Law and Philosophy & Ethics BA (Hons)

LAW

Law shapes our society and influences every aspect of our lives. It defines our obligations and legal requirements, serves to regulate and define relationships and provides a means of redress when problems arise. To study Law is not only to study a challenging subject, but also to study the rules, principles and policies that underpin society. This degree gives you a theoretical and philosophical grounding in Law, as well as the ability to engage in its practical study and application.

Study Law with us and you will gain an understanding of the fundamental principles, theories and key ideas that underpin the law in England and Wales. You also learn about the way Public Law provides the legal framework within which government and administration functions, the structure of Law and Government under which we live, and the values of democracy, rule of law and constitutionalism that underpin that structure.

We aim to produce graduates who do not merely know or know how to, but understand why things are as they are and how they could be different. It is about gaining a deep approach to the subject, in which you try to relate ideas in one subject to those in others, to understand what you read, questioning material, making links and pursuing lines of inquiry out of interest.

The LLB degree and Joint degrees can be taken over 3 or 4 years. If taken over 4 years, the third year would be spent in an appropriate legal work experience setting in light of the requirements set down to undertake the Solicitors Qualify Exams.

PHILOSOPHY & ETHICS

Philosophy and Ethics explores the big questions of life and morality: on what basis do we judge things good or evil? It challenges you to examine your assumptions, opinions and worldview. Do we need to believe in God for life to have meaning – or have the arguments for the existence of God broken down? What does it mean to be human? Do we have free will, or is our life completely determined?

Through close attention to the primary texts of philosophers such as Plato, Aquinas, Descartes, Hume, Kant and Nietzsche, our Philosophy and Ethics degree will help you learn to analyse and evaluate arguments, and to compose and communicate your own ideas in a reasoned way. You will have a grounding in the foundational questions of philosophy. As you progress, you will look in depth at philosophy of religion, political philosophy, applied ethics and issues of human personhood, artificial intelligence, ecology and animality.

Liverpool is a great place to study philosophy: the city famously wears its heart on its sleeve, and is home to a rich web of cultures that explore the human condition through humour, art and performance. The Liverpool Hope team has developed a programme that aims to be contemporary and timely, especially in the field of applied ethics. And in a city that has been riven with sectarian strife in its past, the innovative approaches that the team takes to thinking about religion in the modern world are highly topical. 

This degree will help you to develop your professional capacity by equipping you with the intellectual skills and perspectives needed to face the ethical and ideological challenges of the contemporary world. Such skills are essential for careers that require you to grasp with complex and often conflicting ideas across a whole range of professions.