Philosophy, Religion and Ethics

Do life’s biggest questions stir a desire in you to delve deeper – to understand and debate, for example, the meaning of life, the existence of God and how we can protect the planet we live on? Our course examines the different perspectives of great minds and thinking on such momentous issues and equips you to engage with these discussions in an informed and critical way.

• Learn from history’s smartest thinkers to analyse the profound questions at the heart of religion, philosophy and ethics from multiple perspectives

• Benefit from extra weekly talks and seminars by major international thinkers across the campus on questions relating to your course

• Gain real-world work experience as a part of your degree programme by volunteering for a placement within an organisation such as a charity or a think tank

• Visit and engage with religious sites and communities, from practising mosques and synagogues to the centuries-old religious sites of Winchester, Salisbury and Glastonbury

Our unique Philosophy, Religion and Ethics degree is not simply studying these fields separately but explores questions at the intersection of these disciplines. You get to set philosophical ideas in conversation with religious traditions, rituals and sacred texts, engaging in stimulating debates about right and wrong, life and death, faith and politics.

At Winchester, you study the grand narrative of the philosophical tradition, from ancient Greece to the world of existentialism and post-modernity. Each year you analyse the meaning and significance of classic philosophical works from thinkers as diverse as Aristotle, Fanon, Ibn ‘Arabi, and de Beauvoir.

In analysing the texts produced by great intellects, you grow as a writer, debater and thinker. And it’s not all about heavyweight thinkers – you have the chance to consider material practices rather than just ideas: for example, to study what burial rituals tell us about our relation to death rather than just what texts tell us.

Alongside this, you will visit sites of worship and learn from practitioners within these community alongside our research experts. In the past, trips have included Glastonbury Tor and Crossbones Burial Ground as well as more traditional houses of worship from across the spectrum of religious communities. We also look close to home and the city of Winchester for learning, such as at the West Hill Cemetery, Winchester Cathedral and more. You engage with major contemporary societal issues and learn to develop nuanced positions on them: for example, on the complex clashes between freedom, security, liberation, feminism and national identity at stake in recent European bans on items of Muslim dress. We go beyond the abstract questions to delve into the concepts and values of the community at stake, and the real-world impact these debates have. Our aim is to help our students become independent critics of society and effective problem solvers.

https://www.winchester.ac.uk/V520