哲学系提供两个研究生课程。拥有哲学文学学士学位的学生可以在五年内获得哲学博士学位。要求针对与其他专业或哲学文学硕士入学的学生进行调整。硕士课程适用于那些在该学科中学术准备较少的人员或想要最终硕士学位的人员。那些获得硕士学位的人可以申请哲学博士课程的录取。在这两个课程中，都有广泛的分配要求，以便为考生在该学科的大多数领域提供扎实的基础。学生可以专注于该系已开发出特殊研究和教学优势的三个集中领域中的任何一个领域-医疗保健和哲学或社会政治思想（包括女权主义，批判理论，非裔美国人哲学，民主理论，伦理学的选择）和发
The Department of Philosophy offers two graduate programs. The Doctor of Philosophy may be earned in five years by students entering with a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy. Requirements are adjusted for students entering with other majors or with a Master of Arts in Philosophy. The master's program is available to those with less academic preparation in the discipline or who want a terminal master's degree. Those who earn the master's degree can then apply for admission to the Doctor of Philosophy program. In both programs there are broad distribution requirements to provide candidates with a solid grounding in most areas within the discipline. Students may specialize in any of the three areas of concentration in which the department has developed special research and teaching strengths - health care and philosophy or social and political thought (which includes options in feminism, critical theory, African American philosophy, democratic theory, ethics and development), and environmental philosophy. Work in the traditional areas of philosophy such as metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of logic and language, philosophy of science, ethics, the history of philosophy, and continental philosophy, is possible as well.<br>The Department of Philosophy encourages doctoral students with interests in such areas as the biological sciences, health care, feminist studies, ancient studies, critical theory, cognitive science, and linguistics, to take a limited number of courses outside the department as part of their Doctor of Philosophy program. The department also provides opportunities for course work for graduate students in other departments. The department's collective practice of philosophy is producing a union of the disciplinary mainstream, practical engagement of philosophy and practice-driven theory. The Philosophy department at Michigan State is positioned at the intersection of the primary social and scientific issues of the early 21st century: health, biotechnology, environment, development, democracy, the distribution of knowledge and power, and struggles against systematic forms of oppression and exploitation.