The LSE Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method is one of the top departments in the world to earn a philosophy BSc, offering several unique degrees that provide an indispensible blend of deep interdisciplinary thinking and important transferrable skills, as well as one of the highest employment rates at LSE.

Degrees Offered

BSc Philosophy & Economics

This unique joint degree, taught by globally leading departments of philosophy and economics, allows you to study foundational and philosophical questions alongside your core courses in economics. Learn More…

BSc Philosophy, Logic & Scientific Method

The Department’s most popular BSc degree provides students with an opportunity to engage with deep questions about philosophy, logic and scientific method among some of the field’s top researchers, in a way that is both continuous with the natural and social sciences and socially relevant. Learn More…

BSc Philosophy, Politics & Economics

The four-year programme in Philosophy, Politics and Economics offers rigorous training in all three disciplines, as well as innovative interdisciplinary teaching and study. Learn More…

BSc Politics & Philosophy

This unique joint honours degree combines courses from the fields of government (politics) and philosophy, in approximately equal weighting, whilst providing a considerable amount of choice in the specific courses taken within each field. Learn More…

What It’s Like

The Courses

The department offers many exciting undergraduate courses, involving a wide number of philosophical topics and their intersection with the sciences and social sciences.

Each week, each of your courses will provide a minimum of a one hour lecture and a related class. Our department is committed to giving undergraduates a good deal of face-to-face time with Faculty, and all lectures are done by Faculty.

All teachers also offer weekly office hours for feedback and advisory sessions, in which you can further discuss material from the lectures and classes. You will also have a personal academic mentor to provide assistance and guidance.

There is some variation in assessment for different courses, but most typically, you will have an examination for each course in June of the year in which you have taken it, as well as an essay due at the beginning of May. For each course, you will have to complete several essays and/or exercises as part of your class work.

Examples Preliminary Reading

Classics:

  • Plato The Republic, translated and edited by Robin Waterfield (Oxford Paperbacks)
  • R Descartes Meditations (any edition)
  • D Hume An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding and An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals (any editions)
  • A Smith The Theory of Moral Sentiments (any edition)
  • JS Mill On Liberty (any edition)
  • K Popper Conjectures and Refutations: The growth of scientific knowledge (Routledge 2003)

General Philosophy and Philosophical Tools:

  • T Nagel What Does It All Mean? (Oxford University Press, 1987)
  • RM Sainsbury Paradoxes (Cambridge University Press, 2009)
  • B Skyrms Choice and Chance: An Introduction to Inductive Logic (Wadsworth, 2000)

Moral Philosophy

  • T Nagel Mortal Questions (Canto, 1991)
  • B Williams Morality: an Introduction to Ethics (Canto 1993)
  • J Wolff An Introduction to Political Philosophy (Oxford University Press, 2006)
  • A Voorhoeve Conversations on Ethics (Oxford University Press, 2011)

Philosophy of Science:

  • S Okasha Philosophy of Science: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford Paperbacks, 2002)
  • A Chalmers What is this thing called Science? (Oxford University Press, 2006)