The question of what a doctorate is has been looked at before. The author argues that the issue of "doctorateness" is a recurring debate which needs to kept alive and revisited regularly. The aim of this article is to suggest five different areas or arenas in which the question can be addressed, forming a framework which can perhaps be used again. Having looked at each area, it is argued that we should not be seeking some essential meaning of the term but that we should look for "family resemblances" across the wide range of doctorates now available to search for a better understanding of the nature of doctorateness.