Location:

Stafford, United Kingdom

Program Type:

Full Degree

Degree Level:

Master

Specialty:

Philosophy

Program Overview

Program Description:

Based in a small city in the centre of the UK, the Philosophy Department at Staffordshire University has a fine and growing reputation for its research in European Philosophy. Key staff include Professors Douglas Burnham and David Webb. We are also known for the care and personal attention we give to all postgraduates, and the informal but rigorous education we provide.

We offer three different postgraduate programmes in Continental Philosophy: a distance learning MA; a Masters by negotiated research, and a PhD programme (which can be pursued either by attendance, or by distance learning).

Distance Learning Masters Degree: The distance learning Masters degree is fully online. All the materials, and all the support from members of staff here, are available online. You should expect to buy some books or papers, but otherwise its all here. The degree can be pursued as either part or full-time. In full-time mode, it lasts 12-16 months, depending upon the semester in which you start; part-time, 28-32 months.

Each unit or module that makes up the MA has a particular delivery schedule, so it is not study-at-your-own-pace (i.e. not a 'correspondence course'). This means also that you will be in constant contact with, and online discussion with, fellow students working on the same unit. The MA is designed to be comprehensive, working forward from Kantian thought to recent developments. Importantly, we do not just give you materials to read and let you get on with it; rather, week by week, you will be supported by world-class academics.

You will study the following modules: Transcendence and the Body (conceptions of immanence and transcendence from Kant to Nietzsche); Phenomenology and Ontology (20th century thought, including Heidegger and his critics); Knowledge and Politics (recent work, especially in France, on the relationships between politics, power and various conceptions or practices of knowledge), and Research Seminar (a unit the content of which is determined by the current research projects of staff). The Masters culminates in a research dissertation of approximately 15,000 words.

This MA will serve as excellent preparation for doctoral studies here, or elsewhere. It will also suit students who are just fascinated by philosophy, and want to pursue that fascination for its own sake. Entry requirements are a good quality, first (undergraudate or Bachelors) degree in philosophy, or in a cognate subject (e.g. something in the humanities or liberal arts that included theoretical elements).

Masters degree by negotiated Study: The Department offers a taught Masters (MA) course under the umbrella of Negotiated Studies. Although not distance learning, this programme is very light touch and may suit your needs even if you cannot come to our campus very frequently. This flexible framework permits students to customise their study in interdisciplinary directions (for example, philosophy's relation t literature or literary theory, fine art, film, social theory). Although broken down into individual modules, these will be designed to build up towards a final research project; thus, the negotiated Masters is best thought of as a Masters degree by research. The entry requirements are as for the distance learning degree.

 

Additional Program Information

Accreditation:

The University is fully accredited within the English higher education system.

Financial Aid:

No

Requirements:

First degree for the Masters programmes; Masters degree for the PhD programme

International Requirements:

If English is not your first language, you will need to supply evidence of advanced competence in English.