Philosophy

Philosophy is the oldest and most fundamental of the academic disciplines, concerned with questions that resist straightforward empirical resolution: What can we know, and how can we know it? What is the nature of reality? What makes actions right or wrong?

What do we owe each other as political beings? These questions have been asked since antiquity, and the rigor with which they have been debated constitutes one of the great intellectual traditions of human civilisation.

At Queen's University of Belfast you will engage with cutting-edge debates in the core areas of the discipline, including ethics, metaphysics, epistemology and political philosophy, while also studying key thinkers in the history of philosophy from Plato and Aristotle through Descartes and Hume to Marx, Simone de Beauvoir and Charles W. Mills. Formal logic and critical thinking are central to the programme, developing your ability to construct and evaluate arguments with precision.

The programme runs over three years full time.

Philosophy graduates are among the most versatile in the graduate market, precisely because the skills the discipline develops, rigorous thinking, careful argument, the ability to engage with complexity and to communicate clearly about difficult ideas, are applicable in virtually any professional context. Law, the civil service, journalism, finance, management consultancy, public policy, education, ethics advisory roles and human resources all regularly recruit philosophy graduates. The analytical training the degree provides is also excellent preparation for postgraduate study in philosophy, law, political theory, ethics in applied fields, or any discipline that values logical rigour and the ability to engage with foundational questions.