Philosophy, Politics and Economics

In the minor Philosophy, Politics and Economics we teach you to reflect critically on societally relevant topics from different perspectives. We introduce you to different disciplinary perspectives and provide you with background knowledge.

Summary

Number of EC

30 EC

Number of courses

5 of which you choose 4

Start

Block 1

Coordinator

Dr. Clint Verdonschot

Course overview

Philosophy, Politics and Economics

Code minor

PPE-MINOR-21 

Entry requirements
  • At least 45 EC for category 1.
  • Not open to PPE-students.
Register between 30 May and 23 June 2023

Make sure to register for the minor as well as all its courses

Some of the most pressing issues of our time are not discrete problems within one particular academic discipline. They seem rather to call for interdisciplinary reflection. Is populism a threat to democracy, or an invigoration of it? What about those neoliberal economic policies that have (partially) replaced/demolished the welfare states of the 20th century: was this a total disaster, or was the welfare state a bad idea to begin with?

Coming up with answers to questions like these, requires not only a grasp of abstract ideals such as freedom, equality, and justice. It also requires an understanding of historical phenomena such as the welfare state, democracy, and neoliberalism. And finally, a satisfying answer will also tell us something about which economic and/or political policies are actually effective solutions to the problems identified.

The PPE minor offers you an opportunity to learn to reflect critically on societally relevant topics from different perspectives. The disciplines of economics, history and philosophy allow you to adopt a multi-dimensional perspective on e.g. democratic societies, welfare states, and issues such as various kinds of (economic, social, or political) inequality.

Moreover, if you take the full minor, we also offer you the interdisciplinary course PPE Perspectives where you learn to reflect on the use of research methods and skills in interdisciplinary perspectives. You complete the minor with the course PPE in Practice, which consists of doing a project for a stakeholder. So, we encourage you to come and join the full minor.

NB: Most courses can also be taken separately. In case you want to take the minor, you must register for both the minor programme as well as the courses.

Content

The Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) minor aims to offer an interdisciplinary approach to learn to critically analyse urgent societal themes in the public domain such as the welfare state, inequality, and democracy. 

Curriculum

In order to complete the minor you will have to choose:

  • 2 of the 3 thematic courses we offer from participating disciplines. We encourage you to take thematic courses outside of your disciplinary background, to make you more acquainted with other perspectives.
  • 2 interdisciplinary courses. 

Thematic courses

The goal of the thematic courses is twofold:

  1. to introduce you to different disciplinary perspectives on the PPE themes
  2. to provide you with background knowledge about the different PPE disciplines

Two of these thematic courses will already offer an interdisciplinary perspective on thematic issues, while one other course will use the PPE theme as its core focal point using a mono-disciplinary perspective.

Interdisciplinary courses

In the 2 interdisciplinary courses all disciplines are involved in each course. One of these integrates the academic debates and another one reaches out to societal stakeholders.

Application and registration

How to register for this minor and its course modules, depends on whether you are a student of Utrecht University or not.

More information

If you wish to know more, or have questions about this minor, please contact the Student Desk Humanities.