Anthropology and Philosophy

Anthropology and philosophy together address the deepest questions about what it means to be human, approaching them from complementary directions. Anthropology examines the extraordinary diversity of human societies and cultures, using fieldwork, comparison and theoretical analysis to understand how people live, think and make meaning in radically different contexts. Philosophy approaches the same questions from the inside, through close argumentation, conceptual analysis and engagement with the great traditions of human thought about knowledge, existence, ethics and the nature of mind.

Studied together at the University of Aberdeen, they develop an unusually powerful intellectual formation.

This four-year full-time programme gives you genuine depth in both disciplines. In anthropology you will engage with social theory, ethnographic methods and the comparative study of cultures, societies and institutions, developing the capacity to see beyond your own assumptions about how the world must work. In philosophy you will study logic, epistemology, ethics, metaphysics and the philosophy of mind, developing the precision and care in argument that philosophical training demands.

The two disciplines illuminate each other throughout the degree, and a year abroad extends your intellectual and personal experience by situating your learning in a different academic and cultural context.

Graduates of this combination are well prepared for careers that value analytical depth, cultural intelligence and the ability to engage with complexity. Law, the civil service, diplomacy, journalism, international development, education, research and the charitable sector all draw on the kinds of thinking that anthropology and philosophy develop. The degree also provides an excellent foundation for postgraduate study in philosophy, social anthropology, ethics, international relations, law or social theory, where the intellectual formation of the undergraduate degree supports serious advanced work.