Philosophy - BA (Hons)

Cardiff University

How should you live your life and relate to others? How should we organise society? Who and what should you believe? What is the nature of beauty? How do your mind, brain, body and environment shape your thoughts and feelings? Our BA in Philosophy investigates and unpicks important and complex questions like these. Learn how to engage with today’s global challenges by developing your skills as a philosopher in your own right. You’ll be doing philosophy, not simply learning about it. We’ll support you to think critically and creatively about difficult problems, including sensitive and controversial topics, in an open-minded and collaborative way. Through engagement with current research and working with your lecturers, you'll develop insights into complex new areas of study. Our expertise covers a broad range of philosophical topics and traditions and you'll gain a grounding in central areas like ethics, epistemology and philosophy of mind, while also having the opportunity to study areas such as aesthetics, feminist philosophy and phenomenology. Many of our modules directly address contemporary problems facing society, helping you connect philosophical theory with practice. This is emphasised with a final-year project that applies your own philosophical knowledge and ideas to policies or strategies aimed at solving a real-world ethical or social problem. You’ll graduate with valuable professional skills including collaboration, communication and critical thinking. You'll also have a deep understanding of the ethical and social challenges facing contemporary society and industry - and the confidence to respond to them.

Choose modules across a range of philosophical traditions, trace connections with other disciplines, and engage with new areas of philosophical research.

Critically and creatively engage with difficult problems in an independent and open-minded way.

Apply philosophical research to develop policies or strategies aimed at solving real-world social problems.

Analyse contemporary research with staff who are leading researchers in their field.

Develop skills and experience in shaping and presenting your ideas and arguments, and in reaching agreement on difficult questions.