Philosophy, politics and economics

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Template:Short description Template:About Template:See also Template:Use dmy dates Philosophy, politics and economics, or politics, philosophy and economics (PPE), is an interdisciplinary undergraduate or postgraduate degree which combines study from three disciplines. The first institution to offer degrees in PPE was the University of Oxford in the 1920s. This particular course has produced a significant number of notable graduates such as Aung San Suu Kyi, Burmese politician and former State Counsellor of Myanmar, Nobel Peace Prize winner; Princess Haya bint Hussein, daughter of the late King Hussein of Jordan; Christopher Hitchens, the British–American author and journalist;<ref name="ukwhoswho1">'Hitchens, Christopher Eric', Who's Who; 2012, A & C Black, 2012; online edn, Oxford University Press, December 2012; online edn, January 2012 accessed 5 December 2014</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Will Self, British author and journalist;<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Oscar-winning writer and director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck; Michael Dummett, Gareth Evans, Philippa Foot, Christopher Peacocke, Gilbert Ryle, and Peter Strawson, philosophers; Harold Wilson, Edward Heath, David Cameron, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom; Hugh Gaitskell, Michael Foot, William Hague and Ed Miliband, former Leaders of the Opposition; former Prime Ministers of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto and Imran Khan; and Malcolm Fraser, Bob Hawke and Tony Abbott, former Prime Ministers of Australia;<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="graun">Template:Cite news</ref> and Malala Yousafzai, Nobel Peace Prize winner.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref>

In the 1980s, the University of York went on to establish its own PPE degree based upon the Oxford model; King's College London, the University of Warwick, the University of Manchester, and other British universities later followed. According to the BBC, the Oxford PPE "dominate[s] public life" in the UK.<ref name="BBC">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It is now offered at several other leading colleges and universities around the world. More recently Warwick University and King's College added a new degree under the name of PPL (Politics, Philosophy and Law) with the aim to bring an alternative to the more classical PPE degrees.

In the United States, it is offered by over 50 colleges and universities, including three Ivy League schools and a large number of public universities, including The University of Akron.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Failed verification Harvard University began offering a similar degree in Social Studies in 1960, combining history, political science, economics, sociology, and anthropology.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2020, in addition to its undergraduate degree programs in PPE, Virginia Tech joined the Chapman University's Smith Institute as among the first research centers in the world dedicated to interdisciplinary research in PPE.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Several PPE programs exist in Canada, including the Frank McKenna School of Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Mount Allison University.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In Asia, Peking University, Tsinghua University, Waseda University, NUS, Tel-Aviv University and Ashoka University are among those that have PPE or similar programs.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In recent years, notably in civil law countries, Politics, Philosophy, Law and Economics (PPLE) has been on the rise as a broader version of PPE.

History

Philosophy, politics and economics was established as a degree course at the University of Oxford in the 1920s,<ref>[1] Template:Webarchive "Balliol was the birthplace of the modern degree of PPE in the 1920s. A. D. Lindsay, who subsequently became the master of the college, played a key role in the establishment of the degree and Balliol has long remained a major college for the study of PPE, and PPE has long been a major subject within Balliol."</ref> as a modern alternative to classics (known as "literae humaniores" or "greats" at Oxford) for those entering the civil service. It was thus initially known as "modern greats".<ref name="BBC"/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The first PPE students commenced their course in the autumn of 1921.<ref name=graun /> The regulation by which it was established is Statt. Tit. VI. Sect. 1 C; "the subject of the Honour School of Philosophy, Politics, and Economics shall be the study of the structure, and the philosophical and economic principles, of Modern Society."<ref>University of Oxford (1926) The Examination Statutes. together with the regulations of the boards of studies and boards of faculties for the academical year 1926–1927. Oxford: Clarendon Press; pp. 149=54</ref> Initially it was compulsory to study all three subjects for all three years of the course, but in 1970 this requirement was relaxed, and since then students have been able to drop one subject after the first year – most do this, but a minority continue with all three.<ref name=graun />

The philosopher Roy Bhaskar, who studied PPE at Oxford in the 1960s, subsequently described the course content at that time as follows:

