Philosophy

In my view, this creates a learning environment in which you are constantly challenged to think about issues in various ways, thus giving you a diversified set of tools in order to philosophize about whatever interests you. The elective courses are designed in order to encourage group-discussion and to learn about and from other students’ points of view, while also provoking you to think for yourself in the sense that your opinion is worth sharing and discussing. I felt the opportunities and safety needed in order to come to my own vision and share it with classmates, while never feeling like I couldn’t ask for support when things became too hard to figure out by myself. This applies both with regard to students and teachers, who presented themselves in an open and egalitarian manner. On top of this, I enjoyed the positive atmosphere and low threshold for approaching both students and lecturers. You can always knock on a teacher's door when you are in need of clarification concerning a course or difficult passage, if you haven't already met them in the canteen, that is. Finally, I was particularly satisfied with the overall setup of the Master thesis course, which is quite liberal in its design. You can choose both your subject and research-method independently, with a great degree of creative licence when it comes to writing and presenting your thesis. If you’d like to write a thesis that is heavily embedded in the academic field, that is possible. But it is also fine to take an approach more geared towards a broad public. In short, the Master’s programme at the University of Groningen is both challenging and comforting, while also providing you with philosophical knowledge that suits your interests and curiosities.

The city functions as an exchange field of information, connections, friendship and ideas: because of its medium size and its high amount of students you will receive a lot of unexpected interesting stimulus, not necessarily in relation to your academic background, which may inspire you.Even though you can speak English thanks to the fact that almost every Dutch person knows it very well as a second language, it’s worthwhile to pay some attention to the Dutch language. It has beautiful words that you may fall in love with. ‘Wijsbegeerte’ (a traditional way of saying Philosophy in Dutch), which can be translated, just like Philosophy, as “desire for wisdom”.