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Bachelor of Science (Honours) Biology and Philosophy


BSc (Hons) Biology and Philosophy (Biology Element): First year
Code Module name Credits
BL1101 Biology 1 20 AND
BL1102 Biology 2 20 AND
Remaining credits from Level 1000 options

Further requirements

Choose 120 credits in the academic year
BSc (Hons) Philosophy (Joint Honours): First year
Code Module name Credits
PY1012 Reasoning 20 AND
View list Between 0 and 60 credits from Module List: PY1000 - PY1999 AND
PY1010 Mind and World 20
PY1011 Moral and Political Controversies 20
PY1012 Reasoning 20
PY1013 The Enlightenment 20
Note:
- Not all modules are available in every academic year and/or semester
- Individual modules may have requisites to satisfy to be eligible to select them

For further details, see the module catalogue entry for each individual module above
Remaining credits from Level 1000 options

Further requirements

Choose 120 credits in the academic year

First and Second Year Philosophy (BSc Joint Honours) Programme Requirements:

20 credits: PY1012;
20 credits: PY2010 and/or PY2012;
20 further credits: 1000- or 2000-Level PY modules;

Please balance your choices across the academic year.

BSc (Hons) Biology and Philosophy (Biology Element): Second year
Code Module name Credits
^ View list 60 credits from Module List: BL2300 - BL2399
BL2300 Research Methods in Biology 15
BL2301 Cell Biology 15
BL2302 Molecular Biology 15
BL2303 Evolutionary Biology 15
BL2304 Invertebrate Zoology 15
BL2305 Cell Systems 15
BL2306 Biochemistry 15
BL2307 Ecology 15
BL2308 Vertebrate Zoology 15
BL2309 Applied Molecular Biology 15
BL2311 The Oceans 15
BL2312 Animal Behaviour 15
Note:
- Not all modules are available in every academic year and/or semester
- Individual modules may have requisites to satisfy to be eligible to select them

For further details, see the module catalogue entry for each individual module above

Further requirements

Choose 120 credits in the academic year
Choose a minimum of 80 Level 2000 credits

Automatic entry to Honours requires

  • passes in modules marked ^
BSc (Hons) Philosophy (Joint Honours): Second year
Code Module name Credits
* View list Between 20 and 40 credits from Module List: PY2010, PY2012 AND
PY2010 Intermediate Logic 20
PY2012 Meaning and Knowing 20
Note:
- Not all modules are available in every academic year and/or semester
- Individual modules may have requisites to satisfy to be eligible to select them

For further details, see the module catalogue entry for each individual module above
View list Between 0 and 40 credits from Module List: PY1000 - PY1999, PY2000 - PY2999 (excluding Distance Learning and Evening Language Modules) AND
PY1010 Mind and World 20
PY1011 Moral and Political Controversies 20
PY1012 Reasoning 20
PY1013 The Enlightenment 20
PY2010 Intermediate Logic 20
PY2011 Foundations of Western Philosophy 20
PY2012 Meaning and Knowing 20
PY2013 Moral and Aesthetic Value 20
Note:
- Not all modules are available in every academic year and/or semester
- Individual modules may have requisites to satisfy to be eligible to select them

For further details, see the module catalogue entry for each individual module above
Remaining credits from Levels 1000 and 2000 options

Further requirements

Choose 120 credits in the academic year
Choose a minimum of 80 Level 2000 credits

First and Second Year Philosophy (BSc Joint Honours) Programme Requirements:

20 credits: PY1012;
20 credits: PY2010 and/or PY2012;
20 further credits: 1000- or 2000-Level PY modules;

Please balance your choices across the academic year.

Automatic entry to Honours requires

  • pass at grade 7 or better in at least 1 of the modules marked *

Entry to Honours

Students who meet the requirements specified above, and who meet all other programme requirements, will be given automatic entry into Honours programmes.

