Academic content
Philosophy deals with questions that it is not possible to ask or answer within the context of daily life or scientific research, questions concerning things that are taken for granted in daily life and are simply assumed in scientific inquiry. Thus, as philosophy asks questions that go beyond our trusted action orientations and the empirically validated knowledge of science, it does not lead to knowledge in the usual sense of the word. It is interpretation of life and the world, or in other words: of the possibilities and premises of how we conduct our lives and experience the world. The objective of philosophy is to achieve the most possible clarity concerning our lives as human beings and a world that does not belong to us alone. The possibilities for philosophical analysis also differ from the findings of scientific research in that they cannot be made obsolete by subsequent findings in the sense of a gradual progression of knowledge. Whereas earlier scientific solution proposals are usually outdated, all grand philosophical conceptions that have achieved the status of classic remain valid. They may be modified to a certain extent in contemporary debates, and one must assume them as a premise to understand these debates. In addition, classical conceptions of philosophy provide us an opportunity to view the basic assumptions of our current understanding of life from a distance. Things come more clearly into focus when we see them in a new context that is not colored by our present situation. Only then do they become philosophical in nature. What a course of study in philosophy thus entails above all is inquiry into the great classical philosophies. The classical philosophers include Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Descartes, Leibniz, Hume, Kant, Fichte, Hegel, Schelling, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Husserl, Wittgenstein, und Heidegger. These authors provide us with the questions and the conceptual possibilities for philosophical thought. Their works are the best way to familiarize oneself with the peculiarities of philosophical ways of thinking. The curriculum takes this into account. The introductory phase includes a two-semester interpretation course on a classical text of philosophy. This interpretation course is a required course. At least two interpretation courses begin each semester. They are supported by two tutorials each, which are also obligatory. Another required course is an introduction to formal logic, which is designed to familiarize students with the possibilities of logical thinking and thus with the formal tool of the philosopher’s trade. This course is offered each winter semester. Philosophy encompasses a variety of questions which are subject to change depending on the current historical situation and on what other philosophies a philosopher draws on. Nevertheless, the various subdisciplines of philosophy have remained essentially the same since the time of Aristotle. A basic distinction is drawn between theoretical and practical philosophy, and the first of the two is traditionally considered to be more important. Theoretical philosophy is concerned with inquiry into the nature of being inasmuch as it is being (“ontology”), which leads to the question of the possibilities of knowledge and belief (“epistemology”). Practical philosophy includes ethics, which is concerned primarily with the question of the individual good life and proper behavior, and political philosophy, which deals with the various forms of political community under the aspect of justice. These basic questions have become differentiated in the course of the modern age. Questions on the nature of the beautiful in art and nature, for instance, have come to be viewed as forming a discreet subdiscipline called philosophical aesthetics under the influence of Kant. By the same token, ontological and epistemological inquiry on the topic of science has come to be known under the name philosophy of science. Areas like philosophy of language, philosophy of history, social philosophy, or action theory, on the other hand, should be viewed more as specializations within the context of the two main philosophical disciplines. In modern times philosophy has been increasingly obliged to justify its way of acquiring knowledge against the possibilities of scientific inquiry. This can happen when philosophical thinking takes a scientific approach, which is not seldom the case in analytical philosophy. The alternative is to emphasize the points in which philosophy has its own justification, which was done in the twentieth century particularly in phenomenological and hermeneutical philosophy. Freiburg is committed to this task on the basis of tradition alone. The goal of both research and instruction is to develop philosophical questions independently within the horizon provided by tradition. A course of study in the field provides a solid grounding in both the history and the methods of philosophy.
Subject combinations
An overview of all possible combination subjects for Philosophie/Ethik (Philosophy/Ethics):
- Biology
- Chemistry
- Chinese
- German
- English
- French
- Geography
- History
- Greek
- Computer Science
- Italian
- Latin
- Mathematics
- Physics
- Political Science
- Russian
- Spanish
- Physical Education
- Economic Science
It is possible to study music at the Freiburg University of Music. Make sure to inquire about the admission requirements Please inform yourself in advance about the admission modalities there. You can combine any teaching subject at the University of Freiburg with the artistic subject of music.
