The MA program in Ancient Philosophy is a two-year (five-term) interdisciplinary program that  combines courses in Philosophy with courses in Ancient Greek and Latin in order to develop students’ skills and knowledge in these areas as preparation for continued study at the PhD level. This program  is primarily course based, but includes a substantial research component via the graduate seminars in Philosophy and through the Summer Research Paper undertaken in the summer between the two academic years of the program.

The program provides students with the philosophical and philological skills necessary for researching and writing a dissertation in Ancient Philosophy at the doctoral level. These include the ability to reconstruct, analyze and critically assess philosophical arguments on the basis of careful study of the text in the original language; the skills for interpreting the text in its literary, cultural and historical context; familiarity with the general philological issues of the state and condition of the ancient texts, their reconstruction by scholars since the Renaissance, and the conventions of this scholarship; and how to engage the contemporary scholarly conversation in Ancient Philosophy and identify opportunities in it for future contribution at the doctoral level and beyond.