Monday 4 December 2017

P.P.E.

I studied Philosophy in Dublin. I am interested in philosophy, politics and imaginative fiction and eventually realized the importance of economics to politics. Oxford University pioneered degree courses in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (P.P.E.) as a modern alternative to Classics.

It is notable that issues under the heading of P.P.E. emerge from reading the imaginative fiction of Poul Anderson and SM Stirling, e.g.:

Issues In The Early Psychotechnic History
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Searching the blog reveals more examples but again real life intervenes to cramp my style.

4 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

And, of course, Oxford University was where JRR Tolkien worked for many years, specializing in Old English, Anglo Saxon, and Germanic languages. But I think Tolkien had retired before Oxford introduced the PPE syllabus.

And I think the University of Cambridge tended to focus more on mathematics and sciences like astronomy, physics, biology, etc. But I could be wrong.

Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,
I did wonder whether Cambridge had PPE. I am a Trinity Dublin man.
Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

And I think we agree that a wide variety of universities with differing approaches is beneficial. Some would be more "philosophically" oriented while others would be more "practical," focusing on things like medicine or engineering.

Sean

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Thanks! I thought so. And, of course, there would be specialist universities, such as Catholic seminaries, some of whose courses would overlap with those of other schools. Such as philosophy.

Sean