History and Philosophy

Change how you think. As a student of History and Philosophy at Lancaster, you’ll build the skills to explore and understand the important challenges that confront our world. This interdisciplinary course combines in-depth historical analysis with the development of high-level philosophical knowledge and skill.

You will learn to hunt down and analyse evidence from a range of sources and periods considering questions of truth, ethics and ambiguity. And you will use philosophy to address theoretical and practical global challenges, developing invaluable skills in critical thinking and the communication of arguments and ideas.

Why study History and Philosophy at Lancaster?

• Address the challenges of our world past, present and future, from environmental change to war and conflict, human rights, and scientific revolutions

• Apply philosophy in both theoretical and real-world scenarios, addressing global, social and political challenges, and working with a range of problems, texts, challenges and traditions

• Engage with texts and artefacts crossing continents and centuries

• Draw from multiple philosophical traditions including Western, Continental, Chinese, and Feminist thought

• Make your home in a historic city whose castle, cathedral and cobbled streets are part of the stories you’ll discover

• Train in high-level analysis, critical thinking and persuasive argument and prepare for an ambitious career

How will I become a historian?

Our team of expert historians will guide you through hands-on training in primary source analysis, with one-to-one advice and feedback from expert historians. From your first days at Lancaster, you’ll build your skills, knowledge and confidence in source analysis, critical thinking and argument.

As a historian, you’ll have honed a special skill: how to seek out evidence, and how to analyse and interpret it. You’ll find evidence from a variety of sources: from laws, letters and diaries to paintings, photographs and maps, and physical remnants such as buildings and burial places. You’ll use these to explore a range of periods and areas, such as the relationship between humans and the environment; experiences of death in past cultures; human rights, and the histories of languages and translation.

Not all historians agree on interpretations of the past. You’ll develop skills in reading historical arguments, uncovering how historians select and present evidence and engage critically with fellow scholars. In the process, you’ll learn how to build your own arguments to engage, inform and persuade – forging essential skills for historical study and for the workplace.

How will I become a philosopher?

Philosophy is an activity, not just a body of knowledge. At Lancaster, we do philosophy together to help you become one of the skilled and self-directed investigators, thinkers, communicators, workers and agents of change our current world needs.

Through regular contact and practice in lectures, seminars and workshops from the very start of your studies; scaffolded project work across your second and third year; and one-to-one guidance in independent study and portfolio work, we will share, test and develop ideas together, and you will develop your own thoughts, interests and creativity.

As a student with us, you will gain both breadth and depth of philosophical knowledge. You will work with philosophers who are actively shaping the discipline in ethics, metaphysics, epistemology, feminist philosophy, philosophy of science, history of philosophy, global philosophy and political philosophy. And you will study a wide range of thinkers, texts, traditions, methods and problems from the past and present of worldwide philosophy: from the good life and justice, to mind and consciousness, to the methods and limits of the arts and sciences.