Is it unwise to get a recommendation for philosophy phd apps from a professor you had relatively early in college? I will be applying to philosophy phd programs after completing my BA in philosophy and while completing a one year masters program (immediately after college) in philosophy. I impressed a certain professor in my third year of college during which I took two classes with her.  If I want a recommendation from her is it important that I take another class during my senior year of college so that her opinion of me will be current? My last class with her was in spring of my third year, and I will apply at the end of Fall of my masters program (equivalent to 5th year of college). If I don't take another class with her, there will be applying after three consecutive semesters of not having her.

I understand that the fact that I will have learned more material means that a letter based on later coursework might be stronger. But I'm mainly curious if admissions committees would partially discount a letter because they thought it to be based on 'outdated' (in my case, by a year or two) information.

thanks
I don't have experience with philosophy, but I can't imagine this part of admissions is too different.  It's pretty common for students to have one or more letters from faculty they haven't had classes with in the past year, so no that's not a problem.  (In fact, sometimes it happens with all the letters, if the student takes time off--e.g., see: If you want to do a PhD in mathematics, how important is it to start immediately after finishing undergraduate studies? )  What's important is that each letter writer should have something meaningful to say about your preparation, talent, attitude, performance, work ethic, etc.  Also, depending on the circumstances, it may be very natural for you to continue to have plenty of interactions with this professor over the next year or so whether or not you take another class with her.

That said, you should get letters from some people you've taken in your 4th-5th year (particularly master's classes if possible).  The main reason for this is you want recommendations which can discuss your performance in more advanced classes, which is presumably what you'll be taking.