J.D./M.A. in Law and Philosophy

Public life in constitutional democracies depends on a theoretical understanding of the nature and application of law—the focus of the dual degree in Law and Philosophy offered by BU Law and the Boston University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Department of Philosophy. Students take at least four seminars in the Philosophy Department. Credit from these courses applies to both the J.D. and M.A. degrees. You can receive both degrees in as little as three years.

 

Academic requirements:

  • At least four graduate-level courses in the Philosophy Department
  • Jurisprudence or legal-theory course cross-listed between BU Law and the Philosophy Department
  • Philosophy Department’s M.A. thesis requirement

A sampling of courses and seminars that apply toward M.A. requirements:

  • American Legal History
  • Animal Law
  • Civil War and Reconstruction
  • Comparative Family Law
  • The Constitution & Foreign Affairs
  • European Legal History
  • Gender & Law Colloquium
  • Historical Perspectives on Law, Constitutions & Culture
  • Law & Sexual Minorities
  • Lawyering in the 21st Century
  • Responses to Massive Violations of Human Rights
  • Wrongful Convictions