Explore how philosophical thinking can tackle real-world problems, from personal dilemmas to global challenges, by linking abstract ideas to concrete decisions.

In this module you will engage with an applied philosophical challenge, using your philosophical skills to provide compelling reasons in favour of your solution. Through production of a short podcast or in-person presentation, you will also develop your ability to engage in philosophical argumentation beyond the written word. And along the way, you’ll gain the tools to think clearly, act responsibly, and engage thoughtfully with the complex world around you.

Specific topics studied each year draw on Lancaster’s wide range of applied expertise and may include:

• Ethics and regulation in traditional and social media, in the era of mass global communication and impact

• Bioethical topics such as euthanasia, rationing, ageism, research ethics and public health ethics

• Health and illness, the concept of mental health, and the role of lay or patient knowledge versus medical expertise

• Ethics in professional and organisational life, including divisions of roles, decent work, unpaid and care work, the rights and duties of corporations and employers and codes of ethics

• Study of different scientific methods and their limitations

Throughout this module you will learn about topics in applied philosophy, while developing and practicing some of the many transferable skills that Philosophy graduates bring to a wide range of professional roles, such as critical problem solving, political and ethical reasoning, the clear identification of problems, and the art of communicating potential solutions to diverse audiences.

Create a portfolio of investigative and critical writing which explores a particular philosophical topic in depth.

In this module you will be guided with expert support from Lancaster philosophers to develop your philosophical and independent study skills. Through deep engagement with a specific topic you will develop your ability to assess philosophical arguments and make independent judgements, informed by reasoning and evidence.You will engage with a text, problem, figure or body of work chosen by an academic within the philosophy team at Lancaster who is a specialist on the topic and work with their expert support, in groups and independently.

Project topics offered each year will be drawn from one or more of Lancaster’s many areas of expertise, such as:

• Global philosophy

• Comparative philosophy

• Ethics

• Metaphysics

• Political philosophy

• Applied philosophy

• Social ontology and epistemology

• Philosophy of science

• Philosophy of mind

• The history of philosophy

• Feminist philosophy

• Continental philosophy

• Aesthetics

Completion of this module will equip you with the skills and knowledge you need for further independent writing in your final year of study.

In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, a new approach to philosophy began to emerge that questioned and interrogated the inherited western philosophical tradition from Plato to Kant. This new approach was later described as ‘continental’ philosophy.

In this module, you will discover some of the key thinkers from this continental tradition of philosophy. The particular philosophers will vary from year to year, but will include pioneering thinkers who have been particularly influential on later continental philosophers (for example, Hegel, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche and Wittgenstein) as well as more recent continental thinkers themselves (for example, Lyotard, Derrida, Levinas, Badiou, Žižek, Foucault, Arendt and Beauvoir). While engaging with their thoughts, we will consider difficult and enduring questions such as:

• What is the relationship between history and truth?

• How does subjective experience relate to universal truth?

• What is the significance of gender and embodiment in philosophical reflection?

• What is the role of language and discourse in philosophical claims?

• How might we conceive of the relationship between power and freedom?

On completion of this module, you will be able to understand and interpret the central arguments made by these thinkers and to assess their distinctive claims, methods and approaches and their continuing significance for philosophy and for how we ought to structure our societies and lives.

Not all professional contexts are the same – and within any organisation there are diverse people with varied backgrounds. This module focuses on enhancing your intercultural competency and cultural awareness, with a particular emphasis on ‘place-based’ learning. Considering the cultural dynamics of the North West of England and the broader UK helps us reflect upon intercultural dynamics in very different locations.

Through analysis, discussion and self-reflection you will strengthen your ability to navigate diverse workplace settings and enhance your employability in today’s interconnected world.

Hone a strong sense of purpose and gain the satisfaction of applying your skills and knowledge to a community, charity or student-led initiative.

Your challenge will be to take responsibility for arranging and completing a voluntary or fundraising activity—locally, virtually or during vacation periods at home. You will need to show that you have made a positive difference through this activity.

In class, you will be asked to reflect on this experience and explore the wider social impact of the work. In doing so you will build your confidence in your ability to contribute meaningfully to society through your future personal and professional path.

You are invited to collaborate in an interdisciplinary team with other students as you explore major global challenges such as climate change, inequality or emerging technologies.

Throughout the module you will examine how the humanities, arts and social sciences contribute to understanding and addressing complex issues. Classroom discussions and activities focus on the process of identifying problems and considering innovative, ethical responses, while helping you to consider and articulate the relevance of this work to your personal and professional development.

