Philosophy is reflectionit advances our understanding of reality and our place within it by raising fundamental questions. Philosophers analyse the content of concepts and claims that common sense and science take for granted; they investigate the conditions of human experience and understanding from the most comprehensive perspective; and they discuss our current norms, values, and practices. By exploring the facts and fictions of theoretical and practical rationality within science and society, philosophy provides the interpretive discourses and logical tools that allow us to generate and maintain transparency in how we reason about what we are and what we do.

The MA programme in philosophy at Aarhus University offers advanced courses in the main areas of contemporary professional philosophy, taught by professors with doctoral degrees from leading international departments including Cambridge, Oxford, Pittsburgh, Canberra (ANU), St Andrews and Tübingen. The guiding principle of our curriculum is that specialisation, embedded in a broad philosophical competence, will provide students with the best philosophical education and the best career opportunities.

The track concept: specialisation and early engagement with research

Our two-year programme is divided into three tracks that reflect the departmental areas of active research and allow students to pursue their interests at an advanced level in both the analytical and the continental tradition of philosophy: epistemology, metaphysics and philosophy of cognition; idealism and post-idealism; and ethics, political philosophy and philosophy of practice.

Students concentrate their efforts on the core courses and research laboratories offered in one of the tracks. Core courses provide advanced introductions to the current research discussion. In research labs, students practice their research skills, explore ideas, and become directly engaged with the ongoing departmental research activities. The MA thesis is produced interactively under the supervision of experts.

Beyond the track: philosophy in context

In supplementary courses from the other tracks, students broaden their competence in philosophy and become part of a lively and open-minded research environment with many international events. We cultivate an informal climate of intellectual curiosity, we value collaboration across different philosophical traditions, and we actively explore interdisciplinary research with the health-care sciences, cognitive science, anthropology, information science, robotics, and other disciplines.

Transparency is a commodity: job opportunities

The programme is designed to prepare our students for a wide variety of workplaces both within academia and outside. All three tracks give students the opportunity to experience the praxis of professional academic philosophy. In their third semester students take a philosophy semester abroad, practise philosophy at a business or public social institution, or work on their professional profile, taking university-wide profile courses that match specific sectors of the labour market.

Employers increasingly appreciate that philosophy graduates have outstanding transferable skills in analytical, innovative thinking. With a degree in philosophy you can create transparency in complex decision contexts and communicate complex subjects to a variety of audiences. Outside of academia our alumni are employed in IT, consultancy, and public administration.

Accreditation

Aarhus University is a Danish state university, and the philosophy programme has been accredited for the period 2010-2016 by ACE Denmark.

Aarhus University was awarded the European ECTS Label in 2009.