Religion and Philosophy

We aim to provide an understanding of philosophy and of the beliefs and practices of major world religions in relation to individual and collective moral behaviour, attitudes and lifestyle.

The aim of the department is to help boys understand the world in which they live by learning to think philosophically, understand religion’s influence in the past and present, and discover some of the different ways religion and philosophy can be studied. To this end we study both religion and philosophy in each year group.

In Year 7 boys are introduced to the nature of philosophical thinking and arguing, before going on to study Judaism and Christianity. In Year 8, boys study Islam and Hinduism and take Philosophy enrichment for half a year. Year 9 is focused on enduring philosophical questions, such as ‘How should we live?’, ‘What can we know for certain?’, ‘How should we be governed?’ and ‘Should we believe in God?’ The content of the IGCSE and A-level courses involves the study of religion and is heavily philosophical.

There are philosophy societies for each section of the school in which boys present and debate their ideas and interests. Berkeley Society, the senior Philosophy society, has many academics present papers. Boys from Year 11 upwards have the opportunity to write for and/or edit the Philosophy magazine Ad Absurdum, as well as join the R&P reading group. Trips include the places of worship trip in Year 7, the Year 9 Philosophy masterclass, the Ethics cup trip to Manchester University (and often St Andrews) for Years 10 to 12, and trips to Vienna, Rome and Krakow. Enrichment courses include ‘Ethics and Popular Culture’, ‘Logic Puzzles’, ‘Philosophy and Literature’ and ‘Sociology, anthropology and neuroscience of religion.’