Philosophy, Politics, and Economics

Daniel Layman (Associate Professor of Philosophy)-PPE Primary Advisor
Britta Crandall (Visiting Assistant Professor of Latin American Studies)-PPE Advisor
Shyam Gouri Suresh (Associate Professor of Economics)-PPE Advisor
Meghan Griffith (Professor of Philosophy)-PPE Advisor
Vikram Kumar (Professor of Economics)-PPE Advisor
Sean McKeever (Professor of Philosophy)-PPE Advisor
Ken Menkhaus (Professor of Political Science)-PPE Advisor
Susan Roberts (Professor of Political Science)-PPE Advisor
Clark Ross (Professor of Economics)-PPE Advisor
Fred Smith (Professor of Economics)-PPE Advisor
Caleb Stroup (Associate Professor of Economics)-PPE Advisor
Paul Studtmann (Professor of Philosophy)-PPE Advisor
Silvi Toska (Assistant Professor of Political Science)-PPE Advisor

Major requirements

The PPE center-established major is composed of ten courses (eleven for students pursuing the Thesis option), that fulfill the following requirements, some of which include subrequirements as detailed below:

1) Introduction to PPE

2) Foundations

3) Methods

4) Explorations

5) Capstone/Thesis.

Introduction to PPE

Introduction to PPE: (PHI 190) Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) is a resurgent, deeply interdisciplinary program of research and teaching that seeks to address some of the most pressing and perennial problems of social, political, and economic life. Many problems we face today-systemic racism, poverty, and immigration, for example-cannot be adequately addressed by either purely empirical or purely normative analysis; they require both. To understand our own place in the history of ideas and institutions that has led to them, we must apply the tools of political analysis, economic measurement, history of ideas, and moral argument, not in isolation from one another, but in concert. This course introduces students to PPE’s major problems, aims, and methods-including the important PPE method of game theory-through a combination of contemporary and historical readings and guest lectures by scholars from several disciplines.

Foundations

Foundations (3 courses): All PPE majors must acquire basic competence in the relevant portions of PPE’s component disciplines by completing one disciplinary foundation course from each of the core disciplines:

Philosophy
PHI 220: Political Philosophy

Political Science
POL 101: Contemporary Political Ideologies
POL 121: American Politics
POL 140: Comparative Politics
POL 141: Comparative Global Politics
POL 161: Intro to International Relations

Economics
ECO 202: Microeconomics
ECO 203: Macroeconomics

Methods

Methods (1 course): PPE is fundamentally interdisciplinary. Students majoring in PPE will rely to differing degrees on the methods of PPE’s constituent disciplines, depending on their chosen emphases and Capstone/Thesis projects. PPE students satisfy the Methods requirement with any of the following courses:

PHI 200: Symbolic Logic
PHI 102: Reason and Argument
POL 182: Intro to Research Methods
ECO 105: Stats and Basic Econometrics

Explorations

Explorations: (4 courses): PPE majors must complete four additional courses at the 200 level or above. These courses must be selected from the following list:
ECO courses numbered 200, 300, or 400
(Except ECO 211, ECO 212, ECO 213, ECO 214, ECO 295, ECO 395, and ECO 494.)

PHI courses:
PHI 210: Games and Decisions
PHI 215: Ethics
PHI 219: Freedom and Responsibility
PHI 240: Anarchism and the State
PHI 325: Philosophy of Law
PHI 350: Seminar in Philosophy
PHI 451: Senior Colloquium in Philosophy

POL courses numbered 200, 300, or 400 (Except POL 385 and POL 389.)

