BA Philosophy

This course introduces central arguments in the political and social philosophy of Hegel and Marx.

The unit aims to: 

This course aims to introduce the work of Hegel and Marx. The approach taken is philosophical rather than historical, and will involve examining critically their claims and arguments about such matters as the alienation, exploitation, justice and human labour, and the possibility of mutual recognition and community.  It is expected that students will engage with the original texts, formulate the central arguments to be found in them and to assess their cogency.

One two-hour lecture and one one-hour tutorial per week.

Students should be able to:

• State and critically respond to the central arguments Hegel’s social and political philosophy;
• State and critically respond to the central arguments Marx’s economic and political philosophy.

Students should be able to:

• Analyse the argument of key primary texts;
• Formulate their own informed responses to these arguments studied.

Students should be able to:

• Use research tools to effectively select resources in the preparation of assessments on Hegel and Marx;
• Clearly communicate ideas about Hegel and Marx.

Essay (2000 words) 50%

Exam (2 hours) 50%

The School of Social Sciences (SoSS) is committed to providing timely and appropriate feedback to students on their academic progress and achievement, thereby enabling students to reflect on their progress and plan their academic and skills development effectively. Students are reminded that feedback is necessarily responsive: only when a student has done a certain amount of work and approaches us with it at the appropriate time is it possible for us to feed back on the student's work. The main forms of feedback on this course are written feedback responses to assessed essays and exam answers.

We also draw your attention to the variety of generic forms of feedback available to you on this as on all SoSS courses. These include: meeting the lecturer/tutor during their office hours; e-mailing questions to the lecturer/tutor; asking questions from the lecturer (before and after lecture); presenting a question on the discussion board on Canvas; and obtaining feedback from your peers during tutorials.

• Hegel G. W. Philosophy of Right 
• Hegel G. W.  The Phenomenology of Spirit 
• Knowles, D. Routledge Philosophy GuideBook to Hegel and the Philosophy of Right. 
• Wood, A.  Hegel's Ethical Thought 
• Beiser, F. Hegel 
• Marx, K. Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts 
• Marx, K. Preface to A Critique of Political Economy 
• Marx, K. Capital Volume 1 
• Cohen G. A. Karl Marx's Theory of History 
• Wood A. Karl Marx 
• Lukes S. Marxism and Morality 
• Geras, N. 'On Marx and Justice' New Left Review, 150, 1985, pp.47-85. 
• Wolff, J.  Why Read Marx Today?   

Tuition fees for home students commencing their studies in September 2027 will be £10,050 per annum. Tuition fees for international students will be £29,200 per annum.

For general information please see the undergraduate finance pages.

All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).

We know that student finance can be complicated. The links below provide further information to help guide you.

Learn more about student finance options for UK students.

Learn more about fees and finance for international students.

As an international student you may be eligible for our Global Futures Scholarships . This is open to students starting their studies in September 2026.