Philosophy and History

Philosophy and history make an unusually productive pairing because they share a concern with understanding how human beings have thought, acted, and organised their lives together, while approaching those questions through very different methods. History investigates what happened and why, working from evidence to construct accounts of the past that explain events, reveal patterns, and illuminate the contingency of human affairs. Philosophy asks fundamental questions about knowledge, existence, ethics, and value through careful argument and conceptual analysis.

Together, they develop your ability to think rigorously about both past and present, and to engage with complexity without retreating to easy answers.

At the University of Exeter, this three-year, full-time programme draws on two departments with strong research profiles and a commitment to developing students who can think carefully and write with precision. You will engage with the history of Europe, Britain, and the wider world alongside the major traditions and questions of philosophy, developing your ability to read primary sources and construct historical arguments alongside the capacity for philosophical reasoning that the discipline demands. A year abroad option is available, giving you the opportunity to study in another country and to encounter different historical and philosophical traditions.

The combination develops skills that are valued across many careers: sustained analytical thinking, precise written communication, the ability to construct and evaluate arguments, and the capacity to engage seriously with evidence and uncertainty. Graduates go on to careers in law, the civil service, journalism, education, think tanks, policy research, the charity sector, and management consultancy. Many also continue to postgraduate study in philosophy, history, or related fields, and some pursue academic careers in disciplines that sit at the intersection of these areas.