BA Philosophy

Why choose this course?

The BA in Philosophy grapples with the fundamental issues which lie behind our everyday thoughts and activities, and explores the things we too often take for granted. What makes it right or wrong to do something? Does scientific research reveal how the universe really is, or only how we have learned to think about it? Is it true that the future is less fixed than the past?

Scholars have studied philosophy for well over two thousand years. It is both timeless and perennially relevant, not only to the life of individuals and society, but to earning a living, since - more explicitly than many more subjects - philosophy develops yours skills to think, argue, analyse and interpret.

What could I go on to do?

Nationally, the proportion of philosophy graduates who go on to be professional philosophers – for example in academia – is quite small, although in recent years about 20% of Heythrop Philosophy graduates  have gone on to full-time further study -including Masters level study of philosophy – with another 25% studying alongside work.  In career terms, philosophy graduates get everywhere.  The first decade of the twenty-first century has seen rising numbers of philosophy graduates, matched by increased take up of the skills they offer by employers in business and finance, health services and graduate routes to medicine.  A recent Guardian article summed the prospects up under the title “I think, therefore I earn”.