BA (Hons) Philosophy and International Relations Bachelor's degree at the University of Reading

Explore arguments in different contexts such as newspaper opinions, social media spats and philosophical treaties. You'll develop critical thinking and logic to evaluate claims and arguments.

You'll delve into the most important philosophical works, considering the significance of each text and analysing the arguments within them to sharpen your critical skills.

Investigate the main theories of international relations and discover how to critically examine and evaluate competing theoretical arguments. You'll master the ability to reach and defend clear conclusions about such arguments and explore the contemporary international order through a theoretical lens.

Explore the political challenges and debates on climate change, analysing how and why decisions are made, their consequences, and underlying ethical issues. Through analysing climate change across various interconnected settings, you'll reflect on the relevance of climate change across the wider discipline of political science.

Acquire a grounding knowledge of the role of war in international relations. You'll focus on concepts and types of war, their causes, and how they relate to real-world issues in international relations and international security.

Question your assumptions and beliefs by exploring radical philosophical claims. You'll compare and contrast different ways of doing philosophy, such as phenomenology and deconstruction.

Discover global perspectives on justice and freedom, from the Buddha to Christian female mystics, to acquire new insights and question your own beliefs and ideas.

Develop the skills needed to produce persuasive and nuanced academic arguments, research, and referencing. You'll learn how to identify limitations and advantages of philosophical writing.

Explore some of philosophy's deepest and most perplexing questions, such as whether we can trust our senses, what it means to think and perceive, what we can know and what knowledge even is in the first place. You'll examine classic debates about the external world, consciousness, and the relationship between mind and matter.

Learn how to identify different methods and approaches to the study of politics and international relations. You'll study qualitative and quantitative methods of research, as well as methods of political theory, to prepare you for more advanced study in the subject.

Discover what international order is, how orders function, and the variety of different ways that relations among political communities can be, and have been, organised. You'll explore key dilemmas and trade-offs that characterise international relations and how contemporary problems are best addressed.

Develop your knowledge and skills by considering arguments in moral philosophy and contribute to debate by learning how to argue in a charitable but critical way.

Explore the concerns of society by asking questions within contemporary political philosophy. You'll enhance your ability to think reflectively and critically about the role of fairness in society.

Consider questions such as How can there be minds in a physical world? How does a mental state (like a memory or a perceptual experience) come to represent the world? What role does consciousness play in the mind? Discuss and analyse some of the core arguments in philosophy of mind, including with historical reference to the figures who originally formulated those arguments.

Participate in cross-cultural conversations about global issues such as gender, race, social identities, and death. You will be introduced to and taught how to analyse a range of concepts, including Buddhist, Jain, and African American critical theories, performative theories, and phenomenological theories.

Explore topics that are central to philosophical aesthetics including beauty, definitions of art and truth in literature. This will enable you to develop critical understanding of philosophical problems raised by art and aesthetic experience.

You'll engage with a range of ideas and theories from classic texts that mark some of the most important and influential ideas in philosophy, from Socrates to the present day.

Investigate the concept of knowledge and analyse and evaluate some of the core arguments in contemporary epistemology. You will learn about the different theories of knowledge and explore famous works from Ernest Sosa, Alvin Goldman, David Lewis, Edward Craig, and Miranda Fricker.

Examine and compare the origins of political systems, political institutions, regime formation and democratisation from all regions of the world. You'll learn how to nuance, unpack and conceptualise some of the contemporary challenges that democratic nation-states face.

Discover thinkers, ideas and traditions that have always played a central role in the study of politics. Through the writings of a selection of classic thinkers, you'll explore difficult debates around private property, democracy, individual autonomy.