Degree Overview:

The BA (Hons) Philosophy and Ethics degree at the University of Chichester provides a comprehensive and stimulating exploration of major philosophical ideas and their relevance to contemporary events, conflicts, and challenges.

Objectives:

The program aims to:

Develop students' critical thinking skills through engaging with major philosophical debates.
Equip students to analyze arguments and construct their own reasoned positions.
Provide students with the skills necessary to apply philosophical thinking to real-world issues.
Build confidence in communication and research skills.

Description:

This program examines key ideas shaping contemporary society, including truth, freedom, and the nature of reality. Students explore the development of these ideas in classic philosophical texts while honing their argumentation and debate skills.

Outline:

Year One:

Faith and Reason: Explores the relationship between faith and reason, investigating the justification of beliefs, the limitations of rationality, and the cultural context surrounding belief, reason, and God.
Introduction to Political Ideas: Introduces the academic study of politics, examining its nature as both an activity and a discipline.
Law and Society: Offers an interdisciplinary perspective on the law, examining its nature, its role in social control, and its adaptation to changing social norms and opinions.
Religion, Ethics, and Violence: Explores the historical study of religion and ethics, investigating the relationship between religion, ethics, and violence in contemporary society.
Subverting the Subject: Ideas in Literature From Barthes to Butler: Analyzes the ideas of key thinkers who have challenged traditional conceptions of the subject, using literary fiction to examine how the subject can be shaped by external forces.
The Problem of Human Nature: Investigates diverse understandings of human nature, examining questions about what makes humanity distinct, the nature of rationality, the existence of the soul, and the relationship between thought and embodiment.
The Quest for Truth: Examines the relationship between philosophy and science by analyzing debates about different conceptions of truth, exploring the role of measurement, the existence of reality beyond the material world, and the place of philosophical approaches to truth in a science-driven society.
What Is the Good Life?
: Introduces classical and contemporary ideas about happiness and its implications for living well, examining Aristotle's virtue ethics, contemporary happiness research, religious perspectives, and alternative concepts like emotional intelligence and self-actualization.

Year Two:

Bio-Ethics: Introduces the concept and debates of bio-ethics, focusing on issues relating to the beginning and ending of life and exploring various ethical approaches.
Critique, Suspicion, and Revolution: Traces the development of Western philosophical ideas from modern thought to postmodernism, examining challenges to modern concepts of being, reality, knowledge, and subjectivity.
Enlightenment Europe: 1688-1789: Examines the ideas of the Enlightenment and their impact on science, religion, education, politics, and society, exploring the extent to which these ideas transformed society and the nature of enlightenment itself.
Environment and State in Britain Since 1945: Explores the British state's evolving stewardship of the environment since World War II, examining environmental challenges such as pollution, urban change, resource depletion, species conservation, epidemics, climate change, and the threat of nuclear war.
Fascism and Post-Fascism in Europe: Examines the rise of fascism in Europe during the first half of the 20th century, exploring its acceptance and resistance.
Freedom and Justice: Investigates philosophical approaches to freedom and justice, examining what constitutes a free action, the nature of granted freedom, and the key components of a just society.
Ideologies, Politics, and Culture: Provides an understanding of ideology, its operation within various political and cultural contexts, and a range of political ideologies, including conservatism, socialism, fascism, feminism, and ecologism.
Re-Litigating the Past: State, Media, and Historical Injustice in Contemporary Britain: Focuses on the rewriting of public history in Britain over recent decades through state, media, and voluntary sector interventions, exploring the integration of private trauma into public memory, the reasons behind silences, and the role of the past in judicial processes.
Saints or Sinners: Politics and Religion in the Contemporary Era: Critically examines the role of religious ideas in contemporary political life, focusing on how theological perspectives influence political movements.

Year Three:

British Culture Wars: Explores conflicts within British culture from the 19th century to the present, considering reactions to literary controversies, moral panics, liberal reforms, self-censorship, and the influence of Hollywood on British cinema.
Dictatorship, Conformity, and Resistance in Hater's Germany, Mussolini's Italy, and Stalin's Russia: Explores the ideologies of Soviet Communism, Italian Fascism, and German National Socialism, examining their nature as potential religions, the construction of these totalitarian states, and the experiences of individuals and institutions within these contexts.
Dissertation: The culmination of the degree, involving a 9,000-word research project on a specific aspect of theology, chosen in consultation with a module coordinator.
Globalisation and Its Malcontents: Examines key moments in the development of globalization, focusing on moments where the world came together, such as the Bretton Woods Conference.
Philosophy and the Future: Investigates philosophical conceptions of the future, examining religious understandings of eschatology, messianism, millennialism, and apocalypticism, and connecting these to philosophical notions of progress, utopianism, and dystopianism.
Political Theology: Explores how theological and religious concepts shape our understanding of political ideas, examining whether Western society is fundamentally religious and how theological and religious ideas operate in secular or post-secular societies.
Revisioning Religion, Gender, and Sexuality: Examines the development of feminist theologies and studies of religion in Jewish and Christian traditions, exploring subsequent developments such as womanist, mujerista, body, and queer theologies, as well as diverse feminist spiritualities across various traditions.
The Theology and Politics of Paul the Apostle: Analyzes Paul's letters in the New Testament, exploring their influence on the formation of Christianity and their impact on political, ethical, and philosophical questions.

Assessment:

Variety of tasks: Essays, book reviews, film reviews, project reports, videos, exhibitions, presentations.
Ongoing feedback: Students receive feedback throughout the term, rather than waiting until the end.
Supportive environment: Students receive significant support throughout the assessment process.

Teaching:

Friendly and encouraging staff: Tutors have recognized national and international research expertise in their subject areas.
Small group teaching: Encourages participation and fosters individual support.

Careers:

Diverse career paths: Graduates pursue careers in a wide range of fields, including law enforcement, human resources, non-governmental organizations, local and national government, charity management, public administration, the Church of England, communications and public relations, publishing, and journalism.
Postgraduate pathways: Options include MA Cultural History, MA Public Theology, PGCEs, and postgraduate research (MPhil/PhD).
University of Chichester alumni discount: Graduates receive a 15% discount on postgraduate fees.

Other:

Strong sense of community: The program emphasizes a close-knit community amongst students, across year groups, and with staff, including collaboration with students from other Humanities degrees.
Social events: The program organizes social activities, such as cinema trips, museum visits, film evenings, pub outings, guest lectures, and debates on topical issues.
University-wide activities: Students can participate in societies, clubs, and sports.
Study abroad opportunities: Students can explore opportunities to study abroad to enrich their educational experience and broaden their horizons.
Location: The University is located within the beautiful South Downs area of the UK.
Facilities: The University offers resources such as the Learning Resource Centre, the library, IT/teaching rooms, the Support and Information Zone, and support from subject-specific librarians.
Royal Literary Fund: Students can receive writing support from professional writers through the Royal Literary Fund.

BA (Hons) Philosophy and Ethics drafted

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