History and Philosophy & Ethics

History and philosophy are disciplines that have been in conversation with each other for as long as both have existed, and studying them together produces a particularly powerful combination of skills. History teaches you to read evidence carefully, to situate events and ideas in their contexts, and to construct arguments from complex and sometimes contradictory sources. Philosophy develops your capacity for rigorous logical reasoning, conceptual analysis, and engagement with foundational questions about knowledge, value, and reality.

Together they equip you to think carefully about what happened, why it mattered, and what we should conclude from it.

At Liverpool Hope University, this three-year full-time degree in History and Philosophy and Ethics allows you to explore a wide range of historical periods and themes, from the early modern era to the present, engaging with questions of nationalism, imperialism, colonisation, decolonisation, gender, and identity alongside the philosophical and ethical dimensions that run through all of these topics. The programme encourages you to challenge interpretations and to engage with history as a changing and contested discipline rather than a fixed body of facts. It includes a sandwich year, a year abroad, and a work placement, giving you professional experience and international exposure alongside your academic study.

Graduates from history and philosophy programmes pursue careers across a wide range of sectors. The civil service, journalism, law, education, policy research, ethics consultancy, the charity sector, and publishing are all common destinations. The ability to think rigorously about difficult questions, to construct clear arguments, and to engage with the moral dimensions of historical and contemporary events is valued across many professions.

Postgraduate study in history, philosophy, ethics, law, or education is a natural continuation for those who wish to develop specialist expertise.