On our four-year BA Philosophy and Politics (including foundation year), we work with you to develop your subject-specific knowledge, and to improve your academic skills. You receive a thorough grounding in these areas during your foundation year (known as Year Zero) to prepare you for a further three years of undergraduate study at Essex. Our five-year version of this course enables you to study abroad during your fourth year of study.
This course includes a foundation year (Year Zero), followed by a further three or four years of study, depending on whether you choose to study abroad for a year. During your Year Zero, you study three academic subjects relevant to your chosen course as well as a compulsory academic skills module, with additional English language for non-English speakers.
You are an Essex student from day one, a member of our global community based at the most internationally diverse campus university in the UK.
After successful completion of Year Zero in our Essex Pathways Department, you progress to complete your course with our School of Philosophical, Historical and Interdisciplinary Studies.
Some of the most fundamental questions about political life, its principles and ideals, are philosophical in character. Our course brings these disciplines of philosophy and politics together, and provides a sound academic grounding in both. You are given plenty of opportunities to bring the resources of moral and political philosophy to bear on the issues of political life.
You study topics including:
- Ethics
- Political philosophy
- European philosophy (including critical theory, phenomenology, and existentialism)
- Concepts in political science: state, laws, wars and political parties
- Obligations, freedom, rights and equality
We are 7th in the UK for research impact in philosophy (Grade Point Average, REF2021).
Our Department of Government is one of the most prestigious in Europe, with an outstanding record of teaching, research and publication.