Philosophy - MRes
What is the nature of the mind? Do we have free will? Do we owe it to future generations to tackle climate change? Addressing issues of today, the past or what’s to come, philosophical questions are as relevant now as ever. On this research-focused course, you’ll engage in critical thinking, developing analytical and problem-solving skills that will enable you to understand, communicate and respond to different ideas and arguments effectively. Excellent preparation for further research or doctoral study, you’ll also be well placed for roles in business or government, marketing, policy-making, charitable organisations, education and training, or law.
Month of entry
- September, January
Mode of study
- Full time, Part time
Fees for 2025/26 academic year
- UK - Full time £10,100 per year. Part time £5,600 per year.
International - £20,200 per year.
Duration of study
- Full time 1 year, Part time 2 years
Why study Philosophy at Keele University?
Course summary
If you would like to explore philosophical questions about right and wrong, truth and falsehood, the meaning of life, human beings, logic and language, or the nature of the universe, this research-based MRes will encourage you to think critically about the world around us, while developing skills in rigorous analysis, sound argument and persuasive communication.
The questioning nature of philosophy and its relevance to society today makes for interesting and sometimes controversial debate in class. Whether you're set on doing a PhD or have never studied philosophy before, this course will allow you to broaden your knowledge of philosophy, gaining a deeper understanding of key philosophical texts, as well as developing practical research skills and abilities through our dedicated research training.
This course is ideal for students who want the freedom to write a dissertation on a topic of their choice, while also receiving the guidance expected of a taught masters. From the outset, you will be paired with an experienced supervisor to support your personal and professional development, working together to refine your individual research, writing and communications skills, for example, preparing successful research proposals and grant applications.
Keele has a long standing and excellent reputation for the study of Philosophy: well-known Keele philosophers include Antony Flew, Richard Swinburne, Jonathan Dancy, and many others. You’ll join a vibrant, close-knit community where you’ll have access to friendly and approachable staff with research expertise in all the main areas of philosophy, as well as specialisms like metaphilosophy, Kant, modality, property theory, the philosophy of technology, the philosophy of history, the meaning of life, Schopenhauer, Collingwood, and political philosophy.
In addition to the dedicated Keele Postgraduate Association, we have a thriving student-led Philosophy Society, a postgraduate research seminar, and regular reading group activities. You’ll have opportunities to attend frequent online or in-person guest lectures thanks to our Royal Institute of Philosophy lecture series, annual conference and other specialist research events. Previous talks, for example, have covered early modern theories of racism in history of philosophy, the philosophy of art, the philosophy of time, and a debate on the existence of free will.
Given its focus on research, the MRes provides an excellent foundation for further research as an MPhil or PhD student in the UK, Europe or the rest of the world. If you’ve not yet decided on a firm career, it offers an opportunity to study a fascinating subject and develop essential problem-solving, critical thinking, reasoning and analytical skills.
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"Having graduated with a postgraduate philosophy degree at Keele University, I couldn’t recommend this establishment highly enough. My supervisor gave me ample room to develop my own ideas, whilst challenging me to improve them in constructive ways. The team of professors also helped my studies greatly with true care, diligence and patience. And to be honest, all of the staff and students were highly focused on academic excellence, inclusivity, and challenging preconceptions equally. The general atmosphere was one I’ll truly miss. So, if you are lucky enough to have the opportunity to study here, I strongly suggest that you take up a course at this University. It will bring the best out of you"
Course structure
Taking your philosophical studies to the next level, this MRes in Philosophy aims to provide you with a thorough grounding in the theoretical and practical issues that underpin study and research in Philosophy, while giving you the freedom to explore your interests and ideas.
It purposefully seeks to develop your ability to think independently and address problem-solving in a systematic and disciplined way, equipping you with key transferable skills in project management, communication, analysis and reasoning.
You’ll be encouraged to actively research and discuss a vast and exciting breadth of topics, helping you to find your own philosophical voice among those of your contemporaries and forbears. For example, recent students have worked on the metaphysics of pregnancy, the ethics of sustainability, the political and social use of stereotypes, possible worlds, and the existence of the self through Buddhist and Western approaches. In doing so, you’ll develop your ability to analyse complex information and present your arguments clearly and coherently.
