Curious about studying Philosophy, Religion and Ethics (Including Year Abroad) - BA (Hons)at University of Essex? We've gathered all the key details—entry requirements, modules, fees, and more. Hear from real students by checking out reviews, or take the next step by booking an open day to explore it for yourself.
Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) - BA (Hons)
Colchester Campus
Full Time
Oct 2026
4 Year
Our course enables you to study philosophy, with a special focus on issues regarding religion and ethics, including momentous issues like the meaning of life, the relationship between faith and reason, arguments for and against the existence of God and the moral status of abortion and euthanasia. Study both classic texts and on-going debates in these fields, across a range of philosophical traditions. You will be equipped to engage with these discussions in an informed and critical way. We are involved in many exciting and interdisciplinary research projects, and have active links with other areas including political science, law, sociology, psychoanalysis, and art history. Our School of Philosophy and Art History has been ranked in the Top 20 in the UK for research excellence (REF 2014, mainstream universities, THE 2014).
4.3Begin your study of philosophy with an exploration of epistemology (the theory of knowledge) and identity theory. What does it mean to say that we ‘know’ something? What if that something is ourselves? How do our modes of practical interaction with the world and each other shape our ability to know different kinds of objects? Are there vices of the mind that distort our reasoning and lead our practical deliberations astray? How important is trust in a functional knowledge community? What kind of creatures must we be in order to be capable of knowing things? What role does self-responsibility play in effective knowing? What is it to be a self? How does that differ from having an identity or identities? To what extent are our identities determined by others? Are they up to us? How can the study of philosophy help us with these questions?
Ask life’s big questions: What, if anything, is the meaning of our lives? How can we become wise? Can we make sense of human suffering? How should we think about our own deaths? You take up these questions, first, by examining a series of ancient narratives, including The Myth of Sisyphus and Eden and the Fall; and then through the study of key works of modern thinkers including Nietzsche, Freud, Sartre, and Marx.
This course introduces key academic, professional and personal skills to support a successful transition beyond undergraduate study. Students develop confidence in critical thinking, communication, teamwork and self reflection while exploring future study and career options.
In this module, we shall take up a close study of the so-called problem of evil. Roughly, the 'problem of evil' is the objection to belief in God, as supremely wise, powerful and good, on the grounds of the existence of evil in our world. For how can there be such a God, given the appalling evils we suffer, both natural and human?
This year, we will explore some of the things that worry people about morality. These are matters that may be thought of as challenges to morality and that seem either to make morality impossible or to undermine our commitment to it. For instance, if morality is just a matter of what we happen to like or dislike, or it is only relative to the standards of one's culture, the idea that we can ask and give moral reasons appears to be undermined, or significantly limited. Analogously, the fact that moral discussions (unlike arguments about matters of fact) often end up in irresolvable disagreements seems to threaten the rationality of moral arguments. The role that matters of luck play in our moral evaluations seems to involve holding people responsible for things that are not really under their control, thus compromising the idea that we can really assess the moral value of their actions. In the first term, we will look at these and other challenges to morality, and we will also explore some of the metaethical questions that these challenges raise: can we say that our moral judgements are capable of being true or false? If they are, does their truth depend on certain moral facts? Can we describe these facts as natural?
In this module we will intensively examine a classic philosophical text, treating it not only as a historical document, but principally with regard to its ongoing contribution to philosophical thinking.
This module examines the relationships between faith and reason, religion and philosophy. We shall approach these topics, historically, by considering how they were discussed by some key figures in nineteenth-century European philosophy.
This module brings philosophical reflections to bear on questions to do with mental health and psychiatry, exploring key existential and social issues of our time. The exact content will vary from year to year, but questions that can be the focus include: What is mental health and its absence (various understood as distress or mental illness or mental disorder or as difficult experiences and troubled or troubling behaviour)? How do we best conceptualise them? What is it like to experience a disordered mind – what are the key structures and features of such experiences? And what can we learn from this about the functioning of our mind when it is not disordered? What is the ontology and epistemology underlying psychiatry? Have they changed over history and if so, why and how? What is the social context of distress and how can we address it? Does bio-medical psychiatry obscure that context? What are the ethical and political issues raised by our mental health system? Is it ever permissible to admit or treat people because of mental health issues against their will, and if so, under what conditions? What is ‘mad studies’? Who and what does it study? We will bring to bear different philosophical thinkers (such as Michel Foucault) or research traditions (such as Phenomenology) or ethical-political frameworks (like Republicanism) in exploring these and similar questions. In 2025-26, the focus will be on the crises inherent in our psychiatric present, informed by Foucault’s critical reflections about the beginning of psychiatry.
This is an intensive final-year module running over five weeks during the summer term. It involves a guided and structured approach to support you in completing a research project of your own.
Year Abroad
