BA in Philosophy

The study of philosophy at Durham does not follow one particular school. The Department is unique in the UK in its wide-ranging expertise in Anglo-American analytical philosophy and Continental philosophy. Each of these has its own distinctive set of issues and approaches to resolving them. We also have special expertise in the philosophy of science, and social science, and the history of science and medicine. So at Durham, you will follow one of the widest-ranging philosophy degrees in the country.

Philosophy is a new subject for many students, so in your first year, you follow a range of introductory courses, introducing the fundamental philosophical subject areas.

Year 1

In their first year, all students take the Philosophy core modules of Ethics and Values, Knowledge and Reality, Introduction to Logic, and Reading Philosophy. Reading Philosophy is a text-based course that examines in-depth classic works by writers such as Plato, Hume, and Sartre.

Students also take two further modules, which can be chosen from History and Theory of Medicine, Introduction to the History and Philosophy of Science, or an 'elective' module being offered by another department within the university.

Years 2 and 3

In the second and third years, students have a choice of a wide range of topics. In previous years these have included:

• Moral Theory
• Modern Philosophy I and II
• Gender, Film, and Society
• Issues in Contemporary Ethics
• Philosophy of Religion
• Political Philosophy
• Metaphysics
• Language, Logic, and Reality
• Twentieth-Century European Philosophy
• Philosophy of Science
• The Philosophy of Economics and Politics: Theory, Methods, and Values
• Science and Religion
• Applied Ethics
• Philosophical Issues in Contemporary Science
• History and Philosophy of Psychiatry
• Biomedical Ethics Past and Present
• Formal and Philosophical Logic
• Ethics in Business Practice. 

You will also have the opportunity to study a subject in-depth, by writing a substantial dissertation on a topic of your choice, in your third year.

As well as choosing modules from within the Philosophy Department in your second and third years, you can also opt to choose 'elective' modules offered by other departments within the university.

Study Abroad

Philosophy

We participate in exchange schemes through which you may spend a year of your studies abroad, either with universities in Europe – through the SOCRATES/ERASMUS program – or with the University of California.

Options Available:-

• 4 Year With foundation Year