Philosophy BA

at University of Warwick

Core modules

At least 90 CATS philosophy modules in each year, including all core modules. Up to 30 CATS options each year may be taken from outside philosophy.

A quarter of your first year’s credits are your choice, and this increases to 75% of modules being selected by you in your second year. Your final year is down to you: all your modules are chosen by you according to your individual interests and goals.

Year One
Reason, Argument and Analysis
In this module, you will learn to identify common patterns of good and bad reasoning, helping you to expose errors in everyday life, to think better and develop the art of persuasion. The skills you gain will help you take a robust philosophical approach to your studies and work independently during your degree, giving you valuable reading, analysis and academic writing skills.

 

Key Debates in Moral and Political Philosophy
We often try to do the right thing. But what is the right thing? This module will explore key debates in ethics and political philosophy on how we should live and how we should live together. It will use texts from Thomas Hobbes and John Stuart Mill to address contemporary ethical issues. For example, can living morally sometimes be too demanding, or risk undermining our integrity? And what moral standards, if any, apply in political life? What obligations to politicians have towards the citizens?

 

Mind and Reality
Look around. What if all your experiences were the products of dreams, or neuroscientific experiments? Can you prove they aren’t? If not, how can you know anything about the world around you? How can you even think about such a world? Perhaps you can at least learn about your own experience, what it’s like to be you. But doesn’t your experience depend on your brain, an element of the external world? This course will deepen your understanding of the relationship between your mind and the rest of the world.

 

Plato and Descartes
What would you do if you had a magic ring that made you invisible? Be an invisible superhero or use your power for ill? Why exactly should we be just and good? In the first half of this module you will study Plato's Republic, a classic work examining questions like these. You will learn about the answers Plato proposed and, by evaluating Plato’s answers, deepen your understanding of the questions and the problems they raise.

Suppose an evil demon causes your experiences now to be radically misleading about the real world. There is no computer, no cup of coffee on the desk, even though it appears there are. In his Meditations on First Philosophy, which you will study in the second half of the module, Descartes uses such exercises to argue that we can find truths about the world independently of the senses, simply through reasoning and reflection.

 

Logic 1: Introduction to Symbolic Logic
This module teaches you formal logic, covering both propositional and first-order logic. You will learn about a system of natural deduction and understand how to demonstrate that it is both sound and complete. You will learn how to express and understand claims using formal techniques, including multiple quantifiers. Key concepts you will consider are logical validity, truth functionality and formal proof quantification.

 

Introduction to Ancient Philosophy
You will learn about Ancient Greek thinkers such as Parmenides, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, focusing on metaphysics, epistemology and ethics. You will see contrast and continuity between treatments of these topics in the ancient literature and you will gain a foundation for further study of Greek philosophy, and of contemporary philosophical literature. You will develop skills in critical analysis, presenting rigorous arguments, oral and written, and learn how to discuss a topic with clarity, patience and sensitivity to the views of others.

 

Year Two
History of Modern Philosophy
You will discover the metaphysical and epistemological ideas of great Empiricist philosophers Locke, Berkeley and Hume on substance, qualities, ideas, causation and perception. You will then explore Kant's ideas, including metaphysics, space, self-awareness, causation, scepticism and freedom. You will develop skills in critical engagement, articulating your own views of the relative strengths and weaknesses of these arguments and interpreting key philosophical ideas.

 

Year Three

No core modules.

Optional modules
Optional modules can vary from year to year. Example optional modules may include:

• Philosophy for the Real World
• Introduction to Chinese Philosophy
• Making Decisions
• Philosophy through Film
• Feminism
• Applied Ethics
• The Philosophy of Terrorism and Counterterrorism
• Moral Psychology
• Sartre and Existentialism
• Philosophy of Evil
• Democracy and Authority
• Philosophy of Religion
• Aristotle
   

All applicants, regardless of their visa requirements, are required to show that their ability to understand and express themselves in both written and spoken English is sufficiently high for them to derive full benefit from their degree course. The level of competence required depends on what type of degree you wish to study. Many applicants can demonstrate this through a satisfactory level of achievement in, for example, GCSE English Language or the English courses within the International Baccalaureate.

Applicants whose academic qualifications meet the University’s admissions requirements, but whose English language qualifications are not accepted as equivalent, may be offered a place at Warwick conditional on an acceptable English language qualification being achieved before they join the University. A number of English language tests are accepted; some of the most frequently offered ones are detailed below.

Please note that certain English tests (including IELTS and PTE) must be taken within two years and one month prior to the start of your course at Warwick. Applicants whose tests fall outside this timescale will need to retake a suitable English language test.

Applicants who require a visa to study in the UK may, depending on the circumstances, be asked to provide evidence of a secure English language test (e.g. IELTS for UKVI (Academic)), rather than an examination (such as International Baccalaureate English) due to the visa requirements set by the UK government.

If you are an overseas or EU student enrolling in 2022, your annual tuition fees will be as follows:

• Band 1 – £22,280 per year (classroom-based courses, including Humanities and most Social Science courses)
• Band 2 – £28,410 per year (laboratory-based courses, plus Theatre and Performance Studies, Economics, and courses provided by Warwick Business School, with exceptions)

Fees for 2023 entry have not been set. We will publish updated information here as soon as it becomes available, so please check back for updates about 2023 fee rates before you apply.

Warwick Undergraduate Global Excellence Scholarship 2022

We believe there should be no barrier to talent. That's why we are committed to offering a scholarship that makes it easier for gifted, ambitious international learners to pursue their academic interests at one of the UK's most prestigious universities. This new scheme will offer international fee-paying students 250 tuition fee discounts ranging from full fees to awards of £13,000 to £2,000 for the full duration of your Undergraduate degree course.

Graduates from our Philosophy single and joint honours degrees have gone on to pursue careers as:

• Authors, writers and translators
• Legal professionals
• Marketing professionals
• Management consultants and business analysts
• Chartered and certified accountants
• Teaching and educational professionals