What is History? How do we know about the past? What are causes? And what is it to explain events or changes or the decisions that altered the course of history? Many historical questions turn on issues that have important philosophical ramifications. If you love to enquire, not just into the past but into the ideas with which we approach the past, then this degree will allow you to do both and to bring the two together. 

With a rich choice of modules in both subjects, our degree offers stimulating opportunities for you to develop as a historian and as a philosopher, exploring how these subjects interact with each other. In your philosophy modules, you will examine how philosophical thought and debate has developed over time, and how contemporary questions have emerged from a history of intellectual exchange. In your history modules, you will discover how philosophical ideas about politics, religion, ethics and science have changed the course of history in concrete ways. 

ABOUT

Questions about the human condition, and how we came into our current predicament, are among the puzzles you’ll try to unravel in a Philosophy and History degree. You’ll pursue your enquiries in a rigorous and stimulating intellectual environment, where you’ll discover the distinct and complementary contributions that philosophy and history make to our understanding of human life and experience. 

Throughout your degree you’ll be invited to examine how history and philosophy interact with each other. In year 2 you’ll take our keystone module, Philosophy of History and Politics for Second Years. Here you will draw on the skills, methods and concepts that you have learnt as both a philosopher and a historian. You can choose to follow it up with the complementary module in the following year, Philosophy of History and Politics for Third Years. 

In addition to any compulsory modules, you’ll be able to choose from our full range of History and Philosophy modules in your second and third years. All are designed to develop your skills as a thinker, as a historian, as an acute critic and writer, and simply as a person with views and a voice of your own. 

During your time with us you’ll work with leading lecturers and professors in philosophy and history, whose work is discussed the world over. You’ll be listening to them as they develop new ideas, and helping them to identify new ways forward. 

PLACEMENT YEAR AND STUDY ABROAD

You can expand your horizons by choosing to spend a semester of your second year studying abroad at one of UEA’s partner universities. You spend the autumn semester completing three modules at UEA, then transfer overseas in the spring. 

You will not only experience life in a different country and make international connections, you’ll also make yourself even more attractive to prospective employers, who value the skills of resourcefulness and resilience that studying abroad will bring you. 

AFTER THE COURSE

Our Philosophy and History graduates go on to do great things in a wide range of professions. The reasoning and research skills you’ll develop will prepare you for all kinds of roles in the professional sphere. They include: 

• Precise and effective communication skills 

• The ability to analyse data and information, and to correct faulty reasoning 

• Listening carefully to others, with empathy and rigorous attention to detail 

• Innovative and original ideas supported by reason 

• Detailed and precise research and interpretation 

CAREER DESTINATIONS

Examples of careers you could enter include: 

• Law 

• Journalism 

• Civil service 

• Cultural industries 

• Teaching or lecturing 

• Charity and environmental work