Please also note that it is not possible to be admitted as a student teacher with a combination of any of the following fields: Catholic theology, Protestant theology, Jewish theology, Islamic religious studies. It is not possible to combine one of these fields with philosophy/ethics either.
Statutes
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Zulassungs- und Immatrikulationsordnung (ZImmO)
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Auswahlsatzung polyvalenter Zwei-Hauptfächer-Bachelorstudiengang Philosophie/Ethik
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Studien- und Prüfungsordnung polyvalenter Zwei-Hauptfächer-Bachelorstudiengang: Rahmenordnung
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Studien- und Prüfungsordnung polyvalenter Zwei-Hauptfächer-Bachelorstudiengang: Anlage A
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Studien- und Prüfungsordnung polyvalenter Zwei-Hauptfächer-Bachelorstudiengang: Philosophie/Ethik
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Studien- und Prüfungsordnung polyvalenter Zwei-Hauptfächer-Bachelorstudiengang: Philosophie/Ethik
(Nur bei Studienbeginn vor dem 1. Oktober 2024; Abschluss des Studiums bis spätestens 30. September 2028)
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Studien- und Prüfungsordnung polyvalenter Zwei-Hauptfächer-Bachelorstudiengang: Anlage C
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Satzung über ergänzende Regelungen zum Zulassungs- und Prüfungsrecht
The versions of statutes with relevance to teaching and learning provided on this page by the Department of Legal Affairs (in particular admission and selection regulations as well as subject and examination regulations) are primarily for information purposes. This means that all amendments subsequently agreed upon by the University Senate have been integrated into the respective text of the original statutes; in the case of the examination regulations for bachelor's and master's degree programmes, this generally relates to extracts of the respective examination regulations (framework examination regulations, subject-specific provisions, and appendices).
The greatest care has been taken in writing these versions. Nevertheless, it cannot be entirely ruled out that errors may have occurred. Consequently, it is solely the officially announced statutes and statute amendments that are legally binding, i.e. as published in the Amtlichen Bekanntmachungen der Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg im Breisgau [de] or, up to the year 2000, in the official gazette of the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts.
Contact
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Additional Infos
Results of the last selection processes
The tables with the results of the last selection processes allow you to see the assigned grade/number of points in the selection process which would have sufficed and what the waiting period would have been to secure admission. The assigned grade/number of points is based by subject on the average grade or weighted grades achieved in the German higher education entrance qualification, on test results and/or outcome of the selection interview, and also on professional or practical experience in the respective subject.
The results of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd succession procedure can be found in the detailed results list
2025/2026: Selection score: alle zugelassen; Waiting period (in half-years): -
2024/2025: Selection score: 2.4; Waiting period (in half-years): 3
2023/2024: Selection score: 2.5; Waiting period (in half-years): 3
2022/2023: Selection score: 2.3; Waiting period (in half-years): 5
2021/2022: Selection score: 2.4; Waiting period (in half-years): 3
2020/2021: Selection score: 2.1; Waiting period (in half-years): 5
Lottery procedure
Applicants who are not nationals of EU member states or of signatory states to the Agreement on the European Economic Area or who are not equivalent to Germans pursuant to Section 1 (2) No. 2-3 HZVO (Baden-Württemberg University Admission Regulations) and/or do not hold a German higher education entrance qualification may not take part in the lottery procedure.
Lottery procedures are conducted in subjects with restricted admission where places are still available. Should places still be available after the final waiting list procedure, these are allocated in a lottery procedure. Application for participation in the lottery procedure must be made online and separately for each degree programme to which admission is sought. The application period for the winter semester is from 1 September to 30 September and for the summer semester from 1 March to 31 March. Applications received earlier or later than stipulated will not be considered.
The online application portal for the lottery procedure is only open during the application period.