History and Philosophy(BA)

at University of Warwick

Core first-year History modules will introduce you to the study of modern history in a global context and help you develop research skills, while Philosophy modules examine Plato and Descartes and introduce you to symbolic logic. In subsequent years, you will have a wide range of choice from across the curriculum of both Departments, with core modules in your second year on History of Modern Philosophy and Individual, Polis and Society: Philosophical Reflections on History.

Current History options examine topics such as American historical cinema, or gender, madness and conflict. Philosophy options available to current students include History of Scepticism, The Philosophy of Terrorism and Counterterrorism, and Post-Kantian Social and Political Philosophy: Hegel and Marx.

You may complete an optional dissertation in your third year in a topic of your choice related to either subject.

Year One
Making of the Modern World
We live in the here and now. But what got us here? This module studies the string of major social, political, and cultural developments that established our modern world. Radical (and not so radical) ideas from the Enlightenment, the industrial revolution’s structural transformations of how we work, build and buy things, and the struggles and stumbles of imperialism, capitalism and globalisation have gone far to set terms of life in the twenty-first century. The module will also help you develop your critical voice as a historian while asking comparative questions about historical difference across the world.

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.

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.

Year Two

Individual, Polis and Society: Philosophical Reflections in History
In studying closely a range 18th- and early-19th-century texts, you will address philosophical questions relating to the construction of identity, political realism and idealism, and the emerging concept of society. You will combine this with reflections on the changing styles of painting, architecture and fashion of the period. In learning how, as historians, we approach major writings of the period, you will interrogate the importance of historical context in critical readings of such sources, and develop your appreciation and understanding of how different lines of argument interact.

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

• Pathway 1 (25% History, 75% Philosophy)
• Pathway 2 (75% History, 25% Philosophy)
• Pathway 3 (50% History, 50% Philosophy)

Optional modules

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

• Being Human: Human Nature from the Renaissance to Freud
• Dissertation (History or Philosophy)
• Philosophy for the Real World: Knowledge, Ignorance and Bullshit
• Post-Kantian Social and Political Philosophy: Hegel and Marx
• Race and Science: Histories and Legacies
• Surveillance States: Biometrics from the Border to the Bathroom
• The Philosophy of Terrorism and Counterterrorism
• Value in the Age of Reason

Assessment
You will receive regular feedback throughout your course on developmental assignments and assessed essays, and will sit end-of-year exams. During your third year study is heavily weighted towards seminar teaching and includes an individually supervised 9,000-word dissertation. We consider feedback on written work to be an essential part of our teaching. Throughout the year you will have the opportunity to attend feedback tutorials following the submission of your essays.

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.

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 these courses have gone on to work for employers including:

• Admiral Group
• Advent
• Amnesty International
• BBC
• Bloomsbury Publishing
• Civil Service
• Deloitte
• ESI Media
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• KPMG
• Lloyds Banking Group
• M&S
• Ministry of Defence
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They have pursued roles such as:

• Archivists and curators
• Arts officers
• Producers and directors
• Actuaries, economists and statisticians
• Barristers and judges
• Business sales executives
• Chartered and certified accountants
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• Financial account managers
• Historians
• Journalists, newspaper and periodical editors
• Public relations professionals
• Researchers
• Solicitors