See: www.st-andrews.ac.uk/students/academic/academic-advising/glossary/honours-entry/ )

BSc Honours

The general requirements are 480 credits over a period of normally four years (and not more than five years) or part-time equivalent, of which the final two years form an approved Honours programme of 240 credits, of which 90 credits are at 4000 level and at least a further 120 credits at 3000 and/or 4000 levels.

BSc (Hons) Biology and Philosophy (Biology Element): Third year
Code Module name Credits
BL3320 Statistical and Quantitative Skills for Biologists 10 AND
( BL3000 Field Course 10 OR
BL3322 Basic Biochemistry Laboratory 10 ) AND
View list 40 credits from Module List: BL3301 - BL3319, BL3324-BL3325, PN3312 - PN3313
BL3301 Protein Structure and Function 20
BL3302 Gene Regulation 20
BL3303 Membranes and Cell Communication 20
BL3307 Evolution 20
BL3308 Methods in Aquatic Biology 20
BL3309 Ecosystems and Conservation 20
BL3311 Infection and Disease 20
BL3315 Genes, Cells and Development 20
BL3316 Co-evolution: living together 20
BL3318 Biology of Marine Organisms 20
BL3319 Animal Behaviour: A Quantitative Approach 20
BL3324 Advanced Biochemistry 20
BL3325 Quantitative ecology 20
PN3312 Neuropharmacology 20
PN3313 Advanced Principles of Neuroscience 20
Note:
- Not all modules are available in every academic year and/or semester
- Individual modules may have requisites to satisfy to be eligible to select them

For further details, see the module catalogue entry for each individual module above

Further requirements

Choose between 120 to 160 credits in academic year
BSc (Hons) Philosophy (Joint Honours): Third year
Code Module name Credits
PY3100 Reading Philosophy 1: Texts in Language, Logic, Mind, Epistemology, Metaphysics and Science 30 AND
View list At least 30 credits from Module List: PY3200, PY4000 - PY4689, CL4500 - CL4520, ID4801, ID4859
PY3200 Reading Philosophy 2: Texts in Ethics, Metaethics, Religion, Aesthetics and Political Philosophy 30
PY4323 The Philosophy of Zhuangzi 30
PY4325 Class, Status, and Aesthetics 30
PY4601 Paradoxes 30
PY4604 Political Philosophy 30
PY4606 Contemporary Epistemology 30
PY4607 Continental European Philosophy from Descartes to Leibniz 30
PY4608 Political Philosophy in the Age of Revolutions 30
PY4609 Philosophical Methodology 30
PY4610 Philosophy of Perception 30
PY4611 Classical Philosophy 30
PY4612 Advanced Logic 30
PY4614 Philosophy of Mind 30
PY4615 Metaphysics 30
PY4616 Freedom and Action 30
PY4617 The Philosophy of Saul Kripke 30
PY4618 Animals, Minds and Language 30
PY4620 Virtue and Vice 30
PY4622 Kant's Critical Philosophy 30
PY4624 Philosophy of Art 30
PY4625 Philosophy and Public Affairs: Global Justice 30
PY4626 Life and Death 30
PY4632 Contemporary Philosophy of Language 30
PY4634 Philosophy of Logic 30
PY4635 Contemporary Moral Theory 30
PY4638 Philosophy of Religion 30
PY4639 Philosophy of Creativity 30
PY4640 Medieval Philosophy 30
PY4643 Philosophy of Law 30
PY4644 Rousseau on Human Nature, Society, and Freedom 30
PY4645 Philosophy, Literature, and Fiction 30
PY4646 Reasons for Action and Belief 30
PY4647 Humans, Animals, and Nature 30
PY4648 Conceptual Engineering and its Role in Philosophy 30
PY4649 Core Works in Continental Philosophy 30
PY4650 Philosophy, Feminism and Gender 30
PY4651 Effective Altruism 30
PY4652 The Philosophy of Human Rights 30
PY4653 Toleration in the Early Modern Period 30
PY4654 Responsibility, Praise, and Blame 30
PY4655 Advanced Metaethics 30
PY4656 The Philosophy of Love and Sex 30
PY4657 Philosophy of Economics 30
PY4658 Timely Topics in Political Philosophy 30
PY4659 Why Does The World Exist? 30
PY4660 Work, Entitlement, and Welfare 30
PY4661 The Philosophy of the Climate Crisis 30
PY4662 Critical Theory 30
PY4663 Artificial Intelligence and Philosophy 30
PY4664 Ethics of Conversation 30
PY4665 First Contact 30
PY4666 Bioethics 30
PY4667 Philosophy of Music 30
PY4668 Key texts in nineteenth-century Philosophy 30
PY4669 Modal Logic and Metaphysics 30
PY4670 Ethics and the allocation of health resources 30
PY4671 Dreaming and Waking 30
PY4672 Collective Agency and Responsibility: Corporations, Governments, Humanity 30
PY4673 The Metaphysics of Natural and Social Kinds 30
PY4674 Refugees and the Ethics and Politics of Migration and Displacement 30
PY4675 Philosophy of Probability 30
PY4676 Islamic Philosophy 30
CL4500 Pleasure, Goodness and Happiness: Hellenistic Ethics 30
CL4503 Plato on Love, Virtue and the Symposium 30
CL4504 Justice, politics and the good life: Plato's Republic and its critics in the ancient world 30
Note:
- Not all modules are available in every academic year and/or semester
- Individual modules may have requisites to satisfy to be eligible to select them

