BA Philosophy, Business and Ethics

Compulsory modules

Reason and Argument 

Explore arguments in different contexts such as newspaper opinions, social media spats and philosophical treaties. You’ll develop critical thinking and logic to evaluate claims and arguments. 

The Meaning of Life 

Seek answers to the most important philosophical question. You’ll explore different perspectives on the matter to develop and explain your own judgement and defend your position. 

Business in Practice: Markets, Marketing and Management

Develop a foundation in business and management practices and theories, which will give you the necessary context when you specialise in your later studies. You'll learn about the competitive environment, markets, strategy, marketing, operations, organisational behaviour and entrepreneurship.

Developing Professional Excellence

Discover the graduate and placement recruitment process from the perspective of recruiter and organisations. Learn to understand the role of recruitment, the context of different organisations and implications for different talent management strategies and needs, the rationale for employing certain process and procedures to secure a high-performing and engaged workforce. 

Optional modules

Global Justice 

Discover global perspectives on justice and freedom, from the Buddha to Christian female mystics, to acquire new insights and question your own beliefs and ideas.  

Philosophical Skills for Life 

Develop the skills needed to produce persuasive and nuanced academic arguments, research, and referencing. You’ll learn how to identify limitations and advantages of philosophical writing. 

Business in Practice: Accounting for Managers

Develop a foundation in how businesses use accounting information. Learn about management accounting and financial accounting, which will provide the necessary foundation to allow you to specialise in your later studies. 

Business in Practice: Data analytics

Discover key concepts in data analytics by learning about two stages of data analytics (a) descriptive analytics and (b) predictive analytics, as well as visualisation techniques for qualitatively summarising data.

Radical Philosophy

From Plato and Marx to contemporaries like Judith Butler, Slavoj Zizek, and Catharine MacKinnon, there is a long tradition of radicalism in philosophy. Discover how radical philosophy can usefully question our deepest assumptions and challenge our deepest beliefs.

These are the modules we currently offer for 2024/25 entry. They may be subject to change as we regularly review our module offerings to ensure they're informed by the latest teaching and research methods.

Please note that the University cannot guarantee that all optional modules will be available to all students who may wish to take them.

You can also register your details with us to receive information about your course of interest and study and life at the University of Reading.

Compulsory modules

Ethical Argument

Develop your knowledge and skills by considering arguments in moral philosophy and contribute to debate by learning how to argue in a charitable but critical way. 

Social Responsibility in Action

Apply knowledge and experience gained during the course to a contemporary management problem or issue related to social purpose of the business and 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. 

Business Ethics 1

Develop your awareness and understanding of the ethical issues in business and management, focusing on the ethical issues facing multinationals and global companies.

Optional modules

Oppression, Inequality, and the Enemies of Democracy 

Explore the concerns of society by asking questions within contemporary political philosophy. You’ll enhance your ability to think reflectively and critically about the role of fairness in society. 

Meaning and the Mind

Consider questions such as How can there be minds in a physical world? How does a mental state (like a memory or a perceptual experience) come to represent the world? What role does consciousness play in the mind? Discuss and analyse some of the core arguments in philosophy of mind, including with historical reference to the figures who originally formulated those arguments.

Global Philosophies

Participate in cross-cultural conversations about global issues such as gender, race, social identities, and death. You will be introduced to and taught how to analyse a range of concepts, including Buddhist, Jain, and African American critical theories, performative theories, and phenomenological theories.

Aesthetics 

Explore topics that are central to philosophical aesthetics including beauty, definitions of art and truth in literature. This will enable you to develop critical understanding of philosophical problems raised by art and aesthetic experience. 

Philosophy through the Ages: The Minds that Shaped our World

You’ll engage with a range of ideas and theories from classic texts that mark some of the most important and influential ideas in philosophy, from Socrates to the present day. 

Ignorance, Doubt, and Relativism

Investigate the concept of knowledge and analyse and evaluate some of the core arguments in contemporary epistemology. You will learn about the different theories of knowledge and explore famous works from Ernest Sosa, Alvin Goldman, David Lewis, Edward Craig, and Miranda Fricker.

Marketing Essentials

Discusses and analyses marketing theories, as well as strategic marketing tools and techniques used in the business world. You'll be encouraged to engage actively and critically with the theoretical and empirical contents of the module through weekly pre recorded lectures, live interactive sessions with guest speakers and small-group tutorials.

Building Competitive Advantage

Discover the concept of competitive advantage, why this is important for organisations, and how this can be achieved through the development and application of business strategies. Focus on operations management, the function of the organisation that manages the resources that are devoted to the creation and delivery of services and products that create value for the organisation's customers. 

Leadership Concepts

Develop leadership skills with regard to leadership concepts and knowledge and understanding leadership for individuals, teams and organisations. Take part in face-to-face workshops, small group work, transfer to individual programme member context, personal reflection and self-study.

Work Placement

Gain insight into the practical application of accountancy and/or business management skills. You'll gain relevant work experience in order to provide a practical context for the academic material studied in the first, second and final year. You'll also enhance your employability by being able to demonstrate 12 months relevant work experience.