Given the nature of an MRes programme, particular emphasis is put on research: with a high component of dedicated research support and training modules designed to equip students with additional skills required to carry out research in Philosophy and a 20,000-word dissertation to be completed by the end of the programme.
The MRes Philosophy can be studied as either a one-year full-time or two-year part-time course, with start dates in September and January. You will complete 180 credits, which includes four compulsory core modules (a total of 90 credits) that are designed to equip you with additional skills in research. In order to graduate with an MRes degree, you must undertake a dissertation (90 credits) on a topic in Philosophy that interests you.
Modules
The module details given below are indicative, they are intended to provide you with an idea of the range of subjects that are taught to our current students. The modules that will be available for you to study in future years are prone to change as we regularly review our teaching to ensure that it is up-to-date and informed by the latest research and teaching methods, as well as student voice. The information presented is therefore not intended to be construed and/or relied upon as a definitive list of the modules available in any given year.
Semester 1 Core Modules
Metaphilosophy (30 credits)
Metaphilosophy, also referred to as ‘the philosophy of philosophy’, studies the aims of philosophy, its boundaries, methods, subject matter and relation to other disciplines like natural science or history. Capitalising on Keele’s expertise in the discipline, this module introduces key terms and debates in metaphilosophy, such as what is distinctive about philosophical problems, or what would count as progress in philosophy. Topics covered include: the nature of philosophical arguments, the possibility of progress in philosophy, the relation between theoretical and practical philosophy, and competing conceptions of philosophy offered by Kant, Nietzsche, Wittgenstein, and Rorty.
Philosophy of the Social Sciences: Part 1 (15 credits)
You will study the philosophy of the social sciences, together with philosophical debates around different methodological approaches to social science research. This module features the work of a range of key thinkers, including Durkheim, Popper, Kuhn, Weber, Adorno, and Foucault, who have informed the ways in which researchers consider knowledge in the social sciences. We start with the enlightenment idea of the search for science and the nineteenth century beginnings of social science. Topics covered include: naturalism, the relationship between the individual and society, falsificationism, paradigm shifts, the interpretive tradition, critical theory, structuralism and post-structuralism.
Semester 2 Core Modules
Individual Research Orientation in Philosophy (30 credits)
This module aims to develop the skills and knowledge to manage your own academic interests and research, including independent research, time management, critical approach and resource identification. Through independent work guided by your dissertation supervisor, you will undertake a range of research-related activities, which will ultimately help to inform the selection of your topic for research, the identification of appropriate resources and the construction of a relevant argument which will form the background for your dissertation.
Philosophy of the Social Sciences: Part 2 (15 credits)
Following on from the Individual Research Orientation module, whereby you conduct guided research on a background issue related to your dissertation, the second part of the Philosophy of the Social Sciences module provides an opportunity to apply your knowledge to the specific topic of your dissertation. You will reflect on the methodological issues it raises, considering questions such as the legitimacy of philosophy being applied to social issues, questions of classification concerning race, gender and other social kinds, the impact of theories of free will on how we ought to tackle crime and poverty, and the metaphysical nature of social institutions, properties and facts.
Semester 3
After you have completed the taught modules, you will undertake an independent project to further develop your knowledge in a specific area or topic of philosophy, designed to enhance your employability and research skills:
Dissertation (90 credits)
Representing the culmination of your studies, this is your chance to apply the skills and knowledge gained throughout the course to write a substantial piece of philosophical research. It provides an exciting opportunity to work under the supervision of an expert in your chosen field of interest, demonstrating a level of knowledge and understanding far beyond what you have learned in class. Past projects include: Nietzsche's theory of the Will to Power; nihilist theories of personal identity; the ethics of using stereotypes; the ethics of sustainability; the philosophy of psychology: the existence of possible worlds.
Entry requirements
Entry requirements
The following section details our typical entry requirements for this course for a range of UK and international qualifications. If you don't see your qualifications listed, please contact us to find out if we can accept your qualifications.
Typical offer
Please ensure that you read the full entry requirements by selecting your qualifications from the dropdown menu below. This will include any subject specific, GCSE/Level 2 Maths, and English language requirements you may need.
