Linguistics & Philosophy Honors Program

Honors program

The Honors Program in Linguistics & Philosophy requires fifteen courses in all, including seven each in Linguistics and Philosophy plus one semester of directed research to complete a senior honors project. The project will be co-advised by two faculty members, one in Linguistics and one in Philosophy. Successful completion of the honors program requires an average GPA of 3.7 in the courses satisfying requirements for the major as well as a minimum grade of A- on the honors project itself.

The honors program shares the following 9 course requirements with the current major in Linguistics & Philosophy:

To be taken before higher-level Philosophy courses.

Philosophy introduction, one of:

  • CAS PH 100 Intro to Philosophy

  • CAS PH 110 Great Philosophers

  • CAS PH 160 Reasoning and Argumentation

To be taken before higher-level Linguistics courses.

Linguistics introduction

Four additional Philosophy courses

  • CAS PH 310 History of Modern Philosophy

  • CAS PH 360 Symbolic Logic

  • CAS PH 422 Analytic Philosophy or  CAS PH 443 Philosophy of Mind

  • CAS PH 463 Philosophy of Language

Three additional Linguistics courses

The honors track for the Linguistics & Philosophy major differs from the current major in the ways indicated below.

The Linguistics & Philosophy major otherwise requires one such course.

Two additional courses in formal syntax, semantics, or pragmatics, from:

The Linguistics & Philosophy major otherwise requires three additional Linguistics and Philosophy courses above the 100-level including at least one each in Linguistics and Philosophy, in place of this and the following two requirements.

One additional course in Philosophy, from:

  • CAS PH 460 Epistemology

  • CAS PH 461 Computability and Logic

  • CAS PH 462 Foundations of Math

  • CAS PH 465 Philosophy of Cognitive Science

  • CAS PH 467 Mathematical Logic

  • CAS PH 468 Logic and Mathematics

  • CAS PH 486 Topics in Knowledge, Language, and Logic

One course in Linguistics and one in Philosophy

One semester of Senior Honors Research

  • One semester of Senior Honors Research (normally to be undertaken in the fall of senior year) Students are expected to begin discussions with faculty advisors about the project by no later than March of their junior year, and are required to submit an approved proposal by the end of their junior year.

This ensures that students will take at least one more advanced course in both Linguistics and Philosophy (from among the courses listed above) than would be required for the existing major.

Application to the Honors program

A student may apply to the honors program no sooner than the end of sophomore year and no later than the beginning of the spring semester of junior year. For admission into the program, students must have completed CAS LX 502 Semantics I and one of the four Philosophy courses listed in (3). Qualifications for admission into the honors program include a GPA of least 3.65 in all CAS courses—and a minimum GPA of 3.7 in the set of courses satisfying requirements for the major—that the student has taken as of the time of application.

Application forms should be submitted to room 120, 621 Commonwealth Ave.

Application Form

Upcoming deadlines

The deadlines are the same as for the Linguistics Honors Program.

Co-curricular Activities

Meetings of Linguistics and Linguistics & Philosophy honors students will take place at least several times each semester. Activities may include colloquia as well as presentations, question-and-answer sessions, and panel discussions with BU faculty. In addition, we will maintain an email list of honors students, and we will inform them of other events (both at BU and in the Boston area) that may be of interest in the areas of Linguistics and Philosophy. Honors students in Linguistics & Philosophy will also be included in the activities associated with the Philosophy honors program.

Printable Brochure

Click here for a printable description of the Linguistics & Philosophy major and Honors Program.