BQE Text FA25
The text portion of the Basic Qualifying Exam (BQE) will be held on Saturday November 15th 2025 from 12:00pm–3:00pm. The room location is LIBR–201. (If students have reason or cause for taking the exam remotely, please contact Prof. Rosenkrantz.) Please get settled before the exam, and arrive early as needed. Bring a laptop.
The two texts for this fall semester are:
Text 1: A. P. Taylor, The frustrating problem for four-dimensionalism. Philosophical Studies (2013)
Text 2: C. L. Stevenson, The emotive meaning of ethical terms. Mind (1937)
Students are responsible for retrieving the texts. (For certain pedagogical reasons, the Graduate Committee deliberately does not post them anywhere. Both articles are easily available via the CSULB library, BeachReach, and so forth. Use the skills learned in the proseminar.)
All MA students have had some exposure to the BQE in their proseminar. For general information about the BQE, feel free to consult the graduate handbook. Additionally, Prof. Rosenkrantz will hold an online BQE orientation meeting on [tba]. The purpose will be to answer any remaining questions you might have about the exam.
It is in graduate students’ interests to attempt and pass the BQE as soon as possible. Normally, for most students and most circumstances, this piece of advice implies taking it in one’s first semester in the program, i.e., this FA25 semester.