BA Philosophy (Placement Year)
Entry requirements
A level: ABB IB: 32 points overall with 16 points from the best 3 HL subjects
About this course
BA Hons in Philosophy (Placement Year), a philosophy degree centred on examining fundamental questions about human existence, knowledge, and ethics. Core topics include Research Methods, Policy Analysis, Historical Research, Critical & Analytical Thinking, Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning, Social & Cultural Analysis, and Global & Comparative Perspective. The course includes a third-year professional placement role in industry and a final-year independent research project. The first year covers core foundations through Knowledge and Reality in a Complex World, History of Philosophy: Ideas that Shaped the West, Ethics: How Should I Live?, History of Philosophy: Resistance and Inclusion, and Political Philosophy: How Should we Live Together?. The second year deepens understanding with Applied Philosophy: Decisions that Change the World, Mind, World and Science, and Philosophy Guided Project. Optional modules across the degree span areas such as politics, psychology, sociology, and religion. The final year features advanced study through Philosophy Independent Project: Extended Study, alongside options exploring global crises, politics, and culture.
Modules
- Knowledge and Reality in a Complex World
- History of Philosophy: Ideas that Shaped the West
- Ethics: How Should I Live?
- History of Philosophy: Resistance and Inclusion
- Political Philosophy: How Should we Live Together?
- Parties, Populism and Protest
- Developmental Psychology and Neuropsychology
- Global Challenges in World Politics
- Medieval and Early Modern Worlds
- Explaining Criminology
- Thinking Sociologically
- English across Space and Time
- Logic and Discrete Mathematics
- Global Religions and Society
- Understanding Culture
- Applied Philosophy: Decisions that Change the World
- Mind, World and Science
- Philosophy Guided Project
- Philosophical Perspectives on Politics and Economics
- Language, Communication and Knowledge
- Continental Philosophy
- Body, Mind and Society
- Inventing Rights
- Death
- Britain in the 20th Century
- Discourse Studies
- Welfare States: Poverty, Policy and Politics
- Film Theory and Aesthetics
- Language and Identity in France, Spain, Germany and the Sinophone World
- Society on Screen: The Language of Film
- Employability, Purpose and Social Impact (Discovery module)
- Global Challenges and Collaborative Solutions (Discovery module)
- Taking an Idea and Making it Happen (Discovery module)
- Global Religions, Women and Gender
- Work Based Learning Year
- Philosophy Independent Project: Extended Study
- Comparative Political Philosophy
- Questions at the Frontiers of Philosophy
- Philosophy and Popular Culture
- Philosophy For Times of Global Crisis
- Textual Explorations in Philosophy
- Critical Political Theory
- Democracy Under Pressure
- Policymaking in the Real World
- Crimes and Harms of the Powerful
- The Politics of Borders and Migration
- Autocrats, Dictators and Caudillos: Dictatorship and Representation in the 20th and 21st Centuries
- Sciences and Cultures Lab
- State and Religion
- Queer Futures (Discovery module)
- People Power and Collective Action (Discovery module)
- Confronting the Climate Crisis (Discovery module)
- Artistic Fusions (Discovery module)