Film and Visual Culture and Philosophy

Film and visual culture and philosophy is a combination that brings together two disciplines both deeply concerned with interpretation, meaning and the relationship between art and thought. Film and visual culture examines moving images, screens and visual media as cultural objects: how they are made, how they generate meaning, how they have developed historically and what they reveal about the societies that produce and consume them. Philosophy adds the analytical rigour to ask deeper questions about representation, perception, aesthetics, ethics and the human experience of art.

At the University of Aberdeen this four-year full-time programme adds rigorous training in the history and theory of the moving image to a fascinating exploration of the fundamental questions of human life. You will study the aesthetics of film alongside philosophy of art, mind, knowledge, ethics and political philosophy. The film and visual culture strand develops your ability to analyse and interpret visual texts and media phenomena with precision and historical awareness.

The philosophy strand trains you to reason carefully about contested and complex questions, to evaluate arguments and to construct sustained, evidence-based cases for your own positions. Together they produce a graduate with both cultural literacy and analytical depth. A year abroad broadens your academic and personal horizons.

Aberdeen describes this combination as developing intellectual skills that make you a highly attractive graduate with wide career options.

Graduates move into careers in film and television, journalism, cultural criticism, arts administration, education, publishing, the civil service, policy and business. Many also pursue postgraduate study in film studies, philosophy, cultural studies or related fields. The combination of visual and analytical intelligence is valued wherever careful thinking about culture, communication and meaning is required.