Courses outside of ECO/POL/PHI:
ANT 321 - Borderlands, Identity, and Rights
ANT 323 - Human Rights in Latin America (JEC)
CIS 276 - Racial Justice Seminar (JEC)
COM 311 - Media, Empathy, and Justice (JEC)
COM 330 - The Ignored and Forgotten (JEC)
ENG 373 - Modern Poetry and Politics
ENV 244 - South Asian Environmental Issues (JEC)
HIS 355 - American Legal History
HIS 357 - The Civil Rights Movement (JEC)
PBH 280 - Introduction to Global Health (JEC)
PBH 395 - Public Health Ethics

To satisfy the Explorations requirement for the major, the four courses selected from must meet the following requirements:

a. Political and Economic Justice. One of the four courses must have a substantial focus on social and political structures that facilitate and sustain-or burden and destroy-social justice and equality. This requirement supports the major’s second learning outcome (see page two above). The courses below may be used to satisfy this requirement.
ECO 221 - Economic History of the United States (JEC)
ECO 227 - Economics of Gender and Family (JEC)
ECO 232 - Economics of Migration
ECO 234 - Latin American Economic Development
ECO 235 - Economics of South Asian Environmental Issues
ECO 288 - International Political Economy
ECO 324 - Labor Economics
ECO 325 - Public Sector Economics
PHI 215 - Ethics (JEC)
POL 206 - Contemporary Political Theory (JEC)
POL 226 - Racial and Ethnic Politics
POL 227 - Law, Politics and Society
POL 228 - US Environmental Politics
POL 241 - Comparative Public Policy
POL 283 - Ethics and Policymaking
POL 291 - Politics of the Middle East
POL 304 - Foundations of Liberalism (JEC)
POL 307 - Lincoln and the Crisis of American Democracy (JEC)
POL 325 - Constitutional Law
POL 327 - Civil Liberties
POL 344 - The Politics and Economics of Brazil
POL 347 - Politics of Development
POL 354 - Political Economy of the Southern Cone
POL 381 - Philanthropy and the Non-Profit Sector
POL 398 - Global Environmental Politics
POL 404 - Marxism and After (JEC)
POL 423 - The Politics of Reproduction
POL 424 - Women in US Politics (JEC)
ANT 321 - Borderlands, Identity, and Rights
ANT 323 - Human Rights in Latin America (JEC)
CIS 276 - Racial Justice Seminar (JEC)
COM 311 - Media, Empathy, and Justice (JEC)
COM 330 - The Ignored and Forgotten (JEC)
ENG 373 - Modern Poetry and Politics
ENV 244 - South Asian Environmental Issues (JEC)
HIS 355 - American Legal History
HIS 357 - The Civil Rights Movement (JEC)
PBH 280 - Introduction to Global Health (JEC)
PBH 395 - Public Health Ethics

b. Breadth. The courses must represent no fewer than three different disciplines.

c. Advanced Study. Two of the four courses must at the 300 or 400 level.

Note: Courses not currently listed may be used to satisy the Political and Economic Justice requirement upon approval by (a) the course instructor, (b) the student’s advisor(s), (c) the chairperson of PPE, and (d) the director of CIS.

Capstone or Thesis

Capstone or Thesis (1 course for capstone or 2 courses for thesis): Every student majoring in PPE must complete an original research project during his/her/their senior year. This project may take the form of a one-semester capstone (CIS 495) or a two-semester thesis (CIS 495 and CIS 496). PPE majors must work with their advisor(s) to design a project of appropriate depth, rigor, and originality for either one semester (for a capstone) or two semesters (for a thesis) of research and writing. Only students who complete the thesis are eligible to graduate with honors in the major.
Students who choose to complete a thesis must work with two advisors, from distinct academic departments, to complete their project. Students who choose to complete a capstone will need (1) a primary advisor, who will bear primary responsibility for directing their research and (2) a resource advisor, a faculty member in a discipline other than that of the primary advisor who will be available to help the primary advisor ensure interdisciplinarity in the project. Capstone students should secure a resource advisor before defending their capstone prospectus. If a capstone student is unsuccessful in securing a resource advisor, the chair/primary advisor of PPE will, in the last resort, serve in that role for that student.
Prerequisites: Students must have completed the following portions of the major before enrolling in CIS 495 or CIS 496:
i. Introduction to PPE
ii. Disciplinary Foundations
iii. Methods
iv. Political and Economic Justice

Note

Note: No more than two courses taken at other universities, whether abroad or in the United States, may be applied to the PPE major.