Philosophy

The Philosophy MA enables students to benefit from the acknowledged expertise of UCL's lively, close-knit intellectual community, and also access the stimulation and dynamism of London's wider philosophical community. The programme offers the flexibility for recent graduates in the subject to study chosen topics in greater depth.

The programme allows students to develop an advanced knowledge of problems in contemporary analytic philosophy, the history of philosophy and the study of value. It provides students with an understanding of a representative range of central philosophical debates and of the nature of philosophical problems, and encourages them to develop and defend their own viewpoint.

Students undertake modules to the value of 180 credits.

The programme consists of two core modules (30 credits), six optional modules (90 credits) and a research dissertation (60 credits).

Core modules

These modules introduce students to graduate study in philosophy. Students will give short presentations on central topics and classic papers which form the basis of discussion.

• Research Preparation in Philosophy 1
• Research Preparation in Philosophy 2

Optional modules

Options may include the following: 

• Global Justice and Health
• Texts from Early Modern Philosophy: Hume
• Early Wittgenstein
• Epistemology
• Self-Knowledge
• Philosophy of Mind
• Moral Responsibility and Moral Dilemmas
• Kant
• Greek Philosophy
• Nineteenth Century Philosophy
• Philosophy of Mind and Cognitive Science
• Metaphysics of Science
• The Self in Early Analytic Philosophy
• Sartre’s Philosophy
• Epistemology of Disagreement
• Equality
• Recent Work in Practical Philosophy
• Graduate Studies in the Philosophy of Language
• Perception and its History

Dissertation/report

All students undertake an independent research project in any area of philosophy taught and approved by the Department, leading to in a dissertation of 12,000 words.

Teaching and learning

The programme is taught through a combination of seminars, lectures, and supervisions. Students' performance is assessed through examinations, presentations, coursework, and the dissertation.

A minimum of a lower second-class Bachelor’s degree in philosophy from a UK university or an overseas qualification of an equivalent standard. Applicants with a strong degree in a non-philosophical subject are welcome.