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According to what he said in the first season, Chidi is a professor of moral philosophy. Indeed, we see in the third season that he has an office, a plaque, and so forth. Naturally, that makes one think that his 18-year-long life's work is a monograph, not a dissertation.

However, he says at one point in the third season that he has to talk to his thesis advisor, and professors do not typically write theses or have advisors. Further, he may previously have talked about writing it and referred to it as a thesis. So why is Chidi, a professor, writing a thesis? Is it a mistake? Is it a joke about how he is still writing his PhD thesis despite having already graduated?

Adamant
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  • It's perfectly possible to be a "Professor" at a university (e.g. a paid teacher) and still be a PhD student. Not for 18 years, obviously, but that's the joke. – Valorum Oct 28 '20 at 08:53
  • @Valorum - It seems to me that those sorts of teachers are unlikely to have their own office, with a plaque that says "Professor so-and-so," and be referred to by their friends as "philosophy professors" (as opposed to philosophers or philosophy grad students). They'd just be a graduate student teaching a class, as a few of my colleagues did. – Adamant Oct 28 '20 at 09:16
  • Also when a university terminates their relationship with a student who also teaches courses, they talk about being "expelled," not "fired." And I think he may have mentioned tenure once. – Adamant Oct 28 '20 at 09:20
  • sure, in the same way that a waitress and a part time masseuse couldn't afford a 20 million dollar apartment overlooking Central Park. It's TV and doesn't have to make sense. If he was in a tiny office it would limit the filming angles. – Valorum Oct 28 '20 at 09:21
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    He was filmed in his office about once. I doubt filming angles are the explanation. I think it is more likely that he is still revising his thesis (his life's work) after having graduated. But there could be another explanation (Australian universities have a different system? I know that many countries have the Sci.D as a post PhD degree, and it might require a thesis). – Adamant Oct 28 '20 at 09:22
  • The term "professor" doesn't necessitate a doctorate. In any system, as far as I'm aware. – Valorum Oct 28 '20 at 09:25
  • Of course. Nonetheless, tenure-track research philosophy professors usually (almost always?) have them. – Adamant Oct 28 '20 at 09:26
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    The classic example is Freeman Dyson, who became a professor and FRS without having a PhD. It is extremely rare though. – Clara Diaz Sanchez Oct 28 '20 at 11:14
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    Thesis has a stronger implication than paper. Everyone writes papers, only academics write theses, especially PhD theses. So I assumed that he already had a PhD thesis but somehow kept revising it all his life. This way, it is a good metaphor for Sisyphus imho, he keeps revising and revising and even death doesn't end his agony. –  Oct 28 '20 at 11:15
  • What if he is finishing PhD for another subject or university? He has PhD for moral philosophy, what if he is working on PhD in economics or something like that. – jo1storm Oct 28 '20 at 11:40
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    @jo1storm Loosely speaking, PhD is like knighthood. You are awarded it not just for the work you complete but also for the research attitude. It basically says "This person is qualified enough to carry a research on his own." So having more than one PhD is meaningless and only seen in rare cases: if you are admitted to a much prestigious institute than the one you got your first phd, if you have too much money and pay too much attention to titles and if you are Bruce Banner. –  Oct 28 '20 at 12:57
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    great potential for crossover with https://academia.stackexchange.com here ... – Ben Bolker Oct 28 '20 at 15:29
  • I've met three people who had professor jobs before they had PhDs. They all had the same advisor, so I think in their case it was because their advisor was excessively demanding and everyone knew it. – Jetpack Oct 28 '20 at 15:57
  • @Valorum there are some universities whose policies either specify a lower required degree to hold a professorship (e.g. an MA) or do not formally specify a degree requirement, but it is correct to say that this is not the normal career pathway. Universities, especially older ones, tend to have a surprising number of "loopholes" that exist to cater to superstar scholars and people the university wishes to honor. Ordinary people have little chance of taking advantage of them. – Robert Columbia Oct 28 '20 at 17:47

4 Answers4

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In Australia, the title Professor relates to the academic grades of Professor and Associate Professor.

