What is PPE

What is PPE? PPE brings together some of the most important approaches to understanding the social and human world around us, developing skills useful for a whole range of future careers and activities. Studying philosophy, you will develop analytical rigour and the ability to criticise and reason logically, and be able to apply these skills to questions concerning how we acquire knowledge or how we make ethical judgements. The study of politics provides a thorough understanding of the impact of political institutions on modern societies. It helps you to evaluate the choices that political systems must regularly make, to explain the processes that maintain or change those systems, and to examine the concepts and values used in political analysis. Politics at Oxford also encompasses the study of sociology and international relations. Economics is the study of how consumers, firms and government make decisions that together determine how resources are allocated. An appreciation of economics and the general workings of the economy has become increasingly necessary to make sense of governmental policy-making, the conduct of businesses and the enormous changes in economic systems occurring throughout the world. PPE at Oxford All three branches of PPE at Oxford have an international reputation, supported by more than 200 tutors and scholars of the highest calibre. You will also be able to attend lectures given by the many distinguished visitors to Oxford each year. PPE at Oxford is a very flexible course which allows you to study all three branches, or to specialise in two of the branches after the first year. Although there is no reference to sociology or international relations in the title of the course, you may specialise in either of these subjects by choosing relevant options. Careers The careers most commonly chosen by PPE graduates are in banking and finance, politics, journalism and broadcasting, law, industry, teaching, social work, accountancy, business management, management consultancy, advertising and the many branches of the public services, including the civil and diplomatic services and local government. Recent Philosophy, Politics and Economics graduates include a hedge fund analyst, a primary school teacher, and a fundraising officer for a disease research foundation. Hilary, who graduated in 2002, is now an education policy-maker. She says: ‘After graduating, I started at the UK Department for Education, working on a range of domestic and international educational policies, which included secondments to an NGO in Ghana and to the European Commission in Brussels. I am now working at the World Bank in Washington, DC, on education in developing countries. Studying PPE fuelled my interest in governance, sociology, and equality of opportunity, and helped me develop skills in critical thinking and clear analysis which have been crucial in these roles.’ A typical weekly timetable Your work is divided between lectures (six to eight a week), tutorials and classes (typically two tutorials or one tutorial and one class a week), and private study mainly spent preparing essays for tutorials and classes. 1st year Courses All three branches of PPE are studied equally Philosophy: · General philosophy · Moral philosophy · Elementary logic Politics: · Theorising the democratic state · Analysis of democratic institutions in the United Kingdom, France, Germany and the United States Economics: · Microeconomics: the functioning of the market economy; · Macroeconomics: dealing with national output and employment, exchange rates and policy issues; · Mathematical techniques used in economics Assessment First University examinations Three written papers 2nd and 3rd years Compulsory core subjects: Students choose to continue with all three branches or concentrate on any two, taking compulsory courses in the chosen branches along with optional courses: Compulsory core courses: · Philosophy: Ethics and either History of Philosophy from Descartes to Kant, or Plato’s Republic; or Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics · Politics (any two of these): Comparative Government; British Politics and Government since 1900; Theory of Politics; International Relations; Political Sociology · Economics: Macroeconomics; Microeconomics; Quantitative Economics Optional courses: · More than 50 choices, including: Post-Kantian Philosophy; Later Wittgenstein; Politics in Sub-Saharan Africa; Political thought: Plato to Rousseau; International Economics; Economics of Developing Countries (see www.ppe.ox.ac.uk for the full list of optional PPE papers) Assessment Final University examinations Eight written papers, one of which can be replaced by a thesis Optional PPE courses As shown above, PPE students take optional papers in their second and third years. This list shows those courses which are currently available, but please note that they may change from year to year.  Core papers (see above) may also be taken as optional papers. Philosophy · Knowledge and Reality · Philosophy of Mind · Philosophy of Science and Philosophy of Psychology and Neuroscience · Philosophy of Science and Social Science · Philosophy of Religion · Philosophy of Logic and Language · Aesthetics · Medieval Philosophy: Aquinas · Medieval Philosophy: Duns Scotus and Ockham · Philosophy of Kant · Post-Kantian Philosophy · Theory of Politics · Frege, Russell, and Wittgenstein · The Later Philosophy of Wittgenstein · Formal Logic · Philosophy of Mathematics · Philosophy of Science · Jurisprudence Politics · Modern British Government and Politics · Government and Politics of the United States · Government and Politics in Western Europe · Politics in Europe · The Politics of the European Union · Russian Government and Politics · Politics in Sub-Saharan Africa · Politics in Latin America · Politics in South Asia · Politics in the Middle East · International Relations in the Era of the Two World Wars · International Relations in the Era of the Cold War · Political Thought: Plato to Rousseau · Political Thought: Bentham to Weber · Marx and Marxism · Sociological Theory · Sociology of Industrial Societies · British Society in the Twentieth Century · Labour Economics and Industrial Relations · Government and Politics of Japan · Social Policy · Comparative Demographic Systems · Quantitative Methods in Politics and Sociology · Politics in China Economics · Microeconomic Theory · Money and Banking · Public Economics · Economics of Industry · International Economics · Command and Transitional Economics · Economics of Developing Countries · British Economic History since 1870 · Classical Economic Thought · Statistical Methods in Economics · Econometrics · Economics of OECD Countries · Economic Decisions with the Firm · Finance · Game Theory · Mathematical Methods