Course summary

The Philosophy and Religion MA programme is a distance-learning course designed for students eager to explore fundamental questions about life and existence. If you’re interested in studying big ideas from both Eastern and Western traditions, this course offers the perfect opportunity. You will explore key topics such as the nature of the self, reality, and religious experiences, while learning about different philosophical and religious perspectives. Throughout the course, you will look at how Eastern and Western traditions have tried to answer life’s most important questions. By studying Eastern traditions like Buddhism and Hinduism, and Western traditionssuch as Greek philosophy or Christian thought, you’ll see how different cultures and belief systems understand ideas about the self, reality, and the world around us. These traditions have shaped human thought for centuries, and by studying them, you will gain a critical understanding of how ideas about philosophy, religion, and theology connect to real-world issues. The course allows you to engage with philosophical perspectives and religious perspectives that challenge and expand your thinking. You will look at topics like spirituality, ethics, and the ways different cultures understand the meaning of life and existence. You will also study the concept of religious experiences, learning how they are described, interpreted, and understood across different belief systems. In addition to exploring the ideas themselves, you will develop skills in hermeneutics—the study of how to interpret texts and ideas. This will help you better understand complex topics and think critically about how religious and philosophical ideas influence culture and society. As you study, you will also explore the idea of traditions of wisdom, seeing how these key philosophies and religions help guide human behaviour and thinking. This programme is perfect for those who want to learn about the world’s global traditions and how they shape the way we view life, spirituality, and reality. Whether you are new to philosophy and religion, or you have already studied them in some depth, this course will help you gain a deeper understanding of the key ideas that have influenced human thought for centuries. By the end of the programme, you will be able to think more critically about philosophy, and religion, from a global perspective, understanding how different traditions have shaped ideas about life, the self, and the world around us.