The Philosophy Department at Birmingham is a friendly, vibrant and exciting place to be, whether you are an undergraduate, a Masters student, a research student or a visitor.
Undergraduate study
At the undergraduate level, we offer all of the areas of philosophy you’d expect in a BA programme: ethics, metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of mind, political philosophy, philosophy of science, philosophy of language, history of philosophy and so on. We also have some areas of philosophy that you might not be so likely to find elsewhere, or that we consider particular areas of strength: sexual ethics, philosophy of religion, and global ethics.
Our undergraduate curriculum provides students with a sense of progression and personal development throughout their degree and offers a choice of options at all levels. In recent years we have introduced exciting new modules on topics such as climate change ethics, philosophy of mathematics and feminist philosophy. Undergraduates also benefit from a highly active Philosophy Society, which runs an exciting programme of social events, visiting speakers, debates, and quizzes.
Postgraduate study
For Masters students, our expertise in the above areas of Philosophy is put to work in delivering a unique and intellectually stimulating range of courses. As well as an MA in Philosophy, we offer the following more tailored courses: Philosophy of Religion and Ethics and Philosophy of Mind and Cognitive Science. These courses take advantage of our strengths in philosophy of mind, philosophy of psychiatry, philosophy of health and disease, philosophy of cognitive science, and philosophy of religion. We also have a particular strength in ethics, especially in applied and global ethics, reflected in our Masters degrees in Global Ethics .
We also offer an interdisciplinary Masters course - the MA in International Law, Ethics and Politics - which is organised in collaboration with Birmingham Law School and the Department of Political Science.
Distance learning courses
The Department of Philosophy offers an MA in Philosophy of Religion and Ethics by Distance Learning. This programmes can be studied wholly online.
Postgraduate study in Philosophy
Research
We have a thriving community of research students, who support each other in addition to the support they receive from the department. We currently have students researching ethics, metaphysics, the history of philosophy, philosophy of religion and more. Some examples of recent PhDs completed in the department can be found on the ‘postgraduate research’ page, and students interested in applying can find more information about the areas that we can supervise on the ‘find a supervisor in Philosophy’ page.
These research projects and areas of expertise feed into the work of our research centres and clusters: global ethics, philosophy of mind, psychology and psychiatry and philosophical logic, language and metaphysics.
All members of the Department of Philosophy are always happy to be contacted about any aspect of our teaching and research. You can find details of current and appointed staff on our staff pages.