Philosophy

Philosophy explores basic questions regarding reality, the world, life, actions and knowledge. Thus, the history of philosophy is the history of human thought that asks itself philosophical questions and continually seeks to answer them. It is not by chance that philosophy is called “fundamental science.”

The objective of the program is to first awaken students’ understanding for the classical problems and questions of philosophy. To that end, they start with the most important historical positions and periods of philosophy and become acquainted with the working methods of philosophy with regard to systematic and historical aspects. In addition to the general history of philosophy—from the philosophy of antiquity and the Middle Ages, the modern period and German Idealism to the most recent contemporary philosophy—subfields such as the philosophy of religion, aesthetics, the philosophy of the mind, the modern philosophy of science and nature, or modern logic are also important elements of this degree program. Highly topical areas of philosophical application, e.g. bioethics, are also explored.

This subject must be combined with a second subject.

Possible lines of work:

Non-academic ethics institutes, ethics commissions, policy consulting, academia (research management, teaching/research at universities and research institutions), academic, political and cultural organizations, journalism (editing at news agencies, radio, television, etc.), book industry (archives, libraries, publishers), adult education, management, teaching at a German school (lateral career move)