Neither grade actually ties to a particular qualification (although I think it would be considered very rare for someone in either position not to have a PhD).

Academic grades in Australian Universities relate to pay and seniority of teaching and academic staff, with Professor being the highest grade achievable and Associate Professor being the second highest.

Theoretically, it could be possible for someone to achieve those grades if they had a very strong international academic profile from the research completed and papers published in the relevant fields, without having completed their PhD.

K Mo
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This is more of a treatment of whether Chidi has a PhD or not, so it is indeed a cross-over with the academia SE.

He is probably revising his PhD manuscript for a book publication.

In social sciences, PhD theses are usually published as books and the more respectable the publisher the harder it is to have your theses published. Similar practices might be occurring in natural sciences as well, but I haven't heard anyone publishing their entire theses as books. (They are usually divided and pieces are published as book chapters or journal articles.)

Most researchers take some time after being awarded their degree to revise their thesis as a book. I guess Chidi just take forever in the revision process and his thesis became his torture, which Michael uses against him.

Most PhD courses have page or word limit for their dissertation.

Chidi is a caricature character with many exaggerated traits. The length of his thesis is no different. In order to save the thesis adviser and the degree committee from the pain Chidi inflicts on his adviser, a page limit is designed. As a side information, some institutions have lower page limit as well but there are a few great theses with a few pages, most notably John Nash's 26 page and 2 reference thesis.

Going back to Chidi, there is a good chance he submitted a shorter version to get his degree and kept perfecting it until he died for a book proposal/submission.

Chidi acts as PI in their project

PI, principal investigator, is almost always a PhD. Some institutions don't even allow PhDs, they have another position called senior post-doctorate researcher who can be PIs, as opposed to junior PDRs who cannot. People can apply for grants before they are awarded their title, but it is usually granted on the condition that they receive their PhD.

Some university lecturers like to be called professors and some might have large rooms

Chidi is called professor of philosophy which also shows that he has a PhD. Even though all evidence points to Chidi having a PhD, being called professor is not a conclusive evidence. K Mo's answer gives details about the title of professor in Australia.

Room allocation is usually a dibs process only depending on seniority. After all senior faculty numbers are allocated, if there are rooms available, PhD students might get a spacious room as well, but they usually don't.

Out of Universe details

I believe, the words thesis or dissertation are stronger than paper or book for a regular viewer. If the producers wanted to emphasise on him as an academician, writing a thesis helps more than writing a book.

  • This may be the case. But can you offer any evidence to support your thesis? – Valorum Oct 30 '20 at 19:03
  • Which specific points need evidence? –  Oct 30 '20 at 19:23
  • Any of it. It all seems like guesswork and supposition with nothing to support it from within the show (dialogue, images) or from outside the show (interviews, additional materials). – Valorum Oct 30 '20 at 19:31
  • It is all guesswork/conjecture because it is not covered in the series. Yet, we know that he is called professor, is a PI, revises a thesis all the time and he lives in the same world that we live in, so it is reasonable to assume the rules of academia apply in the same way. –  Oct 30 '20 at 19:34
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I don't know whether this applies in other countries, but in Denmark PhD and Doctor are separate degrees. So he could be working on becoming a Doctor.

Lise med-et-e Andreasen
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  • That's useful to know. That said, if I recall correctly, Chidi was born in Nigeria, grew up in Senegal, went to university in the USA, and taught in Australia, so I do not think Denmark's system enters in there. – Adamant Oct 29 '20 at 20:23
  • The show is, of course, not set in Denmark. – Valorum Oct 30 '20 at 19:02
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In addition to the excellent points already made, I have one other. Chiti may be getting a second PhD in a related field. For example, my High School Philosophy teacher (he was semi-retired and taught HS Philosophy once a week mainly for something to do) had PhDs in Philosophy, New Testament Studies, Eastern Religion, and some other philosophy-related one. (Moral Philosophy?) I always assumed Chiti had a doctorate in Moral Philosophy, and was working on a second PhD in a related field like Ethics.

Vince Clortho
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