Critically engage with questions and debates about our socially connected lives and the ways in which we interact and act on the world through language and communication, individually and as a society, to shape knowledge and reality. In this module you will gain the skills and insight to ask questions which change each year but may include:

• How does communication work in our individual and collective lives?

• How might certain kinds of communication bring about ethical and political change (for example, by making something permissible or changing the boundaries of acceptable political discourse)?

• Are lying and other kinds of deception permissible, and if so, when and for whom?

• What does freedom of speech really mean, and how might duties and rights differ in this space for citizens, for the press, for politicians, for academics, and on social media?

• How can collective knowledge practices exclude or harm, do we have duties to address these problems, and what might work to do so?

• What is the nature and appropriate regulation of propaganda and hate speech?

• What are the ways in which patterns of attention and exclusion or inclusion in who we listen to and develop knowledge with may have ethical and political implications?

• What communicative protest and speech acts are legitimate in a democratic state?

You will leave this module with a better understanding of how practices of knowledge creation and participation, and of language and communication, may actively shape and determine the boundaries of our world, and with the skills to critically examine these forces in action across the media, social media, politics and society.

What does it take to have a mind? How does science work? Does human reason equip us to understand the external world? In this module we explore the nature of consciousness and reality, and the methods by which we understand them, focussing on key debates in the philosophy of mind and philosophy of science.

In the first part of the module, you will explore what it takes to have a mind, examining and critiquing some of the wide range of answers philosophers have offered to this intractable problem. Questions you will investigate include:

• What is the relationship between the mind and the brain?

• How do animal minds or artificial intelligence fit into our understanding of thought and consciousness?

• Can science ever provide us with a full understanding of how consciousness is possible?

The second part of the module turns to the nature of science itself. Modern science is often regarded as our most reliable guide to reality, but what justifies this status? In investigating the nature of science, you will learn about some of the most influential twentieth-century accounts of scientific method and theory-testing. Questions you will address include:

• How does science differ from non-science?

• Is there a scientific method?

• Should we believe in unobservable entities posited by scientific theories, such as quarks or superstrings?

• What are limits of scientific and rational inquiry?

Through wrestling with debates about the nature of consciousness, science, and the extent to which we can understand reality you will leave this module equipped with a greater understanding of some of the most difficult and enduring challenges in philosophy: what it is to be human, to have sentience, and how should we understand the vast body of scientific knowledge that shapes our collective world?

Global and local political and economic affairs raise complicated philosophical issues. While political theory and philosophy often focus on normative questions – such as the nature of justice, freedom, or legitimacy – this module centres on the epistemological and methodological challenges that underpin our understanding of political and economic life. These challenges are no less important for how we think about contemporary societies and the difficulties they face and are, as you will discover, closely connected to more normative questions.

Concepts such as democracy or autocracy, money, taxation and national debt, power and economic growth – all are complex and contested:

• They raise metaphysical questions: what sorts of ‘things’ are they?

• They pose epistemological challenges: how can we know or measure them? Is it possible to study them without making assumptions about values?

• They provoke broader considerations: how do large-scale political and economic phenomena relate to individual people and their activities?

Through considering these questions on this module, you will gain an understanding of the special challenges involved in knowledge of our social, political and economic systems, and how philosophical thinking complements the tasks of political science and economics.

Explore how ideas can be developed into real-world projects with lasting value. Through hands-on collaboration and problem-solving, you will develop innovative projects, learn how to bring ideas to life and explore ways to sustain them.

Whether you are working in a team or individually, you will be encouraged to experiment with different approaches to making a difference in artistic, cultural, social and community spaces.

This module will allow you to spend the year working in a graduate-level placement role in the industry or sector that interests you most. Throughout the year, you will build an awareness of what is required in the professional workplace whilst developing a range of transferable skills.

During the module you will reflect on and critically analyse: your own career readiness, the ongoing development of your self-awareness in terms of skills and professional knowledge, and your understanding of current workplace practices and professional etiquette.

Our Careers and Placements Team will support you during your placement with online contact and learning resources.

Develop a philosophical dissertation: a substantial piece of independent research that demonstrates critical thinking, deep analysis, and original insight. You will identify a specific philosophical topic from the wide range of research specialisms within Philosophy at Lancaster and, together with your dissertation supervisor, develop a clear research question. You’ll engage with relevant primary and secondary texts to construct a compelling philosophical argument over a sustained piece of writing.

