Philosophy, Politics and Economics

The minor Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) teaches you to reflect critically on the big questions facing societies by adopting different perspectives on them. We introduce you to the disciplines that make up PPE and integrate them to generate deep insights into issues like democracy, markets, and inequality.

Should political decisions be made by the people, by elected representatives, or by experts? To what extent should we leave the distribution of important goods to the market? And what, if anything, should be done about the rising inequality of wealth in industrialised nations?

Answering big societal questions like these requires an interdisciplinary approach. After all, society is a complex system. It is made up of many different agents (individuals, households, corporations, etc.) and institutions (legal systems, markets, moral norms, etc.). A small change to the system can set off a chain reaction, the end result of which is hard to predict.

So, when it comes to answering the big questions of society,  we need to reflect on the meaning of abstract ideals such as freedom, equality, justice and well-being. These ideals tell us what social institutions are for, and when decisions are worth making. But we also need to understand historical phenomena such as the emergence of democracy, nations and welfare states. Only in this way can we appreciate how social systems change over time, and how contingent our current institutions are. Finally, it is crucial to consider which institutional designs are economically viable, lest our policies lead to waste, corruption, or other undesirable consequences.

The PPE minor teaches you to reflect critically on societally relevant topics from these different perspectives. The disciplines of economics, history and philosophy enable you to adopt a nuanced, holistic perspective on topics including (but not limited to) democracy, markets, and various kinds of inequality.

If you take the full minor, we also offer you the interdisciplinary course “PPE Perspectives”, in which you conduct your own PPE research project, integrating insights from all three disciplines. You complete the minor with the course “PPE in Practice”, in which you apply what you’ve learned to a real-world research question sponsored by an external stakeholder organisation. So, we encourage you to take the full minor in order to get a taste of the complete PPE experience.

Note: Most courses can also be taken separately. In case you want to take the minor, you must register for both the minor programme and the individual courses.

Content

The Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) minor adopts an interdisciplinary approach to teach the critical analysis of urgent societal themes such as markets, inequality, and democracy. 

Curriculum

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

• Two thematic courses, “Democracy: Historical Perspectives and Philosophical Arguments” and “Economics and Social Justice”, which explore the workings of governments, markets, and resource allocations from the disciplinary perspectives of (political) history, (political) philosophy, and economics.
• Two interdisciplinary courses, “PPE Perspectives” and “PPE in Practice”, which integrate the whole palette of approaches studied on the Minor.

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.

Both thematic courses already adopt a multi-disciplinary approach, offering insights from more than one PPE discipline.

“Democracy: Historical Perspectives and Philosophical Arguments” explores the historical emergence and philosophical merits of the key ideas, such as freedom, equality and self-government, that underpin democratic societies. It kicks off the PPE Minor by introducing students to the core methods and assumptions of the disciplines of (political) history and (political) philosophy.

“Economics and Social Justice” introduces the core methods and assumptions of the discipline of economics by considering how various theories of social justice that have been proposed by political philosophers might be operationalised through economic models.

Note: Since the thematic courses introduce each PPE discipline for the first time, these courses are designed to be taken before the interdisciplinary courses. Knowledge of the different PPE disciplines will be taken for granted in the interdisciplinary courses.

Interdisciplinary courses

In the two interdisciplinary courses, all PPE disciplines are taught together and integrated to distil insights that transcend their singular perspectives. “PPE Perspectives” integrates the academic debates within and between the disciplines, while “PPE in Practice” applies them to societal issues that arise in the work of external stakeholder organizations..

Register

First, check whether you meet the entry requirements. How you register next depends on whether you are already a student at Utrecht University or not.

Contact

With questions or for more information about the registration procedure, please contact the Humanities Student Information Desk.