Overview

Writers and philosophers consider the same universal questions using different approaches. By studying English Literature and Philosophy together, you get to read and discuss the literature you love with staff and students in our world-famous School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing, while also exploring the deep philosophical questions with philosophy students and staff, who will make you think twice and read again. Our degree course provides roughly equal proportions of both subjects, but there’s scope to adjust the balance towards more literature or more philosophy if you wish, as your interests deepen. In fact, there are staff in both departments whose research and teaching interests cross between the two disciplines. And in your second year you’ll have a co-taught module that combines the two together in an exciting way – all of which makes for a university experience you’ll never forget.

About This Course

How are we to live? What is justice? How can our minds know the world? What is truth? Can we prove anything about God? How do we tell good reasoning from bad? The study of philosophy considers these questions in a systematic attempt to make sense of human life and the world in which we live. And literature is another, equally important way that we try to make sense of human life and the questions it raises. In this course, you’ll discover how these two disciplines spark off each other to deepen your understanding of both. You’ll discover how philosophers and writers explore existential aspects of the human condition in diverse ways. You’ll examine the literary artistry of thinkers such as Plato and Nietzsche, who invite us into philosophy in exciting and unexpected ways. And you’ll discuss how novels, poems and dramatic works uncover special kinds of truth about the world. To study literature and philosophy together is to understand the influence one has on the other – and the way different minds work. Approached together in a single degree they’re incredibly stimulating, with the study of one enriching your study of the other. You’ll especially love this course if you’re interested in existential and intellectual themes in literature. You’ll choose from the full range of modules in both Philosophy and English Literature, developing skills in both fields. Interdisciplinary links are emphasised, and in your second year you will take a dedicated module that brings the two subjects together.