Creative Writing and Philosophy & Ethics

Creative writing and philosophy and ethics is a degree that takes both the craft of writing and the rigour of philosophical inquiry seriously, and places them in productive dialogue. Creative writing develops your ability to produce original work across a range of forms, from fiction and screenplays to non-fiction and poetry, developing your voice, your understanding of craft, and your capacity to engage audiences across different genres. Philosophy and ethics brings the analytical discipline of sustained argument and careful conceptual thinking, asking fundamental questions about knowledge, moral responsibility, justice, and what we owe to each other.

At the University of Chichester, this three-year full-time programme offers specialisation across a wide range of creative writing disciplines, taught by practising and published poets, novelists, and screenwriters, alongside philosophy and ethics modules led by leading experts in those fields. The combination is more coherent than it might first appear: philosophical thinking about ethics, identity, and the nature of experience enriches creative work, while the imaginative exploration that creative writing demands can illuminate philosophical questions in ways that abstract argument cannot always reach. The typical entry tariff of 120 points reflects the broad entry base for this interdisciplinary programme.

You will develop creative craft alongside philosophical analytical skills, the ability to argue clearly and precisely, and the research and communication capabilities that both disciplines cultivate.

Graduates pursue careers in writing, journalism, publishing, philosophy teaching, ethics consultancy, arts administration, education, and communications. The combination of creative and analytical capabilities is genuinely distinctive, opening doors in the cultural sector and in roles that value both imaginative thinking and rigorous argument. Postgraduate study in creative writing, philosophy, or ethics is a natural continuation.