Philosophy, Ethics and Religion

Philosophy, ethics and religion brings together three intertwined disciplines that collectively address the deepest questions human beings have asked about existence, value and meaning. Philosophy provides the analytical tools: the ability to construct and evaluate arguments, to clarify concepts and to investigate questions about knowledge, reality, freedom and the nature of the good. Ethics applies those tools to questions of how we ought to live and what morality requires, including in its connections to religious and secular traditions of thought.

Religious studies examines how human beings have understood the sacred, developed moral frameworks and organised communities of meaning across cultures and historical periods.

At the University of Leeds you will study for three years full-time, exploring the full range of questions these disciplines raise. Is evil real, and if so, what does that imply? Are we genuinely free to act, or are our choices determined?

What does justice require, and can morality exist without religion? How do we know anything at all? You will be encouraged to develop your own approach to these questions and to expand your intellectual horizons through engagement with traditions of both Western and global thought.

The programme includes a sandwich year in professional practice and a year abroad, giving you professional and international experience alongside your academic study.

Graduates in philosophy, ethics and religion bring an exceptional capacity for clear thinking, ethical reasoning and the analysis of complex arguments to their careers. Law, the civil service, chaplaincy, counselling, teaching, journalism, policy research, ethics advisory roles in business and healthcare, and a wide range of roles in the charitable and public sectors are all natural destinations. Postgraduate study in philosophy, applied ethics, theology, religious studies or law is common, and the rigorous training in argument that the degree provides is valued by admissions tutors across many professional fields.