Philosophy

Ancient Greek Philosophy

Meet the two greatest philosophers of ancient Greece, Plato and Aristotle. You’ll explore the key themes in Plato’s Republic and Artistotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, uncovering vital ethical and political issues. You’ll understand why these fascinating texts have influenced the history of philosophy. 

*If you’re a combined honours student, you only need to take Ancient Greek Philosophy OR Early Modern Philosophy as compulsory.

Early Modern Philosophy

Does anything exist outside our minds? Are our thoughts just a product of our senses? In this module, you’ll get to grips with early modern philosophy, and its core texts and ideas. In part 1, you’ll dive into Descartes’ Meditations on First Philosophy, and gain core analytical skills as you examine his attempts to provide a firm basis for knowledge. In part 2, you’ll dig into Hume’s Treatise on Human Nature and his Enquiry concerning Human Understanding, examining his attempts to construct a theory of the workings of the human mind. You’ll also explore the Immanual Kant’s views of space and time as developed in his book The Critique of Pure Reason. 

*If you’re a combined honours student, you only need to take Ancient Greek Philosophy

Continental Philosophy of Religion

In this module, you’ll investigate the philosophy of religion, and how it was shaped by key thinkers in the Continental European tradition of the 19th and 20th centuries. You’ll gain valuable critical skills to succeed in your degree, as you critique the concept of God, and explore Feuerbach’s idea that God is nothing more than an expression of human nature and needs. 

We will consider the claims of Nietzsche that God is dead, of Marx that religion is an opiate for human suffering, and of Freud that religion is no more than a set of illusions, vain attempts to deal with the suffering of life. We will see that, from such an unpromising start, creative perspectives on what religion really involves emerge. You’ll also explore different responses to debates about God and religion.

Evolution and the Mind

How did we evolve from life-forms with no cognition, to beings who process 400 billion bits of information per second? In this module, you’ll get to grips with cognitive evolution - the idea that our minds have evolved over time. You’ll understand how humans think, and discover how the evolution of our minds has influenced our culture - from religion to the arts. You’ll explore the relationship between biological and cultural evolution, through topics including: 

• cultural group selection
• the epidemiology of representations
• evolutionary psychology.

Philosophy as a Way of Life

What’s the difference between a philosopher and a doctor? In this module, you’ll explore the ancient Greek view that philosophers heal the soul, just as physicians heal the body. You’ll gain a strong knowledge of ancient philosophical thought, as you trace this thinking in the works of Aristotle, the Epicureans, the Stoics and the Sceptics and explore their views on such issues as:

• does anger have a positive role to play in our lives or would we be better off without it?
• Is death something to be feared?
• what is the role of love in human life?
• what are the benefits of a life of scepticism?

Language and Reality

How did language - the centre of our culture, family ties and business transactions -  develop? In this module, you’ll get to grips with fascinating debates around language, and why philosophers have been so drawn to it throughout history. You’ll gain core critical skills, as you consider questions around: 

• what language is 
• whether we can study it scientifically
• the relationship between language and thought. 

Philosophy of Science

In this module, you’ll discover science, and its role in our society. You’ll get to grips with the main philosophical questions around scientific knowledge, and the methods we use to explore it. You’ll gain core critical skills as you consider classic philosophy of science topics, and investigate some new ideas. You’ll debate topics such as:

• do the entities postulated by scientists really exist?
• can scientific theories be falsified by observation?
• is theoretical change in science a rational process?
• how much of the biological world can be explained by appeal to natural selection?
• what is the measurement problem in quantum mechanics?

Independent Study: Work and Community Related Learning

In this module, you’ll kickstart your career. You’ll pick your own work placement, based around your passions, and gain critical skills and opportunities for your future career. You’ll make important professional contacts, and hone your plans for the future. You’ll develop your self-reflection skills as you write a journal based on your experience. In recent years students have had placements working with charities, in schools, and in broadening access to higher education.

Dissertation in Philosophy

This module gives you the chance to do research on a topic that fascinates you. You’ll have the support of expert staff, as you critically analyse and present your research on a pressing philosophical issue. Whether you’re investigating the ethics of artificial intelligence, fake news or feminist philosophy, you’ll shape your dissertation around your passions, and gain the skills for a groundbreaking career. 

Freedom, Justice and Political Theory

In this module, you’ll explore key political concepts, including: 

• freedom
• justice
• the community.

You’ll also look at relevant concepts such as rights and equality. You’ll gain valuable critical skills as you explore the different methods we use to explore these concepts, and how they play out in the practical world of politics.
 

