Course description
This well-established degree provides students with the
opportunity to achieve a broad and balanced knowledge
of the key areas of modern western political philosophy, at
the same time as allowing students to develop their own
specialisms through a choice of options. Throughout, the
course provides research training in political philosophy as
a grounding for doctoral and other research in the field.
The degree may be taken full-time (one year) or part-time
(two years).
By the end of the degree:
• students should have acquired skill in analysing
abstract ideas partly through familiarisation with
them on subject-specific options, partly through a
more general methodological module, and partly
through participation in workshops.
• students with a research career in mind should have
acquired a solid foundation for proceeding to the
PhD in the area of political philosophy
Programme structure
Core
Philosophy of Social and Political Science (Semester one)
The aim of this module is to familiarise students with a
range of key theoretical and methodological issues that
arise in the study of politics and in the social sciences more
generally.The course is especially concerned to explore the
notion of value neutrality and perspectivalism, analytical
individualism versus analytical holism, and postmodernism.
Graduate Research Colloquia (Semester one)
This module aims to provide give students experience of
formal academic debate. Both internal and external
speakers present papers on topics relevant to modern
and contemporary political thought. Moreover each
student is required either to present a short paper for
discussion or to introduce a discussion of a work of
political philosophy.
Postmodern Political Theory (Semester two)
The aim of this module is to survey the contemporary
debates about postmodernism with a view to determining
whether it provides a deeper understanding of human
knowledge and a more genuinely inclusive concept of
liberation as its defenders maintain, or merely a cynical and
destructive form of total relativism as its critics hold.
Particular emphasis is laid on the interpretation of social
and political life offered by postmodern thinkers.
Options
In semester one, students must choose a module to a
total value of 20 credits from a list that may include:
• Foundations of Liberal Democracy I: Hobbes and
Constant
• Hegel and Marx: Selected Text
• Globalisation and Governance in Theory
• International Relations Theory I - Classical and
Post-classical Approaches
• Applied Philosophy: Moral Theories
• Philosophical Theology
In semester two, students must choose modules to a value
of 40 credits from a list that may include:
• Foundations of Liberal Democracy II - J S Mill and Marx
• Political Theory of Multiculturalism - Citizenship
• Democratic Values and International Law
• International Relations Theory II - Practical
Applications and Case Studies
• Applied Philosophy: Ethics and Practice
• Christian Social Ethics
Period Three
15,000 word dissertation on a topic approved by the
course co-ordinator.
