Philosophy - MA

The MA in Philosophy will give you a thorough grounding in the core knowledge and skills required for philosophical research, while allowing you to pursue your own philosophical interests in depth.

The 2017/18 Philosophical Gourmet Report ranks Bristol as one of the top 10 philosophy departments in the UK. In particular, Bristol is ranked as the strongest department in the UK for Mathematical Logic and Philosophy of Biology; the joint strongest for General Philosophy of Science; and the second strongest for Decision, Rational Choice and Game Theory and Philosophy of Mathematics.

You will be taught and supervised by members of a friendly and informal department with an outstanding reputation in the UK and internationally. The MA is designed to give you the most benefit from the research expertise of individual members of staff. For more than half of the course, you will have one-to-one tutorials with a member of the department. You will be guided throughout by a personal tutor who will help you structure your course of study and choose the topics you wish to research.

You will be an active member of our flourishing research culture and will be encouraged to participate in the three weekly research seminars on a wide range of philosophical issues. There is also a weekly postgraduate seminar, where you may present your own work before your peers, helping you to develop argumentative strategies in a supportive environment.

Programme structure

There are three core units and three optional units, which will either be a taught seminar unit from a list of those available or a unit taught by individual tutorials on an agreed topic of your choice. Each optional unit is assessed by an essay of 5,000-6,000 words.

Satisfactory completion of semesters one and two will allow you to progress to writing a dissertation of up to 15,000 words on an approved topic of your choice. The dissertation is your chance to produce an extended piece of philosophical research that can act as preparation for a graduate research degree. You will have supervisory meetings with a member of staff who will provide feedback on a draft of your work.

Visit our programme catalogue for full details of the structure and unit content for our MA in Philosophy.

Careers

Students who have completed the MA in Philosophy have gone on to careers as counsellors, journalists and teachers of philosophy. A number of MA graduates have gone on to study at MPhil/PhD level and develop careers as philosophy academics.

Visit the Philosophy - MA page on the University of Bristol website for more details!