BA Philosophy

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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. 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 subjects - Philosophy develops your skills to think, argue, analyse and interpret.

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 Guardian article summed up the prospects under the title “I think, therefore, I earn”.

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