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I suppose the basis of PPE was very much laid in the work of John Stuart Mill, who was an adept at all three. The ideal was to become, more or less, a modern equivalent to Mill. There was very little discussion of Hegel and Marx, who certainly weren't recognised as major thinkers. Most people who did well in philosophy wouldn't even have done any Kant. It was sufficient to do Descartes, Locke, Berkeley and Hume, that was it... for economics you had to do basic neo-classical and Keynesian economic theory and problems in the British economy since the war.<ref name=bhaskar>Template:Cite book</ref>{{#if:|

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During the 1960s some students started to critique the course from a left-wing perspective, culminating in the publication of a pamphlet, The Poverty of PPE, in 1968, written by Trevor Pateman, who argued that it "gives no training in scholarship, only refining to a high degree of perfection the ability to write short dilettantish essays on the basis of very little knowledge: ideal training for the social engineer". The pamphlet advocated incorporating the study of sociology, anthropology and art, and to take on the aim of "assist(ing) the radicalisation and mobilisation of political opinion outside the university". According to Andy Beckett, in response, some minor changes were made, with influential leftist writers such as Frantz Fanon and Régis Debray being added to politics reading lists, but the core of the programme remained the same.<ref name=graun /><ref name="Pateman">Template:Cite book</ref> However, Bhaskar, another leader of the movement to reform PPE, argued that within a couple of years of the publication of the critique, "...the structure of PPE had been transformed. You could now do sociology, you could do Hegel, you could do Marx, continental philosophy, and these were permanent effects at the Oxford undergraduate level".<ref name=bhaskar />

Christopher Stray has pointed to the course as one reason for the gradual decline of the study of classics, as classicists in political life began to be edged out by those who had studied the modern greats.<ref>Christopher Stray, Classics Transformed: Schools, Universities, and Society in England, 1830–1960. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998. Pp. xiv, 336. Template:ISBN.</ref>

Political theorists Dario Castiglione and Iain Hampsher-Monk have described the course as being fundamental to the development of political thought in the UK since it established a connection between politics and philosophy. Previously at Oxford, and for some time subsequently at Cambridge, politics had been taught only as a branch of modern history.<ref>Dario Castiglione and Iain Hampsher-Monk, The History of Political Thought in National Context. Cambridge University Press, 2001, Template:ISBN</ref>

Course material

The programme is rooted in the view that to understand social phenomena one must approach them from several complementary disciplinary directions and analytical frameworks. In this regard, the study of philosophy is considered important because it both equips students with meta-tools such as the ability to reason rigorously and logically, and facilitates ethical reflection. The study of politics is considered necessary because it acquaints students with the institutions that govern society and help solve collective action problems. Finally, studying economics is seen as vital in the modern world because political decisions often concern economic matters, and government decisions are often influenced by economic events. The vast majority of students at Oxford drop one of the three subjects for the second and third years of their course. Oxford now has more than 600 undergraduates studying the subject, admitting over 200 each year.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Academic opinions

Oxford PPE graduate Nick Cohen and former tutor Iain McLean consider the course's breadth important to its appeal, especially "because British society values generalists over specialists". Academic and Labour peer Maurice Glasman noted that "PPE combines the status of an elite university degree – PPE is the ultimate form of being good at school – with the stamp of a vocational course. It is perfect training for cabinet membership, and it gives you a view of life". However, he also noted that it had an orientation towards consensus politics and technocracy.<ref name=graun /> According to Bhaskar, the course "was designed to turn you into a top-class civil servant, able to turn your hand to any brief or service the empire in a variety of roles".<ref name=bhaskar />

Geoffrey Evans, an Oxford fellow in politics and a senior tutor, critiques that the Oxford course's success and consequent over-demand is a self-perpetuating feature of those in front of and behind the scenes in national administration, in stating "all in all, it's how the class system works". In the current economic system, he bemoans the unavoidable inequalities besetting admissions and thereby enviable recruitment prospects of successful graduates. The argument itself intended as a paternalistic ethical reflection on how governments and peoples can perpetuate social stratification.<ref name="BBC"/>

Stewart Wood, a former adviser to Ed Miliband who studied PPE at Oxford in the 1980s and taught politics there in the 1990s and 2000s, acknowledged that the programme has been slow to catch up with contemporary political developments, saying that "it does still feel like a course for people who are going to run the Raj in 1936... In the politics part of PPE, you can go three years without discussing a single contemporary public policy issue". He also stated that the structure of the course gave it a centrist bias, due to the range of material covered: "...most students think, mistakenly, that the only way to do it justice is to take a centre position".<ref name=graun />

