Candidate of Philosophy is any of the following academic degrees: a Bachelor's level, Master's level, higher than Master's level, or Doctorate level degree, depending on the country.

In the United States

The usual practice in the United States is for a graduate student working toward a doctorate to earn a Master's degree (usually Master of Arts or Master of Science) in course after about two years of coursework. In many universities, a student who has completed all of the coursework, all of the comprehensive examinations in the subject and all of the language examination requirements, and whose dissertation topic has been approved - in short, who has fulfilled all requirements for the doctorate except the writing and defense of the dissertation itself - may be awarded a Master of Philosophy degree, beyond the Master of Arts or Master of Science already earned. In other universities, such students used the informal designation of Ph.D. (ABD), for "All But Dissertation," not an actual degree but an informal convention.

The University of California began offering the Candidate in Philosophy degree in the early seventies, but most campuses discontinued the practice before the end of that decade. Opposition was largely based on the observation that, for most subjects, satisfactory completion on the qualifying examinations was tantamont to completion of the Ph.D. and was therefore largely redundant of that degree.

A very few schools actually designate such students Candidatus Philosophiae or Candidate in Philosophy, abbreviated C.Phil. as a formal status.

Universities offering the C.Phil.

• University of California, Berkeley
• University of California, Los Angeles
• University of California, San Diego
• University of California, Santa Barbara

Universities which once offered the Candidate in Philosophy degree, but no longer do so.

University of California, Davis

Europe

The C.Phil is broadly similar to some degrees found in Europe.

• The Master of Philosophy and Master of Research degrees in the United Kingdom, which also contain the prerequisite taught work needed for the doctorate. It is unusual for the MPhil degrees to be routinely awarded as part of a Ph.D. programme, while the MRes is. (Note, however, that at the University of Cambridge, the MPhil degree is a one year taught degree qualification, not normally a research degree. MPhil degrees at many (though by no means all) other UK universities have traditionally been 'consolation' degrees for failed PhDs, though there are signs that this pattern may slowly be changing, and that MPhil and MRes degrees are becoming valued in themselves, largely because of UK Research Council imperatives regarding research training and funding.)
• In Sweden and some other European countries the licentiate is a similar degree, in the respect that it requires the coursework of a doctorate, but a less extensive dissertation.

In the usage of the United Kingdom, United States, Australia, New Zealand and some other countries, the Master of Philosophy (M.Phil. ... In the U.K., the Master of Research degree is an advanced postgraduate degree available in a range of academic diciplines. ... licentiate- noun Someone who holds a certificate of competence to practise a profession. ...

Other meanings

The Candidate of Philosophy is the lowest academic degree, essentially the same as a Bachelor's degree, in several countries. For example, Finland and Sweden give these degrees, which are, however, usually translated as "Bachelor". In Finnish, this is filosofian kandidaatti. Like "Doctor of Philosophy", this degree doesn't necessarily imply specialization in theoretical philosophy, but is awarded in a variety of sciences.

In Finland, formerly the undergraduate degree in natural sciences (cf. Bachelor) was called luonnontieteiden kandidaatti "Candidate of Natural Sciences", and the graduate degree (cf. Master) was called filosofian kandidaatti. (See fi:Kandidaatti)

Notice also that a "Candidate of Philosophy", Kandidat, is a doctorate degree in Russia and CIS countries (i.e. ex-Soviet Union). Kandidat (Russian: кандидат) or Candidate of Science (кандидат наук) is a holder of a first post-graduate scientific degree in the former USSR since 1934 and in some post-Soviet states, awarded for a dissertation (the Doctor of Science is one level higher than the Kandidat). ...  Member state  Associate member Headquarters Minsk, Belarus Working language Russian Type Commonwealth Membership 11 member states 1 associate member Leaders  -  Executive Secretary Viktor Yanukovych Establishment December 21, 1991 Website http://cis. ...