For further details, see the module catalogue entry for each individual module above

Further requirements

Choose between 120 to 160 credits in academic year

Third and Fourth Year Philosophy (BSc Joint Honours) Programme Requirements:

30 credits: PY3100
60 - 90* credits - PY3200, PY4000 - PY4689, (PY4698 or PY4699 or PY4794 or PY4796 - in Fourth Year only), CL4500 - CL4520), ID4801, ID4859, (PY4701 with ID4002 - in Fourth Year only)

*Across the two Honours years up to 30 PY Honours credits may be substituted for credits from another subject area and/or level (dip-across or dip-down), provided that permission is obtained from the relevant Head of School.

A minimum of 90 PY credits must be achieved across the two Honours years.

In total over both subjects, 210 credits must be achieved at 3000 and 4000 level, including at least 90 credits at 4000-level.

BSc (Hons) Biology and Philosophy (Biology Element): Fourth year
Code Module name Credits
View list Between 60 and 90 credits from Module List: BL4200, BL4201, BL4210-BL4301, BL4797, BL5042, BL5124, ID4001, PN4107, PN4112, PN4230 - PN4235
BL4200 Literature-based Research Project 30
BL4201 Experimental Research Project 60
BL4210 Practical Skills for Molecular Biology and Biochemistry 15
BL4211 Antimicrobials - Mode of Action and Resistance 15
BL4212 How Enzymes Work 15
BL4213 Molecular Virology 15
BL4214 The Science of Race and Racism 15
BL4215 Bacterial Virulence Factors 15
BL4216 Structure-based Drug Discovery 15
BL4220 Molecular Mechanisms of Degenerative Diseases 15
BL4221 Forensic Biology 15
BL4222 Metabolic and Clinical Biochemistry 15
BL4223 Molecular and cell biology of eukaryotic DNA replication 15
BL4224 Molecular Mechanisms of Membrane Trafficking 15
BL4225 Advanced Microscopy and Image Analysis - Seeing is Believing 15
BL4226 Chromatin and Genome Stability 15
BL4249 Scientific Diving 15
BL4251 Tropical Marine Biology 15
BL4252 Measuring coastal ecosystem function 15
BL4254 Fisheries Research 15
BL4255 Marine and Environmental Biotechnology 15
BL4256 Marine Bioacoustics 15
BL4258 Foraging in Marine Mammals 15
BL4259 Marine Mammals and Humans 15
BL4260 Biological Oceanography 15
BL4262 Environmental Drivers of Marine Habitats 15
BL4263 The Question of Culture in Animals 15
BL4266 Conservation Research Methods 15
BL4268 Science Communication of Biodiversity and Conservation 15
BL4270 Plant-environment Interactions 15
BL4271 Natural History, Museums and the Public 15
BL4272 Rewilding and Restoration Ecology 15
BL4273 Computational Genomics 15
BL4274 Evolutionary Developmental Biology 15
BL4278 Biology of Dinosaurs and Other Extinct Vertebrates 15
BL4279 The CRISPR system for Antiviral Defence and Genome Engineering 15
BL4281 Animal Communication and Cognition 15
BL4282 Biology and Behaviour of Social Insects 15
BL4285 Complex Systems in Animal Behaviour 15
BL4286 Advanced Topics in Evolution 15
BL4288 Major Review Paper in Evolutionary Biology 15
BL4797 Joint Honours Project 60
BL5042 Advanced Animal Cognition 15
BL5124 Predator Ecology in Polar Ecosystems - Antarctica 15
ID4001 Communication and Teaching in Science 15
PN4107 Evolution of Human Behaviour and Culture 15
PN4112 Forging Sustainable Research 15
PN4230 Maladaptive Changes in the Nervous System 15
PN4231 Neuromodulation 15
PN4232 Neuroethology 15
PN4234 Synaptic Transmission in Health and Disease 15
PN4235 Motoneurons: From Physiology to Pathology 15
BL4294 Biomolecular Sciences Public Engagement 15
BL4295 Applications of Mass Spectrometry 15
BL4296 Biology and Ecology of Antarctic Krill 15
BL4297 Current Topics in Antibiotic Research 15
Note:
- Not all modules are available in every academic year and/or semester
- Individual modules may have requisites to satisfy to be eligible to select them

For further details, see the module catalogue entry for each individual module above