Please select your country from the drop-down list below for the full entry requirement information
UK
2:2 degree in any subject
or
demonstrated relevant professional qualifications or experience
You will also need: an English language qualification (see below)
Bangladesh
60% in a 4-year degree or 3-year degree with a 2-year Master's in any subject from a public university or CGPA 2.8 in a 4-year degree or 3-year degree with a 2-year Master's in any subject from a private university
or
demonstrated relevant professional qualifications or experience
We don’t accept degrees from certain universities, please see our Bangladesh Country Page for more information
You will also need: an English language qualification (see below)
Canada
70% or C or a GPA of 2.5 in a degree (Ordinary or Honours) in any subject
or
demonstrated relevant professional qualifications or experience
You will also need: an English language qualification (see below)
China
70% in a degree in any subject or 65% in a degree in any subject from a '211' university
or
demonstrated relevant professional qualifications or experience
You will also need: an English language qualification (see below)
Ghana
Second class degree in any subject
or
demonstrated relevant professional qualifications or experience
You will also need: an English language qualification (see below)
India
55% or CGPA 6/10 in any degree of three years or longer
or
demonstrated relevant professional qualifications or experience
You will also need: an English language qualification (see below)
Kenya
Second class degree in any subject
or
demonstrated relevant professional qualifications or experience
You will also need: an English language qualification (see below)
Nepal
60% / 2.4 in a 4-year Bachelor's degree in any subject
or
65% / CGPA 2.8 in a 3-year Bachelor's degree in any subject
or
demonstrated relevant professional qualifications or experience
You will also need: an English language qualification (see below)
Nigeria
Second class degree in any subject
or
demonstrated relevant professional qualifications or experience
You will also need: an English language qualification (see below)
Pakistan
We accept a range of qualifications from Pakistan. Please visit our Pakistan Country Page for more information
or we will consider demonstrated relevant professional qualifications or experience
You will also need an English language qualification (see below)
South Africa
Second class division 2 / 60% in a Bachelor's degree with Honours in any subject
or
Second class division 1 / 70% in an Ordinary Bachelor's degree in any subject
or
demonstrated relevant professional qualifications or experience
You will also need: an English language qualification (see below)
Sri Lanka
55% in a Special Bachelor's degree in any subject
or
demonstrated relevant professional qualifications or experience
You will also need: an English language qualification (see below)
Uganda
Second class degree in any subject
or
demonstrated relevant professional qualifications or experience
You will also need: an English language qualification (see below)
Zimbabwe
Second class degree in any subject
or
demonstrated relevant professional qualifications or experience
You will also need: an English language qualification (see below)
English language requirements
All of our courses require an English language qualification or test. For most students, this requirement can be met with a 4 or C in GCSE English. Please see our English Language guidance pages for further details, including English language test information for international students. For those students who require an English language test, this course requires a test from Group B.
References
Normally, you will need to provide at least one academic reference to support your application unless you have been out of study longer than two years. If it has been more than two years since you last studied on a degree-level programme, you will normally need to provide an employment reference instead. For more information about Academic References, please see our Postgraduate how to apply web pages.
Personal Statement/Statement of Purpose
Please see our Postgraduate how to apply web pages for guidance on what to include in your personal statement.
Recognition of Prior Learning
The Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) is a process which enables applicants to receive recognition and formal credit for learning acquired in the past through formal study or work and life experiences.
RPL can also be requested for admission onto the start of a programme in lieu of the admission requirements. For more information, see our Recognition of Prior Learning web pages.
Professional qualifications and work experience
The majority of our courses will consider relevant work experience and/or professional qualifications at the appropriate level, as an alternative to an undergraduate degree for entry. The work experience should be for a sustained period and at a suitable level, based within a relevant sector to your chosen course.
Admissions staff will review your work experience and/or professional qualifications during the assessment of your application to ensure suitability in terms of relevancy, level and appropriate learning outcomes.
General information
The entry grades outlined in this section indicate the typical offer which would be made to candidates, along with any subject specific requirements. This is for general information only. Keele University reserves the right to vary offer conditions depending upon a candidate's application.
Funding
Living Costs
Keele University is located on a beautiful campus and has all the facilities of a small town. Student accommodation, shops, restaurants and cafes are all within walking distance of the teaching buildings. This is a very cost effective way to live and to reduce your living costs.
