Philosophical Studies
Philosophy programmes at Newcastle are delivered by staff with a strong research profile and a keen interest in interdisciplinary research and collaboration. We offer research specialisms in three broad areas: continental philosophy; aesthetics; and moral and political philosophy.
Our MPhil programme has thrived over the past 15 years, with graduating students progressing onto successful careers in government, the civil service, education and to further academic study. We also run a PhD programme, which reflects a long tradition of co-supervising postgraduate work with Humanities staff in areas including music, architecture and sociology.
Staff offer expertise in various areas of continental philosophy, including Kant, Hegel, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche; phenomenology (Husserl, Heidegger and Levinas); existentialism; critical theory (Benjamin; Adorno, Habermas); hermeneutics (Gadamer, Vattimo); psychoanalysis (Freud, Lacan); and poststructuralism (Deleuze, Derrida, Foucault).
Staff members have a strong interest in continental aesthetics, especially the philosophy of literature (Blanchot) and the philosophy of music, co-supervising theses with the International Centre for Music Studies. Staff also offer expertise in late modern philosophy, most notably Hegel, Vico and the Counter-Enlightenment, and in normative and applied moral and political philosophy.
Current postgraduate students are working on metapsychology and Speculative Realism, the aesthetics of contemporary Japanese cinema and music (co-supervised with ICMUS), Habermas and liberation, Sartre and freedom and Heidegger, Nietzsche and aesthetics.
Philosophical studies provides a friendly and informal learning environment, with dedicated office and computing facilities specifically for the use of postgraduate students.
Full and part-time philosophy postgraduates receive yearly expenses to fund fees, transport and the accommodation costs associated with conference attendance.