Further requirements

Choose 120 credits in academic year

At least one of BL4200, BL4201, Honours Project/Dissertation from the Joint School, or other approved Joint Honours Project must be taken. Students may not take BL4201 alongside another Honours Project/Dissertation module worth more than 15 credits; students may not take BL4797 alongside another Honours Project/Dissertation module. If BL4797 is taken, 90 total credits are required from the Module List.
BSc (Hons) Philosophy (Joint Honours): Fourth year
Code Module name Credits
View list Credits from Module List: PY3100, PY3200, PY4000-PY4689, CL4500-CL4520, ID4801,ID4859,PY4698- PY4699, PY4794, (PY4701 and ID4002)
PY3200 Reading Philosophy 2: Texts in Ethics, Metaethics, Religion, Aesthetics and Political Philosophy 30
PY4323 The Philosophy of Zhuangzi 30
PY4325 Class, Status, and Aesthetics 30
PY4601 Paradoxes 30
PY4604 Political Philosophy 30
PY4606 Contemporary Epistemology 30
PY4607 Continental European Philosophy from Descartes to Leibniz 30
PY4608 Political Philosophy in the Age of Revolutions 30
PY4609 Philosophical Methodology 30
PY4610 Philosophy of Perception 30
PY4611 Classical Philosophy 30
PY4612 Advanced Logic 30
PY4614 Philosophy of Mind 30
PY4615 Metaphysics 30
PY4616 Freedom and Action 30
PY4617 The Philosophy of Saul Kripke 30
PY4618 Animals, Minds and Language 30
PY4620 Virtue and Vice 30
PY4622 Kant's Critical Philosophy 30
PY4624 Philosophy of Art 30
PY4625 Philosophy and Public Affairs: Global Justice 30
PY4626 Life and Death 30
PY4632 Contemporary Philosophy of Language 30
PY4634 Philosophy of Logic 30
PY4635 Contemporary Moral Theory 30
PY4638 Philosophy of Religion 30
PY4639 Philosophy of Creativity 30
PY4640 Medieval Philosophy 30
PY4643 Philosophy of Law 30
PY4644 Rousseau on Human Nature, Society, and Freedom 30
PY4645 Philosophy, Literature, and Fiction 30
PY4646 Reasons for Action and Belief 30
PY4647 Humans, Animals, and Nature 30
PY4648 Conceptual Engineering and its Role in Philosophy 30
PY4649 Core Works in Continental Philosophy 30
PY4650 Philosophy, Feminism and Gender 30
PY4651 Effective Altruism 30
PY4652 The Philosophy of Human Rights 30
PY4653 Toleration in the Early Modern Period 30
PY4654 Responsibility, Praise, and Blame 30
PY4655 Advanced Metaethics 30
PY4656 The Philosophy of Love and Sex 30
PY4657 Philosophy of Economics 30
PY4658 Timely Topics in Political Philosophy 30
PY4659 Why Does The World Exist? 30
PY4660 Work, Entitlement, and Welfare 30
PY4661 The Philosophy of the Climate Crisis 30
PY4662 Critical Theory 30
PY4663 Artificial Intelligence and Philosophy 30
PY4664 Ethics of Conversation 30
PY4665 First Contact 30
PY4666 Bioethics 30
PY4667 Philosophy of Music 30
PY4668 Key texts in nineteenth-century Philosophy 30
