MA Philosophy/Politics

About this course

Philosophy and politics is a combination with a distinguished intellectual tradition, recognising that the most important questions in political life are ultimately philosophical ones: what is justice, what grounds political authority, what limits are there on state power, and how should we balance liberty, equality, and welfare? Political philosophy is the discipline that tries to answer these questions through rigorous argument rather than through assertion or ideology. Studied alongside empirical political science, it produces graduates who can both analyse how politics actually works and engage seriously with how it should work. At Glasgow you will study this programme part time, giving you flexibility to combine your studies with other commitments while working through the breadth of both disciplines. Philosophy at Glasgow is systematic and rigorous, using reason and argument to explore questions about knowledge, morality, science, and human nature. Your politics study will engage you with political institutions, ideologies, comparative government, international relations, and the empirical dimensions of political life. A year abroad is available within the programme, giving you the opportunity to encounter both philosophy and politics in a different academic and cultural context. The combination develops your capacity for sustained, disciplined argument alongside your understanding of how political systems and ideas operate in practice. Graduates of philosophy and politics are well placed for careers in the civil service, policy research, journalism, think-tanks, politics and public affairs, law, consultancy, education, and the many organisations that engage with political questions as part of their work. The philosophical training is particularly valued wherever nuanced reasoning about contested values is required, and the political science component grounds that reasoning in empirical reality. Many graduates continue to postgraduate study in philosophy, politics, law, or public policy, building on the dual foundation the degree provides.

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