Philosophy Cardiff University

Overview

How should you live your life and relate to others? How should we organise society? Who and what should you believe? What is the nature of beauty? How do your mind, brain, body and environment shape your thoughts and feelings?  How should characteristics like gender and race be taken into account in theoretical inquiry and social decision-making? The Philosophy degree from Cardiff University will support you to engage critically and creatively with difficult problems in an open-minded and collaborative way, including on sensitive and controversial topics.

Key facts

During your studies, you’ll have the opportunity to engage with cutting-edge research and work with your lecturers to develop insights into complex new areas of study. Our expertise covers a broad range of philosophical topics and traditions. You’ll develop a solid grounding in central areas of philosophy, such as ethics, epistemology, and philosophy of mind, but also study areas such as aesthetics, feminist philosophy, and phenomenology.

Many of our modules directly address contemporary problems facing society, providing you with a clear link between philosophical theory and practice. This is emphasised in the final year of the programme, where you’ll take part in a project to apply your own philosophical knowledge and ideas to develop policies or strategies aimed at solving a real-world ethical or social problem.

You’ll graduate with a range of professional skills, including collaboration, effective communication and critical thinking. You will also have developed a deeper appreciation of the ethical and social challenges that face contemporary society and industry and have both the ideas and the confidence required to solve them. From here, you’ll be ideally placed to progress into a range of exciting careers.

Career prospects

The graduates possess a range of transferable skills and areas of knowledge that are sought after by many employers.

These include the ability to independently analyse complex problems and identify workable and innovative solutions, to work effectively with others on large projects, to communicate effectively with different audiences, and to use reflection and feedback to further develop your skills. You’ll also acquire a broad knowledge base enabling you to understand and respond to a range of contemporary ethical or social problems. During your degree, you will have gained experience of professional research, policy and strategy roles by working on a large collaborative policy project. This project showcases to employers how your philosophical skills and your philosophical knowledge can be of enormous value in the workplace.

University services and schemes are also available to you, providing additional ways to increase your professional skills and confidence. The Cardiff Award provides a framework through which to develop your employability further, and Student Futures is on hand to provide career advice and support in gaining placements specific to your degree. You can also take advantage of programmes like Languages For All and Welsh For All to improve your language skills, while support from the Enterprise and Start Up team to bring your ideas to life.

Due to the depth and breadth of their skills and knowledge, our graduates can be found in a variety of sectors, including the civil service, local government, charitable organisations, small businesses, consultancy firms, and schools and colleges. They work in journalism, law, teaching, finance, marketing, human resources, public relations, and many other professions.