Teaching informed by research
We promote an interdisciplinary approach and our cutting-edge research feeds into our academic programmes.
Our teaching is informed by a broad range of research interests, and the quality of our programmes is reflected in the results of significant reviews and surveys.
For example, in addition to the traditional courses offered in any first-rate philosophy programme, our curriculum has included in recent years courses addressing topics such as global poverty, ideology and propaganda, the nature of fictional characters and how we should understand disagreements about what is true in a fiction, the nature of creativity, the problem of other minds, and the metaphysics and epistemology of perception, as well as on figures from the Continental tradition including Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, Heidegger, and Kierkegaard.
Our main overlapping areas of research interest in Philosophy at Southampton include:
Analytic Aesthetics and the History of Aesthetics
Wittgenstein and Early Analytic Philosophy
Language, Logic and Metaphysics
Political and Legal Philosophy
For more details see our Research pages.
Our Undergraduate and Postgraduate programmes aim to:
We place great emphasis on small group and one-on-one tuition, which we provide from the first year of study, and pride ourselves on the broad and flexible curriculum we offer. Our student group is small enough to maintain a friendly 'family' atmosphere, but large enough to generate plenty of life and activity.
All of our degree programmes can be taken part-time.
We also offer Philosophy courses and events that are open to the public. Our highly successful Philosophy Café, held at lunchtimes at the John Hansard Gallery, and our lectures at the Southampton City Art Gallery, are an opportunity to discuss philosophical ideas. They are open to enthusiasts from the local community as well as those from within the University.
These courses form part of a humanities-wide programme of part-time study and cultural events in Humanities Lifelong Learning.
Dr Genia Schӧnbaumsfeld discusses what inspired her to study Philosophy and follow an academic career in the subject.
Find out moreWe promote an interdisciplinary approach and our cutting-edge research feeds into our academic programmes.
The University of Southampton is one of the top 15 UK research universities.
Our academics' wide range of interests means we can offer a rich and varied curriculum.
Find out what our students think about studying here.