Global Ethics & Human Values

The programme seeks to encourage and develop your own thinking about the complex theoretical and practical issues you will study. It does this by providing you with the analytic skills which will enable you to address those issues with philosophical rigour. It draws extensively on different branches of philosophy, politics and international relations and requires you to become familiar with a wide range of the ideas, concepts and problems within those areas. In the first semester you will be exposed to a range of philosophical approaches within epistemology, ethics and political philosophy which will be applied to topics of concern in a globalising world. The second semester is even more applied: you will be asked to apply the philosophical techniques and conceptual frameworks of the first semester to various global issues ranging from terrorism to environmental concerns, human rights, world poverty and international justice. In the final months of the course students studying for the MA will choose a global issue of special interest to them and research it in depth for their dissertation.The programme is designed for those who have studied philosophy, politics, economics, history or social science; those in government, an international aid agency or an NGO; those involved in corporate social responsibility in the commercial sector; those with relevant experience.

You will study three core modules and choose three optional modules. The core topics are: ethics; contemporary political philosophy; and ideological conflict. The optional modules may vary year to year. It is currently planned to offer: human responsibility for the world and its future; conflict: its origins, ethics and containment; human rights; international justice; citizenship; and the ethics of culture.