Comparative Literature/Philosophy

Comparative literature and philosophy is a combination that addresses two of the most fundamental modes through which human beings have tried to understand existence: through story, image and narrative on one hand, and through argument, conceptual analysis and systematic thought on the other. Comparative literature is the study of literary texts across cultural and national frontiers, time periods, languages, genres and even across the boundaries between literature and other arts, asking what connects and distinguishes the imaginative lives of different peoples and what literature reveals about the human condition at its most universal. Philosophy provides the rigorous analytical framework to examine the ideas, values and questions that literature raises.

At the University of Glasgow, this four-year programme gives you the opportunity to explore literature and philosophy together, developing your skills in close reading, textual analysis and philosophical argument across a wide range of traditions and periods. You will engage with literary texts from multiple national and linguistic traditions, developing a genuinely comparative perspective on literature, while also building your philosophical abilities in ethics, aesthetics, epistemology, metaphysics and political philosophy. A year abroad is part of the programme, giving you the chance to study at an international partner institution and extend both your literary and philosophical horizons.

Graduates in comparative literature and philosophy enter careers in academic research, publishing, journalism, education, cultural policy, broadcasting, translation, arts administration and law. The combination of analytical precision and broad cultural and literary knowledge is valued across any profession where complex ideas must be understood, evaluated and communicated. Many graduates pursue postgraduate study in comparative literature, philosophy, cultural studies, translation studies or a related humanities discipline.

The degree is particularly well suited to those who want their intellectual life to engage with the richness of multiple traditions rather than a single national or disciplinary perspective.