ObjectivesThe Higher Education Council for England (HEFCE) which reviews the quality of education, has given English at UWE an excellent rating (the highest possible grade). This assessment applies to all aspects of teaching and learning at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. The study of Philosophy is the most rewarding of all fields. It is also amongst the most universally useful of all subjects, since the skills Philosophy students acquire are those skills that are required for any branch of human intellectual activity, whether campaigning for something to change, presenting or formulating a new idea; making an argument, or simply being able to understand any argument, no matter who might be making it.
English
Year 1
You take the Level 1 English double module: Approaches to Literature and Criticism (60 credits) and a further 60 credits in Philosophy.
Years 2 and 3
You take four 30-credit English modules over the two levels; two each year and a further 120 credits in Philosophy.
In your second year you take two English modules, at least one of which must be Literature and the Renaissance, Shakespeare and his Contemporaries or Exploring the Eighteenth Century. You may choose to do two of these or you may choose your second module from British Fiction 1830-1900, Victorian Poetry, Nineteenth-century American Literature, and British Writing 1900-1950.
In your third year you take two English modules chosen from those available on the following list: English Dissertation; Children's Fantasy Fiction Since 1900; Fiction in Britain since 1970; The Romantic Period 1789-1832; Gender, Sexuality and Writing; Literature and Culture in Britain 1885-1914; Contemporary American Narrative. You may only complete a dissertation in one of your chosen subjects.
Philosophy
Year 1
You will take either or both of the modules Introduction to Philosophy I: Theoretical Philosophy, or Introduction to Philosophy II: Practical Philosophy. Your other modules will be chosen from a wide range of modules in the humanities and social sciences such as English, History, Media and Cultural Studies, Politics, Sociology, provided you are not taking the subject as your other half degree. You will also take two 30 credit modules for English.
Years 2 and 3
In Year 2 you take the compulsory module Metaphysics: Being, Appearance and Reality, plus one option from the list: Modern Philosophical Texts, Aesthetics, Ethical Issues in Politics, Contemporary Political Philosophy.
In Year 3 you choose two further option modules from a list which may include: Contemporary Continental Philosophy; Philosophy and Film; Body, Emotion and Philosophy; Contemporary Political Ideologies; Global Ethics; Feminist Theory; Contemporary Political Philosophy; Theories of Justice; Philosophy and Social Theory. In place of one of these modules in Year 3 you can write a dissertation, that is, an independent study. You can only do this if you do not write a dissertation in your other subject.