Scholarships and Funding
We are committed to rewarding excellence and potential. Please visit our Scholarships and Bursaries webpage for more information.
Please note, if your course offers a January start date, the January 2025 start date falls in the 2024/25 academic year. Please see the January 2025 fees for the relevant fees for starting this course in January 2025
Planning your funding
It's important to plan carefully for your funding before you start your course. Please be aware that not all postgraduate courses and not all students are eligible for the UK government postgraduate loans and, in some cases, you would be expected to source alternative funding yourself. If you need support researching your funding options, please contact our Financial Support Team.
For continuing students, fees will increase annually by RPIX, with a maximum cap of 5% per year.
Your career
The personal and professional skills learned on this philosophy degree include clear and analytical thinking, originality, problem-solving, persuasive writing and speaking, innovative questioning and effective reasoning, all of which can open a wide range of careers.
Analytical ability, for example, tops Forbes’ list of in-demand skills employers want. Being able to understand and, if required, challenge people’s ideas, approaches and perspectives is a difficult skillset to master, yet one that is valuable and relevant to almost any profession.
Career options include the civil service, politics, public administration, police, finance, IT, law, healthcare, human resources, property development, teaching and training, community and voluntary work. This course is also excellent preparation for doctoral study or careers in research or academia with previous masters students continuing with PhD studies at Keele and other excellent institutions in the UK and elsewhere.
Positions may include:
- Academic
- Business analyst
- Chaplain
- Civil servant
- Copy writer
- Development officer
- Human resources officer
- Local government officer
- Marketing executive
- Philosopher
- Policy officer
- Recruitment consultant
- Researcher
- Social researcher
- Software developer
- Solicitor
- Teacher
Teaching, learning and assessment
How you'll be taught
This course includes a combination of taught classes, lectures, seminars, large and small group work and guided independent study. With smaller-sized classes, our ethos is very much about learning co-operatively and supportively in a friendly, nurturing environment, sharing your ideas with tutors and peers and vice versa.
As part of the Metaphilosophy module, students submit a mini-essay to be circulated to students and seminar leaders in advance of the seminar. This not only enables much more focused, positive discussion, but has also led to significantly improved final submissions. Our fortnightly postgraduate seminars also provide you with regular opportunities to present arguments and quickly assimilate alternative perspectives. Some of the more recent seminars have covered the meaning of life, the possibility of mystical knowledge, the essence of objects, and the philosophy of history.
Where possible, you’ll be given opportunities to carry out practical research, including travelling to archives to examine particular documents or shadowing our active researchers.
Our vibrant (in person and online) speaker programme gives you multiple opportunities to network and engage with the cutting-edge ideas from all around the world. This includes the regular Royal Institute of Philosophy Lectures, in which leading philosophers are invited to Keele to talk about their latest work. Recent talks have covered the existence of free will, early modern theories of racism in the history of philosophy, the philosophy of art, and the philosophy of time.
A number of other specialist events include the annual Jean-Jacques Rousseau Annual Lecture and Conference, which has previously attracted key speakers such as Boston University’s Susan Shell and Pauline Kleingeld from the University of Groningen. You ae also welcome to attend events of interest held by Keele School of Law, which has been a pioneer of ethics and law education for 35 years.
Teaching schedule
Teaching takes place over the first two semesters. There are no formal group classes during Semesters 2 and 3, but you consult with supervisors and access the University’s learning and teaching facilities and support services.
Semester 1 runs from the end of September to the end of January, with an assessment period in January.
Semester 2 runs from the last week of January to the middle of June, with the assessment period in June.
Semester 3 runs from June to the end of September.
How you’ll be assessed
The programme is primarily assessed through written work, mainly essays on particular topics and the dissertation to demonstrate your understanding of module content, as well as your analytical abilities and your evaluation of particular debates, arguments or ideas.
The first essay for the Philosophy of the Social Sciences module requires you to explore a methodological school or an issue related to a particular methodology in social sciences and humanities more generally. For example, the application of virtue ethics to the problem of plastic pollution, the use of falsification in the social sciences, and the nature of 'social facts'. Assessment during the first semester is also used to ensure your competence in essential academic skills, such as referencing, quoting, selecting relevant material, answering the question set, and written English.
