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Our challenging Physics & Philosophy BSc will enable you to investigate the fascinating connections between these two subjects. You will study the fundamental aspects of physics, including relativity, quantum mechanics, fields and waves, electromagnetism and nuclear physics. At the same time, studying philosophy will help you to develop your understanding of reality and our knowledge of it, as well as develop skills in reasoning and argument.

You also have the opportunity to transfer to the Study Abroad pathway and spend your third year at a partner institution before returning to King’s for the final year. This depends on you reaching a certain grade average and being accepted by a partner university.

Key benefits

• Award winning: seven former staff and students in the Physics department have won Nobel Prizes.
• Top 10 in the UK for Physics (QS World Rankings by subject 2022)
• 4th in the UK for Philosophy (QS World Rankings by subject 2022).
• Internationally-renowned academic staff in the fields of cosmology, nanotechnology, and the interface between physics and biology.
• Exceptionally wide range of optional Philosophy modules, covering all areas of the history of philosophy and contemporary philosophy, without any gaps from pre-Socrates to the present day.
• One of the largest and most distinguished philosophy departments in the country.
• Friendly and supportive learning environment.

Our joint honours Physics & Philosophy BSc offers you the opportunity to study both subjects at degree level. The course is split equally between physics and philosophy modules, but you can specialise in one discipline in your final year if you choose.

Ours is one of the few physics and philosophy joint honours courses that follows an integrated approach to the two subjects, with modules in the philosophy of physics and philosophy of science offering you a deeper understanding and alternative perspective on some of the conceptual puzzles that you will encounter in your physics courses.

The physics section of the course covers core theoretical aspects of physics and includes areas such as relativity, quantum mechanics, fields and waves, electromagnetism and nuclear physics. This will give you important numerical and analytical skills, as well as prepare you for further study in theoretical physics.

In the philosophy section of the course, you will learn to tackle difficult questions about the world, our knowledge of it, and our values. This will give you highly transferable and valuable skills in reasoning and argument. We have designed our first-year philosophy modules to give you a good grounding in a range of important philosophical topics.

In your second and particularly third year, you are free to choose from the exceptionally broad range of philosophical topics that we offer. At the same time, modules in the Philosophy of Spacetime Physics, the Philosophy of Quantum Mechanics and the Philosophy of Science offer you the opportunity to apply your reasoning skills to physics and to explore some of the fascinating problems encountered in interpreting modern physics.