Philosophy, Politics, and Economics Major

Program Director: Dan Moller, Ph.D.  

The Philosophy, Politics, and Economics major brings together insights and methods from several different disciplines to help students think rigorously and creatively about pressing social and political questions. The major not only combines classes from distinct disciplines (Philosophy, Government and Politics, Public Policy, and Economics), it features courses specifically designed to integrate material from them. The skills developed in the major will be useful for careers in law, government, business, or any field that requires rigorous reasoning with a diverse set of insights, tools, and methods. 

Program Objectives

The Philosophy, Politics, and Economics program aims to:

  1. equip students with methods from the disciplines of philosophy, political science, and economics;
  2. encourage students to apply these methods to a diverse array of topics and questions across disciplinary boundaries, especially to normative topics and questions;
  3. combine these methods in productive ways to carry out thoughtful, original research;
  4. equip students with the ability to write clearly and concisely, read and distill information carefully, and construct arguments in an organized and convincing manner; and
  5. inspire a love for learning from a diverse array of scholarly disciplines.

Program Learning Outcomes

  1. Students will be able to competently apply basic methods from philosophy, political science, and economics to their reasoning about difficult social and political questions.
  2. Students will be able to write and think clearly and in an organized fashion about difficult social and political questions.
  3. Students will be able to engage in original research to present convincing arguments for their views on difficult social and political questions.
Course Title Credits
College Requirements
Disciplinary Foundations
ECON200Principles of Microeconomics3
ECON201Principles of Macroeconomics3
GVPT170American Government3
PHIL140Contemporary Moral Issues3
PHIL245Political and Social Philosophy I3
PLCY100Foundations of Public Policy3
Core Sequence
PHPE400Individual and Group Decision-Making3
PHPE401Social Philosophy and Political Economy3
PHPE402Senior Capstone in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics3
Electives 1
Select four courses (12 credits):12
Any PHPE course at the 300-400 level besides PHPE400, PHPE401, and PHPE402
Applied Policy Analysis and the Black Community
AASP314
Advanced Topics in Public Policy and the Black Community
Special Topics in Management and Organization (BMGT468Y Entrepreneurial Capitalism Around the World)
Argumentation and Public Policy
Seminar in Political Communication
The Discourse of Social Movements
American Economic History Before the Civil War
American Economic History After the Civil War
Seminar in International Relations and World Politics (GVPT409I: The Politics of Human Rights)
Seminar in Public Law (GVPT439A: Comparative Constitutional Law)
Special Topics in History
The Roman Republic
Selected Topics in History (HIST328L Empires, Revolutions and Cold Wars)
Special Topics in History
Special Topics in History
Ideas and Politics in Europe Since 1900
Special Topics in History
Selected Topics in History
American Capitalism: 1600-1900
American Capitalism: 1900 to Present
Ethical Theory
Philosophy of Race
Philosophy of Law
Contemporary Ethical Theory
Contemporary Political Philosophy
Law, Morality, and War
Feminist, Critical Race, and Queer Theories
WMST400
Total Credits39
1

A student may petition the Program Director to have an individual course (300-level or above) count as an elective contributing to that student's completion of the  major.

For a course to count toward a student's major, the grade in the course must be "C-" or above. The average of all grades counted toward the major must be 2.0 or greater. Therefore, grades of "C-" will have to be balanced with higher grades. (C- counts as 1.7 toward the GPA.)

Click here for roadmaps for graduation plans in the College of Arts and Humanities.

Additional information on developing a graduation plan can be found on the following pages: