BA (Hons) History and Philosophy Bachelor's degree at the University of Sheffield

What does it take to be a historian? In this module, you will study the process of historical research, learning discipline-specific methods and essential study and writing skills through close engagement with a historical text (usually a work of narrative non-fiction) linked to your tutor's research interests. You will develop skills in critical reading, historiography, essay writing, bibliographic techniques, and reflection.

Assessment: The assessment for this module is aimed at giving you a strong foundation in the skills you will need throughout your degree and beyond: critical reading and writing, bibliographic techniques, and the ability to reflect on and articulate your skills as a historian.

Philosophical writing is a skill that you, the student, must hone early on in order to succeed in your degree. It is also a transferable skill that will serve you in your post-academic career. Philosophical writing combines the general virtues of clarity, organisation, focus and style found in other academic writing with particular philosophical virtues; namely, the ability to expose the implicit assumptions of analysed texts and to make explicit the logical structure of one's own and other peop

Building upon the foundational skills acquired in the introductory 'History Workshop,' this module will cultivate your ability to critically engage with the past, develop disciplinary awareness, and apply historical thinking. To do so it provides an introduction to the breadth of interests in the school and the way historians have made sense of patterns in historical developments. Moving from the Ancient and Medieval past to the contemporary world, the module shows how Sheffield historians appro

In Philosophy the past can be a guide to the present. The ideas that shape and guide philosophical thought can be understood by examining their historical development. This module will introduce students to key debates and the thought of key figures from the history of philosophy. The focus will be on a number of selected readings covering topics of central philosophical importance from philosophy's long past.

This module is an introduction to a range of topics in epistemology, metaphysics, and the philosophy of mind. In the first half of the module we consider questions such as: How should we understand knowledge? What implications does cognitive and cultural diversity have for our understanding of knowledge? Should we privilege some points of view? Should we trust others? Can we wrong them if we don't? And what should we say about disagreement? In the second half of the module we ask questions such

Religious traditions typically understand reality as involving more than just the tangible physical world. This module tackles philosophical questions about religion and reality. These include questions about different conceptions of God and the justification for religious beliefs, such as belief in God, supernatural forces and an afterlife. And questions about the nature of religious 'beliefs': are these the same kind of thing as mundane 'beliefs'? They also include questions about reality, rai

This module introduces students to some key philosophical questions about life and death. What is death? What happens to us when we die? Could there be an afterlife? Would it be a good thing if there were? Is it rational to fear death? Do we have moral duties towards the dead? If death is usually bad for us then killing someone, or allowing them to die, is usually wrong. But it is not always wrong. There are exceptions. The module looks at a range of life-and-death situations that may include eu

This module explores the fundamental shifts in mental attitudes and public behaviour that occurred in Europe between the age of the Reformation and the age of the Enlightenment. The central focus of the course will be the examination of the supernatural - religious beliefs, but also witchcraft and magic. You will explore the changing ways in which beliefs impinged on people's lives at various social levels. You will also have an opportunity to study the impact on people's world views of such cha

We live in a moment where the world is more interconnected than ever before, where big brands dominate global economies and imaginations, TikTok shapes trends across the planet, political rhetoric reverberates across borders, and pandemics and climate change offer threats on a planetary scale. We cannot avoid global thinking, and the impacts of international networks - from media to economies to culture and consumption - are so engrained that we barely even notice them. But how did we get here?

This module traces the development of modern humans through to the modern era. It introduces the wide range of materials and methods that archaeologists use to study the past. The practical laboratory-based classes and field classes provide experience in the basic identification, investigation and interpretation of archaeological evidence. They are supported by lectures that introduce archaeological methods, theories and worldwide case studies. From field to laboratory using examples from throug

This module teaches basic philosophical concepts and skills to do with argument. The first part of the course deals with arguments in ordinary language. It teaches techniques for recognizing, interpreting, analyzing, and assessing arguments of various kinds. It also teaches important concepts related to arguments, such as truth, validity, explanation, entailment, consistency, and necessity. The second part of the course is a basic introduction to formal logic. It teaches how to translate ordinar

This module introduces students to some key topics in the Philosophy of Sex and Queer Theory. We will begin with the surprisingly difficult questions of what sex is, and what a sexual orientation is, examining these questions from the perspective of contemporary philosophy, and also the history of sexuality and desire. We will consider a range of issues around the nature of embodiment, for example, whether there are only two biological sexes (male and female), as well as social and political imp