural determinations.
75. In what sense hermeneutics can be seen as philosophy of language?
76. The body as a space of cultural experience and its axiological implications.
77. Describe at least three different accounts of aesthetic experience.
78. Explain at least four different philosophical concepts of culture.
79. The category of symbol in the light of philosophy of culture: what are its possible meanings? What role symbol plays in constituting and understanding culture?
80. What is the ontological, phenomenological and cultural status of image?