Our expertise
Teaching staff
Philosophy at Keele has enjoyed a strong international reputation since the 1950s, with well-known Keele philosophers including Antony Flew, Richard Swinburne, Jonathan Dancy, James Wilson and many others. Today, we continue to conduct wide-ranging research in partnership with networks of philosophers in several universities in the UK and worldwide. We have a strong reputation in Kantian studies, as one of the main centres of activities of the UK Kant Society and of the Kantian Standing Group of the European Consortium for Political Research, and work on metaphysics as associates of the international Change and Change-Makers Network based in Germany.
We are home to the Keele-Oxford-St Andrews Kantian Research Centre (KOSAK), Forum for Philosophical Research and Centre for Political Theory and Political Philosophy. We regularly host high profile events, such as the Royal Institute of Philosophy Invited Lectures, the Jean-Jacques Rousseau Annual Lecture and Conference, reading groups, special lectures and other conferences and workshops.
You’ll be taught within a tight-knit, supportive community by a committed team of staff whose particular strengths include metaphilosophy, the philosophy of mind, philosophy of action, certain areas in the history of philosophy (including Anne Conway, Kant, Schopenhauer, Collingwood, Rorty, Quine), metaphysics of science, natural and social kinds, political theory, philosophy of religion, nihilism and the meaning of life.
Teaching team includes:
Dr Sophie Allen, Lecturer in Philosophy– primarily interested in the intersection between metaphysics, science and mind, as well as meta-metaphysics and issues of methodology and interpretation which arise when doing philosophy, and the author of A Critical Introduction to Properties (Bloomsbury 2016).
Professor Sorin Baiasu, Professor of Philosophy, Director of KOSAK – a leading authority on the philosophies of Kant and Sartre, and the author of Kant and Sartre: Rediscovering Critical Ethics (Palgrave MacMillan 2011), among many other publications. His main areas of research interest are Kantian Philosophy; normativity (in ethics, aesthetics, political philosophy and epistemology); metaphysics; justice and Desert; and phenomenology and its history, particularly Sartre.
Dr Giuseppina D’Oro, Reader in Philosophy – a member of the Forum for European Philosophy, of the Collingwood and British Idealism Centre, coordinator of the Keele Forum for Philosophical Research and a leading authority on the philosophy of R.G. Collingwood, author of Collingwood and the Metaphysics of Experience (Routledge 2002). Her main research interests are in the philosophy of action, particularly the history of the reasons/causes debate, the nature of the action event/distinction and the problem of mental causation. She is also interested in metaphilosophy, particularly the relation between philosophy and science, and in how second-order metaphilosophical positions affect our understanding of the relationship between the human and natural sciences.
Dr Jonathan Head, Lecturer in Philosophy – main research interests are early modern philosophy; Kantian philosophy, particularly Kant’s philosophy of religion and the philosophy of Schopenhauer; and the philosophy of religion/philosophical theology. He is the author of The Philosophy of Anne Conway (Bloomsbury 2020) and Schopenhauer and the Nature of Philosophy (Lexington 2021).
Professor James Tartaglia, Professor of Metaphysical Philosophy – a leading authority on the philosophy of Richard Rorty, and the author of Rorty and the Mirror of Nature (Routledge 2007), Philosophy in a Meaningless Life (Bloomsbury 2016) and Gods and Titans: Philosophy in a Technological World (Bloomsbury 2020). A jazz musician responsible for the Jazz-Philosophy Fusion Project, his main research interests are in philosophy of mind, particularly in physicalism and consciousness, metaphilosophy, particularly in the relation between philosophy, science, and religion, and the problem of personal identity. He is able to supervise in many areas of philosophy of mind, metaphysics, epistemology, continental philosophy and the history of philosophy, and would also consider proposals in comparative philosophy (especially Western-Chinese) and some areas of the philosophy of technology.
Facilities
The School of Social, Political and Global Studies brings together multidisciplinary academics in Criminology, Education, International Relations, Philosophy, Politics and Sociology, whose research is internationally respected for its theoretical innovations and relevance to applications in the real world.
Teaching usually takes place in the Chancellor's building on the main campus, giving you easy access to lecture and seminar rooms, library facilities and computer laboratories as appropriate.