Philosophy

Entry requirements

• You will be usually be expected to have at least a 2:1 (or international equivalent) undergraduate degree in any discipline. However, this is not a strict requirement and decisions are made on a case by case basis. The entry requirements for this course have been designed to encourage applications from as wide a range of interested and able people as possible, including mature students, who may have been away from university for a long time, and international students.

• A 500-word personal statement.

Months of entry

September

Course content

The Graduate Diploma in Philosophy enables you to pursue your ambition to study philosophy, be it to progress to an MA or to feed a desire to understand more about the study of knowledge and existence, and the contribution it has made to society for millennia.

The course is offered over nine months full-time or 18 months part-time and does not require any formal background in philosophy as an academic discipline. You will select four optional modules, ranging in content from ethics and values to the history and theory of medicine, and from ancient philosophies to 20th century European philosophy. You will also be required to produce a dissertation.

As a GDip student you will benefit from the wealth of activities in the Department, including joining EIDOS, the postgraduate philosophy society, weekly research seminars and reading groups, and occasional conferences, workshops and Royal Institute of Philosophy lectures.

We not only pride ourselves on our reputation for excellence in research and teaching but also in being able to offer a vibrant and supportive place of learning for our student community. We are at the forefront of teaching and research in philosophy and how it may be applied to major issues that we face throughout the world.

Our intention for you as a GDip student is to develop the skills and knowledge that will enable you to make a positive contribution in global debates and policy that informs the lives that we all lead.

Course structure

Core module:

A 12,000-word Dissertation on a topic of interest, chosen in consultation with your dissertation supervisor.

The remainder of the course is made up of four optional modules, at least two of which must be at Level 3 and no more than one should be at Level 1.

In recent years, optional modules have included:

Level 1

• Ethics and Values
• Knowledge and Reality
• Reading Philosophy
• The Philosophical Traditions
• Being Human: An Introduction to Post-Kantian Philosophy
• Science, Medicine and Society

Level 2

• Philosophy of Mind
• Philosophy of Religion
• Political Philosophy
• Language, Logic and Reality
• Moral Theory
• Biomedical Ethics Past and Present
• History, Science and Medicine
• Philosophy of Science
• Philosophy of Economics: Theory, Methods and Values
• Fundamentals of Logic
• Feminist Philosophy
• Epistemology
• Early Modern Philosophy

Level 3

• Aesthetics
• Issues in Contemporary Ethics
• Language and Mind
• Philosophical Issues in Contemporary Science
• Metaphysics
• History and Philosophy of Psychiatry
• 20th Century European Philosophy
• History and Philosophy of Psychiatry
• Ethics in Business Practice
• Formal and Philosophical Logic
• Biomedical Ethics Past and Present
• Philosophy, Climate Change and the Environment
• Revolutions in Modern Philosophy: Kant and the other Trailblazers

Information for international students

If you are an international student who does not meet the requirements for direct entry to this degree, you may be eligible to take a pre-Masters pathway programme at the Durham University International Study Centre.

Fees and funding

For further information see the course listing.