Philosophy and English Literature

With our BA Philosophy and English literature course, develop your critical and analytical skills and apply them to a variety of philosophical and literary texts. Our students become expert at presenting arguments clearly and persuasively.

In philosophy, we will give you an understanding of the central philosophical principles, concepts, problems, texts and figures. You will be taught by leading experts whose research strengths lie especially in moral philosophy and the philosophy of the mind and language. You will also have the chance to explore non-Western philosophies, such as Indian philosophy.

Your first year will introduce you to the general skills required for all philosophy. You can also select modules from outside the department. In years two and three you will have the opportunity to explore your chosen topic in more depth. These may include studying philosophy in terms of ethics and animals, crime and punishment or religion.

In your English Literature modules, you will read more of authors and genres that you may already know (from tragedy to Gothic, from Shakespeare and Dickens to Plath and Beckett). But you will also encounter aspects of literary studies that may be less familiar to you, from children’s literature to publishing studies and the history of the book. Our academics have published research on everything from medieval poetry to contemporary American fiction.

94% of students in the Department of English Literature said our teaching staff were good or very good at explaining things (National Student Survey, 2023).

For more information, please visit the programme page: https://www.reading.ac.uk/ready-to-study/study/subject-area/philosophy-ug/ba-philosophy-and-english-literature

The following modules have been approved in principle for delivery in 2025/26. Please note that as part of our current curriculum improvement process, all modules require final University approval and may be subject to change.

Modules for this course:
Reason and Argument
Great Works in Philosophy
Poetry in English
Theory and Practice of Writing
Ethical Argument.

The University cannot guarantee that all optional modules will be available to all students who may wish to take them. Further information about the content of final approved modules will be available in the summer of 2024. We suggest that you regularly revisit our course page during this time to ensure you have the most up-to-date information regarding the modules offered on this programme. Check our website for more details about the course structure.