Work Mini-Placement 

A non-credit module that will give you an opportunity to apply the knowledge and learning you gained in your first one or two years in a business context, enhancing your understanding and skills of working in a business environment, and reflecting on this experience to enhance awareness of the graduate employment market.

Optional Language Module

Learn one of ten languages offered by the University at a level appropriate for you. 

These are the modules we currently offer for 2024/25 entry. They may be subject to change as we regularly review our module offerings to ensure they're informed by the latest teaching and research methods.

Please note that the University cannot guarantee that all optional modules will be available to all students who may wish to take them.

You can also register your details with us to receive information about your course of interest and study and life at the University of Reading.

Compulsory modules

Dissertation in Philosophy

Engage in original and independent research to produce an extended essay that focuses on a philosophical topic of your choice. You’ll also submit an assessed research proposal and give a presentation. 

OR

Dissertation in Management

OR

Independent Learning Module 

Choose a philosophical topic that fascinates you to form the basis of an extended essay. This will enhance your independent learning skills, self-awareness and ability to reflect on your progress and strengths. 

Optional modules

Free Will and Responsibility  

Investigate the concepts of freedom and responsibility using philosophical thinking and by applying approaches from different cultures.

Philosophy of Language: Animals, Babies, Colours, and Language Death 

Engage with questions concerning meaning, language and communication. To address these, you'll engage with foundational texts in linguistics, psychology and anthropology and research informed by developments in the cognitive sciences. 

Early Chinese Philosophy 

Deepen your understanding of the history of philosophy. You’ll focus on early Chinese philosophy to include the Confucian and daoist traditions, as well as moral, social, and political philosophy. 

Current Moral Philosophy

Explore current debates in ethics, roughly focusing on material published in the last 20 years. These debates could be totally new, or they could be current takes and debates about much older issues (such as Aristotle's ethics).

Fairness

Learn about leading contemporary theories of fairness, including the relation of fairness to impartiality, equality, proportionality, need, desert, and free-riding. You'll address conflicts between fairness and other values, while developing your skills in dealing with abstract moral concepts and normative arguments.

Business Ethics and Social Responsibility 

Explore the world of business ethics and discover a range of philosophical questions to challenge your thinking. These include the morality of sweatshop labour, the ethics behind advertising, and the corporate obligation to do what is right. 

Society and State in Ancient Greece

Study the classic works in Ancient Greek political philosophy, including some or all of Aristotle's Politics and Rhetoric and Plato's Republic and Gorgias. You'll look at the philosophers' conceptions of politics, society, and government, and examine their relevance to modern concerns and issues.

The Scandal of Film

Study the role films play in our cultural lives. Explore film in relation to reality, the human condition, philosophy and art. 

Hume and Wittgenstein 

Investigate the concept of knowledge and analyse and evaluate some of the core arguments in contemporary epistemology. You will learn about the different theories of knowledge and explore famous works from Ernest Sosa, Alvin Goldman, David Lewis, Edward Craig, and Miranda Fricker.

Speech Attacks: Bullshit, Lies, Propaganda

Discuss the foundations of speech act theory and examine ways that it has been applied to philosophical problems in feminist theory and political and social theory. Explore lies and bullshit, and what (if anything) is wrong with these uses of language. And we will discuss the nature of propaganda and 'fake news' and how to resist its effects. 

Paradoxes

Explore some of the great contemporary and historical paradoxes in philosophy, and their proposed solutions. Philosophy is full of paradoxes – logical, semantic, metaphysical, epistemological, ethical, and others, which shed light on big philosophical issues.

Metaphysics

Discover how metaphysics is one of the foundation stones of philosophy, and how the way we deal with metaphysical problems affects our approach to problems in many other areas of philosophy, such as philosophy of mind and epistemology.

Philosophy of Religion 

Explore central topics within the philosophy of religion. You’ll examine contemporary ideas and their historical origins, evaluating their significance and validity.

Developing Personal Leadership 

Gain a comprehensive view on personal leadership development and learn how to plan your own leadership skills strategy. You will explore the different approaches for leadership development planning and action, including developing self-awareness, contextual awareness and how to design a learning agenda. 

New Directions in Business and Corporate Social Responsibility 

Learn about the growing recognition of the role business and market-based solutions can play in tackling complex ‘wicked’ global sustainable development challenges, including reducing poverty, protecting vulnerable ecosystems, and facing up to global climate change. 

The Dark Side of Marketing   

Explore the conflicting, controversial and moral challenges facing marketing, and investigate its effects on consumers’ health (both physical and mental well-being) and the alleged exploitation of vulnerable consumers. You will look at current issues and use your marketing skills to help resolve some practical consumer and societal problems.

Marketing Communications

Discover how marketing communications work including advertising, direct marketing, and sales promotion. You’ll learn how to design, manage, and assess marketing communication efforts to best reach and engage the intended audience. 

These are the modules we currently offer for 2024/25 entry. They may be subject to change as we regularly review our module offerings to ensure they're informed by the latest teaching and research methods.

Please note that the University cannot guarantee that all optional modules will be available to all students who may wish to take them.

You can also register your details with us to receive information about your course of interest and study and life at the University of Reading.