Master of Arts in Philosophy
Studying philosophy means taking on the challenge of critically analysing answers to fundamental questions from the past and the present. In addition to a thorough historical study, a strong emphasis is placed on critical reflection on contemporary issues. Specialization takes the form of a Master’s dissertation and a wide range of elective course units.
What
Philosophy starts with wonderment. Philosophers are prone to asking critical questions: about humankind, the world and society. Not satisfied with simple answers, philosophers will try to shed a light on these issues by looking at them from all the relevant angles. This wonderment results in a persistent demand for quality of argumentation. In their search for answers, philosophers delve deep for underlying motives and rational explanations. A philosopher’s search has no fixed end point: what is important, is the rational search for insights while continuously asking new questions.
Over the centuries, our way of thinking has been influenced by great philosophers. The Philosophy programme gives you the opportunity to think through fundamental questions and their respective answers critically, and to make your own contribution to philosophical thought. In addition to a thorough historical study of philosophical texts, our programme also strongly focuses on critical reflection on contemporary issues: the explosion of science, ecological and bioethical issues, changes in the scientific worldview, etc… .
A thorough study of important thinkers in history in combination with a focus on contemporary issues results in Philosophy students who learn to build arguments in a critical and autonomous manner, and who are able to contribute to contemporary and socially critical debates.
For whom
The admission requirements vary. Depending on your prior education, you are either able to enrol directly, or there are additional requirements.
Structure
The entire Philosophy programme is built on the idea that general knowledge acquisition and understanding comes before specialist orientation. The one-year Master’s programme allows for a far-reaching specialization and, as such, is the apotheosis of your training. Depending on your interests, you can put together your own curriculum, with the Master’s dissertation at its heart.
Prospective students without a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy will have to hone their general knowledge of philosophy by taking an abridged Bachelor’s programme.
In addition to the (domain) Master’s programme described above, you can also choose a Master’s Programme in Teaching (in Dutch: Educatieve Master). More information can be found on www.ugent.be/educatievemaster.
Labour Market
Although the Philosophy programme does not lead towards a specific job or career path, this is of little consequence on the contemporary job market and its ever-increasing demand for graduates with a polyvalent education. Today’s HR managers focus less on specific diploma requirements, and all the more on finding the perfect match between a certain profile and a candidate. Nowadays it is often the candidate’s personality that plays an important role rather than their specific diploma.
Graduates from various disciplines are eligible for these ‘all-round jobs’. Philosophy graduates, however, have a favourable starting place thanks to their critical reflection skills, broad background and great independence and ability to synthesize. If, moreover, you decide to combine Philosophy with another field of study, you have an additional advantage over others.
Career opportunities that are directly in line with the programme are all situated in the academic research and/or education sectors.
Other possibilities are cultural, sociocultural, ideological and other organizations, and even in less obvious sectors such as government services, journalism, librarianship or even in the business world.
Quality Assurance
At Ghent University, we strive to educate people who dare to think about the challenges of tomorrow. For that purpose, we provide education that is embedded in six strategic objectives: Think Broadly, Keep Researching, Cultivate Talent, Contribute, Extend Horizons, Opt for Quality.
Ghent University continuously focuses on quality assurance and quality culture. The Ghent University's quality assurance system offers information on each study programme’s unique selling points, and on its strengths and weaknesses with regard to quality assurance.
More information:
Unique Selling Points
- Multiperspectivism: we train students to reflect critically on a wide range of problems to which classical human, social and natural sciences research methods do not provide an answer. That reflection can take on as many forms as the problems that require reflection. We do not offer our students ready-made answers, but help them to develop a philosophical toolbox with which they can set out themselves.
- Social involvement: philosophy in society is omnipresent. Our students learn to think about current problems in a nuanced way and we challenge them to take on reasoned positions on those problems. We teach them to deal with a diversity of values and presuppositions and require of them to go beyond the boundaries of their own discipline (philosophy) by taking on a minor in another discipline. In so doing, we prepare our students to function in an interdisciplinary context.
- Talent development: an important part of the philosopher’s toolbox consists of argumentation and communication skills. Throughout the programme we train our students in analysing and formulating arguments. Numerous and diverse writing assignments play an important role in this. In addition, our students learn to give oral presentations and to debate and collaborate in a constructive way. By writing a Bachelor's and a Master's dissertation, our students prove that they are capable of conducting independent research on complex philosophical questions.
- Research-based: throughout the study programme, our students gain insight into important concepts and theories from various sub-domains of philosophy (such as ethics, aesthetics, epistemology, philosophy of science, logic, metaphysics, political philosophy, etc.), and learn to use these concepts in an adequate manner. Along the way we also pay attention to different styles of philosophizing. In addition, we focus on the history of philosophical thought. By asking our students to read a large number of historical texts, we train them in complex text interpretation, and confront them first-hand with the richness of the philosophical tradition.
- Upon graduation: Philosophy graduates are capable of sharp and clear-cut problem analysis. They are not afraid to think in abstract terms and can apply this to concrete situations. They quickly see the strengths and weaknesses of proposed arguments. They can integrate information of different kinds in a creative manner. They readily adopt other ways of thinking, and understand the importance of presuppositions in the confrontation between different perspectives. They have strong written and oral communication skills when it comes to complex problems.
Strengths
- Dare to think differently: our programme feedback shows that students appreciate our multiperspectivistic approach. In the words of one student, looking at things from different angles becomes a habit in daily life that allows for a better assessment and articulation of complex situations.
- Dare to think in an original and innovative way: our lecturers’ research output is high and internationally oriented. This contributes to a teaching practice that is strongly research-based. Our students also appreciate the wide range of acquired (research) competencies.
- Dare to think independently and critically: our students appreciate that we encourage independent and critical thinking. In the words of one student, our study programme stimulates the critical capacity to keep asking questions. In so doing, it focuses on "nothing less than our university’s 'credo' (...) 'dare to think'".
- Dare to think together: our students appreciate our lecturers’ approachability, professionalism, didactic qualities and expertise. Contact between lecturers and students is low-threshold.
- Dare to question yourself: Ghent University’s Education Quality Board (EQB) is highly appreciative of our self-critical attitude. It concluded that “the study programme is clearly able to detect weaknesses and remedy them accordingly.”
Challenges
- We are working on strengthening our alumni contacts and our contacts with the broader professional field. In so doing, we want to introduce a structural external perspective on the organisation and content of our study programme.
- We will highlight the international dimension of our study programme by investing in study abroad initiatives.
- Our graduates possess various assets when they enter the labour market. However, we want to offer them better guidance still in order to extrapolate the abstract skills inherent to the study of philosophy to the varying specific contexts in which they may be relevant.
This study programme is accredited by the Accreditation Organisation of the Netherlands and Flanders (Dutch: NVAO). Accreditation was extended following the positive outcome of the institutional review in 2022. Programme quality was validated by a quality review, i.e. a screening of the Education Monitor by the Education Quality Board. The Quality Assurance Resolution (in Dutch) can be found here.
This information was last updated on 01/02/2023.
In case of questions or suggestions with regard to the publicly available information, please contact the study programme.