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Undergraduate Study

 

Philosophy at Cambridge enables you to look behind the curtain to ask the toughest questions that no other subject can address. 

Explore human thought, the basis of knowledge, the nature of reason, consciousness and cognition, as well as the foundations of value and political theory.
 

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Overview
Number 2 in the UK for Philosophy (The Complete University Guide 2025)

Philosophy at Cambridge

Philosophy is the investigation of very general and fundamental questions. Among other things, these questions explore knowledge, reality, mind, morality, logic, language, reasoning, politics, art and value. 

Studying philosophy requires complex critical thinking, rigorous analysis and consideration of new perspectives.  

Cambridge occupies a distinguished place in the history of philosophy. Here, in the early 20th century, Russell, Moore, Wittgenstein, Ramsey and others developed the analytic style of philosophy. This style of philosophy is now prominent in much of the world. Today, the course combines this more traditional, analytical style with study of the history of philosophy from Plato to the present day.  

During the first year you’ll get a solid grounding in some of the central areas of analytic philosophy and history of philosophy.  
 
You’ll then have more freedom to explore your interests, in areas such as: 

  • ethics 
  • aesthetics 
  • ancient philosophy 
  • formal logic 
  • philosophy of science 
  • metaphysics

Teaching and facilities

Teaching

Our academic staff are both world-class researchers and committed teachers.  

The Faculty has close links with related faculties such as Classics, Psychology, and History and Philosophy of Science, so you can take advantage of a wide range of specialised lectures and seminars. 

Facilities 

Our Faculty of Philosophy is home to:  

  • Casimir Lewy Library, which provides support for philosophical study, teaching and research. The book collection has more than 17,000 volumes, focusing on Western analytic philosophy 

You'll also have access to the impressive Cambridge University Library, one of the world’s oldest university libraries.  

Course costs

When you go to university, you’ll need to consider two main costs – your tuition fees and your living costs (sometimes referred to as maintenance costs).

Your living costs will include costs related to your studies that are not covered by your tuition fees. There are some general study costs that will apply for all students.

Find out more about general study costs.

There are no compulsory additional course costs for Philosophy. If you have any queries about resources/materials, please contact the Faculty.

Your future career 

A Philosophy degree isn’t an essential qualification for any particular career. But, the analytical and critical skills developed through its study will prepare you for a range of professions, in: 

  • business 
  • computing 
  • journalism 
  • administration 
  • law 

Around one in 4 of our graduates go on to further study, while others start careers in: 

  • publishing 
  • teaching 
  • banking and investment 
  • arts and recreation 
  • IT 
  • public services
Course outline

Teaching 

Teaching is provided through lectures, with additional classes for some subjects, such as first year Logic classes. 

You will also have small-group supervisions, for which you’ll do topical reading and write an essay which you then discuss with your supervisor.  

Typically you’ll have 6 to 12 lectures, and 1 to 3 supervisions and/or small classes each week.

Assessment

Assessments mainly take place through written examinations.  

In Year 2 and 3 you can replace one written examination with two essays of 3,000 to 4,000 words.  

In Year 3 you can replace one written examination with a dissertation of 6,000 to 8,000 words on a subject of your choice. 

You won't usually be able to resit any of your exams. 

Year 1 (Part IA)

In your first year, you develop reasoning skills that will help you to tackle philosophical problems. You'll also learn to think intelligently about abstract questions. 

You’re encouraged to approach topics in your own way. We also organise regular discussion groups for first and second year students. 

You get an introduction to philosophy through the study of 5 core compulsory papers: 

  • Metaphysics 
  • Ethics and Political Philosophy meaning 
  • Formal Methods, a half paper on philosophical methods 
  • Set Texts, such as Plato’s Meno, Descartes’ Meditations on First Philosophy and J S Mill’s On Liberty and The Subjection of Women  

Year 2 (Part IB) 

You explore the philosophical aspects of a range of issues, both practical and theoretical.  

You take compulsory papers: 

  • Knowledge, Language and the World 
  • a general paper  

You then choose 3 further subjects from: 

  • History of Analytic Philosophy 
  • Ethics 
  • Greek and Roman Philosophy 
  • Early Modern Philosophy 
  • Epistemology and Metaphysics of Science (from History and Philosophy of Science) 
  • Political Philosophy 
  • Experimental Psychology (from Natural Sciences, involving practical work) 
  • Aesthetics and Philosophy of Art 

Year 3 (Part II) 

You develop an understanding of various contemporary debates and familiarise yourself with current philosophical concepts.  

There are no compulsory papers. You choose 4 papers from an extensive range of subjects. Papers recently available include: 

  • Philosophy of Mind 
  • European Philosophy from Kant 
  • Philosophy of Science  
  • Philosophical Logic 
  • Political Philosophy  
  • Philosophy in the Long Middle Ages 

It’s also possible to take a paper from another course, such as Classics.  

For further information about this course and the papers you can take see the Faculty of Philosophy website.

Changing course

It’s really important to think carefully about which course you want to study before you apply. 

In rare cases, it may be possible to change course once you’ve joined the University. You will usually have to get agreement from your College and the relevant departments. It’s not guaranteed that your course change will be approved.

You might also have to:

  • take part in an interview
  • complete an admissions test
  • produce some written work
  • achieve a particular grade in your current studies
  • do some catch-up work
  • start your new course from the beginning 

For more information visit the Faculty website.

You can also apply to change to:

You can't apply to this course until you're at Cambridge. You would usually apply when you have completed one year or more of your original Cambridge course.

