Studying philosophy means engaging with some profound and fascinating questions; questions that any inquisitive and critical thinker will ask him- or herself at some point in his or her life, but which many non-philosophers do not pursue in depth. Here are some examples of these questions: In philosophy of science: How does science generate knowledge? Does science discredit religious belief? In ethics: What does morality require? Why be moral? In political philosophy: Is equality of basic rights and resources required by justice? In metaphysics: What is freedom of the will, and do we possess it? What makes you the same person over time, notwithstanding the changes in your body, beliefs and values over your life? Our graduates have excellent job prospects. A recent Guardian survey ranks us as the Department with far and away the best job prospects in the UK for philosophy graduates; we believe that this is because of the analytical rigour and interdisciplinary nature of our degrees. Recent graduates have gone on to work in banking and financial services, government, management consultancy, media and education, and have also proved very successful in gaining entry to graduate programmes.

In studying philosophy at LSE you will debate and investigate the issues and problems which have preoccupied philosophers since Greek times, as well as learning the skills and techniques of reasoning. You will do so by studying works by the major authors of the Western tradition (including Plato, Aristotle, Hume, Kant, and Mill) and contemporary sources. Our research and teaching programmes have two distinctive features. The first is a commitment to clarity of expression and argumentative rigour. This means taking great care to avoid obscure or grand statements that one cannot back up with precise arguments or evidence. Formal logic is an important part of the degrees, as too are the principles of evidence and of inductive reasoning. The second is a commitment to doing philosophy in close contact with the social and natural sciences. We study questions of moral and political philosophy, knowledge acquisition, and scientific method in an interdisciplinary way. In addition to courses in familiar areas of philosophy (like moral philosophy and philosophy of mind and language), we therefore offer courses in the Philosophy of Economics, Philosophy of the Social Sciences, Philosophy and Public Policy, Philosophy of Biology and Cognitive Science, Evidence and Scientific Method and the History of Science. You will also have the opportunity to take a significant number of courses in other departments at LSE. The skills in reasoning which you will gain can be applied to any subject matter, and your studies will provide you with a good general basis for a wide range of occupations and professions.