PPE – advice and reading
Lewis Turner, Debate Chamber PPE Tutor:
Politics, Philosophy and Economics are all interesting subjects in their own right – but studying them together gives you an even deeper insight into all three. Although lots of students are attracted to PPE (like I was at first) because of a particular interest in one of the three subjects, only once you start to look at them together do you realise how much your economic beliefs affect the political solutions you are in favour of, how political economics really is and how much your philosophy underpins both your politics and economics.
Between the three disciplines, a huge area of the world around us is covered, ranging from issues such as ‘do I really exist?’ to ‘what is the best way to tackle poverty in the underdeveloped world?’ to ‘how do we get out of the recession?’ This gives students a variety of fascinating areas to pursue and allows them to really focus on what they are most interested in – which can often mean studying some politics, some philosophy and some economics. So not only do you have a huge range of options, but you have a much deeper understanding by studying the subjects together – which makes PPE, I think, one of the most interesting options around.
RECOMMENDED READING
Philosophy
Political Philosophy: A Beginnners’ Guide for Students and Politicians, by Adam Swift
Democracy, Social Justice, Community, Equality and Liberty: five ideals which politicians of all stripe and shade appeal to in order to promote their ideas. But in the current political climate, with voters and pundits searching desperately for some major differences between the parties, it is more important than ever that we get behind the labels and understand what these ideals really mean – and the different conceptions of them that exist. This is what Swift explain – and in the process he equips individuals to think clearly for themselves about these values of fundamental importance.
What Does It All Mean? by Thomas Nagel
Thomas Nagel writes with his usual clarity and precision to introduce reader to the basics of philosophy and demonstrating the value of its study to our lives. In this book, Nagel leads the reader through nine of the central questions which philosophy attempts to provide answers to, for example ‘Is Death the End of Everything?’, ‘Can we Know Anything?’ and ‘Does Life Have Any Meaning?’. He demonstrates both why these questions have confused millions for centuries and why their continued study is so crucial to our lives.
Economics
The Return of Depression Economics by Paul Krugman
Krugman has been at the forefront of economic policy for US Administrations, and as such his book is an excellent non-technical policy introduction to the crisis of 2008. His ideas all interlink to core economic theory concerning growth, inflation and unemployment.
Personal Utilities and Public Judgements by Amartya Sen
This is a seminal article in welfare economics that explores the limitations of notions of welfare to economic analysis. If we are to think the role of economists is to maximise welfare, then we must understand the limitations of such an approach in seeking to build the ideal society.
British Politics
Thatcher and Sons: A Revolution in Three Parts. By Simon Jenkins
Simon Jenkins explores the dramatic changes which have occurred in British Politics since the Margaret Thatcher came to power. Jenkins looks at how Thatcher changed both the nature of our country, but also how she changed the nature of democratic leadership. He spends time analysing Thatcher’s own time in power, and how her legacy affected the policies of Premiers Major, Blair and Brown, controversially calling Blair ‘Thatcher’s most devoted follower’.
World Politics
The State of Africa: A History of Fifty Years of Independence. By Martin Meredith
The task of documenting the state of a continent for the past fifty years is a difficult one, but one that Meredith tackles excellently. Writing in a manner which combines history and politics and stories and anecdotes, Meredith portrays Africa as a Cold War battleground for the US and the USSR and documents well Africa’s decline in the 1980s and 1990s and shows how colonialism still affects Africa today.
USEFUL LINKS
Leading PPE departments:
Bob Hargrave’s philosophy website (Oxford lecturer and Debate Chamber tutor)