Complete your undergraduate student journey by demonstrating that you can expand on the knowledge base you have developed through your degree and use the philosophical skills you have gained to produce your own independent work in philosophy. Acquiring advanced research skills will prepare you for both further academic study in philosophy and for professional roles that require skills in research, critical thinking and independent thought.

What happens when radically different forms of art meet? How do these fused forms change our understanding of the world? We will draw on material from different periods and continents, to explore works of art where, for example, film meets history, poetry meets philosophy, fine art meets sociology, religion meets fiction, and theatre meets politics.

Politics is one of the most widespread and diverse phenomena of human experience. Yet it is often studied by relying on concepts, theoretical resources, and methodological approaches derived from a single intellectual tradition. This module seeks to reverse this trend by introducing you to global philosophical perspectives emanating from different intellectual traditions on a particular topic.

The philosophical traditions with which we engage will vary from year to year, but may include Chinese, Continental, Analytic, African, Feminist, Postcolonial, and/or Decolonial perspectives. The topics that we look at will also change but may include one or more of the following:

• Democracy

• Modernity

• Secularism

• Pluralism

• Rights

• Political legitimacy

We will consider how the theme(s) we focus on has or have been construed in different settings, and we will inquire into how these different construals can help us achieve a better understanding of today’s sociopolitical landscape, while also providing new perspectives on how to tackle some of the most pressing political problems of our times.

In addition to learning about different philosophical traditions, you will also reflect on the challenges of studying philosophy comparatively and engaging with philosophical traditions that derive from different cultural settings, developing a broader critical understanding of political community and life.

How might we engage with the implications of environmental transformation locally, nationally and globally? Where do we have agency and capacity to intervene?

This module brings together a range of perspectives—historical, political, philosophical and cultural—to explore the nature and severity of the effects of the climate crisis on our world.

What does it mean to imagine a world without borders? Using materials typically derived from case studies, reports, archives, film, television and literature, this module foregrounds interdisciplinary approaches.

You will be encouraged to develop your understanding of migration and displacement, and to envision alternative global migration futures in ways that can impact future policy, political and societal perspectives.

How do we experience love and friendship across differing social structures and cultural practices? How do these concepts change across time?

In this module you’ll explore these shifts using historical and social case studies. You will come to understand how these ideas and practices continue to shape human experience.

What are the possibilities and pitfalls of community and citizen action, voice and agency? This module uses interdisciplinary case-studies to critically examine collaboration with communities.

You will participate in activities such as a mock citizens' assembly, visit local community groups and hear different points of view from a range of guest speakers on concepts like power, race, gender, class, affect and justice.

From music, film, and television to sports, fashion, and digital media, explore how cultural texts raise philosophical questions about identity, morality, power, and meaning, and examine how popular culture both reflects and shapes the way we understand ourselves and the world around us. In this module you will look at how philosophers have understood the production, circulation and reception of popular culture, and how it bears on our own autonomy, agency, power, and identity.

You will study themes which may include:

• Philosophical approaches to mass culture, cultural value, art, and aesthetic judgement

• Authorship, mass production, genre, kitsch, remix, and the ontology of reproducible artworks

• Identities, stereotypes, cultural appropriation, objectification, and other political issues in regard to popular culture and mainstream media

• The Frankfurt School on the culture industry and the critique of popular music

• Pragmatist, analytic and continental arguments for the aesthetic and social value of popular music, film, television and other forms

• Philosophical analysis of selected cultural artefacts as case studies – songs, films, novels, and visual art

In studying this module, you will gain an understanding of how philosophy provides tools for interpreting the stories we collectively tell and consume – and how those stories, in turn, influence our sense of self and the very fabric of the societies and world we inhabit.

Interconnected global crises and states of ‘polycrises’ or ‘wicked problems’ impact upon the daily lives of millions of people across the globe. Environmental, financial, security, diplomatic, political and military concerns all pose acute problems of knowledge and understanding, require individual and collective action, and raise questions around duties and rights for addressing multi-faceted complex problems.

Philosophical reasoning can play a key role in helping individuals, politicians, states and societies navigate these challenges, and in shaping and critiquing the principles for taking action. In this module you will actively work on developing your own philosophical contributions to addressing global crises, studying topics which may include:

• Themes from social epistemology, including the difficulty of creating shared knowledge in the face of societal challenges; institutions for scrutinising as well as disseminating knowledge claims; the need for diverse perspectives on so-called wicked problems, and also the challenges of combining and reconciling these.

