Is there a big difference between Philosophy and RE?

I am stuck on which one to pick...
Which is better regarded by uni's like UCL.
I am going to pick
Biology
Psychology
History
Philosophy/RE

What kind of people would bebetter at Philosophy - the sciencey types or those who like english ?
thanks.

Reply 1

jeh_jeh

2

With regards to the question in the thread title - yep, there's a big difference.

I did Edexcel Religious Studies at GCSE, and then Edexcel's Philosophy&Ethics 'A'-Level course. I went to a Roman Catholic school, so the RS syllabus at GCSE was Catholic-centric, alongside Christianity in general - so we learnt about the religion's beliefs, and how these are applied to ethical dilemmas (abortion and euthanasia) and how it affects their perception of marriage and the family, and their attitude towards charities (CAFOD, etc), for example. We also learnt about Holy Orders within the Church, and notable people of the faith.

Philosophy&Ethics, on the other hand, wasn't religion-based. The philosophy side concentrated on arguments for the existence of God, while the Ethics part focused on ethical theories and their strengths and weaknesses.

I suppose you have to think about whether you're more interested in the study of religion (so, Religious Studies - although there is probably still a small amount of philosophy in that) or philosophies and ethical decision-making (so more analytical-type stuff). I'd say that Philosophy's probably more on the artsy side (so for English lovers) because there is A LOT of essay-writing, ~~and a lot of science kids can't write an essay to save their lives~~ and there's a bit of pyschology (at least there was in my course content) in Philosophy&Ethics so that'd tie in with one of your other options.

How UCL would look upon it depends what you're going to study, I suppose. Although in the grand scheme of things, they're not really gonna be too fussed between the two (unless you're studying Theology, or something, possibly) and if you're studying something unrelated, then it shows a breadth of interest, which would probably be pretty appealing to them.

Reply 2

DMV

It depends, out philosophy course was listed under RE on OCR's website, there is a shift at A-level from studying the actual religion (traditions and beliefs and stuff) to studyng scripture and arguments for/against god.

Reply 3

jeh_jeh

2

DMV

It depends, out philosophy course was listed under RE on OCR's website, there is a shift at A-level from studying the actual religion (traditions and beliefs and stuff) to studyng scripture and arguments for/against god.

Not always true. The Philosophy&Ethics sourses move away from religions' beliefs and traditions, but there are still GCSE-style (in content) Religious Studies 'A'-Levels. I think Philosophy is just seen as more academic by teachers, I don't know.

Reply 4

DMV

jeh_jeh

Not always true. The Philosophy&Ethics sourses move away from religions' beliefs and traditions, but there are still GCSE-style (in content) Religious Studies 'A'-Levels. I think Philosophy is just seen as more academic by teachers, I don't know.

Even in Philosophy and Ethics you still get Body/soul Questions which are a godsentbecause they're quite GCSEih in content.

Reply 5

jeh_jeh

2

DMV

Even in Philosophy and Ethics you still get Body/soul Questions which are a godsentbecause they're quite GCSEih in content.

I don't know, 'cause I went to a Catholic school, so our GCSE RS was very Catholic orientated, thus we didn't really get the usual body/soul questions (I think they came up at 'A'-Level briefly in relation to buddhism, which we didn't touch upon at all at GCSE), but I suppose for the rest of the world, yeah, you have an advantage. :p:

Reply 6

ArtGoblin

16

It depends which Religious Studies course you do. Some are Philosophy and Ethics, which would probably be similar to philosophy. I did Eastern Religions and Ethics, which would be a bit different. Even doing that course, we did Buddhist philosophy, so I don't think it would make much difference. It really depends on whether you want to do the Ethics part of the course.

Reply 7

Afrotortina

2

I was going to do Religious Studies at university, but it seemed to generally study and compare different religions.

I went for Philosophy (which mean love of wisdom,) that questions different issues, like freedom (my minds gone blank- I only did the A-Level last year!!)
And then there's Theology, studying Bible and God etc.

Reply 8

surrealdelirium

From my experience, RE and Philosophy are two very different things. But I don't know about education-wise.
Depends on whether the syllabus includes Sartre, Camus, Nietzsche, etc. If it does, that's the philosophy I've heard of. RE is the bible, the qur'an, etc. That's what the difference is, at a glance.
They are similar though - just arguing about different things.

Is there a big difference between Philosophy and RE?

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