The aim of this master's degree course is to provide the student with specific training in the subject of Classical Studies and Classical Philosophy spanning that period of history between the beginnings of rational thought in Ancient Greece and the Age of Enlightenment. The course is designed to teach students to critically analyse the seminal texts that constitute the origins of our cultural heritage, and to enable them to pursue and complete different lines of study in this subject area. The course seeks to examine the origins and key elements of our modern culture, not only for their historical importance but also in order to understand how they underly contemporary cultural trends and can help us to analyse these.

First and foremost, the course provides students with the opportunity to acquire specialized knowledge and develop the methodological discipline to interpret classical texts and to work through the various difficulties this involves. At the same time, however, it also sets out to help students interrelate different study fields, work in teams, analyse and solve complex problems, hone their abilities to appraise other work and to be self-appraising, and to receive training in the analysis and construction of adequate arguments and procedures to test the validity of analyses, to recognise inadequate rhetoric, and to be able to identify the exponents of such writing features as received knowledge, assumption couched as fact, and the imprecise or superficial treatment of concepts and ideas.