Philosophy, Politics And Economics - Economics Major

Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) is an interdisciplinary undergraduate/post-graduate 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 Bill Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States (who left before completing his degree); Christopher Hitchens, the Britishâ€"American author, polemicist, debater, and journalist; David Cameron, the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom; Ed Miliband, the former Leader of the Opposition ; William Hague, the former Leader of the Opposition and former Foreign Secretary; and Tony Abbott, the former Prime Minister of Australia.

In the 1980s, the University of York went on to establish its own PPE degree based upon the Oxford model; 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). It is now offered at several other leading colleges and universities around the world.

History

Philosophy, Politics and Economics was established as a degree course at the University of Oxford in the 1920s, as a modern alternative to classics (known as "literae humaniores" or "greats" at Oxford) because it was thought as a more modern alternative for those entering the civil service. It was thus initially known as "modern greats". 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."

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.

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.

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.

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".

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.

List of offering universities

United Kingdom

• University of Nottingham
• University of Birmingham
• University of the Highlands and Islands
• University of Southampton

Ireland

• National University of Ireland, Maynooth
• University of Dublin (under the designation PPES with sociology)

Canada

• Mount Allison University
• University of British Columbia Okanagan
• University of Regina
• University of Western Ontario
• Wilfrid Laurier University

United States

• Taylor University
• University of Virginia (under the designation "PPL" - replacing economics with law)
• University of Washington Tacoma
• Virginia Tech
• Wesleyan University
• Western Washington University
• Wheeling Jesuit University (under the designation "political and economic philosophy")
• Xavier University (under the designation "Philosophy, Politics, and the Public", abbreviated "PPP")
• Yale University (under the designation "ethics, politics and economics", abbreviated "EP&E")

South Africa, Nigeria, Australia and New Zealand

• Australian National University
• La Trobe University
• University of Wollongong
• Stellenbosch University
• Obafemi Awolowo University
• University of Cape Town
• University of KwaZulu-Natal
• University of South Africa
• University of Johannesburg
• University of Otago
• University of Witwatersrand
• Afe Babalola University
• University of Pretoria
• University of Queensland

Continental Europe

• Karlshochschule International University (bachelor), Germany
• CEVRO Institute, Prague, Czech Republic

Middle East and Asia

• Birla Institute of Technology and Science, India
• Tel Aviv University (under the designation "PPEL" - with law), Israel
• Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
• Peking University
• Renmin University of China
• Hanyang University (under the designation "PPEL" - with law), South Korea
• Rangsit University, Thailand
• Thammasat University, Thailand
• Waseda University
• Yale-NUS, Singapore
• Amity University, India
• Asian University for Women, Bangladesh
• Ashoka University, India

South America

• Universidad Torcuato Di Tella (under the designation "Ciencia Sociales, Orientación en Política y Economía"), Argentina