Philosophy with Integrated Foundation Year

This course is available to Home (UK) students and International students who meet the English Language requirements.

Our Integrated Foundation Year for Arts and Humanities is a thorough, skills-building course that will give you everything you need to start your study of BA Philosophy with confidence.

Arts and Humanities subjects, like Philosophy, provide key ways of understanding our complex world, its histories, and current debates facing contemporary society. Identity, political and social conflict, our interaction with new digital and genetic technologies, our stewardship of the environment are all issues where the voice of creative and critical thinking are key. Literary texts, films, plays and digital games offer important ways in which societies have debated - and continue to represent - their values and their futures.

Our Foundation Year sets you up so you’re ready to explore those debates and issues, providing you with opportunities to gain knowledge and understanding of how to approach studying the humanities, including your chosen degree subject. Learning from friendly, expert tutors, you’ll explore modules designed to give you a solid start to your study of arts and humanities subjects, helping you to grow critical skills to explore a range of literary, visual, and cultural forms, including plays, films, and digital media.

Once you have completed your Foundation year, you will normally progress onto the full degree course, BA Philosophy. There may also be flexibility to move onto a degree in another department (see end of section, below).

Are you looking to make sense of the world around you and to understand your place in it? Do you have a curious and inquisitive mind and are looking for a subject that teaches you how to think clearly and question perceptively, one that will sharpen your analytical skills and critical thinking? If so, then Philosophy is for you.

At Royal Holloway we have a unique approach to the subject that looks beyond the narrow confines of the Anglo-American analytic or the European tradition of philosophy focus on both traditions, their relationship and connections between them. The result has been the creation of a truly interdisciplinary and collaborative course that brings together academic staff from departments across the university.

Based in the Department of Politics and International Relations and Philosophy, academic staff are not only dedicated teachers of the subject but also experts and published authorities in their fields. Departmental specialisms include a wide range of philosophical topics such as ancient and Hellenistic philosophy, 19th and 20th Century European philosophy and contemporary analytic philosophy and American pragmatism.

In addition to lectures and seminars, as a new student, you will meet weekly in small tutorial groups with a member of the philosophy staff to discuss a piece of work you have been set and to evaluate the essays you have written. This helps develop the kind of critical and personal skills you’ll need both for higher-level academic work and for your future career. This three-year degree course will help you to develop your understanding of key philosophical texts; acquire critical, analytical and group-working skills; hone your skill in philosophical argument; learn to understand the differing assumptions which inform central philosophical traditions.

Plus, with the opportunity to examine (amongst other things) the mind and consciousness, aesthetics and morals, the self and others, the range of subjects available to Philosophy students at Royal Holloway guarantees that there will be something on offer that really engages you during your time with us.

Course Modules

Core Modules

Foundation Year

• Data, Society and Policy

• Cultures of Thinking

• Ethics in Theory and Practice

• Introduction to Political Philosophy

• Issues in Ethics

• Philosophical Methods

Year 1

• Introduction to Modern Philosophy

• Problems of Knowledge

• Introduction to Ancient Philosophy

• Tutorial Special Study

• Introduction to Logic

• Introduction to Political Philosophy

• Mind and Consciousness

• Introduction to Aesthetics and Morals

Year 2

• Kant

• Mind and World

• Race, Gender and Queer Philosophy

• Empiricism and Rationalism

Year 3

• Philosophy Dissertation

Optional Modules

Below is a taster of some of the exciting optional modules that students on the course could choose from during this academic year. Please be aware these do change over time, and optional modules may be withdrawn or new ones added.

Year 1

• All modules are core

Year 2

• Introduction to European Philosophy 1: Kant to Hegel

• Mind and World

• Introduction to European Philosophy 2: The Critique of Idealism

• Philosophy and the Arts

• Varieties of Scepticism

• The Philosophy of Religion

• Philosophy of Religon

• Philosophy and Literature

• The Good Life in Ancient Philosophy

• Contemporary Political Theory

• Modern Political Thought

Year 3

• Modern European Philosophy 1: Husserl to Heidegger

• Modern European Philosophy 2: Critical Theory and Hermeneutics

• Philosophy and the Arts

• The Varieties of Scepticism

• The Philosophy of Religion

• Philosophy and Literature

• The Good Life in Ancient Philosophy

• Radical Political Theory I: Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche

• The Politics of Toleration

• Social Justice: From Theory to Practice

• Theories of Freedom and Democracy

https://www.royalholloway.ac.uk/studying-here/undergraduate/philosophy/philosophy-with-integrated-foundation-year/

In your Foundation Year, teaching methods include a mixture of lectures, seminars, workshops, individual tutorials, and supervisory sessions. Outside of the classroom you’ll undertake guided independent reading and study. You will also be assigned a Personal Tutor, who’ll be with you for the duration of your degree, and will have regular scheduled sessions to support learning and the development of study skills. Assessments are varied; quizzes, short written exercises, essays, examinations, poster preparation and presentation, blog/vlogs, short digital films, dissertations and personal development plans. In addition the Foundation Year offers a full range of skills-based training and also the opportunity to take a micro-placement to enhance your employability.

Once you progress onto your full degree course, depending on the course unit, you will continue to be taught through a combination of lectures, large and small seminar groups and occasionally in one-to-one tutorials. Outside classes you will undertake group projects and wide-ranging but guided independent study. Private study and preparation remain essential parts of every course, and you will have access to many online resources and the university’s comprehensive e-learning facility, Moodle, which provides a wide range of supporting materials.

Most modules contain an element of assessed coursework, such as an essay, presentation and/or assessed seminar participation marks, which contributes to the final mark awarded. The results of the first year assessments qualify you to progress to the second year but do not contribute to your final degree award. The second and final year results do contribute to the final degree result. You will take a study skills course during your first year, designed to equip you with and enhance the writing skills you will need to be successful in your degree. This course does not count towards your final degree award but you are required to pass it to progress to your second year.