Global Philosophies & Worldviews and Psychology (with Foundation Year)

GLOBAL PHILOSOPHIES & WORLDVIEWS

Liverpool is a gateway to the world. This city is home to the oldest Chinatown in Europe, its links with West Africa and the Americas were forged in the dark days of the transatlantic slave trade, and over one-and-a-half million Irish people passed through its port during the ‘Great Hunger’ of the 1845-52 Potato Famine. Each of the communities that have passed through this city brought with them their own ways of understanding the world their worldviews.

Liverpool, of course, is like nowhere else on the planet; it has its unique accent, a biting sense of humour, and an amazing cultural life. And each community that passes through the city leaves something of itself behind, adding to the cultural mix that makes Liverpool a truly global city. That makes Liverpool the perfect place to study how people today deal with all those different ideas and conflicting opinions that pop into the apps on our phones and computers. The roots of Liverpool Hope lie in the work pioneers such as Catholic Archbishop Worlock and Anglican Bishop Sheppard to bring about community reconciliation in the city. So, Liverpool Hope is the perfect place to ask how people today find their way through our media-saturated world. Here How do people coexist with others whose worldview is radically different to their own? What makes for a global citizen? What can we learn from people who are very different from ourselves? What can the story and the people of this city teach us?

This Major gives you a chance to delve into these questions. You will explore what can be learned from the ‘wisdom’ of different traditions in our pluralist contemporary world - chiefly by asking how other people have worked through questions like these. This will take you on a journey across the world. You will study in depth how the philosophical and religious traditions of Asia have tackled these questions. You will also look at the ways that Western philosophers and Jewish, Muslim and Christian theologians have explored them. Along the way you will look at how people form - and reform their worldview. You will ask such questions as does scientism lead to a reduction in human capacity for engaging with reality?  Is the Western secularisation model fundamentally colonialist?

The course gives its students the chance to step back from the noise of our digital world, and develop the professional skill of being able to engage closely with ideas and worldviews that are often misunderstood or underrepresented in society. So, people who take this course will be well-grounded for the kinds of careers that involve understanding, advocacy and working with different communities – for example journalism, the law, policing, politics, education, human resource management.

PSYCHOLOGY

The importance and relevance of psychology to all areas of life and society continues to grow, meaning that an undergraduate degree in psychology will prepare you for a diverse range of careers. The Psychology courses at Liverpool Hope University equip students with knowledge and understanding of human thinking and behaviour. The single honours BSc Psychology course has a focus on applications of psychology and students are supported in their development of skills to apply psychological knowledge to real-life settings. As an alternative, a combined honours Psychology degree at Liverpool Hope allows you to study psychology alongside one of over twenty other disciplines (see the list on the combinations tab for the full range of Psychology combined honours courses) meaning you can choose to study psychology in a way that matches your interests. 

Accredited by the British Psychological Society, the single and combined honours Psychology courses provide an in-depth scientific knowledge and understanding of the core areas of psychology. You will be supported by a friendly team of experienced and research-active lecturers to acquire skills of critical thinking and independent learning. The transferable skills developed through the course will be relevant to a variety of sectors including healthcare, the criminal justice system, education, and marketing.    

You will have the opportunity to enrich your degree through a series of extra-curricular activities, such as working as a research intern, supporting your peers as a mentor, and applying psychology outside the University (e.g., working in groups on an outward-bound retreat and teaching in another country as part of our Global Hope network). You will also have access to the School of Psychology labs where you can gain first-hand experience of specialist psychology techniques and equipment, such as eye-tracking, EEG, and observational methods.