List of offering universities

United Kingdom

England

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  • University of Hull<ref name="BA (Hons) Politics, Philosophy and Economics (PPE)">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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Scotland

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Wales

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Northern Ireland

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Canada

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  • Mount Allison University (within the Frank McKenna School of Philosophy, Politics, & Economics)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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United States

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|CitationClass=web }}</ref> (under the designation "Ethics, History, and Public Policy", abbreviated "EHPP")

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|CitationClass=web }}</ref> (under the modified major of "Politics, Philosophy, and the Economy")

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  • Texas Tech University (as a concentration of an Honor Sciences and the Humanities degree)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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|CitationClass=web }}</ref> (as a concentration of an Economics degree)<ref>"https://www.uab.edu/business/home/undergraduate/economics-major"</ref>

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> (under the designation "PPEL" – with law)

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|CitationClass=web }}</ref> (minor, under the designation "PPL" – replacing economics with law)

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|CitationClass=web }}</ref> (under the designation "Ethics & Public Policy")

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|CitationClass=web }}</ref> (under the designation "PPEL" – with law)<ref>"https://ppel.richmond.edu/"</ref>

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|CitationClass=web }}</ref> (under the designation "PPL" – replacing economics with law)

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> (under the designation "Law, Economics & Public Policy", abbreviated "LEPP")

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> Political Economy, Politics and Philosophy (certificate program)

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|CitationClass=web }}</ref> (under the designation "College of Social Studies")

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|CitationClass=web }}</ref> (under the designation "political and economic philosophy")

  • Xavier University (under the designation "Philosophy, Politics, and the Public", abbreviated "PPP")<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • Yale University (under the designation "ethics, politics and economics", abbreviated "EP&E")<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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South Africa

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Nigeria

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Australia

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New Zealand

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Iceland

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Sweden

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Italy

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  • University of Milan, Italy (BA International Politics, Law, and Economics, MA Politics, Philosophy, and Public Affairs )<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • University of Bari, Italy (University Master Programme, 'Philosophy, Politics and Economics in Med')<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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Spain

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|CitationClass=web }}</ref> Autonomous University of Madrid, Autonomous University of Barcelona and Pompeu Fabra University<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> (alliance of four universities), Spain

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Portugal

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  • ISCTE – University Institute of Lisbon (Politics, Economy and Society)
  • Catholic University of Lisbon – Human Sciences university<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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Turkey

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  • Ankara University, Turkey(Politics and Economics, still abbreviated as PPE)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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Austria

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Belgium

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  • UCLouvain, Belgium<ref name="UCL">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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France

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Germany

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  • Witten/Herdecke University (bachelor and master, since 2010 as first university offering PPE in Germany), Germany<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • Karlshochschule International University, Germany, offers both a BA in Politics, Philosophy & Economics "PPE" as well as a MA in "Social Transformation: PPE".
  • Bard College Berlin, Germany (under the designation of BA "Economics, Politics and Social Thought" abbreviated "EPST")<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • University of Hamburg, Germany (under the designation of M.Sc. "politics, economics and philosophy" abbreviated "PEP")<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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Ireland

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Netherlands

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  • University of Amsterdam, Netherlands under the designation: PPLE, Politics, Psychology, Law and Economics<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • VU Amsterdam, Netherlands, Bachelor's Philosophy, Politics and Economics<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • Erasmus University College, Netherlands, under the designation, Bachelor of Liberal Arts and Science – Major in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) – and a Research Master in Philosophy and Economics.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • University of Groningen, Netherlands, Master's Philosophy, Politics and Economics <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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Switzerland

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  • University of Zurich, Switzerland (under the designation of MA "economic and political philosophy")<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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Czech Republic

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Hungary

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Romania

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Russia

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Ukraine

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China

Mainland China

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Hong Kong

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South Korea

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Japan

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Singapore

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Thailand

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India

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Pakistan

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Bangladesh

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Armenia

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Israel

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Argentina

Venezuela

Ecuador

  • Universidad de las Americas (under the designation "Filosofia, Politica, y Economia"), Ecuador

Chile

Peru

See also

References

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Further reading

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