PY4669 Modal Logic and Metaphysics 30
PY4670 Ethics and the allocation of health resources 30
PY4671 Dreaming and Waking 30
PY4672 Collective Agency and Responsibility: Corporations, Governments, Humanity 30
PY4673 The Metaphysics of Natural and Social Kinds 30
PY4674 Refugees and the Ethics and Politics of Migration and Displacement 30
PY4675 Philosophy of Probability 30
PY4676 Islamic Philosophy 30
PY4698 Dissertation (Whole Year) 30
PY4699 Dissertation in Philosophy 30
PY4794 Joint Dissertation (30cr) 30
CL4500 Pleasure, Goodness and Happiness: Hellenistic Ethics 30
CL4503 Plato on Love, Virtue and the Symposium 30
CL4504 Justice, politics and the good life: Plato's Republic and its critics in the ancient world 30
PY4701 Philosophy and Pedagogy 15
ID4002 Communication and Teaching in Arts and Humanities 15
PY3100 Reading Philosophy 1: Texts in Language, Logic, Mind, Epistemology, Metaphysics and Science 30
Note:
- Not all modules are available in every academic year and/or semester
- Individual modules may have requisites to satisfy to be eligible to select them

For further details, see the module catalogue entry for each individual module above

Further requirements

Choose 120 credits in academic year

Third and Fourth Year Philosophy (BSc Joint Honours) Programme Requirements:

30 credits: PY3100
60 - 90* credits - PY3200, PY4000 - PY4689, (PY4698 or PY4699 or PY4794 or PY4796 - in Fourth Year only), CL4500 - CL4520), ID4801, ID4859, (PY4701 with ID4002 - in Fourth Year only)

*Across the two Honours years up to 30 PY Honours credits may be substituted for credits from another subject area and/or level (dip-across or dip-down), provided that permission is obtained from the relevant Head of School.

A minimum of 90 PY credits must be achieved across the two Honours years.

In total over both subjects, 210 credits must be achieved at 3000 and 4000 level, including at least 90 credits at 4000-level.

Other information

With the permission of the Director of Teaching up to 20 credits per programme may be taken in a module outwith the specified modules in all School of Biology Programmes. Where there are choices between modules in the programmes, some options may have pre-requisites therefore the 1000- and 2000-level modules taken may limit choices. The availability of 4000-level modules in the School of Biology will be dependent on sufficient student demand.

Study abroad

In the case of students who spend part of the Honours programme on a recognised Study Abroad scheme, the Programme Requirements will be amended to take into account overseas courses which are approved by the relevant St Andrews School in the Learning Agreement (see www.st-andrews.ac.uk/students/study-abroad/academic ).