Bachelor of Arts (Honours) - Childhood and Youth and Philosophy and Ethics (LV95)

Childhood & Youth is an exciting, multidisciplinary subject in which students will explore a range of issues and challenges faced by children and young people in contemporary society, both here in the UK and on a global level. Drawing on key ideas from sociology, politics, history, social policy and cultural studies, the degree examines important questions about children and young people and the social contexts in which they live.

Topics studied include: how children and young people’s place in society has changed over time; how social class, poverty, gender, ethnicity, disability, social policy and so on impact children and young people’s lives; the role of risk and risk-taking in children and young people’s everyday lives and; how children and young people make sense of and help to shape their social worlds. In exploring such issues students will also look at various political debates and policy initiatives, as well as learning about various ways of researching with children and young people that aim to help them overcome the many challenges that they face.

With its strong emphasis on social justice and welfare, the degree will enable students to develop as critical social scientists who value their role within the academic community at Hope and who, as graduates, will be able to use their skills and knowledge to the benefit of their local community and society more broadly.

Through close attention to the primary texts of philosophers such as Plato, Aquinas, Descartes, Hume, Kant and Nietzsche, this Philosophy and Ethics degree will help students learn to analyze and evaluate arguments, and to compose and communicate their own ideas in a reasoned way. Students will have a grounding in the foundational questions of philosophy. As students progress, they will look in depth at philosophy of religion, political philosophy, applied ethics and issues of human personhood, artificial intelligence and animality.

The degree is taught by a core team of critical academics who are passionate about teaching and are internationally recognized researchers and writers. This degree will equip students with the intellectual skills and perspectives needed to face the ethical and ideological challenges of the contemporary world.