Independent Study Module

In this module, you’ll gain excellent skills for work and your degree. You’ll work independently on projects that fascinate you, with the support of our leading Philosophy academics. You’ll build on your knowledge of philosophy, and hone your ability to manage your projects and time successfully. Whether you’re focusing on eastern philosophy, the nature of the self or existentialism, you’ll shape your project around your passions and gain the skills for a fantastic career.

Medieval Philosophy

In this module, you’ll dive into medieval philosophy - an unfairly neglected period in western philosophy. You’ll explore the fascinating ideas of a wide range of medieval thinkers, whose work still influences philosophy today. You’ll also gain a strong knowledge of the historical gap between ancient Greek philosophy and today.

Metaethics

This advanced module is devoted to the sustained and detailed exploration of a topic introduced in the compulsory Introduction to Philosophy, namely, the realism vs. noncognitivism dispute in meta-ethics. The implications of meta-ethical theories for normative ethics will also be explored.

Metaphilosophy

What exactly is philosophy and how does it relate to, on the one hand, science, and, on the other, commonsense reflection? Is philosophy an armchair discipline or should it employ empirical methods? Is philosophy best done by experts or has everyone got an equally important contribution to make to the discipline? These questions will be explored by examining some of the most prominent views as to the nature of philosophy championed over the last hundred years. Particular emphasis is placed on Experimental Philosophy, a new approach in philosophy that insists that the philosopher should get out of their armchair and adopt empirical methods of the kind used in cognitive science.

Moral Vision

This module explores central topics in metaethics, the philosophical study of the nature of morality and moral judgment. You will explore such issues as:

• are there objective moral facts?
• when we make a moral judgment are we making a factual claim or merely expressing our emotions or preferences?
• is morality culturally relative?
• how do our moral judgments motivate our actions.

Philosophy of Mind

This module is designed to introduce you to one of the liveliest areas of current research: contemporary philosophy of mind. Much of the current work in the field is devoted to the task of explaining how mental phenomena can be accommodated within a physicalist framework.

Philosophy of Education

What’s the point of education? What do we hope to achieve by it? In this module, you’ll dig into core questions about education through a philosophical approach. You’ll gain excellent critical skills as you debate contemporary, historical and international perspectives. You’ll consider the groundbreaking texts that shape the way we understand educational desires and efforts, and you’ll reflect on your own educational experience. 

Space, Time and Being

In this module, you’ll understand a core branch of philosophy - metaphysics. You’ll explore both contemporary and historical answers to such fundamental questions as: 

• do we have free will or all our actions determined?
• What is the basic structure of reality?
• what is the place of the mind in the physical world?
• what is space and time and are they objective features of reality or constructs of the human mind?
   

Special Topics in Metaphysics

This module is designed to help you develop your reading and oral presentation skills. This is predominantly a student-led module. You will present seminar papers on classic philosophical works - either journal articles or chapters from seminal monographs - in the areas of metaphysics and the philosophy of logic. You will assess each other's presentations. You will also write an essay on a topic related to your seminar presentation.

The Moral Mind

Do our morals come from society or ourselves? How does emotion affect our moral judgement? In this module, you’ll explore the moral behaviour of humans, and our ideas of right and wrong. You’ll analyse the parts of the brain which create our moral behaviour and evaluation. You’ll also look at research on the philosophy of the mind, moral philosophy and cognitive science. And you’ll explore issues such as:

• what motivates our moral behaviour
• how morals evolved
• how we develop moral beliefs.

Thought and Consciousness

In this module, you’ll get to know one of the liveliest areas of current research: contemporary philosophy of mind. You will explore issues such as:

• What is the relationship between the mind and the brain?
• How are our thoughts capable of being about phenomena that exist outside of the mind?
• Where is the mind located? Is it in our skulls or does it stretch beyond the outer surfaces of our bodies?
• Is consciousness a mystery or can it be explained from a scientific perspective?
   

Thinking in Dark Times

Why is there so much suffering in the world? Why do so many bad things happen? And can philosophy combat evil? In this module, you’ll dive into the problem of evil, and the philosophical ideas which underpin it. You’ll look at how philosophers have responded to dark events throughout history, and consider the social contexts of their ideas.  We move on from this to what is, perhaps, a more interesting and important question: how do we live when confronted with dark times? How might we act in such ways as to cultivate the good and to ensure that wickedness cannot flourish?

Work placements

You will have the opportunity to undertake a work and community-related learning module as part of your degree. You’ll also have the opportunity to take part in the ‘philosophy with schools’ programme. This voluntary programme offers you specialist training before embarking on a placement in a local school, teaching philosophy to children as an enriching educational activity. Travel and associated costs of all work placements are the responsibility of the student, therefore it is advised that they organise placements bearing this in mind.