Associate and Fellowship Programs and Awards
taking the associate and fellowship

The Associate and Fellowship Progams offer a way of working towards an academic qualification in philosophy under the guidance and supervision of a qualified mentor. Whether you are a beginner to the subject seeking a goal to aim for, or are hoping to broaden and deepen your philosophical studies, or are thinking of applying to university and need to present evidence of your suitability for degree-level work, the Associate Award provides an ideal framework that will give direction and discipline to your studies.

For philosophy graduates as well as postgraduate students in other academic disciplines, the Fellowship Award offers the opportunity for sustained inquiry into a particular aspect of philosophy that interests you, or that is especially relevant to your research field.

Submissions for the Associate and Fellowship are examined by the Board of the International Society for Philosophers. Students receive a full transcript of the comments by Board members on their submission.

The Associate is awarded for successful completion of a study plan devised with the help of your mentor, culminating in the submission of a portfolio of four essays. The standard set is sufficiently high to make the Award a challenging and worthwhile goal to aim for — even if you have done philosophy before — yet within the realistic reach of someone starting upon the study of philosophy for the first time. The Fellowship Award, open to those who have gained the Associateship, is awarded for further research culminating in a paper that is soundly and effectively argued, incorporating the candidate's own original thinking about the chosen topic.

As a student on the Associate or Fellowship program you will be given all the help and support you need to accomplish your objectives, whatever these may be. There are no minimum educational qualifications for admission, and no set time limits for submission of your portfolio or dissertation. (A beginner to philosophy starting on the Associate program might expect to take anything between, say, six months and two years to produce an essay portfolio to the required standard, depending on how much time he or she had available for study.)

For students who require a more formally structured plan of study, there is available a complete distance learning course, Pathways to Philosophy. There are six, fifteen-unit programs to choose from: The Possible World Machine, an exploration of the central problems of philosophy using science fiction and dialogues; Searching for the Soul, which looks at the mind-body problem; The First Philosophers, tracing philosophy back to its very beginnings in Ancient Greece; Language and the World, which investigates the nature of meaning, and the importance of language to philosophy; Reason, Values and Conduct, which raises the question of the objectivity of moral reasoning; and The Ultimate Nature of Things, an introduction to metaphysics looking at attempts to define the nature of truth and existence.

Students working towards the Associate Award who opt for Pathways will be expected to write five essays in the course of their program, from which they will be able to choose four to work on for their essay portfolio. Fellowship students who wish to deepen their understanding of a particular area of philosophical inquiry, or who are looking to gain their bearings in a problem area new to them also have the option of following Pathways.

For Pathways students, the advantage of doing your course in conjunction with the Associate or Fellowship is that of completing your studies with a rigorous academic assessment of your work. However, students who wish to do Pathways without registering for the Associate or Fellowship, or who want to go straight into another Pathways program are free to do so. Each option merely provides the framework for pursuing your own individual philosophical interests. It is up to you to decide how to make the best of the choices available. Your mentor will be on hand if you need advice.