Philosophy

Department statement

The Department of Philosophy engages with the important social issues of our time and its curriculum reflects a diverse range of topics relevant to our contemporary context.

We have recently introduced a range of new and exciting units including: Philosophies of Resistance (a course unit looking at postcolonial philosophy and the concept of decolonisation, covering issues in philosophy of race, feminist philosophy, queer philosophy), Ancient Greek Philosophy (in direct response to student requests to include more history of philosophy, especially ancient), Applied Philosophy (a course covering Philosophy that engages with urgent social challenges), Philosophy of Race (an entire course investigating philosophical perspectives on race), Islamic Philosophy (introduces students to philosophers outside the standard curriculum), and Language and Oppression (an applied philosophy of language course examining the role of language in oppression).

These new course units sit alongside more traditional courses in Analytical Philosophy, giving students a diverse education that includes core and foundational material as well as exciting applications of philosophical theories.

As well as developing a new and exciting curriculum, we have been determined to take issues concerning EDI very seriously in our teaching. This is particularly important to Philosophy which, as a profession, has a poor profile with regard to gender inequality. At the research level, several philosophers at Manchester have written on the topic of women in philosophy and ways in which the under-representation of women in philosophy can be addressed through the teaching of the subject. This research has informed our teaching practices. We have quotas of female and ethnic minority authored readings as tutorial readings and advertise these quotas on our course guides. We have also sought diversify the content of our course units, including more feminist philosophy and philosophy of race in units. We also currently have a grant to develop contacts with A-level providers to share our insights in diversifying and decolonising the curriculum with an ambition to develop this into a future impact case for REF.

Our future aspiration is to see the above changes lead to greater recruitment – both in terms of increasing recruitment on our BA Philosophy programme, and through drawing more joint degree students into Philosophy modules. This strengthens our contribution to the School by making philosophy more popular to new and existing students. We also plan to play a lead role in introducing a new MA PPE programme, and to contribute to new interdisciplinary programmes in SOSS.

Information about studying Philosophy at The University of Manchester

People in the Philosophy Department