You should contact your College’s Admissions Office if you’re thinking of changing your course. They will be able to give you advice and explain how changing courses works.

Entry requirements
The listed entry requirements relate to entry in 2026 or deferred entry in 2027. They are currently draft entry requirements and will be confirmed in June 2025.

Minimum offer level

A level: A*AA
IB: 41-42 points, with 776 at Higher Level
Other qualifications: Check which other qualifications we accept.

We don't ask for any specific subjects to apply to Philosophy. We recommend these subjects for a strong application: 

  • Mathematics 
  • Religious Studies
  • Philosophy 
  • English (language or literature) 
  • History 
  • Languages (ancient or modern)

College entry requirements

The following Colleges usually set offers at the minimum offer level. They may sometimes ask for higher grades or an A* in a particular subject:

  • Christ's
  • Clare
  • Downing
  • Emmanuel
  • Fitzwilliam
  • Girton
  • Gonville & Caius
  • Homerton
  • Hughes Hall
  • Jesus
  • King's
  • Magdalene
  • Newnham
  • Pembroke
  • Peterhouse
  • Robinson
  • Sidney Sussex
  • St Catharine's 
  • St Edmund's
  • St John's
  • Trinity
  • Trinity Hall
  • Wolfson

The following Colleges set extra conditions for most or all offers. For example, they may make a higher offer or specify an A* in a particular subject. For more information check the College websites:

Colleges set additional offer requirements for a range of reasons. If you'd like to find out more about why we do this, check the information about offers above the minimum requirement on the entry requirements page.

IB offers

Some Colleges usually make offers above the minimum offer level. Find out more on our qualifications page.

Admission assessment

There is no admission assessment for this course.

Submitted work

You won't usually be asked to submit examples of written work. You may be asked to do some reading prior to your interview, but if this is required the College will provide full details in your interview invitation.

What Philosophy students have studied

Most Philosophy students (who had studied A levels and started at Cambridge in 2018, 2019 and 2023) achieved at least A*A*A (64% of entrants).

Almost all (99%) had studied at least one of the subjects recommended above.

The majority of students who studied IB achieved at least 43 points overall and/or grades 777 at Higher Level.

This information shows some of the common subjects our applicants have studied. Although these are common subject combinations, this doesn't mean they're favoured. 

When you're choosing your post-16 subjects, it's most important to check whether any subjects are required for your course. You can also check our guidance on choosing your high school subjects for more information.

 

All undergraduate admissions decisions are the responsibility of the Cambridge Colleges. Please contact the relevant College admissions office if you have any queries.

Next steps

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Contextual information

Discover Uni allows you to compare information about individual courses at different higher education institutions.  This can be a useful method of considering your options and what course may suit you best.

However, please note that superficially similar courses often have very different structures and objectives, and that the teaching, support and learning environment that best suits you can only be determined by identifying your own interests, needs, expectations and goals, and comparing them with detailed institution- and course-specific information.

We recommend that you look thoroughly at the course and University information contained on these webpages and consider coming to visit us on an Open Day, rather than relying solely on statistical comparison.

You may find the following notes helpful when considering information presented by Discover Uni.

  1. Discover Uni relies on superficially similar courses being coded in the same way. Whilst this works on one level, it may lead to some anomalies. For example, Music courses and Music Technology courses can have exactly the same code despite being very different programmes with quite distinct educational and career outcomes.

    Any course which combines several disciplines (as many courses at Cambridge do) tends to be compared nationally with courses in just one of those disciplines, and in such cases the Discover Uni comparison may not be an accurate or fair reflection of the reality of either. For example, you may find that when considering a degree which embraces a range of disciplines such as biology, physics, chemistry and geology (for instance, Natural Sciences at Cambridge), the comparison provided is with courses at other institutions that primarily focus on just one (or a smaller combination) of those subjects.You may therefore find that not all elements of the Cambridge degree are represented in the Discover Uni data.

  2. Some contextual data linked from other surveys, such as the National Student Survey (NSS) or the Destination of Leavers in Higher Education (DLHE), may not be available or may be aggregated across several courses or several years due to small sample sizes.  When using the data to inform your course choice, it is important to ensure you understand how it has been processed prior to its presentation. Discover Uni offers some explanatory information about how the contextual data is collated, and how it may be used, which you can view here: https://discoveruni.gov.uk/about-our-data/.

  3. Discover Uni draws on national data to provide average salaries and employment/continuation data.  Whilst starting salaries can be a useful measure, they do not give any sense of career trajectory or take account of the voluntary/low paid work that many graduates undertake initially in order to gain valuable experience necessary/advantageous for later career progression. Discover Uni is currently piloting use of the Longitudinal Education Outcomes (LEO) data to demonstrate possible career progression; it is important to note that this is experimental and its use may be modified as it embeds.

The above list is not exhaustive and there may be other important factors that are relevant to the choices that you are making, but we hope that this will be a useful starting point to help you delve deeper than the face value of the Discover Uni data.

Key information

Minimum offer level 
A level: A*AA
IB: 41-42 points, with 776 at Higher Level
UCAS code 
V500
Course length 
BA (Hons) 3 years, full-time
Start date 
October 2026
Study at 

All Colleges except Murray Edwards and Queens'

Applicant numbers 
2024 cycle:
Applications per place: 6
Accepted: 50
Contact email 
phil-admin@lists.cam.ac.uk
Contact telephone 
01223 335090