Concept

Philosophy, politics and economics

Overview

Philosophy, politics and economics, or politics, philosophy and economics (PPE), is an academic degree that combines study from three subjects. The first institution to offer degrees in PPE was the University of Oxford in the 1920s. The Oxford PPE course has produced many notable graduates, including numerous British politicians and leaders of other countries. PPE degrees began to be offered at other universities in the 1980s and are now offered at many colleges and universities around the world.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).

Possible passages

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1. For popular use this definition is amply sufficient, but it still falls short of the complete accuracy required for the purposes of the philosopher. Political Economy does not treat of the production and distribution of wealth in all states of mankind, but only in what is termed the social state; nor so far as they depend upon the laws of human nature, but only so far as they depend upon a certain portion of those…

   John Stuart Mill, Essays on some unsettled Questions of Political Economy

   States what Philosophy, politics and economics is.

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2. This ancient division of philosophy into three parts was, in the greater part of the universities of Europe, changed for another into five. In the ancient philosophy, whatever was taught concerning the nature either of the human mind or of the Deity, made a part of the system of physics.

   Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations

   States what Philosophy, politics and economics is.

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3. It is suggestive that European philosophy originated (among the Athenians) under the direct pressure of educational questions. The earlier history of philosophy, developed by the Greeks in Asia Minor and Italy, so far as its range of topics is concerned, is mainly a chapter in the history of science rather than of philosophy as that word is understood to-day. It had nature for its subject, and speculated as to how…

   John Dewey, Democracy and Education

   States what Philosophy, politics and economics is.

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Philosophers who discussed Philosophy, politics and economics

• John Gray (philosopher)
• Frederick C. Beiser
• Isaiah Berlin
• Charles Taylor (philosopher)
• Roy Bhaskar
• Christopher Peacocke

Related ideas

• Philosophy
• Labour Party (UK)
• Politics
• University of Cambridge
• Durham University
• University of Oxford
• British Raj
• Reason
• Logic
• Economics
• Ethics
• Frantz Fanon
• Roy Bhaskar

Place in the tradition

Part of Philosophy and economics.

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