• Themes from the philosophy of collective action and metaphysics, including the ways in which human beings can cooperate outside of formal institutions and create new institutions to address societal and international problems, as well as problems of diffuse responsibility amid complex or changing social structures.

• Themes from political philosophy, such as the difficulties and strengths of democratic institutions and the compromises they require; the challenges of reconciliation and institution-building after war and conflict; the challenges democracies face in light of populism, authoritarianism, corruption in the democratic process, and problems of disinformation.

Over the course of this module you will learn how different philosophical approaches can help us to think our way through our own responsibilities in these times, offering different perspectives on the various roles we can play in surviving, and even flourishing, in times of global crisis.

An opportunity to dive even more deeply into your Philosophy Dissertation with a more extensive piece of independent research. This module is an extension of the standard philosophy dissertation module and should be taken in conjunction with the standard module.

Take this module if you are particularly keen to demonstrate and hone your research skills and apply them to your own research topic. You may be planning to continue to postgraduate study or enter a professional role that requires skills in research, critical thinking and independent thought.

What do we understand by queerness? Looking back at earlier interpretations, we imagine how queerness might evolve—how it might be lived, felt and understood in the future.

You will explore queer futures from a range of perspectives and viewpoints, while examining both feminist and queer theory, as well as queer media and cultural texts and material relating to areas such as activism, politics and healthcare.

Engage with cutting-edge philosophical research, working with an academic philosopher on the topic of their live philosophical project and expertise. In this module you may be:

• Reviewing and critically commenting on the chapters of a manuscript

• Reading an academic’s recent publications and coming up with further questions and challenges to build on their ideas

• Discussing new research relevant to the contemporary philosophical debates your module supervisor is currently engaged with.

In student-led and discussion-based workshops you will present your own summaries and arguments, take part in guided debates, and work on the challenge of your final written piece: a paper which is not only informed by, but may itself eventually inform, current debates within the discipline. In doing so you will be joining the practice, shared by all professional philosophers, of contributing to the understanding and development of the field itself.

The specific question/s you will work on will vary year by year, but will be drawn from the interests and expertise of Lancaster philosophy staff. They might include, for example:

• What is the best life for a human being?

• What do psychiatric diagnoses mean?

• What is personhood and what entities can be persons?

• How can we respect human autonomy while making public policy?

• What can combatant experience teach us about the ethics of war?

One or more options will be offered each year.

In studying this module, you will deploy the skills you have developed in the first two years of your degree, gain in-depth knowledge of an important area of contemporary philosophical inquiry, and further sharpen skills in argument and critique – critical skills for both postgraduate study and a range of post-study careers.

In doing so you will be taking part in the experience shared by all professional philosophers, that of contributing to the development of the field itself.

Who does technology benefit or harm, and what should its role in society be? This module examines the social and ethical issues surrounding the development of modern technologies and their use in the modern world, with a vision to shape our future relationship with technology.

Engage with a significant philosophical text or collection of texts, working with an academic philosopher on the topic of their live philosophical project and expertise. In this module you will:

• Read deeply

• Develop interpretations

• Make reasoned assessments

• Find and engage with secondary literature

• Contribute to contemporary understanding and critique of your text(s)

In student-led and discussion-based workshops, you will present your own philosophical interpretations and arguments, take part in guided debates, and work on a portfolio of critical readings. In doing so you will be joining the practice, shared by all professional philosophers, of contributing to the understanding and development of the field itself.

The specific text(s) you will work on will vary year by year, but will be drawn from the interests and expertises of Lancaster philosophy staff. They might include, for example:

• Work by philosophers whose work had, and continues to have, major impact, such as Immanuel Kant, John Stuart Mill and Harriet Taylor Mill, Hannah Arendt, J. L. Austin, or Iris Marion Young

• Work by significant contemporary philosophers such as Miranda Fricker, Peter Railton, Martha Nussbaum, or David Lewis

• Work from within a specific philosophical tradition, such as classical or modern Chinese philosophy, or work by nineteenth-century women philosophers.

One or more options will be offered each year.

In studying this module, you will deploy the skills you have developed in your first two years of study, gain in-depth knowledge of an important area of philosophy, and further sharpen your skills in reading, interpretation, and thoughtful response – critical skills for both postgraduate study and a range of post-study careers.

How do ideas understand, transform and conserve the world? In this module we will study examples of powerful ideas such as the nation, free speech, liberation, the free market, culture and nature. We will use case studies to help us explore the relationship between analysis, imagination and practice.