History and Philosophy

A joint honours degree allows you to study the same core topics as students on each single honours course, but you’ll take fewer optional and discovery modules so you can fit in both subjects.

In your first year you’ll study core modules in both subjects, which will lay the groundwork for your degree. You’ll develop an awareness of historiography and explore key issues in philosophy. You’ll also build key skills in each subject, such as constructing effective arguments. You’ll also have the chance to take optional modules on topics such as philosophy of the mind or science, or key periods of history, or you can study discovery modules from across the University.

You’ll build on these foundations in the following year, when you’ll choose from optional modules in each subject. You’ll maintain a balance across earlier and more recent history, as well as key areas in philosophy such as logic and language, mind and knowledge or value philosophy.

In your final year you’ll continue to take a balanced approach to your choice of philosophical topics while focusing on a specific aspect of history in your special subject. The choices on offer reflect the research interests of our diverse School from the medieval period to the present day, and cut across historical approaches and geographies.

You’ll also have the opportunity to demonstrate your skills in research, interpretation and analysis when you undertake an independently researched dissertation.

Course structure

These are typical modules/components studied and may change from time to time. Read more in our Terms and conditions.

Modules Year 1

Compulsory modules

• Historiography and Historical Skills 20 credits
• Primary Sources for the Historian: An Introduction to Documentary study 20 credits
• How to Think Clearly and Argue Well 20 credits
• Introduction to Academic Skills 5 credits

Optional modules

• History of Psychology 10 credits
• The Good, the Bad, the Right, the Wrong 20 credits
• Knowledge, Self and Reality 20 credits
• Great Philosophical Thinkers 20 credits

Year 2

Optional modules

• Urban Experience and Identity in Early Modern Europe 20 credits
• The Cult of Saints in Medieval Europe c.400-c.1500 20 credits
• Britain and the Atlantic World 20 credits
• The Global Caribbean, 1756-1848 20 credits
• Black Politics from Emancipation to Obama 20 credits
• Mao Zedong and Modern China, 1949-Present 20 credits
• Ancient Philosophy 20 credits
• Political Philosophy 20 credits
• Philosophy of Religion 20 credits

Year 3

Optional modules

• Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement 40 credits
• De Tocqueville and the Democratic Regime 40 credits
• White Africans: Intimacy, Race and Power 40 credits
• The Structure of Reality 20 credits

For more information on typical modules, read History and Philosophy BA in the course catalogue

Broadening your academic horizons

At Leeds we want you to benefit from the depth and breadth of the University's expertise, to prepare you for success in an ever-changing and challenging world. This course gives you the opportunity to broaden your learning by studying discovery modules. Find out more on the Broadening webpages.

Learning and teaching.

Our tutors in the School of History and the School of Philosophy, Religion and History of Science are at the forefront of research in their fields