Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy

at Carleton University Canada

Africa is the most culturally and geographically diverse continent on earth. The African Studies program offers you an opportunity to study the histories, cultures, languages, geographies, politics and economics of this fascinating continent. You will also learn about the aid, trade and investment, and migration flows that link Africa to the rest of the world in the era of globalization.

Students in the Combined Honours program can benefit from a work placement opportunity, a mentorship program and the chance to study in Africa through our African Studies Abroad course or by doing their third year at one of the African universities with which Carleton has exchange agreements.

The Environmental Science program brings together the study of biology, chemistry, earth sciences and geography to enable its graduates to address complex and multidisciplinary environmental and conservation problems. Through lecture and seminar courses, hands-on laboratory work and field camps, students become proficient in topics such as water resource management, fish and wildlife ecology, ecological restoration, sustainable resource extraction, environmental monitoring, and environmental policy. In the upper years, students take courses in chosen areas of study and hone their skills in preparing research and thesis projects, working in teams and individually on current problems facing environmental science.

Economics may be a specialized area of knowledge, but it is relevant to almost every aspect of our lives. At its core, it is the study of reasoned choice in the context of scarce resources and competing interests. The need to make such choices pervades the day-to-day lives of all of us—as individuals and in society as a whole.

In Carleton’s Bachelor of Economics (BEcon), you will study the operation of market-based economies, examining the causes of economic growth, inflation, unemployment and international trade.

Carleton’s innovative philosophy programs offer courses ranging over the history of philosophy, ethics and social/political philosophy, philosophy of mind and language, metaphysics and epistemology. Starting in first year, you will have the opportunity to take a seminar class (of 30 students) that challenges you to develop your skills in reading philosophical texts and making philosophical arguments. In second year, you will take two courses that are offered just for philosophy majors, ensuring that you have the skills you need to do your best. In fourth year, you will study in seminar classes where the professors share with you, at your level, the new knowledge that they are helping to create.

The Environmental Science program brings together the study of biology, chemistry, earth sciences and geography to enable its graduates to address complex and multidisciplinary environmental and conservation problems. Through lecture and seminar courses, hands-on laboratory work and field camps, students become proficient in topics such as water resource management, fish and wildlife ecology, ecological restoration, sustainable resource extraction, environmental monitoring, and environmental policy. In the upper years, students take courses in chosen areas of study and hone their skills in preparing research and thesis projects, working in teams and individually on current problems facing environmental science.

The BA Geography program at Carleton focuses on human and environmental geography, exploring and analyzing a wide range of topics such as local food systems, urban poverty, cultural landscapes, adaptation to climate change and natural resource management. Students in the BA Geography (Honours) program may take a concentration in Physical Geography or Urban Geography. Our professors have extensive expertise in social, political and cultural geography; resource management and environmental assessment; and the study of physical processes of the Earth’s vegetation, climate, water and soil systems. Field courses, workplace opportunities (1 day a week practicum; full term co-op), and training in tools like geographic information systems, remote sensing and cartography also provide an opportunity to gain practical experience while you study. A Bachelor of Science in Physical Geography is also available.

The Bachelor of Architectural Studies (Conservation & Sustainability) program offers a specialization unique among all undergraduate architecture programs in Canada. Since 2009, this stream has focused on the conservation of historic architecture, paired with a study in the principles of sustainable design.

A growing proportion of architectural work – particularly in sustainable design – involves renovations with sustainability upgrades, or the adaptive reuse of existing buildings. Following the Understanding, Planning, and Intervening method set out in the Guidelines for the Conservation of Historic Places, students in this program learn to study and assess existing architecture so that they can formulate creative and compatible design solutions for historic built fabrics. Conservation studio projects are founded on strong historical and social understanding, along with deep knowledge of conservation theories.

Benefiting from collaborative course delivery between the School of Architecture and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, students in the BAS Conservation and Sustainability program receive in-depth technical education on integrated building systems, architectural materials and assemblies, green building techniques, and hands-on practice with heritage documentation. Through the study of conservation theory, ethics, and best practices, students also learn to research and analyze existing architecture.

The study of history allows us to recognize and understand the complex issues that shaped the contemporary world. The History Department offers courses in African, American, Asian, Canadian, Caribbean, European, Latin American and South Asian history. Some courses trace the history of social, political and cultural change of a region or period. Others are thematic and may examine women’s history, the histories of science, sexuality, food and drink, or slavery. In the Public History concentration, Honours students explore how history appears in our everyday lives, not just in museums and monuments, but also in movies, reality television, video games, music and the stories families and communities pass from one generation to the next.

In first year, history students may choose a small seminar class or a larger lecture course with a tutorial group. Both formats foster debate and discussion. All history courses encourage student research which may draw on the rich array of libraries and archives in the national capital, including Carleton’s own valuable collections and resources.

This program requires an aggregate of 15.0 credits with 7.0 credits in the History and Theory of Architecture. It will engage those intrigued by a human sciences instruction with an accentuation on the historical backdrop of engineering. Similarly, as with the Honors program, the General BA program is intended to give understudies a broadness of information in the field. 

At Carleton, we study the extraordinary landmarks of Western culture-painting, model and structures-just as Asian and Islamic workmanship, North American Indigenous craftsmanship, photography, printmaking, and mainstream culture. We likewise look at the establishments of workmanship itself: historical centers, displays, and presentations. 

A Bachelor of Arts in History and Theory of Architecture, in addition, gets ready understudies with significant aptitudes, including: oral and composed explanation, the capacity to distinguish, basically survey, and investigate look into materials, the capacity to inventively issue comprehend, the adoration for learning, basic reasoning, mechanical abilities identified with visual and verbal correspondence, the capacity to work freely and in gatherings, just as an insight with visual correspondence and an information of world societies.

Nanoscience is concerned with the study of matter at a scale on the order of 10 to thousands of atoms. At Carleton, you will examine nanoscience through the disciplines of physical chemistry and electrical engineering to understand the physical, chemical and electronic characteristics of matter in this size regime. The combination of these two areas of study will equip you to fully understand nanoscience in photonic, electronic, energy and communication technologies.

The focus of the program will be on materials—their use in electronic devices, their scalability and the control of their properties. Further required courses in mathematics, physics and statistics will round out the program, and advanced courses in bionanoscience and nanoelectronics are available.