Intellectual History MA

This MA builds on Sussex’s long tradition of innovation and expertise in intellectual history.

Exploring the major transformations and discourses in intellectual life since 1500, you’ll focus on:

• the history of political ideas
• religious and economic thought
• the Enlightenment
• the history of wars and empires.

Democracy and rights, war and empire, and toleration and persecution are all studied historically. You explore the ideas of thinkers through their literary texts and their practical contexts.

We are home to a number of innovative research centres, including the Centre for German-Jewish Studies, the Centre for Intellectual History, the Centre for the History of War and Society, and the Centre for World Environmental History. You’ll also have access to an impressive range of archives including the internationally renowned Mass Observation Archive.

Genuinely interdisciplinary in approach, the course examines the interrelations between philosophy, politics, science, religion and literature in Britain, Europe, North America and China.