About the MSc programme
This programme is based in the Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method| and offers the following benefits:
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It offers a critical examination of conceptual and methodological issues underlying social scientific research.
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The Department's approach to philosophical study is resolutely interdisciplinary. We believe that philosophical analysis is best seen as continuous with scientific practice. (It this sense, we fall squarely within the "naturalist" tradition in the philosophy of science.)
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The Department's strength in philosophy of economics and rational choice theory make it a natural place to study for those who wish to examine, and critique, the use of these methods within the social sciences.
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The Department is one of the major centres for the philosophy of social science in the world.
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The degree is internationally highly regarded.
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The Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science, housed at LSE, is one of the international centres of the discipline and attracts a series of eminent visitors. MSc students benefit from the seminars and research activities at the Centre.
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The Department has close links with other philosophy departments in the University of London. Many graduate level lecture courses given in other colleges of the University are available to MSc students and are required teaching for some courses. This gives students access to the very rich, general London philosophical environment.
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The position of the Department within an international centre of excellence in the social sciences means that there is a good deal of collaboration between social scientists and philosophers both in teaching and research.
The MSc in Philosophy of the Social Sciences will be of interest to students from a variety of backgrounds, eg, from philosophy, history, economics, sociology, anthropology, social psychology, geography, political science, and so on. We will consider applicants with a first or upper second class (2:1) honours degree or equivalent, with a considered interest in the area covered by the MSc. If your first language is not English, please submit with your application to LSE a sample of your work in English (five to ten typewritten pages).
We recruit students from all across the world to assemble a genuinely international group, which enriches the social and intellectual environment that the programme offers.
We approach philosophical issues in the social sciences through examining historical and contemporary issues with the scientific study of society. These include topics such as the following: the scientific status of the social sciences, and whether they might count as properly objective. What accounts for the diversity of methods in the social sciences (and lack of agreement as to which ones ought to be followed)? Do evolutionary explanations of social phenomena provide an accurate account of why societies are the way they are, or are such explanations merely unverifiable just-so stories? What relations exist among rationality, choice, action, and interpretation?
Student life
Our students typically form a tight social group. The Department facilitates this by hosting a number of social occasions through the year. Needless to say London has a wide range of opportunities for socialising on offer
Career development
Past programme graduates have gone on to a wide variety of careers, ranging from Law, studying in various PhD programmes in Philosophy, to working at Google. We have a very good record of students entering excellent PhD programmes.
Contact hours
A typical student on this programme can expect to have, for each examined course, 20 hours of lectures and 30 hours of seminars (with a guarantee that no seminar will have more than 15 students). In addition, there will be 30 hours of teaching on the dissertation research and writing seminar. Additional contact time concerning one-on-one dissertation and class teaching support is available during office hours and by appointment at the request of the student.
Courses
Students select three units from the following:
# All students must select at least one of these options.
You also must attend the compulsory dissertation seminar: Philosophical Research and Writing - Philosophy of Social Science|.
You will write a dissertation| of not more than 10,000 words, on a topic in the philosophy of the social sciences (within the 'analytic' tradition).