Skip to main content Skip to navigation

Study Postgraduate

Content Blocks

0

Philosophy MPhil

0a

Find out more about our MPhil in Philosophy degree at Warwick

10

This image shows a male Philosophy student reading an assigned textbook

2a

P-V7MY

2b

MPhil

2c

2 years full-time;
4 years part-time

2d

29 September 2026

2e

Philosophy

2f

University of Warwick

3a

The MPhil in Philosophy is a two-year programme for students looking to engage in structured, independent study. You will undertake focused research at master’s level supervised by experts at the University of Warwick's Department of Philosophy.

3b

The Warwick MPhil in Philosophy is a leading research programme for students looking to progress to independent study. Engage in focused research at master’s level under close expert supervision, as part of an active research community.

You will gain advanced expertise on your chosen range of topics in Philosophy, as well as carry out your own research project. The skills and subject knowledge you will gain will prepare you ideally for further independent academic research. The MPhil also provides an excellent foundation for you to go on to a PhD.

Teaching and learning

During this two-year programme research programme, you will study and receive supervisions in three different areas of philosophy.

The key areas of study will cover historical areas including, for example, key figures such as Plato, Descartes, Kant, Husserl and Wittgenstein, and also Moral and Political Philosophy, Aesthetics, Epistemology and Philosophy of Mind.

In each of your three chosen areas, you will write two 5,000-word supervised research papers, one set due at the end of your first year, the other due at the end of the first term of the second year. In the remainder of your second year, you will undertake and submit a research thesis of approximately 30,000 words.

Part-time students will complete their first set of papers in years 1 and 2, and their second set of papers and thesis in years 3 and 4.

The primary means of study is by fortnightly supervisions, with at least one term of the first year devoted to each of the three areas of study you have chosen. You will be assigned a specialist supervisor for each area, who will agree topics for the papers which you will produce for each supervision. In addition, you will be encouraged to attend appropriate graduate classes to support your supervisory preparation. Graduate classes may be taken from amongst those offered on our Master’s programmes, or be research led classes put on for the benefit specifically of MPhil students and PhD students.

3c

Philosophy at Warwick is recognised for our support of diverse philosophical traditions, including both analytic and continental philosophy. We have particular strengths in:

  • Philosophy of Mind, Action, and Epistemology
  • Philosophy of Psychology
  • Philosophy of the Arts and Aesthetics
  • Moral, Political and Legal Philosophy
  • Kant and Hegel
  • 19th Century Post-Kantian Philosophy, including Schopenhauer and Nietzsche
  • 20th Century Continental Philosophy, including Husserl, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, Derrida
  • Mathematical Logic and Computation.

Full details of our research interests are listed on the Philosophy web pages. You can also read our general University research proposal guidance.

4a

A First Class honours degree (or equivalent) in Philosophy or with a significant Philosophy component; two writing samples of around 2,500 words each on philosophical topics (ideally these will be recent essays or extracts on relevant topics for which you received a good mark); a strong statement of purpose.

See our departmental guidanceLink opens in a new window.

4b

  • Band B
  • IELTS overall score of 7.0, minimum component scores of two at 6.0/6.5 and the rest at 7.0 or above.

4c

There are no additional entry requirements for this course.