Philosophy & Ethics and Sociology BA (Hons) (with Foundation Year)

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.

SOCIOLOGY

Contemporary society is becoming ever more complex and the need to understand how it works is increasingly important. Sociology is the study of how society is organised, how this influences the attitudes and behaviour of individuals and the impact this has on social relationships, both within and between societies. Accordingly, sociology is now commonly regarded as an essential discipline for understanding the development of all modern societies. The Sociology degree at Liverpool Hope will help you to think critically and constructively about the key questions relating to modern society.

Our sociology degree is based around a core that provides inputs from social theory and from the comparison of different forms of society. The degree will help you to examine ‘common-sense’ assumptions about the world by exploring the issues that confront society, both nationally and globally, and by studying the theories and methods that help to explain and understand these issues. It also examines and evaluates the methods of research which make the study of society possible. The degree enables you to study a range of additional topics which cover the whole spectrum of sociological inquiry.

Staff are enthusiastic and dedicated and will help you to get the most out of your degree. In line with Liverpool Hope’s commitment to social justice, both nationally and internationally, Sociology attempts to understand social issues and problems that confront the modern world and, in so doing, challenges received wisdom.