Criminology and Philosophy

Course description

Do you want to understand better how society works? Are you keen to know more about the purpose, processes and outcomes of social welfare, both here and abroad? Why and how do people break the law? How can the criminal justice system define this and how do we police, prosecute and punish people? Our courses look at the nature of social change, social differentiation, the construction and definition of social problems and the maintenance of social order as well as broader questions of process and policy. And we offer an international and comparative approach covering topics that analyse society and welfare issues in various countries. We have particular expertise covering Scotland, the UK, the European Union, Western and Central Europe, Australasia, North America and Latin America. In your first two years you will take three subjects each semester. One of these is a core subject for your degree, but you can choose the other two from Faculties across the University. For example, you could take Sociology with English or another language, Social Policy with Marketing or Criminology with Law. The key benefits of this system are that you can change the emphasis of your degree as you progress, change from full-time to part-time if you need to, change your degree subject(s) and not until midway through your second year do you need to decide what your final degree subject(s) will be. Many of our students go on to complete Combined Degrees with subject such as Law, History, Education, Politics, Philosophy, Business Studies, Spanish, Computing Science and Psychology. The core modules for Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology students in the first two years – Social Differentiation, Social Problems, Understanding Social Policy and Development of Social Theory – provide a coherent and cumulative introduction to key concerns. In Years 3 and 4, you will specialise in your chosen area. As well as taking core modules you will chose from a list of optional modules. How are our minds related to our bodies? Do we really have free will? What is knowledge (as distinct from merely true belief) and what can we really know – about the world around us, about other people, or about ourselves? How can we be confident we know what is right and wrong, just and unjust? And what would it take to live a morally good life? You have just been posed some typical philosophical questions, and if you seriously want to search for the answers then this is the course for you. Our degree course will challenge you to develop a strong set of critical, imaginative and informed reasoning skills, and deepen your understanding of the nature of the human mind, of language, of morality and politics, of art, of science, and of logic. We offer breadth and variety in this course. Some modules focus on particular historical figures, allowing students to really get to grips with one famous philosopher’s ideas – and how subsequent generations have argued over those ideas. Thinkers whom we study in depth include Aristotle, Descartes, Kant, Mill, Marx, Wittgenstein, and Heidegger. Other modules focus on specific philosophical topics, such as the theory of knowledge; logic; metaphysics; philosophy of mind; moral philosophy; philosophy of science; environmental ethics; and many more. During your study at Stirling you will be introduced to the key issues in a wide range of topics within philosophy in your first two years. Then it is largely up to you which areas you wish to focus on – and you will be able, on the basis of what you have learned so far, to make informed choices among the range of higher-level modules available.

Subjects

• Criminology
• Philosophy