English Literature and Philosophy & Ethics

English literature and philosophy are disciplines that have always been in conversation. Literature asks what it means to be human and explores those questions through story, character, and language. Philosophy asks them more directly, through argument, reflection, and the careful examination of beliefs and values.

Studying them together, with an ethical thread running through both, gives you an unusually rich set of tools for engaging with ideas, texts, and the moral questions that shape how we live.

At Liverpool Hope University, you will read widely across literary traditions and periods, developing the close reading skills and critical awareness that are central to the discipline. Alongside this, you will engage with philosophical questions about ethics, knowledge, identity, and the nature of reality, learning to construct and evaluate arguments with care and rigour. The combination encourages you to move between analytical and interpretive modes of thinking, which is one of the most distinctive and transferable intellectual skills a humanities education can offer.

Liverpool is a city with a vibrant cultural life, literary festivals, and a strong tradition of community engagement with reading and ideas, all of which enrich the experience of studying subjects rooted in human expression. A placement year and year abroad are available, and work placements are integrated into the programme, offering opportunities to apply your skills in professional contexts.

Graduates from this kind of combined degree are well-equipped for careers that require strong communication, critical thinking, and ethical reasoning. Teaching, journalism, publishing, the civil service, law, and the charity sector are all common destinations. The philosophical grounding also opens paths into roles in policy, research, and ethics consulting, while the literary skills translate well into communications, content creation, and the cultural industries.

Many graduates go on to postgraduate study in literature, philosophy, theology, or education.