This course will serve as an introduction to the fast-growing, interdisciplinary field of politics, philosophy, and economics (PPE). In learning the basics of PPE, we will learn how to use a variety of different ideas and perspectives from the fields of
This course will serve as an introduction to the fast-growing, interdisciplinary field of politics, philosophy, and economics (PPE). In learning the basics of PPE, we will learn how to use a variety of different ideas and perspectives from the fields of
This course will serve as an introduction to the fast-growing, interdisciplinary field of politics, philosophy, and economics (PPE). In learning the basics of PPE, we will learn how to use a variety of different ideas and perspectives from the fields of philosophy and economics to better understand the complex, ever changing socio-political world. Politics, then, in the broadest sense, will be our primary subject or focus, and philosophical and economic concepts and analyses will be our principal tools. Our topics will include: the nature and justification of private property; wealth and opportunity costs; prices; market advantages and economic planning; collective action problems and the tragedy of the commons; moral character and market activity; entrepreneurship, wage-earning, and rent-seeking; and liberty and paternalism. Our readings will include both classic and contemporary thinkers: Thomas Aquinas, Frederic Bastiat, Garrett Hardin, David Hume, John Locke, Karl Marx, John Stuart Mill, Frederic Hayek, Leonard Read, David Schmidtz, Joseph Schumpeter, Adam Smith, Thaler and Sunstein, Max Weber, among others.
