BQE Text FA26

The text portion of the Basic Qualifying Exam (BQE) will be held on Saturday November 21st 2026 from 1:00pm–4:00pm. The room location is tbd. (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: J. Searle (1964). How to derive an ought from an is. Philosophical Review, 73(1): 43–58.
• Text 2: S. Bernecker (2011). Keeping track of the Gettier problem. Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, 92(2): 127–152.

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.) 

Feel free to consult the graduate handbook for general information about the BQE. Additionally, Prof. Rosenkrantz will hold an online BQE orientation meeting on <tbd>. The purpose will be to answer any 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.